Book review: Exile, by R.A. Salvatore

Let's continue our journey through the Underdark with the second part of the Legend of Drizzt series, Exile. This is the book that inspired Chris Perkins while he was writing Out of the Abyss, this season's large DnD campaign. In the foreword, he writes that the book reminds him of Alice in Wonderland. I, too, thought of Alice's adventures while reading Exile, but the read hardly inspired me. Frankly, I found this book quite dull.

My main problem with the story is that Drizzt wanders around the Underdark and things just happen to him. He's hunted by the drow (and a zombie version of his father) and while that may be incentive enough for anyone to move on, it just doesn't make for an interesting novel story. Salvatore throws in lots of encounters, and like Alice in Wonderland, each encounter seems to exist in a vacuum.

Miniature Moment: Elementals and Cultists (part one)

This summer I picked up a copy of Temple of Elemental Evil: the Board Game. It's a part in DnD:s Adventure System games and, so, it contained a lot of miniatures. I figured that even if the board game was bad (I hadn't played the series before) I could use the minis in my DnD campaigns and other adventures.

While reading Homeland by R.A. Salvatore (read the book review here), I got the urge to paint the Earth Elemental, after its appearance in the book. Before long I had also painted the Earth Cultists and carried on to the Air Elemental and cultists. It is now my ambition to paint every miniature in the box since it really makes the game come to life. DnD:s monster gallery wouldn't be the same if they were all the same green color, right?

Earth Elemental and Cultists

Book review: Homeland, by R.A. Salvatore

It's time for a new feature on Sword Coast Junkie: a book review! I've read vast quantities of D&D-related printed media recently, so these columns will be the place where I gather my thoughts, summarize the plot elements and ultimately decide whether I recommend the book or not.

Homeland is the first book about D&D superstar and posterboy Drizzt Do'Urden. Chronologically only, though, since he first appeared as a sidekick in The Crystal Shard, Salvatore's first book set in the Forgotten Realms. Apparently, the fans liked Drizzt more than the main character, so an origins story became the next project.