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Review of the audiobook narrated by Victor Bevine.

Between 10 and 20 years ago, back when I only read a handful of books each year, I read through most of this series (up to book 17 of The Legend of Drizzt). With my recent re-introduction to reading thanks to audiobooks I've had the opportunity to get to know a few of the more contemporary fantasy writers. With this, my first re-read in many years, I wanted to compare the old and the new with more than just faded memories.

The best part of this book, and the series as a whole, is Drizzt. While he's sometimes obnoxiously virtuous, his thoughts and motivations bring some real depth to a narrative which is sorely lacking in just that. Other that him what this book does well are the action sequences and being a faithful adaptation of D&D. The latter has meaning for me mostly due to my love of the Baldur's Gate I & II (which Drizzt appears in) and Icewind Dale (the setting for this book) PC games in the late 90's.

I can now see that the D&D connection can be negative as well, as the general abilities and motivations (or lack thereof) of the various races have already been established. There isn't a real reason why orcs, goblins or trolls are evil - it's just because they are of that race. There is also an overall lack of depth and a cast of one dimensional characters, making this a book I wouldn't recommend to start with. Certainly, you would want to start with Homeland, which I'm pretty sure is better without needing a re-read, then take a step back with the Icewind Dale trilogy, before moving forward with Salvatore.

Victor Bevine does an OK job. He's good with different race/character voices, but I didn't care for his regular narration voice. I'm hoping he gets better with the other books in the series.

Final verdict: 3.5 star story, 3.5 star narration, 3.5 stars overall (I'm rounding mostly up for posterity to keep this at a 4 star book, but if I was reading it for the first time this would more likely be a 3)

UPDATE 6/18/18 (2 days after writing the above review): I cannot in good conscience keep this rating at 4 stars so I have rounded down to 3 stars.