There’s something like 38 books in The Legend of Drizzt series and I do not intend to review them all, however there are some books that stand out among others and those I am going to review. This book is one of them and, chronologically speaking, it is the first in the series so it seems a great place to start.
The Legend of Drizzt books are epic, high fantasies that take place in the Dungeons and Dragons world of The Forgotten Realms. They chronicle the lives and adventures of five primary characters: Drizzt Do’Urden, the drow rogue; Catty-Brie, the human adopted daughter of Brunor Battlehammer, a dwarf; Regis, the sneaky halfling, and Wulfgar, the barbarian adopted son of Brunor Battlehammer. These five make up what comes to be known as The Companions of the Hall.
This book, however, is specifically about Drizzt and takes place decades before he ever meets any of the other Companions of the Hall. This book chronicles the circumstances around Drizzt’s birth, his child years, his training in the drow city of Menzoberranzan, and the events that cause him to forsake his heritage, his people, and become a rogue.
I won’t go into details because there are far too many to name, but this novel provides tremendous insight into the culture of the drow and the innerworkings of Menzoberranzan. The reader is introduced to central and important characters to Drizzt’s development like Jarlaxle, the mercenary drow, and Zaknafein Do’Urden, Drizzt’s father. Drow culture is a matriarchy and drows worship the evil and cruel spider-queen goddess, Lloth. Zaknafein, Drizzt’s father, is openly critical of Lloth and hopes to influence his son enough to keep him from “buying in” to the drow way of life, so to speak.
This was the first book in The Legend of Drizzt that I read. I first became interested in the story through the incredible representation of strong and complicated female characters. Drizzt’s mother, Malice, is the matron of house Do’Urden, and one utterly devoid of love, compassion, empathy. The book begins with her giving birth to Drizzt, a baby she believes will be a girl. The more girls born into a drow family, the more powerful the family is considered. Girls are a blessing from Lloth, after all.
But when Drizzt is born a boy, the decision is made to sacrifice him to Lloth, for house Do’Urden already has two sons, and no more than two males are allowed to be born into (almost) any of the drow houses. But on the same night of Drizzt’s birth, the fighters in house Do’Urden are secretly attacking another house in Menzobarranzan. If they succeed in killing everyone within that house, then house Do’Urden can move up in the house rankings within the city, granting them more power, influence, and prestige. In-fighting between houses is something that is officially against the law, but only if the attacking house is caught. And while the fighters of house Do’Urden are in the process of attacking this other house, Drizzt’s older brother, Dinin, kills Nalfien, the other son of house Do’Urden.
House Do’urden is successful in its attack on the other house, and with Nalfein murdered, Drizzt is allowed to live. He is influenced heavily by his father, Zaknafein, as he is raised and trained to be a fighter. Zaknafein is the house’s weapon’s master and one of (if not the) most skilled fighter in all of Menzobarranzan. He does not want his son to become cruel and heartless, and so he does what little he can to influence Drizzt positively before the boy is taken into his official training with the drow academy. It isn’t until Drizzt leaves the academy that Zaknafein finds out whether or not his son has held true to the principles he tried to instill in him before the academy.
Without giving anything away, I will say this: Drizzt took to heart his father’s teachings. Events are set in motion as this novel reaches its climax that result in Drizzt fleeing Menzobarranzan, denouncing drow culture, life, and especially religion — he makes a particular point to denounce Lloth, which makes him a heretic in the eyes of the women of his house — and he makes his way into the Underdark, the caverns within which the drow city was built.
There is so much to love in this book. The reader sees most of what occurs through either Drizzt’s eyes or his mother’s, Matron Malice. However, there are scenes written from both Zaknafein’s perspective as well as Jarlaxle, the drow who leads the band of mercenaries called Bregan D’aerthe. And while there are a lot of names of a lot of characters to keep track of, the book does a great job of giving enough detail without being too overwhelming (something I think the later books tend to struggle with).
The themes of selflessness, of resilience, of resistance, of self-sacrifice, and of the pure, unadulterated love between father and son are what make this novel one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. And while the other two books in this trilogy are also incredible, and I will review them later, this is the book that really took my breath away. The emotions of this book, the ups and downs and the mystery, kept me hooked from the first line to the last. And while the women of the book are, almost all of them, considered villains, they are also so complex and aren’t shoved into any stereotypes or cliches. They have agency and intelligence and cunning.
Read this book. If you like fantasy, read this book. It will start the process that changes your life forever, and that is not an exaggeration.
