After all this time I honestly began losing hope that my method of randomly choosing books from library shelves would ever net me my next favorite series, one where I simply crave the next book and devour one after another. Then I found R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden saga.
I had never heard of Forgotten Realms before, had no idea that it was a Dungeons & Dragons universe or whatever, that it was popular high fantasy. The universe was first created by Ed Greenwood. I have read one of his books now, Swords of Eveningstar, which was a big clusterfuck of new characters getting introduced in every other scene and too many settings that I didn't understand. I've decided to really try and locate the first ever book he set in the Forgotten Realms, in hopes that it will make a bit more sense.
By chance, the very first Forgotten Realms book I picked was Homeland, the very first book chronologically that follows the life of the apparently famous dark elf, Drizzt. It was tough going, because some of it takes place even before Drizzt is born, and everyone is just a big evil meaniepants. There was no one I actually wanted to read about, which was frustrating, no characters I actually liked at all. Sure, sometimes reading about the characters you hate is fun, but I didn't actually hate any of the characters either. It was not engaging.
The hook for me was Guenhwyvar. From the first mention of a huge, majestic, magical black panther, I was absolutely enthralled. I think having a black panther familiar would pretty much be the most awesome badass thing ever, and that is basically what happens to Drizzt.
Cats, my one weakness.
And so I continued reading. I have now read 15 Drizzt books, and my next one is The Two Swords, which I would be getting tonight if the damn libraries didn't close for federal holidays. Will have to wait until tomorrow. :(
I've also read the Cleric Quintet, a companion series for the Drizzt books that follow the adventuresome times in the life of Cadderly, a cleric (hence, you know, the Cleric Quintet). The paths of Cadderly and Drizzt cross a few times, apparently, and they become friends.
Overall I really like Salvatore's mostly-realistic conversations between characters. Sure, as in a lot of fantasy, everyone's sort of melodramatic, but past that you could see yourself asking the same questions if you were in the same situation, if you get my drift. The characters develop beautifully.
What I don't like is the unending series of impossible-to-win fights that, of course, the protagonists pretty much always win. I don't mind fight scenes, in fact I enjoy them, but when the odds are literally impossible, and the main characters keep winning, it gets old and I get less and less impressed.
But like I said... I'm pretty much addicted to this series. I have read several of these book in one sitting each. Just give me five hours, a mug of cocoa, a blanket, and a cat on my stomach, and boom, there goes a book. I read three of these books in rapid succession on the plane to Hawaii. I wonder if I should reread them, since I probably skimmed through a lot of details. It's a lot of book to reread..
I think I have also read a few random books in the past couple months, but the only one I can recall is Medalon by Jennifer Fallon. Good story. First of three novels, I think, and I also think I wanted to read the rest of them before I got sidetracked by Salvatore. Can't remember much about it. Magic, destiny, and so forth... I liked the political intrigue, it'd been a while since I'd read anything like it. I'll probably revisit it when I'm done with my current series.
EDIT 11/19: Well, I have read through the Transitions trilogy, which is a conclusion to the Drizzt books in a lot of ways, but is also not... Certainly a whole chapter of Drizzt's life closes, and Cadderly's, but it's a horrible way to leave things, with so much death and turbulence and the remaining characters trying to pick up the pieces. Honestly I think the end of this book really, really bothered me.
Was I supposed to feel good for the characters that ended up in eternal paradise? Because that eternal paradise plane really seemed like a farce to me. A lie, a parody of the actual lives they had led. I think it was supposed to be rewarding, though. And so I am confused and I don't think I can just leave things here, and I'll have to read the Neverwinter series to at least see what comes next in the plane of the living.
The night after I finished this book I woke up from a disturbing dream about someone that had died that was not particularly close to me, but that was apparently close with the people around me. So I watched those people suffer and go through all those various reactions to death depending on their relationship, and I watched things 'cool down' so that it became more of the elephant in the room than anything, and it was weird and annoying and sent me back to my own experiences with people dying (which have been mercifully few but still painful) and the aftermath and watching people try to come back together and cope when being torn apart inside.
I think the paradise bothered me because I didn't like the idea of after-living in a lie. It's almost like they're brainwashed to be happy regardless of the circumstances. In comparison with one's life, anyway, which I realize could very well be that we have all been brainwashed into what we are here, and perhaps all this isn't real and so on and blah blah blah who the hell really knows.
Congratulations, Mr. R.A. Your books got under my skin.
