Homeland by R. A. Salvatore was recommended by me by several friends who also read fantasy novels. That's right, fearless readers. This is another D&D book review so if you don't care, you should probably move onto something more scientific or something with pictures.

Homeland's story is that of Drizzt Do'Urden, the poster child for the Forgotten Realms campaign. This particular book tells of his birth and the struggles he faces in his home city of Menzoberranzan.

I feel like for this review, I really don't need to be very thorough. All of my friends who read D&D books have read this book. In fact, almost anybody who reads Forgotten Realms books at all has read Homeland. There's probably only a handful of pictures who fit in both the haven't-read-Homeland camp and the might-actually-consider-Homeland camp. And for those, are they aware of Drizzt and simply haven't read his beginnings? Have they not read any D&D but want a place to start?

I'll choose the latter group. Drizzt Do'Urden is a drow elf. In D&D terms that means he should be evil. Truly awfully evil. But he's not. In fact, he's the polar opposite of his kin. That story in and of itself is nothing all too special, but Salvatore makes it worth reading. One of things that's hard to imagine in D&D are the "alignments" it has: good, neutral, evil. These alignments apply to individuals but also to entire races. It's difficult to imagine what an evil race would be. After all, there's a theory that all evil acts are committed by people who generally think what they are doing is right...or they're just mentally deranged.

But Salvatore does a great job of showing what an evil race can be. It's one that lives in near anarchy, where every member of that race is conniving, power-hungry, hateful, and violent. Drizzt somehow was born into this race with feelings much closer to what a typical Homeland reader would have. It's blissfully easy to cheer for him as he's the only character worth cheering for.

For those that read D&D books and haven't read this one, stop what you are reading now and read Homeland. For those that are wondering what a good starting D&D book might be, Homeland is the strongest candidate I've read. For everybody else, I'm really surprised you read this far. Congratulations, you are my biggest fan!

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