LogFAQs > #896978047

Zeus posted...

A copy of R.A. Salvatore's Homeland, the first book in the Dark Elf trilogy. I know that there's been a fair deal of contempt surrounding half-drow in this topic at times >_> tbh, when I was younger, I read some of the other Forgotten Realms novels which featured Drizzt. Haven't read a D&D novel in like over 15 years now, so it should be amusing. Only paid 50-cents so even if it's a disappointment, no real loss.

I don't remember ever being dismissive of half-drow here or anywhere else, but I know over the years I've been dismissive of D&D novelizations in general and the Drizzt books specifically, because they always seemed like such genre-trash wankery. The sort of books non-reader teenagers would read because they didn't know any better. I always assumed that they were probably terribly written (an assumption not helped when I DID buy the Baldur's Gate novelizations and they were terribly written).

That being said, I never actually READ them. So I was mostly basing my assumptions on hearsay or just totally irrational distaste for the concept or of the professed fans of same.

But I actually started reading the Drizzt novels a few months ago for the hell of it (in the same way I read the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy and Legends Trilogy a couple years back, which I think I mentioned here), and literally finished The Halfling's Gem like maybe two days ago.

And ehh. They're not bad. Nothing I'd devote my life to obsessing over or fueling a desire to play D&D as an endless succession of "good" surface Drow Rangers or anything, but nowhere near as bad as I always assumed (and good enough to get me to buy and read all six of the first two trilogies, so there's that).

I'm at the point now where I'm dithering over whether or not I want to commit to the Legacy of the Drow quadrilogy, but I think I probably won't. From what I understand (and what I get from skimming book descriptions for later books), the franchise eventually starts getting bogged down in its own history, and in complications introduced by the game itself (like mandated references to the Time of Troubles or the Sundering). I've also heard that the overall quality gets worse over time, either because Salvatore starts running out of ideas, has a harder time syncing his plots up with the metaplot, or just because he's tired of writing Drizzt (which is apparently something he's said before), but can't stop because moneymoneymoney.

For everyone else's reference, though, if someone DOES want to read those books, I noticed there's a collected anniversary set that came out at some point (I saw the whole thing in Barnes & Noble yesterday). The first book is the Dark Elf Trilogy, the second is the Icewind Dale Trilogy, the third is the Legacy of the Drow quadrilogy, and the fourth is the Paths of Darkness quadrilogy.

As an aside, I almost feel like it's better to read Icewind Dale before Dark Elf regardless of book numbering now, because chronological by publishing is almost always better than chronological by setting when it comes to reading order. I feel like you sort of care more about Drizzt's origin when you already know him, then flash back to how he got where he was when you first meet him.



Zeus posted...

And, speaking of years ago, I bought the 2007 edition on clearance at a Borders. Remember Borders? >_>

Very much so. I used to love going to Borders (they usually had better selection than B&N), and I was sad to see them go. Amazon is super-convienient (and I am literally throwing items into my cart for an Amazon order while I type this post), but I still love being able to go to a real bookstore and browse real books, and maybe find things that I never would have known existed otherwise.


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