Dark Elf Trilogy: Exile by RA Salvatore

RA Salvatore’s books remind me of my former officemate, Every, who keeps some of his Hardbound Drizzt Do’Urden books in his desk. Even if I was a Fantasy and Sci-Fi fan, I didn’t really pick up any of Drizzt books to read and follow. But all that changed when I chanced upon two Drizzt Do’Urden books: Exile, part two of the Dark Elf Trilogy and Streams of Silver, part two of The Icewind Dale Trilogy . Hahah. Too bad, I didn’t get the first book of these two trilogies. But I didn’t care. I read Exile and I was hooked!

Exile tells of the story of Drizzt Do’Urden after he forsook his own homeland the Drow society at Menzoberranzan. The story picks up years afte he walks out of the city’s gate and lived as a hunter in the Underdark. In this novel by RA Salvatore, he fights with himself against the encroaching of his hunter self.

I loved this quote from Drizzt Do’Urden:

“As I became a creature of the empty tunnels, survival became easier and more difficult at once… It did not take me lonog, however, to discover one nemesis that I could neither defeat nor flee. It followed me wherever I went–indeed, the farther I ran, the more it closed in around me. My enemy was solitude, the interminable, incessant silence of hushed corridors.”

This pretty much summed up what Exile is all about. Drizzt became a master of survival and of hunting the monster that foraged near his cave. But for a drow elf whose life has been dedicated to righteousness and goodness, survival simply wasn’t enough.

Back in his Homeland, Matriarch Do’urden was looking for a way to bring back her youngest son, Drizzt, to restore the favor of their Spider-God-Queen. If she does not gain the favor of Lloth, her house is doomed to be destroyed. In exchange for that, she requested for a special gift (called Zin-carla in the Drow tongue). The  said gift is no other than, Zaknafein, the father and mentor of Drizzt who was sacrificed to the spider queen in the novel Homeland. But he is returned for a mission–kill Drizzt! Without his spirit and without his soul, the body of Zaknafein goes in search of Drizzt.

Meanwhile, against his better judgment, Drizzt goes into Blingdenstone, the city of the gnomes. There, he finds mercy and revels at the work of the gnomes. He couldn’t help but compare the warmth and the sense of community of the gnomes. The female-dominated drow society operates on extreme individuality, cunning and ruthlessness. The sense of honor and righteousness inculcated by Zaknafein in him could not be tolerate such values in the drow society.

Drizzt confronts Zaknafein and brings back his consciousness from the control of Matriarch Do’urden. The odds were great. Being undead, Zaknafein does not tire, he does not mind being hit by Drizzt’s scimitars and he will not rest until he has accomplished his task of kiling him. But just as Drizzt was in his grasp, Zaknafein defies the control of the matriarch and plunge himself into the boiling acid to save Drizzt.

Exile, which is Part 2 of the Dark Elf trilogy is a tour de force, bringing suspense, exploration of the Underdark, and an indepth character study. It explains much about the struggles of Drizzt in regaining his identity, finding friendship in unfriendly territories and eventually making a decision that would change his life.

The Dark Elf Trilogy is a unique fantasy series that would pique the interest of fantasy literature fans all over the world. RA Salvatore succeeds in creating a world where women are dominant (to the extreme) and “mere” males are lowly, where magic is a daily part of the lives of people.

Tags: dark elf trilogy, drizzt dourden, exile, exile dark elf trilogy part 2, fantasy literature, homeland, legend of drizzt do'urden, RA salvatore, stream of silver