Homeland, the first entry in the Legend of Drizzt saga, starts off with an astounding level of detail about the lives of the Drow in the Forgotten Realms. This is fantasy writing at its best. Rarely have I seen a fantasy character take shape so well and under such sinister and devastating circumstances.

When I read fantasy novels I am constantly on the lookout for break-out stories and characters, things that do not seem like yet another tired version of Tolkein. When I find something that sings with originality, I'm thrilled and want to read absolutely everything the author puts forth. I have not yet been disappointed by Bob Salvatore's work.

First and foremost the man can weave a spectacular yarn. It's good storytelling. I am eager to find out what happens because in the world where it occurs everything is unique and fascinating. Each turn of the page brings something new and moves the story toward a viable climax. Every book actually has an ending, not just a juvenile cliffhanger like so many books do these days.

Salvatore does not tend to pad his novels either. They are concise and well-edited - very tight. The economy of words doesn't divert from the subject-matter. In fact, it pulls you in even more.

In this first book about Drizzt Do'Urden, we visit the Drow (Dark Elves) of Menzoberranzan and discover their demented and twisted evil society. I did have some criticism with the level of evil depicted here, for there are not many societies that could so continue for thousands of years without totally consuming themselves in the process.

However, my criticism uses a human mind and human logic also based on our shorter life-spans. I have no idea what a society would be like with people who live to be 700 or 800 years old. I suppose everything would be slowed down considerably, so perhaps even the level of evil would be commensurate with the life-spans. It would not, for instance, matter if you committed an evil act every day so much as a big juicy one every 50 or so years, perhaps.

This novel follows Drizzt's birth and childhood (which is told quickly to get us to the good parts) and then his years being trained by the weapons-master of House Do'Urden, his father Zaknafein, who ultimately becomes his mentor and the person who shows him that a world outside of evil is possible and does exist.

I wish there was more about their relationship, but what is in the book is well done and poignant. Since Vierna (Drizzt's sister who is also Zaknafein's daughter) is also of the same blood, I found it unlikely that she would not have possessed a similar mind-set and this is never explored. She has not had the benefit of being taught the way Drizzt was by her father (as she is female and this is a matriarchal society) but still so much of what was good about Drizzt existed in him from the beginning, so perhaps it did for her too.