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Submitted by Silith 
(Sep 29, 2005)

For quite a while now I've been suffering from disinterest in the high fantasy genre, tired of repetitive themes and cookie-cutter characters. I stumbled accross The Dark Elf Trilogy when it was recommended to me by a friend, and it re-kindled my interest. I found the story quite intriguing, and I had trouble telling myself to put it down and get some sleep! One of my favorite high-fantasy series, and I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun, intermediate read, and great series to get involved in.

These books are the best of the books that I have ever read. In fact I have read this series four times, along with the rest of he forgotten realms series written by R.A. Salvatore. He has an amazing gift in writting and is able to keep the reader entertained for a long time. I suggest this book for anyone who just wants something new, I can't get my hands off of the series.

While I enjoyed this three book series, there are several things that kept it from rising above its Dungeons and Dragons origins. It takes place in the world of dungeons and dragons, the creatures are largely (entirely?) culled from the Monster Manual, the battles are in the endless "swing, parry, thrust, block" rhythms of dungeons and dragons dice rolling melee. Though I've not played D&D since I was 14 (I'm now 30), Salvatore's world is not his own - it's Gygax and Co's. If the characters were great he might have created something unique in this already existing world, but they are too too often "evil" people who sneer and laugh. Drizzt's reliance on Guenwhyvar the magical cat - which saves his life more than a dozen times (arrrgghhhh!!!!) - seems like an easy - and lazy- way for Salvatore to have his character trump death.
That said, I did enjoy the series as a light amusement for two reasons:

The first reason is because the first book is a unique experience - though it takes place in a pre-existing world. In Homeland, Salvatore throws the reader headfirst into a complicated society of "evil." If the characters didn't lose their temper and laugh "evily" (sic) all the time, this book might have actually been really good given the bizarre scenario, but the characters are mostly thinner than the paper they are written on. Notable exception: the student who becomes the faceless one - the only three-dimensional character in the entire book.

The second reason I enjoyed the series is because the second book is actually good, much better than one and three. In it, Drizzt's pure inner strength is tempered with barbarism and the world of the svirfneblim is explored. Belwar and his weapons are well imagined and Clacker's origin is intriguing. The wizard's tower is very cleverly handled. Also, how many books have a monster hurling cattle at other monsters?

The series should have ended with this second book, but the third volume follows, largely aping the form of the second, but with less compelling characters.

I guess The Dark Elf Trilogy is so popular because it is easy for D&D players past and present to imagine the world and creatures, but that- along with easy solutions to obstacles and laughing villains - is what makes it a middling offering off fantasy writing.

I will begin first by saying. This review will be a direct comparison between what we have come to know as Middle Earth, created by JRR Tolkien, and the realm from which Drizzt DoUrden comes, the under dark, created by RA Salvatore.
I am 100% addicted to Tolkien's work. I have read every book that I could find written by the hand of our beloved author. Most of them several times. For myself, as well as the countless thousands of other devout MIDDLE EARTH FANS. Tolkien's work is the qwint essential guideline that all other works concerning such matter are judged upon. When I think of an ELF. I don't think of keebler cookies, or any of the hundreds of descriptions brought to us by authors that would tread upon this sacred ground. The only Elf, or Dwarf, or troll or any other of the numerous species that were wrought in the genius of MASTER TOLKIENS mind are the only descriptions that I want to hear about.
After all, let's think about it for a minute. Let's say that you have a friend of African decent. You have known this person from childhood, and you know as much about this person as you know about your own self. Then you read a book in which peoples of African decent are described as two foot tall Keebler Elves. Would you buy into it? Of course not. It's ridiculous. Not only is it so far off base, but also it's beyond any stretch of the imagination. And that is not fun reading. If you are going to write about a well established kind of character. Then you should use the guidelines that are already established for that type of character. Otherwise, what you might be calling an elf, is not really an elf, but some new type of creature, one that may or may not belong in the Elves world.
Ok, where am I going with all this? The point is, I am all for those people who want to follow in the footsteps of our beloved creator of Middle Earth. In fact I welcome any material that can carry on the legacy of middle earth. As we were left with a dismally small collection of works from Mr. Tolkien to sustain us for a whole lifetime. And though I find myself rereading Tolkien's work often, I am always searching for the next piece of the puzzle. More explanations and information about the races that Tolkien created. An expansion of knowledge that can only be satisfied by a vastness equal to our own history. Because that is really what Tolkien's world is all about. It has a life unto itself.
With that said, I find myself reading many books in this vein of entertainment. Some I can stomach. Some are even entertaining, though hardly a continuation of the realm of Middle Earth. But more often than not, the material is so far off the accepted beaten path, that I lose interest, and move on to the next book. Which brings me to the real substance of this review.
The Dark Elf Trilogy. By RA Salvatore. In this Trilogy, which I have read now for the second time, I find a bit of the right stuff if you will. The Continuation of the drama of Middle Earth. Even though Middle Earth is not directly mentioned. Nor are any specific places that are part of Tolkien's vast history of Middle Earth. But Salvatore has done something that thus far few authors I have read have attempted to do. And that is making a connection with the realm of Middle Earth. It is obvious that Salvatore has read Tolkien's work. Though I cannot comment on the depth of his fanaticism concerning Tolkien. Salvatore certainly respects the work enough to give his characters and stories the proper setting and characteristics.
If you are looking for a story that places the familiar characters and places in Tolkien's work in some new adventure, of course you will not find it in the Dark Elf Trilogy. What you will find will intrigue you and hold your attention without any sense of severe disappointment. Salvatore's characters are all his own. The setting on the map, the land in which the story takes place is completely a manifestation of his own creation. What he has done to my delight is link his work to that of Tolkien's. And he does it very cleanly. He uses base essentials to create a new story that one can easily believe, and easily associate with the realm of Middle Earth. Though you have never heard of the places that Salvatore will bring you to. You can very well imagine that the land is a region of the map that Tolkien simply had not enough time to explore. The characters follow the guidelines of the pre existing races. For instance, Drizzt DoUrden has the proper dimensions of an Elf. As do all the characters in the trilogy. But Salvatore goes a step further. He uses terms, names, and items that are solely part of Tolkien's world. Meithrill for example. The Pure Silver that is seen time and again in Tolkien's work, appears in Salvadore's work. The dark elves themselves, called Drow, are decedents of the Silvan elves. Again, a definite creation of Tolkien. There are several other points of contact between Tolkien and Salvatore. Leading to only one conclusion. If these certain items belong solely in the Realm of Middle Earth. Then The Dark Elf Trilogy must also take place in the realm of Middle Earth. Salvatore does not go over board with this tactic. The work is completely his own. He uses just enough of these similarities to make the connection. That coupled with his accuracy in describing the features, and temperaments of his characters can only lead you to believe that this is a credible expansion of what we have come to know and love. He even creates some new things. For instance, Tolkien only describes one species of dwarf. And we know well their history, and their creation. However Salvator's first book places us in a Region never explored beyond the very tip of the iceberg if you will, in Middle Earth. If Middle Earth is a highly developed part of Tolkien's books, the regions below the earth is not. Of course Tolkien places the Dwarves in several underground settings. But there is not nearly the level of description lavished on these regions that we can see in the surface world. That is where Salvatore makes his mark. His first two books take place completely underground. And as you could expect, that much time spent underground calls for a bit more explanation than you can find in Tolkien's work. For instance, he creates a subspecies of Dwarf. But he uses his head when creating this new line, and it is easily acceptable when considering the backdrop that Drizzt, the main character is placed in. Even though the new species of Dwarf is different than the old standby, they retain enough Dwarfish traits to establish beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are in fact Dwarves. Nicely done. I could go on and on telling about the finer points of the book, but you can get all of that by reading the trilogy yourself.
What I would like to do now is point out some facts that depreciate the book to some unavoidable ends. It is important to know that Tolkien first contemplated Middle Earth, or at least its infancy in the late 18 hundreds, in his youth. He worked and worked on these ideas during the entirety of his lifetime. He did so until death abruptly halted that work. Also, Tolkien was no hack. He was a super intelligent man, being a linguist and scholar. The names Tolkien created, the races that he created, the languages that the races spoke. These were not simply a product of a creative and imaginative mind. They were all based in substance. The languages that Tolkien created were real working languages that one, if they had the desire, could actually learn to speak. Certainly not speak like one speaks English. He never could have created a working language so vast. That alone could take several lifetimes of men to do. However, the fact remains that the languages were sufficiently complete to be used as neatly as the written word of the book itself, to create the proper context for each character. These languages were based on rules and constructed in a way that say, English is taught in school. These languages are real, and therefore lend and air of believability unrivalled by any author, before, or since. The history of middle earth reads like the history of our world. Earth. In fact, it is obvious from Tolkien's work, that Arda, the name for the planet that Middle Earth resides in, is in fact Earth. Arda and middle Earth simply occur beyond the memories of the modern world we know today as Earth. So much time, so much energy. Tolkien continually reworked his own work. Making it more complete. As he created new, he would amend the old to make it flow properly. Tolkien essentially recreated the history of earth beyond the most distant memories of modern humans, as if in some deep space in the depths of some cave, an ancient text was discovered that unlocked the past that before we could only speculate about.
Such a vast amount of work spanning a lifetime, with so much creative intelligence behind it could only come from a love for the task. It consumed a great portion of Tolkien's life. What took Tolkien 90 some years of creation to get out as the lord of the rings trilogy, Salvatore has tried to emulate in a fraction of the time. Salvatore too has created a trilogy. The Dark Elf Trilogy. He Even has another to his credit, dealing with the same hero, in the Ice wind Dale Trilogy. That's six books RA Salvatore has brought us in, considered in Tolkien years, what seems a very short time indeed. Though the stories are entertaining, certainly worth while reading, maybe several times. They cannot possible encompass the level of finality contained in the works of JRR Tolkien. His Dark Elf trilogy is undeniably linked to the realm of Middle Earth. But he falls well short of the mark when considering the extensive background that makes Tolkien's work so brilliant. To put it another way. Where Middle Earth reads like a real history book, RA Salvatore's creation reads more like a storybook, that one of Tolkien's characters may have read aloud to their children. This in no way means that the Trilogy is not worth looking at. It simply is on obvious observation. RA Salvatore is no linguist. Therefore, he cannot create a real working language for his new species of dwarf. Like wise, the Drow. The species of dark elf that is the hero of our story does not have a great base for a language. Nor do any of the other new species Salvatore has created to go with his under dark world that Drizzt DoUrden spends the first tentative years of his life in. Why is this important? Its what sets it apart from the measuring stick. Names, words and places that comprise the setting for The Dark Elf Trilogy are too obviously made up. The words are not based on any history, no rules, nothing that you would expect to see in everyday life. Words are solely made up from Salvatore's great imagination, and have no real substance behind them. Where all of Tolkien's characters have a history, meaning that if you desire to look hard enough, you can pretty much find some history on any of the species Tolkien has created. Where they came from, what there language is, how the species changed over time. Again, like reading the history of modern mans progression from ape to human. Salvatore has no such option. He could not possibly devote the time in creating the depth of each species that Tolkien devoted to his own. What you end up with is some very weakly wrought characters that belong more in a grade schooler's storybook, than in Middle Earth.
My over all opinion of the book then is as follows. Certainly worth the effort to read. A definite set of books worthy of owning. Certainly entertaining. What Salvatore's books lack in depth, is made up for in their ease of reading that is most certainly not to be found in Tolkien's work. Using some of the already created history from Middle Earth goes a long way in giving the necessary depth to make this book a winner. After all, by simply connecting The Drow with the Silvan Elves of Middle earth, you already have a large base of knowledge and history. And why not. If Salvatore is at such an obvious disadvantage when comparing his work with Tolkien, why not draw on some of the already well-established history that is Middle Earth. We all are winners then. Readers get a chance to reconnect with a part of Middle Earth previously unknown, Salvatore gets some much-needed support for the story, and a good time is had by all. Although The Dark Elf trilogy will not meet the holy grail standards of a true continuation of the stories of middle earth, possible only by the true creator of Middle Earth. Salvatore certainly offers the closest connection, and the most thrilling adventure possible to my knowledge. We all thank you RA Salvatore for your contributions.

I loved it. Even with the circumstances, Zac and Drizzt managed a fair father-son relationship. Briza was one of those characters that you love to hate. I sure did.