Exile - Introduction and Prelude

[kalinara]

So the advantage of reviewing a series is that when I have no idea what book to choose next, I can just move on to the next one. And I maybe even missed Drizzt a little bit.

...well, not THAT much. Still, Homeland was pretty readable, so I'm not dreading this. To be honest, I don't actually remember Exile that well. I remember bits of the climax, and some of the major Do'Urden developments, but I have basically no recollection of what Drizzt does for most of this book.

I feel like young Kalinara labeled this book as "the one that isn't the origin story and isn't Drizzt meeting all the Icewind Dale folk" and thus skipped it on reread. We'll see if middle-aged Kalinara has a better appreciation of it.

Beyond that, there's not much to say. I've already disclosed by general issues with the drow concept as presented in the Forgotten Realms. Those issues haven't changed and they're likely going to influence some of my reactions to things. This remains one of the very few series where the modern book covers are much better than the original. (Though one thing that does stand out for me is that Drizzt's swords in the most recent cover don't appear very scimitar like. But then I'm not sure he actually uses scimitars, per se, until Sojourn. We'll see.)

So really, there's no reason not to jump in.



So like last time, we start off with two separate introductory sections. The first one is...vague. Atmospheric, but vague. Basically, we follow a "hunter" as he angrily and silently attacks a basilisk.

The hunter appears to be humanoid, dressed in a piwafwi cloak and wielding weapons. Eventually, a second foe shows up. A "growling feline foe". So yay. Unsurprisingly, they win the fight. As usual, it takes a few pages to get there. But it's reasonably exciting.

Obviously it's Drizzt. And going by the last paragraph of the section, the nameless vague-ness seems to be intended as a way to show how apathetic and detached he's grown in his almost complete solitude.

Down the quiet corridors of the Underdark went the hunter and his cat, making not a sound, disturbing no rubble. Together they had come to know the dangers of this hushed world. Together they had learned to survive. Despite the victory, though, the hunter wore no smile this day. He feared no foes, but was no longer certain whether his courage came from confidence or from apathy about living.

Perhaps survival was not enough.

I mean, fair enough. Why not head upward, dude?

--

The second introduction is the Part 1 journal entry. It's Drizzt, so it's of course pretty melodramatic and pompous.

I remember vividly the day I walked away from the city of my birth, the city of my people. All the Underdark lay before me, a life of adventure and excitement, with possibilities that lifted my heart. More than that, though, I left Menzoberranzan with the belief that I could now live my life in accordance with my principles. I had Guenhwyvar on my side and my scimitars belted on my hips. My future was my own to determine.

But that drow, the young Drizzt Do'Urden who walked out of Menzoberranzan on that fated day; barely into my fourth decade of life, could not begin to understand the truth of time, of how its passage seemed to slow when the moments were not shared with others. In my youthful exuberance, I looked forward to several centuries of life.

How do you measure centuries when a single hour seems a day and a single day seems a year?

One of the things that I mentioned in my Crystal Shard recap, a century ago, is that Drizzt goes through a bit of a de-aging in this trilogy. Crystal Shard basically established Drizzt as being a century or two old. That's not bad for an elf, really. But it seems like Salvatore preferred the idea of Drizzt as a very young adult instead. Fair enough. So this Drizzt is 40-something. Which means, by elf standards, he's a VERY young adult.

It probably makes him comparable to Wulfgar and Catti-brie, really. (But no, it doesn't actually make Drizzt/Catti-brie a less creepy concept. But that's a rant for a much later date.)

So anyway, the gist of the monologue is that Drizzt's time alone in the underdark was pretty hard. He did okay with the physical survival stuff, but his mental health was suffering. Drizzt has his own theories as to why:

Looking back on it these many years later; I find myself amazed and appalled at the changes I endured under such an existence. The very identity of every reasoning being is defined by the language, the communication, between that being and others around it. Without that link, I was lost. When I left Menzoberranzan, I determined that my life would be based on principles, my strength adhering to unbending beliefs. Yet after only a few months alone in the Underdark, the only purpose for my survival was my survival. I had become a creature of instinct, calculating and cunning but not thinking, not using my mind for anything more than directing the newest kill.

To his credit, he doesn't discount Guen. But Guen can't be there all the time: only a half day, every other day, and the rest of the time is pretty rough. And the Drizzt of this time is starting to wonder if maybe "the pain of tooth or talon" might not be as bad as emptiness and silence.

So I'm assuming something's going to happen to change that. But we'll have to find out next time.