Another epic installment in the Drizzt books! I loved this! Classic fantasy through and through! I was pulled so far into the world that I didn't want it to end. I wanted to keep reading, and upon finishing, I started it all over again with book 1. It was just fantastic. I wish I could describe it better. What a conclusion to this world and Drizzt Do'Urden.

ARC From Netgalley.

Sat and finished this one in a 3 marathon session yesterday... not sure why I've been reading snippets here and there and not focusing on it...
SPOILERS AHEAD....




With Drizzt transcending onto the spiritual plane at the end of Boundless, in order to escape the retriever, this book was almost completely without him. For the book to still be so exciting without the main character is a testament to R.A. Salvatore and the love that he has cultivated for his characters over these long years.

I want to focus on 3 points:
1) Zaknafein and his adoption into the Companions of the Hall.
This trilogy has half been dedicated to the backstory of Zak and his time in Menzoberranzan, becoming friends with Jarlaxle, and through the birth and training with Drizzt, all taking place before and during Homeland. I really enjoyed seeing this side of him and the clarification to his past that we never really had before. However, during the other half (picking up from his resurrection at the end of Hero) we get to see him grow and develop to the world as it is now, where Drizzt has many non-drow friends he loves like family. Thinking him dead, they give his weapons and armor to his father and Zak is able to fill that role in combat that Drizzt always had. I look forward to seeing him continue to grow his relationships and be allowed to show love for others, as he couldn't in the Underdark.

2) The Restoration of Pwent, Dinin, and the fall of the belief in Lolth.
Near the end of the book, Kimmuriel communes with the Ilithid hivemind and discovers a truth about Lolth and Menzoberranzan in general. It was not always a city of treachery and chaos... it used to have a lot of hope, giving the drow race a place to grow and thrive away from the surface. Much more teamwork and equality (still not for men LOL) but those ideals are now something that House Baenre and several other houses are going to try to impose on the city. I'd REALLY be interested to see a series of books about that, perhaps from Salvatore, perhaps not.
ALSO, the all-powerful nature of Lolth is called into question when it is proven that her "blessings" don't always come from her, and she genuinely doesn't care about the drow race, instead dividing them and driving them further away from their real purposes. The main way this is explored is that Yvonnel and Quenthel are able to (with the help of other drow priestesses and wizards) perform a ritual to eliminate drider transformations. This has always been known as a punishment from Lolth and that they can reverse it takes away from her assumed divine nature.
Matron Zeerith (known for having the blessings of Lolth throughout this book) had been given a huge army of driders. As they run through this gate (created by Yvonnel and Quenthel), they revert back into their original drow forms and subsequently join House Baenre, seeing the non-power of Lolth. Not only does this bring Dinin Do'Urden back to life (a total surprise for me) but Pwent is also able to run through the gate and cure his vampirism. I'm so so so happy to have him back with the whole group!

3) The birth of Brienelle Zaharina, half-drow daughter of Drizzt and Catti-Brie
The end of this book details the birth of Drizzt and Catti-Brie's daughter (legally Brienelle Zaharina, nicknamed Brie-Zara or simply Breezy) and rejoicingly, the return of Drizzt to the material plane (literally the last sentence! but at the expense of Afafrenfere's life). I've followed these characters since I was a teen (40 now) and this scene made me cry. I really look forward to seeing how parenthood changes Drizzt and Catti.

Yet again I sit in awe of Salvatore and his ability to affect me so deeply with these stories. I sincerely hope they NEVER stop coming, though I know that's extremely unlikely. There is a reason I refer to Drizzt as one of my best friends...

Recommend... but don't start here.

Relentless is the third book in the Drizzt trilogy by R. A. Salvatore. Released 28th July 2020 by Harper Collins on their Voyager imprint, it's 464 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is immersive campaign fantasy in a classic style. It provides political action, campaigning, skulduggery, questing, magic and everything for the 'doorstop fantasy' nerd. I have followed the progress of the series and world building since the beginning, and will say right away that I believe that this book would suffer greatly by attempting to read it as a standalone. There's way too much backstory and context necessary to be read by itself (although the author does spend probably 30% of the content recapping things that went before). The series has spanned over 3 real-life decades and I have no idea how many books altogether (35? More?). Although the author includes an extensive dramatis personae at the beginning (along with the requisite maps) it's not a trivial task to keep everyone straight and remember which house is trying to kill whom. (Spoiler, they're all trying to kill each other).

I enjoyed the series very much and thought this last volume did a good job of wrapping up some of the disparate plot threads. Most of the action involves Zaknafein and for a Drizzt book there was a marked lack of Drizzt. It wasn't too perfect or upbeat. Admittedly it didn't feel complete to me. Astoundingly enough, I've been with these characters for roughly 30 years. (!!!) The entire Forgotten Realms universe has such verisimilitude because it's built up over so much time and the canon has so many layers that it's gained a sort of reality, gravitas even.

The language is about average for a doorstop fantasy. There's a fair amount of violence and some sexual content, along with discussions of infanticide, regicide, murder, etc. I don't imagine it would offend the majority of readers.

Three and a half stars, and four strong stars for the series thus far. It'll be interesting to see what's in store in the future.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I really love the rich tales that R.A. Salvatore builds whenever he writes a new forgotten Realms book. This trilogy that tales the story of Zaknafein, the father of Drizzt filled me with such glee that I would love for him to show up in future books. I love that Catti-brie gave birth to a daughter and they named her after Zaknafein. Lol

Relentless by R.A. Salvatore was a duty, more than a delight. I’m sorry to say.

The Thousand Orcs by R,A, Salvatore was my introduction to fantasy and really the first book I’d ever read because I wanted to. Prior to that, it was all for school or incentives like free Pizza or some other bribe from my parents to get me to read.

But I chose to read The Thousand Orcs and thereby I discovered the world of Drizzt and subsequently devoured every existing Drizzt book starting back with The Crystal Shard.

I fell off the Drizzt wagon at some point. Perhaps I grew fatigued, but more likely it was that I’d reached the limit of all existing books, and when I tried to re-enter the world when next I discovered a new book, too much time had elapsed and I lost touch with Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall.

When the opportunity arose to get an ARC of the newest Drizzt book, I said “why not?”

To be honest, I didn’t even believe I’d be approved for it. But to my surprise, I was approved.

I hadn’t read Timeless, and so I did, and I loved it. It was everything I wanted from a Drizzt book. You can read my Timeless review for more details.

When I got to Boundless, I read the first chapter or two, excited for what lay ahead. But I was so put off by the opener that I made the decision to skip Boundless entirely and hop straight to my ARC of Relentless.

It was slow. Mind numbingly slow.

Relentless Review

The format for these three books did not help my dilemma.

If you’ve been reading them, which I’ll assume you, then you might understand it’s a bit difficult to get into a story when you are removed from it after 6-8 chapters.

Just as I was getting into the story of Jarlaxle and Zaknafein, I was take to the “present” and forced to forge a new path, learning to care about what’s going on.

By the time I had a handle on the future and was invested, it would switch back to the past and I’d have to ask myself “now what was going on here again?”

Not to mention, the Houses of Menzoberranzan are so mixed up between the two timelines. The past I understood. This was the hierarchy I was used to.

But the future?

I couldn’t wrap my brain around matron’s bearing the Do’Urden name, but not being Do’Urden’s at all.

This is probably because I missed about 6 books in the Drizzt timeline from where I ended to where Timeless picked up.

Yes, yes, Timeless had this same format, but it bothered me then as now, but at least the pacing kept me absorbed then. It did not here.

The Story

The plot or story of Relentless is pretty poor.

The heroes are beset on every side by the biggest challenge they’d ever faced.

But it really felt like Salvatore was running out of big bad enemies for the heroes to face and he was grasping at straws to keep things interesting.

The only redeemable aspect of the story is that Salvatore ties up a lot of loose ends. And he gives us a lot of insight into events that occurred twenty years or more ago for us, and hundreds of years before for the characters.

Whether Salvatore knew these details 20 years ago, or only recently came up with an explanation for their significance is unknown to me.

But these revelations and nuggets aside, the story is flat and predictable.

The heroes need to come up with a way to survive.

Oh look, they survive (spoiler).

The Ending

So, apparently in skipping Boundless, I missed where Drizzt was killed by the retriever.

This came as a bit of a shock in the opening pages of Relentless, but hey that’s my own bad for skipping Boundless after all.

The problem here, is that authors have a hard time parting with their children.

That should have already been evidenced by the plethora of revived characters including Catti-brie, Regis, and Zaknafein.

So Drizzt bit the dust.

Is Salvatore going to leave him dead? If you think he might, you’re deceiving yourself.

I don’t usually put spoilers in reviews. And I won’t reveal any details at how about the who, what, where, when, why, and how, but it’s a MAJOR mark against Salvatore for not leaving Drizzt dead.

In my opinion.

Perhaps he wants to keep writing these books. And if he writes another, I probably won’t be reading it.

Not because I don’t love Drizzt. I do.

But because I’m just done.

We had a great run. Drizzt and me.

But it was a slog to finish this book and I did so more out of obligation for the ARC than I did out of a want to know what happened.

I already knew what happened.

Because I’ve learned that Salvatore is incapable of killing his characters and leaving them dead.

That doesn’t mean there needs to be a sad ending.

I’m not saying that the heroes need to lose or the bad guys win, but what I’m saying is that there could have been some pain along the way.

Not a single major character–not a single one–dies over the course of this book.

In fact, I don’t remember ANYONE dying in this book. Bad guys or good guys alike.

A couple of demons, sure, but actual antagonists?

Nope.

How does that work?

Well I’m not going to ruin it, but if you’re looking for the most epic showdown and biggest battle scene you’ve ever read, you will need to look elsewhere.

Relentless does not have what you are looking for.

Final Thoughts

I’m glad Relentless is over. Now I can dive into Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty.

2.5 stars out of 5 for Relentless.

This book is hard to talk about without extreme spoilers. Its is book 33 in a overarching series about just Drizzt or book 46 with all of R.A. Salvatore's tie in books. If you're new to Drizzt then please start with Homeland book 1 in the Dark Elf Trilogy not with this review. If you are new to Drizzt then the journey will be worth it.

What I can say is that this is a great conclusion to the series and the books (so far)

R.A. Salvatore does a wonderful job of approaching hard subjects through a fantasy lens allowing readers to think critically about subjects like racism, sexism, hate, religious intolerance, and many other subjects without any chance of blame towards the reader or their beliefs. An example of what I mean by this is you cant be racist against a race that doesn't exist (drow, elves, dwarfs, halflings, etc.) but you can see what racism towards a fantastical race looks like, why its wrong to judge someone because of their skin color, and how to incorporate these lessons into your own life. Salvatore using his platform, and a very well known fantasy character, for educational good.

Having read the entirety of the Drizzt Saga over the years, I am always happy to read the newest title by R.A. Salvatore. The majority of this title takes places with the dark elves and is really dialogue heavy for the first half of the book. The typical action Salvatore picks up the second half the book with an excellent ending. Not one of the best titles in the series, but still a good entry into the Drizzt Saga.

This latest installment in Salvatore's long running books on everyone's favorite dark elf, Drizzt Do'urden, picks up where we left off in "Boundless". Most books in this saga are divided into trilogies of sorts, and this final installment in this trilogy there is a lot that is very familiar, but also a few twists that I can hope will turn out to be interesting in the future.

First, a minor spoiler: Drizzt does not appear in the book. The end of the previous book as such is not resolved here, though there are quite a few hints on the subject. This is not the first time we've had a book without Drizzt in it, but it's still noteworthy as for the first time we're not quite sure of his fate.

Otherwise the book follows the same path as the earlier books in this trilogy: about half is following Zaknafein's adventures in the past while the other half is on the present. As before, the past is more interesting than the present though less so than in the earlier books. We've reached the events of Homeland so there isn't much new information to be had, and surprisingly seeing the same events unfold from Zaknafeins point of view is a lot less interesting than I thought it would be. I was quite disappointed that the whole training montage section is missing entirely.

As for the present, I'm never a big fan of massive army battles with thousands of demons and other high-level beings thrown around like rags. There aren't even any interesting strategies or tactics this time around which makes it doubly boring.

I can't talk of the conclusion without giving away spoilers but it's questionable at best. There are some things happening that seem very "deus ex" and people acting way out of character. This might lead us to new and interesting paths though, so I'm trying to give it the benefit of the doubt.

In short, this is a typical installment in the Drizzt saga - not one of the better ones, but not one of the worst ones either. If you've kept up with the series all the way through, no point in stopping before this book (or likely, after it either). Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review

R.A Salvatore never disappoints with his books. I have been a long time fan and will continue to read anything he writes.

This book was just another thrilling conclusion to another chapter in the legend of Drizzt. Not having Drizzt having him in this physically didn't really make it any less because of his friends and the ideas that Drizzt loves and embody were still there. There was the usual action and intrigue that you come to expect from any of these books. A little bit of repetitiveness in some aspects perhaps but then still if you love this style of story you won't mind so much. I can still only envision future stories where our heroes will face more dangers but will there be a new hero to add to Wulfgar, Reges, Cattie Brie and Bruenor along with so many others. I look forward to rereading this series again and the entire series of Drizzt books. This gets a three and half to four stars for me overall. Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the chance to read another adventure of Drizzt.

Drizzt's journey continues, and the trilogy ends.

It’s greatly recommended you read previous novels leading up to this one. Mind you, it would help immensely if you read the entire Drizzt timeline (which is a lot!) but since that is a lot of books to catch up on, the last few trilogies leading up to this one would likely help. My mistake was not doing so and I was left with lots of gaps and holes that I didn't quite understand. A lot of references were made about past adventures. Admittedly, I was lost for some parts of the book but, since I love Drizzt and his buddies I definitely will go back and reread this one and read the past novels to catch up on what I have missed.

Salvatore gives readers what they want–stunning swordplay, fabulous magical battles, and demonic machinations. There is a fantastic amount of action in this novel always in the service of the plot making each scene not just entertaining but utile. This one was definitely worth reading for its influential position in fantasy and published D&D literature. What stands out most in this final part of the trilogy, is the lengths and strengths the main "good" characters go in order to save or avenge their love ones.

The action scenes and the ending tension are still top notch. Grabbing the reader and not letting go. Because the book is one action scene after another, is hard to put it down once you start reading.

I have read everyone of the Drizzt novels and couldn’t wait to read this one. Written in his typical form, Salvatore left nothing to be desired in the story of Relentless. I enjoyed the retelling of the origin story from different perspectives. I loved the more-in depth details given about characters that I never knew. The way in which Salvatore brought the cycle to the beginning was amazing.
Having been a longtime reader of the Drizzt novels, it is especially hard not having the main character in the story. Knowing that this is the last book has been especially hard to read, and the end left me wanting so much more.

As is so typical for a Salvatore novel, whether it be set in Toril or Corona or elsewhere, Relentless has such a wonderful mix of depth and humor, thought provoking prose and high adventure, fantastically written battle scenes and compelling monolog and dialog. What has become a tendency in his recent stories in the tale of Drizzt is that the stories are tangential to drizzt, drizzt related but not starring the rogue draw himself as a main viewpoint character. The last three books in particular focus mostly on the story of his father Zaknafein and his journey as well as Jarlaxle, the companions of the hall and their allies though the story itself is held together at the center by drizzt in one way or another even though he is rarely on page.

There is a bit of a letdown that many longtime readers of the legend of Drizzt will feel, as I did, because over 30 years he has become such an integral fictional character in our lives and his voice can be missed. He isn't absent, and the story has no gaps in attempting to spin itself out nor does it lack the deep thought that often accompanies Drizzts actions. The characters that do take up the pages are compelling in their own right and certainly no letdown, it is simply that he is such a beloved character that you always turn a page hoping his unique view of the world will be shown through his eyes once more.

With other great stories coming to their conclusion such as the Wheel of Time, series by Weeks and Hearne and, at least in video mediums, Martin etc. there is the fear at the end of every epilogue that we have seen the last of Drizzt Dourden on the page. More than once over the past few years it has felt like good bye when the novel was done, and even this trilogy is more of a branching out of his story after his tale concluded than a central storyline. If it is the last time we will see his story moving forward, once again, Salvatore has left us in a place where I suspect longtime readers will find bittersweet satisfaction. The only reason I say bittersweet is that the story has not grown stale, Salvatore is in as fine of form as ever, and there is so much more ahead for the Drow ranger, so much we want to see, and so few books, novels and series that so capture the joy of fantasy in its true form these days with all the heroism and joy, depth and struggle, magical moments and deep thought inducing ideas.

Its hard to finish any good book, turning the final page is like saying farewell to a best friend, but I always agonize most over Salvatore's Drizzt novels when the epilogue appears. A constant companion of mine since my teens and now nearing 40 I find Relentless as enjoyable as I did the Crystal Shard when I first began reading. Some things have changed in Faerun and fantasy itself has had its shifts but while Drizzt has stayed relevant incorporating these changes to a degree a Drizzt, or novel in the Forgotten Realms, story by Salvatore is still what it has always been. Tales that touch the reader and take ones imagination on a wonderful journey. I can't wait until my young daughter is old enough to being these stories, for the legacy I wish to pass on has been so long dormed in part from this series. Relentless continues, and perhaps ends, these stories in as fantastic a fashion as Homeland began them. I hope it is not the end, I hope for another 30 years, but if it is I say we'll done Mr. Salvatore, you've done fantastically again.

Drizzt is a characters that I can't get enough of. It's good and even if I wouldn't recommend starting with this series, even less this book of course, for the Drizzt fan this is a trilogy to read!