The short-short version of this review would be something like: "More of the same." With that, I'd mean "more of the stuff that made The Dark Elf Trilogy and The Icewind Dale Trilogy such entertaining reads." I could say "Read my review of The Icewind Dale Trilogy and replace the serial numbers with those found here on the left." I'm not doing that since it would be unfair to the book, to the author and to you. (Reading my review is probably a good idea nonetheless, since it gives you a better understanding of where I'm coming from.)
Although I did try to avoid them, there are some spoilers in the text ahead.
Presentation
The Legacy of the Drow bundles as much as four books in a single volume, clocking in at a solid 1077 pages. The books found here are The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness and Passage to Dawn.
The hardcover version I'm reviewing has a dust jacket on a red cover. The jacket has an illustration by Brom which is placed on a spider-and-cobweb pattern background. The illustration continues on the back and is, as I've come to expect from Brom, excellent. It pictures the famous drow Drizzt and his female companion Catti-brie preparing for battle on some stairway, littered with skulls.
The book opens rather flat and the font that is used is very readable. The editing is very good; I didn't spot more than five errors or some such, if it was that much.
The content
The Legacy is set in the Forgotten Realms, a high magic fantasy world with the usual trappings. Obscure creatures roam the land, as do elves, dwarfs, halflings, orcs, dark elves, etc. etc. There are vast kingdoms, evil lords, greedy merchants, damsels in distress and some dragons to boot. In other words: a great world for adventurers. Salvatore puts most of the action in only a few places: the dwarven stronghold Mithral Hall and the drow city Menzoberranzan — places that aren't given much description. This is in stark contrast with The Icewind Dale Trilogy, where the heroes travel far and wide, and where most of the locations are described rather well. The Legacy is much more focused on fewer places that are given an overview in broad, sweeping strokes. It is telling that there's only one map in the quartet, and that's one of Menzoberranzan. No maps of the visited region of the Realms, no map of Icewind Dale, not even a map of Mithral Hall are given.
The author has all the familiar characters showing up: the dark elf Drizzt, the lovely Catti-brie, the grumpy dwarf Bruenor, the likeable halfling Regis, the barbarian hero Wulfgar. Drizzt is uber-powerful as usual, Regis is again the most interesting character but gets lamentably little screen time. Bruenor stays about the same, while Catti-brie is finally given some much-needed character development.
Nevertheless, many characters from the supporting cast are more interesting. In Legacy of the Drow, we are reacquainted with almost all of the supporting characters from the previous books. This includes everybody's favourite assassin, Artemis Entreri, and the clumsy wizard Harkle Harpell. It's a feast of recognition can be a little forced, when Salvatore drags another character to the front for no particular reason. Salvatore also introduces some new characters. Among them is the battlerager Thibbledorf Pwent — me and my friend's favourite character by far. He, together with Harkle, breathes some welcome humour in the narrative. Another nice 'minor' character is Jarlaxle, the drow mercenary. An opportunistic, conniving elf of dubious morality, he is a nice break from the do-gooders that the heroes are and the ever-evil drow.
The bad stuff
The plot of the Legacy of the Drow isn't very impressive, but it's very entertaining. I'm not going to tell you anything about it, as it may spoil your fun reading it. There are some problems with it, however. Some of these I can't and will not hold against the book, others I will.
Drizzt isn't going to die anytime soon. And you're aware of that. Drizzt can do stupid things all he want —and believe me, he does pull off some astoundingly stupid acts— he isn't going to die. Therefore, it's not the question whether Drizzt survives or not that matters (he will), but how he survives. This complaint holds for the other major characters as well.
Motivations are sometimes weak to non-existent. Both me and my friend just laughed out loud at the given motivations of some of the characters. Why exactly is Drizzt going to Menzoberranzan? What does he strive to accomplish, and why doesn't he tell it honestly to his companions? Why does Catti-brie follow him in exactly the same manner? The rationalisations are sometimes so weak my disbelief-suspenders snapped. Too bad.
Some interesting things are introduced but are dropped later. For example, somewhere along the way, one of Bruenor's eyes is destroyed. He suffers no apparent penalties for this. Then it is healed, and never referred to again.
Sudden change of style in Passage to Dawn. On some levels it feels like the fourth book was an afterthought. The first three books describe grand battles, mostly underground and mostly against the drow. The atmosphere is oppressive, the colours are dark. Intervals in time are few and far between. Then, between Siege of Darkness and Passage to Dawn, six years elapse. The companions have split up once again, with Drizzt and Catti-brie sailing the Sword Coast. The book gets a certain swashbuckling flavour: the colours brighten, the mood lightens up. The regions visited are a long way from Mithral Hall and the Underdark. While the change is indicated in the books, it still is a rather brisk deviation from the former books. It's not as if the story can't continue in this way, it's that, judging by mood and setting, I would have expected the first three books to be a trilogy and that Passage doesn't fit in.
The good stuff
So why do I give the book such high marks while I list all these gripes? Because the collection is not pretending to be more. It doesn't pretend to be literature, or high art. It's just magnificent gaming fiction, with cool characters (both heroes and villains), a grand setting and written in an easily readable style. And for two additional things: the battle descriptions and some details about magic. One could argue that these are exactly the elements that make the Legacy gaming fiction.
Salvatore's battle sequences are very exciting. Details, man, the details he provides. Each action is described, each feint, parry, thrust, kick, jump and then some. Also, large battles are described very much like Tolkien's: grand, epic, but you never lose the overview. This while both
authors also highlight the smaller struggles fought by the major characters. These minor struggles serve to keep the battles a little bit more personal.
The second thing, the details about magic, is probably more personal. I like examples of how magic has impact on the world, and of how to use magic innovatively, but at the same time, magic shouldn't be the end-all solution. Salvatore walks this fine line admirably. Case in point: Drizzt acquires a pair of bracers of speed and dons them. However, while the bracers make him faster, they do not make him better. Even after training (and I love the thought that you have to adjust to magic to make effective use of it) he's still at a disadvantage. Why? Because his fighting style was a complete style, it requires balance in all elements: mind, body (eyes, arms, legs, torso) and soul. The bracers of speed disturb this balance.
Conclusion
The Legacy of the Drow accomplishes what it sets out to do: to provide high magic fantasy entertainment. While the quartet has its share of hiccups, they are far from ruining the book. I guess the reason I see all the wrinkles is that after two trilogies, the novelty is wearing off, leaving me with more attention for the little things. But hey, buy this collection — let it entertain you as it did me!
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