Book mini-review: Sojourn
2.20.2010 at 05:50:22 PM
Last night I finished reading Sojourn by R.A. Salvatore. It's the third book in the Legend of Drizzt series, which is a series of Dungeons & Dragons novels. You can read more about that in my reviews of the first and second books.
The first two books were fantastic. They had a good amount of mystique, D&D appeal, and carried strong themes that I hadn't necessarily found in other D&D novels. Sojourn continues that transition, though I didn't identify the theme of the book as soon as I did with the first two.
Sojourn picks up with Drizzt living on the surface world, a place where no drow elf truly belongs and certainly no drow is welcome. Drizzt encounters many people and many challenges in this book, but it starts off rather simply with him watching some human farmers go about their daily lives. When he attempts to make contact, things of course don't go well and they become deathly afraid of him, even sending out a hunting party from the village. But unlike previous books where Drizzt's family was hunting him, it's merely coincidence that makes this situation not work out for Drizzt.
The family he chose to look after is the target of some creatures called Barghests. They are sent to this world to devour people's life forces so that they can be strong enough to live on their original plane of existence. Drizzt merely showed up at the wrong place in the wrong time as the Barghests are crafty and make it look like Drizzt is to blame for the carnage that ensues. This misunderstanding kicks off the rest of the novel as the mistakes made during his time near the farmers haunt him through to the end of the book.
As I said, Sojourn carries a theme like the previous books. I didn't initially catch it even though it's right there in the title of the book: Sojourn. The theme of this book is that by leaving his home, Drizzt does not have one. He can be quite comfortable in a place for a time. But it will only ever be a sojourn for him. He will inevitably need to pack up and leave and it might not even be because of something he did.
Because of this truth, Sojourn has a depressing overtone to it. It's as if Drizzt can do nothing right and will never belong. Additionally, it doesn't carry as epic a feel as the earlier books. This isn't a bad thing, but it is noticeable. The first two books took place in the underdark with drow and horrific creatures posing major threats to Drizzt. On the surface, he mostly faces goblins and orcs. In D&D terms, this is like going from very high level threats to very low level threats. There's still challenge and excitement in the book, but it's not the same. I think the reason for this change of pace is that this book has to not only close off the story in this trilogy, but blend smoothly into the Icewind Dale series. I can't comment on the success in that regard because I haven't read those books yet.
A blind ranger that Drizzt befriends is a definitely highlight of the book. Despite having lost his sight, the ranger can "see" just fine due to his close bonds with the animals around him. He has an owl that serves him quite well, using sound to mark his enemies and spying on enemy orcs. More importantly though, the ranger serves as a great teacher for Drizzt. In each of the three books, Drizzt has somebody to look up to and to teach him to better himself.
There are dozens of other books that take place in Forgotten Realms and many of them feature Drizzt. I've been told there aren't many more that are "worth reading." I haven't decided yet how far I will go, but I already have seven more books in my possession including the Icewind Dale trilogy and the four books making up Legacy of the Drow. I will get to these one by one over time and I hope that they can live up to the high expectations I have after finishing these first three Drizzt books.
The first two books were fantastic. They had a good amount of mystique, D&D appeal, and carried strong themes that I hadn't necessarily found in other D&D novels. Sojourn continues that transition, though I didn't identify the theme of the book as soon as I did with the first two.
Sojourn picks up with Drizzt living on the surface world, a place where no drow elf truly belongs and certainly no drow is welcome. Drizzt encounters many people and many challenges in this book, but it starts off rather simply with him watching some human farmers go about their daily lives. When he attempts to make contact, things of course don't go well and they become deathly afraid of him, even sending out a hunting party from the village. But unlike previous books where Drizzt's family was hunting him, it's merely coincidence that makes this situation not work out for Drizzt.
The family he chose to look after is the target of some creatures called Barghests. They are sent to this world to devour people's life forces so that they can be strong enough to live on their original plane of existence. Drizzt merely showed up at the wrong place in the wrong time as the Barghests are crafty and make it look like Drizzt is to blame for the carnage that ensues. This misunderstanding kicks off the rest of the novel as the mistakes made during his time near the farmers haunt him through to the end of the book.
As I said, Sojourn carries a theme like the previous books. I didn't initially catch it even though it's right there in the title of the book: Sojourn. The theme of this book is that by leaving his home, Drizzt does not have one. He can be quite comfortable in a place for a time. But it will only ever be a sojourn for him. He will inevitably need to pack up and leave and it might not even be because of something he did.
Because of this truth, Sojourn has a depressing overtone to it. It's as if Drizzt can do nothing right and will never belong. Additionally, it doesn't carry as epic a feel as the earlier books. This isn't a bad thing, but it is noticeable. The first two books took place in the underdark with drow and horrific creatures posing major threats to Drizzt. On the surface, he mostly faces goblins and orcs. In D&D terms, this is like going from very high level threats to very low level threats. There's still challenge and excitement in the book, but it's not the same. I think the reason for this change of pace is that this book has to not only close off the story in this trilogy, but blend smoothly into the Icewind Dale series. I can't comment on the success in that regard because I haven't read those books yet.
A blind ranger that Drizzt befriends is a definitely highlight of the book. Despite having lost his sight, the ranger can "see" just fine due to his close bonds with the animals around him. He has an owl that serves him quite well, using sound to mark his enemies and spying on enemy orcs. More importantly though, the ranger serves as a great teacher for Drizzt. In each of the three books, Drizzt has somebody to look up to and to teach him to better himself.
There are dozens of other books that take place in Forgotten Realms and many of them feature Drizzt. I've been told there aren't many more that are "worth reading." I haven't decided yet how far I will go, but I already have seven more books in my possession including the Icewind Dale trilogy and the four books making up Legacy of the Drow. I will get to these one by one over time and I hope that they can live up to the high expectations I have after finishing these first three Drizzt books.