Homeland - Verdict

[kalinara]

So, does Homeland pass the test of time?

Honestly, I'd say yes. It does. It's not without flaws (mostly in the execution), but overall, it's a pretty entertaining read. So let's spend way too many words talking about it!

So start here?

Most Drizzt fans will tell you that this is the place to start Drizzt's story. And there's definitely some merit to that. Homeland is by far the better read than Crystal Shard. It reads like a story, not someone's D&D campaign. And well, it's the origin of D&D's most famous non-mage.

That said, I do have a fondness for the Icewind Dale trilogy, and that oh so brief time that Wulfgar was actually the lead character. So I don't regret starting where I did. I do think reading the Icewind Dale trilogy after the Dark Elf Trilogy would feel like a significant backslide in terms of quality, and generally I like my authors to improve as I read them. So I would personally read in publication order. As I did.

The Plot:

So this is Drizzt Do'Urden's origin story and as origin stories go, it's pretty compelling. Overall, I think Salvatore put a lot of effort in world-building. A functioning society of always Chaotic Evil asshats is pretty much an oxymoron, but he does a good job in making Menzoberranzan a place that is always dancing on the edge of utter chaos while holding everything together in gossamer strands of intrigue.

Overall, the plot was good. There was coherent and visible progression. I do think the pacing, toward the end, was a bit off. The svirnebli storyline actually was pretty significant. As was Drizzt's battle against Masoj, but they felt like filler in a lot of ways, because there was the Drizzt-Zaknafein confrontation looming over the horizon. I think maybe it would have been better to keep Zak a bit more inscrutable at parts and introduce the duel later.

There are pieces of the setting that don't quite work for me though. The idea that Drow are raised to think surface elves are the evil ones isn't terrible, and might well work in another book. The problem is Lolth is BLATANTLY evil. And her tenets involve blatantly evil acts. Deceit, trickery, backstabbing are all things that are SUPPOSED to exist in drow society. So it doesn't really make sense that they're talking about evil, deceitful surface elves. Hypocrisy is a thing, of course, but this stretches beyond that.

I'm still not sure what the fuck was up with that weird descent into Japanese horror hentai/Hammer film thing at Drizzt's graduation. An occasional tonal shift doesn't have to be a bad thing, but that just came out of fucking nowhere.

But like I said, aside from minor complaints, the plot was good.

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So let's talk about the Characters:

I've said before that I think Salvatore's strength is in making very vivid, well-defined characters even if I don't think these characters quite match up with Salvatore's description of them. But here, I think it's by and large pretty good.

The minor characters, like Drizzt's whole family, are interesting! I spent a lot of time in my reviews talking about Vierna and Dinin, for example, because they do come across as having maybe a few more layers than the others. Vierna is the tragic missed opportunity. She had the potential to be like Drizzt, and even now, she's able to show signs of empathy and compassion. I genuinely believe that her attempt to kill Drizzt was meant as an act of mercy. But she's a woman, and in the priesthood, which means that she's been given to Lolth in a way that the boys hadn't. Zaknafein has no ability to shelter her, and she never gets the chance to let her seeds of goodness grow.

Dinin is harder to read. He doesn't show Vierna's compassion, but there's an interesting level of loyalty in his interactions with Drizzt. Every so often, the narrative would pay lip service to the idea of Dinin seeing Drizzt as a threat, as he himself was to Nalfein. But the fact of the matter is that Drizzt has given Dinin plenty of ammunition against him. And Dinin has never taken the opportunity. There's no indicator that he's ever, for example, tried to sabotage Drizzt in the eyes of the Matron mother. If anything, he seems happy with Drizzt's achievements.

As the villains, Malice and Briza are more cookie-cutter. But they're still pretty fun. And the power dynamic between Malice and Zak does have a certain sexual charge that I wouldn't have thought Salvatore could deliver.

Even the lesser villains, Masoj and Alton, are pretty competent and mostly effective decoy villains. I enjoyed seeing them scheme.

So now let's talk about the MAIN characters.

Drizzt - I would say that over the course of the whole series, Drizzt Do'Urden is a very vividly envisioned character. Which is why it's a little surprising that Drizzt is the weak link, characterization wise, in the book.

He's not BAD, by any means. And his overall growth was decent, but I think Salvatore maybe had a few too many ideas about how Drizzt's childhood should go and maybe needed to sort it out a bit more.

I think my biggest problem is that Drizzt is far too open, naive, and blatant to actually have been raised by Malice at all. We're told that Drizzt spent a few years as a page to the House, after Vierna's tenure ended but before Zaknafein took him in. We're told that Drizzt had his inferiority as a male beaten into him, et cetera.

There's no wrong way to react to abuse, of course, but Drizzt doesn't seem to be intentionally cavalier. He's just irrepressible in a really stupid way. I don't buy that a page wouldn't realize that drow houses fight each other. I don't think a boy who just spent years enslaved would be so apt to mouth off to his mother. Hell, he should have realized exactly how bad it was that he left the compound at the end of the book.

I'm not saying he shouldn't do it. Just that he should think about it more.

It would have made much more sense to me if Drizzt went straight from Vierna's service to Zaknafein's. It's less angsty, but it seems to fit far better with what's been established with his character.

Also as mentioned in the last chapter, I think that the whole "no more killing drow" idea is not thought out enough.

Overall though, Drizzt is clever and likable, and talented without being TOO over the top about it.

And then there's Zaknafein:

Zaknafein is really interesting as a character, and I enjoy how Salvatore doesn't really shy away from the fact that were this any other society, Zaknafein himself would be considered an abusive father. But the story does a pretty good job of establishing why Zaknafein does what he does.

Zaknafein isn't Drizzt, and I think we see that right away. We see their surface similarities, but, for all that Zak is morally on the same page as Drizzt, Zak has spent far too long wrapped up in this society. And I find the class intersection stuff interesting. Drizzt has always seen Zaknafein in a position of strength, and I wonder if he realizes that his father is basically a sex slave who survives because of Malice's good humor, and because he's good at fighting.

I do wish Salvatore had a lighter touch though, because some of Zaknafein's issues are a bit too...unsubtle? Like it's fine that Zak likes the opportunity to kill drow, but sometimes he starts coming across as a bit psychotic. I also think Zak cycles very quickly through "I love him" and "Oh god, he's evil now!"

That COULD be a sign of his trauma, but I don't really think so. It's a shame, because it does make sense that Zak would be constantly on edge in this society. I just think the execution is a bit abrupt and sloppy.

But overall, the character work is very good. I care about these characters and I was really sad that Zak wasn't going to the surface with his son.

So yeah, Homeland gets a passing grade. It's a fun read and I enjoyed it. (And now I have to figure out what I'm reading next!)