Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A Salvatore

November 11, 2006


Okay, well......I was experiencing a rut recently in the world of novels towards the fact that my finances were going elsewhere in the past two months and I have other things on my mind as well. That said, I have to have some sort of book to read every day since for my company, I have alot of "down" time.

What did I do, knowing I couldn't go get a new book?

I reread some of the novels in my collection, of course! Picked up the Harry Potter series and tore through it in a good 5 days or so(in between all my other needs like eat, drink, sleep, must-see tv)...so of course, the same issue arose for me after I put down the HBP...Could I go find me a new novel? No, not yet. So, I ended up picking my Lotr trilogy and going through that..By now, my brain was doing backflips in all the magical realms it's cells were gathering information from. So how do I offset that?

I pick up Stephen King's Cell of course! Nothing better to pass the time then reading about cellular induced zombies wrecking havoc upon the Earth.

Anyway, as the pages were nearing it's end, I found myself cringing at the thoughts of not having anything new to fall back on when that last page turn was complete.

I think my brother in law knew the feelings I was experiencing so he went and got a book from a friend called:

The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A Salvatore.

The first questions crossing that fantasy riddled brain of mine was this..."What's this??I've never read from this author before..."

Now, after reading the Dark Elf Trilogy, I'm doing mental incapicating assaults on those brain cells of mine on WHY I haven't read these stories before. I cannot believe there was a whole other universe of fantasy itching to be read by the likes of me.

So anyway, our mutual friend gives me this trilogy and I immediately start in, curious on this new world to explore and I am not dissapointed at all right from the first chapter. Sure, it takes getting used to learning the different new and unique words of the settings & creatures in this new realm of fantasy but the story is fasinating to say the least.

The book begins with a character named Dinin Do'Urden who is a member of a species called "drow". A drow? Yes, a drow! A drow is what author refers to as a species of "Dark Elves" living underground in the Underdark city known as Menzoberranzan. Menzoberranzan? Wtf? Hah, I know....I'm losing you, right?

Okay...well, I hope I didn't lose you here because bypassing learning an occasional new name of species or setting, this book...No, this "world" gets quite enjoyable from a reader's perspective. As I was saying, the first chapter starts out with a character named Dinin Do'Urden setting a inner Drow war between two "Houses of Drows"...basically picking a fight. As it turns out Dinin isn't the main character of the book trilogy. The main character is to be born on the very night of the actual inner-house drow conflict and likewise to be sacrificed to appease their god deity, the Spider Queen for a victorious outcome against the other house.

Just as the blood hungry sacrifice is about to take place though, Dinin does something that is not only "accepted" but "respected" in Drow society. He kills his older brother so he can be Elder brother of the House of Do'Urden. By doing so, the newborn child(main character) no longer has to be sacrificed.

Here's where we meet the main character with the name of Drizzt Do'Urden and let me tell you folks, the House of Do'Urden would have been better off for letting the sacrifice take place after all. We wouldn't as readers of course but their characters would have been better off. Drizzt Do'Urden is born with lavender piercing eyes(something uncommon in the dark elf Drow species) and is born with a unique perspective on life from a drow? What's that perspective? Innocence, love, & more importantly...a free spirit.

So the book turns into his personal story on the account of his early life..In fact this trilogy is him detailing in succession the first 40 years of his dark elf life and how learns to deal with being a "strange" drow among a society of their evil ways. He begins to learn for himself and from himself what he's really meant to be and in part, that existence is NOT living in Menzoberranzan along with his evil kin. He sets off to find a new world, himself, among other species and the consequences of such actions begin to take a toll on him as he makes new friends in the "Underdark" world outside of his home city. It doesn't take away from his fighting spirit though and he moves onward to whatever destiny is before him.

I really recommend this book for anyone yet to read about Drizzt Do'Urden the Unique Drow Elf. I just found out that this series is quite large too so I'll be picking up the next special collectors set quadrant of books from R.A Savatore.

Rating: 10/10 remincient of reading LOTR for the first time. A great read and a big recommendation for someone out there who has no new novels to read and would like to take the plunge into a new world of fantasy.

Click here to read the staff review by Mania.