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The Legend of Drizzt: The Graphic Novel #1-3

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms - Legends of Drizzt Omnibus Volume 1

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Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms - Legends of Drizzt Omnibus Volume 1 delivers the first three graphic novel adaptations of R.A. Salvatore's beloved Dark Elf Trilogy - Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn - into one tome! This story takes readers from the moments before the birth of Drizzt to the point where he leaves his Drow heritage and homeworld, Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, and ventures up into the unknown.

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2007

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About the author

R.A. Salvatore

560 books11.3k followers
As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...

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345 (56%)
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175 (28%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for Kemery Myers.
238 reviews54 followers
November 26, 2025
3.5 Stars★★★✯☆ - the graphic novel trilogy is a worthy origin story for the famous drow

For the full review, check out: medium.com/@kemerysjourneythroughstor...

What's the story about: Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn tell the complete story of Drizzt becoming the kind, ranger drow everyone knows going forward. Homeland is Drizzt's history and how he found himself completely at odds with his people and family, Exile finds him attempting to live a life of honor but plagued by his family and race, and Sojourn is his final steps to becoming a ranger and leaving everything he knows behind.

I tried! I really tried reading the book version of Homeland and got 50% of the way through before I realized once again that Salvatore is not a good book author despite having solid story elements and ideas that should work on a narrative level. After attempting 3 of these books, I'm calling it quits on them altogether. That being said, the graphic novels I am fully on board with!

The Dark Elf trilogy (Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn) is a worthy, if a little redundant, prequel series for Drizzt. As always, the action and pacing are nonstop and enjoyable with ideas that are unique and well-stuited for the story. Unfortunately, the execution is always the thing that takes it down from truly impactful. Drizzt as a character is awesome, damaged, worth getting behind, and deserving of a backstory. But while I do feel like I've watched Drizzt go through considerable events, I don't really feel like I empathized deeply or felt for him as he didn't really change over the trilogy. Drizzt finds peace, but he doesn't evolve beyond what was already known from The Icewind Dale trilogy. This series is a lot of fun and has a great sense of adventure and peril, but it suffers from the formulaic execution that fails to ever go deeper than the surface it presents. If it ever explored the deeper themes it teased, I think this would've been a truly incredible series.
Profile Image for Michelle Morrell.
1,109 reviews112 followers
November 8, 2017
Oh man, I enjoy the heck out of this collection of Drizzt graphic novels. Following along the first three prose novels in his series, it was pretty and fun and full of dark elf goodness.

These books, the original novels, were my introductions to the whole concept of D&D. I didn't have the luxury of a geeky community growing up, no adolescent dungeon masters rolling die to determine the fate of my avatar. All I had were books. They were my first glimpse into the framework of chaos, order, good, evil, and neutral. Rangers and druids, clerics and paladins, warriors and wizards. They were entertaining and immersive and helped develop my love of playing complex dark elves whenever I could.

So yes, I dove straight into this omnibus (I had no idea the comics were a thing!) and only looked up long enough to watch the pretty snow outside while Drizzt crawled through the depths and emerged into the light, experiencing his own first snowfall.

A colleague loaned me this, and then I realized the library has the second omnibus (but only the second, hmph). Already on hold!
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books178 followers
September 17, 2015
This was a very entertaining series with nice art. I haven't read any of the Salvatore Drizzt novels, but I've seen that they are very popular. After reading this collection, I can see why.

You have a Drow, which is a dark elf, as the main hero. In the D&D Universe, apparently dark elves are a very evil race. But Drizzt goes against the grain. So not only does he have to deal with his own race turning against him, but he has to deal with prejudice from all the other races who assume he's evil.

This volume shows him as a child, then on his journey away from his home city and into other areas of the Underdark. (Dark Elves live underground pretty much exclusively.) And then finally, we see him exploring the world above ground.

You have plenty of action and adventure in this one. You also have many monsters that D&D is famous for. Overall it's just a very enjoyable fantasy adventure. I would think any fans of the Drizzt stories would like to check this one out.
Profile Image for Scott.
1,416 reviews121 followers
May 27, 2016
A three book (graphic novel) omnibus of three of the earliest Realms books from Salvatore.
They follow everything from the birth, childhood-into-adulthood of Drizzt in Menzoberrazan. His rebellion against the Drow culture and his leaving the underdark and subsequent rejection from everybody in the world.

I read the original novels when they were first released but I've never re-read them and this was a nice way to revisit those stories. The art was really well done.

Recommended.
Profile Image for P. Aaron Potter.
Author 2 books40 followers
November 19, 2012
This is a much-better-than-advertised adaptation of R. A. Salvatore's second three Drizzt novels, marketed here as "Volume 1" because the comic book peeps, in their infinite wisdom, decided to reorganize the series into chronological order, rather than order-as-written.

That's one reason I note that this is "better than advertised," since I expected to be annoyed by the alteration, and instead found that the editors were right. Reding the IceWind Dale trilogy first, as Salvatore wrote them, means the reader is getting stuffed with a Thanksgiving turkey worth of traditional fantasy tropes. No sin, but no merit either.

By reading the saga of Drizzt's exile from Menzoerranzan first, the reader finds a much more well developed character in Do'Urden, but also in the world Salvatore is hijacking. There's some real heart here, particularly in the earliest scenes of Drizzt's educationin the Drow city, and his people come across not just as the heartless cardboard cutouts of some entries in this series, but real people, with motivations.

Another plus: the focus on an artistic presentation means Salvatore is robbed of his worst literary sin, the endless soul-searching monologues he has used mercilessly on poor readers to bookend his novel sections for the past several dozen Drizzt books. Listen, Bob, we get it. Drizzt is all tourtured and stuff. Shut up about it already. You're making him sound whiny.

Profile Image for Dunke.
36 reviews2 followers
December 30, 2021
Holy. Crap. This is sick. I ordered this omnibus thinking it was a collection of the first 3 novels (nope I didn't read the description properly, my fault) but it was a collection of Graphic Novels. Not what I was going for exactly but hey, I like GN's too, so I got started and holy crap I loved it. The art is great, the story is compelling, Drizzt is an awesome character and the worldbuilding it does for the Forgotten Realms is awesome! It'll probably be even more expansive in the actual novels, so I'll definitely read those as well, but I definitely was not disappointed.
Profile Image for Matt Hall.
9 reviews
August 3, 2012
Never read a graphic novel in my life so I'm not giving it five stars from that front.

It was a delightful experience seeing the characters I fell in love with ten years ago come to life in such a vivid and colorful recounting of, what I think, is the most critical and powerful three books in his entire saga.

Can't wait to get the next trilogy in all color!

Five stars all the way ;P
Profile Image for Kimberly.
253 reviews
September 19, 2020
While visually enthralling, it's understandably missing the storytelling nuances and depth of character development found in the books. Nevertheless, it was fun to revisit the first few books recounting Drizzt's origins through this medium.
Profile Image for Elisa.
305 reviews19 followers
November 23, 2015
This book was amazing! I loved the story and I loved the artwork. I actually borrowed this from the library and immediately had to buy my own copy because I loved it so much.
Profile Image for Johnny King .
98 reviews
July 27, 2020
This was fun. The origin of one of the most known DnD character, to a few of his adventure. I would recommend it. Looking forward to reading vol 2
Profile Image for Ron.
46 reviews1 follower
December 25, 2020
Loved it. I have read the novel several times and it was fun to read a shorter, visual version of the story. This will be well-work soon!
Profile Image for Larry.
337 reviews1 follower
August 12, 2023
I try not to rate comics and graphic novels cuz it messes with my year reading goal, but I enjoyed this work enough to post about it. I originally read the first three books of drizzit’s story back in the 90’s in novel format. Now, at least a quarter century later, I always worry for the books I used to love . . . Were they really as good as I remembered? If I were to reread them today, would the stories seem cheep and trivial? Yet when I saw a preview for this graphic novel adaptation of Salvatore’s classic work, well, I was intrigued and I couldn’t really say no to traveling with Drizzit back to Menzoberanzan for one more go one more time, now could I?
And so here we are, graphic novel read and enjoyed quickly. Meant to read it for a little bit, yet it’s next to impossible to put down. The art is wonderful in ways that are true to the vision and spirit of the work. Though some of the tiny minutia of the novels is lost (such as Vierna being Drizzit’s full sister and not half sister for one example) it is still brilliantly executed. And I picked up on things and pathoses that I missed in my earlier readings from so long ago. True, the drow are clearly evil, yet there is a complexity to their being and society that is so intriguing. I, myself, would love a good rpg video game or such where one could come and live a life as a drow in a drow city. So many complexities. Though I think this work came first, there is definitely a sort of Game of Thrones energy going on with the inter and intra house struggles, and that energy continues in the intrigue that lurks about with a dark, sexy energy in this work.
Overall, I loved the first story in this work, for drow society and all that. The second story was still strong, though the third story was a bit weaker … I think the third story lacked a worthy villain…there was a sort of broad antagonism and loose journey of growth towards acceptance, but, idk…not quiet as strong. Still, kept me reading.
As for the book itself, the art was amazing. Would love a few art prints from some of the scenes! However, the size is to small for me old eyes and the binding was weak: towards the end a bunch of pages ripped out . Bummer! Planned obsolescence of one read apparently. Dear publisher, use stronger glue or something.
Anyway, I’d recommend this work to fans of fantasy, D&D, and those that like a good story about intrigue, struggle, and the will to survive, live, and thrive.
Profile Image for Sam McNeill.
58 reviews2 followers
November 17, 2024
I tried reading the Drizzt novels years ago, but never could keep up the momentum of reading them. When I found the graphic novel adaptation, it gave me a much easier way to consume the story.

I really enjoyed the themes of nature vs nurture, feeling out of place wherever one goes, and the social commentaries on racism, found family, and defining yourself by your values rather than the community in which you find yourself.

If I ever read any other Drizzt books, I’ll be glad I had a visual starting point to keep track of all the characters. It’ll definitely help me keep track of all the names.
Profile Image for Michael.
1,070 reviews9 followers
January 15, 2018
Read Harder Challenge 2018: Comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image. I love IDW graphic novels. The artists are usually good and the storylines are easy to follow.
34 reviews1 follower
January 1, 2019
Original, mais long à la mise en place. Le 2ème tome est de loin le meilleur.
Profile Image for Luke Lindon.
274 reviews3 followers
June 15, 2023
I read this series back in 7th grade and sparked my love of fantasy. This graphic novel captures all the highlights. It was like a warm bath returning to this grand adventure!
Profile Image for Ben Ruholl.
4 reviews
January 26, 2025
It's pretty good, but seemingly, a lot of what was in the books only got touched on in the graphic novel, and it seems somewhat disjointed at times.
Profile Image for Jaime K.
Author 1 book44 followers
January 2, 2015
The art of this is great. The story font is small and not always easy to read. The story itself isn't fully concise. The first part, "Homeland" read well. The second, "Exile," read like a D&D game (which isn't bad) but seemed a bit too fast-paced and disjointed for a story.

Homeland
The dark elves (drow) have a matriarchal society where men are seen as little more than warriors and sperm donors. A drow named Drizzt of house Do'urden is the third son, supposed to be offered as a sacrifice to the spider queen. Before the night is over, he becomes Secondson. We watch his training and growth in martial arts under Zak and then the application of sorcere at the Academy. He hopes not to fall into the drow treachery that is engrained in others while his House increases its status through the elimination of other Houses.

Despite his teachings, he sees the goodness in faeries and is in awe of the sun. Through the betrayals of fellow drow (including his family), he learns how to stay ahead and to fool others that he is following their ways. By the end, he has befriended a panther named Guenhwyvar - the first being he can trust

That cat is my favourite character.


Exile
Ten years later, Drizzt is fighting monsters in the underdark...including the one he is becoming.

In this part, we learn of the nuances of the Houses, such as the fact that a failed attack from one family on another means the one family is eliminated. However, in order to stay in favour of the spider queen, rules can be bent.

The females of House Do'urden want Drizzt dead, and will do whatever they can to destroy in to earn favour again under the spider queen. Drizzt seeks death in the deep gnome city but instead finds sanctuary and true friendship. He learns that friendship is stronger than he realized, both in others and in himself.

That begins the quick scene changes of monsters and magics.


Sojourne
Drizzt is on the surface of the planet, and meets the Gnolls and some humans. The humans are killed by Barghests, though a survivor named McGristle believes it's Drizzt's fault (due to the fact that he fought Drizzt and his dog was killed after the animal attacked the drow). Two humans, an elf, and a dwarf are sent to get Drizzt, even after seeing the dead Barghests. McGristle tags along. It's only after the drow saves the group that all but McGristle leave the hunt behind.

On the surface, Drizzt encounters the seasons and learns how to survive the winter and its snows, and then the spring and its orcs. A Ranger saves him and befriends Drizzt. There is an intense battle towards the end of the story with a predictable ending, but was still great to read/watch.

Eventually, Drizzt goes to snowy mountains where he meets a human girl who has been adopted by a dwarf. He has a final confrontation with McGristle and learns that he has a home of his own, truly for the first time.
Profile Image for Carey Healy.
85 reviews
August 29, 2020
You get a lot of bang for your buck with this book. The Omnibus includes three complete stories (graphic novels) about a dark elf named Drizzt. Therefore, you get a ton of content in one cover.

The first story was fantastic! If I was to solely rate the book based on the first story, it would be the easiest 5 stars I have ever awarded. The story imagines a completely unique societal and cultural system. It is well-realized and very imaginative. I was riveted by the first story. Unfortunately, the remaining stories aren’t nearly as strong. They narrate some pretty generic adventures without anything memorable.

As a comic, the series is fine. The art gets the job done with clear character illustrations and confident colors. Unfortunately, as much of the story takes place underground the color scheme is not particularly diverse and neither are the environments. Monster design is sufficient without being overly detailed or intricate. Layouts are good, and the word-to-panel ratio is good. As a note, a lot of the narrative is delivered in narrative blurbs and not speech bubbles. This is probably just the result of adapting a beloved novel to a comic.

Overall, the first story is exceptional and the value of the package is great. Unfortunately, the other two stories are middling and the comic’s delivery is sufficient but not exceptional.
Profile Image for Mike Ceballos.
398 reviews19 followers
February 19, 2016
What is the real difference between a graphic novel and a comic? It is a quite thin line, but the main idea is that a graphic novel includes all elements regarding a long story, rather than just one single event or adventure colored by great illustrators. The Legend of Drizzt Do’Urden is a 90’s classic epic fantasy novel, from R. A. Salvatore who created this character in order to support a RPG adventure for TSR. Drizzt is a skilled swordman with magic abilities, able to fight in the dark, in the deepest caverns of Undermountain. He is a Drow, a dark elf that lives in Menzoberranzan, he was given to birth as a sacrifice for his goddess Lloth. However, he survived just because his elder brother died during the attack of one of the major Houses. Drizzt will grow up inside a cruelty society that only respect those that can watch his back and kill other to obtain power. Drows don’t care about outdoors living beings; they are able to kill them just for fun. Drizzt will have to maintain his own values and escape from his own family, to survive and don't become like them. A very entertainment high school novel, for young readers.
Profile Image for Shawn.
624 reviews33 followers
September 13, 2015
I first read the series this graphic novel was based on when I was in high school (and a few times since). The story is, of course, still there and recognizable. The artwork is very well done... it was great to see what an artist had done with the faces I first pictured so long ago.
However, I am glad that I first read the books. So much is missing from the wonderful tale of Drizzt in this book... the internal struggle... some great fight scenes... the feeling of a journey that the longer pages of a true novel gives and that Drizzt's sorry needs.
Still, Salvatore's work shines though. If you enjoyed the novels, you will like this book.
Profile Image for Shawn Bain.
Author 1 book4 followers
February 15, 2017
How can I rate an illustrated telling of one of my favorite series of all time?

It was refreshing to revisit these stories and get a better idea of what Salvatore was picturing when he wrote it (assuming he approved the artwork for it all). The artwork was fantastic, the suggestive and dark parts that I feared would be graphic were tastefully done - not showing anything I didn't want it to, and nothing was left out. I fully intend to buy the next volume and expect I will love it just as much as I love this one.
Profile Image for Kristen.
340 reviews335 followers
March 25, 2007
The Drizzt books are not great works of literature, but they can be fun if you like to play D&D.

This trilogy was written after the Icewind Dale trilogy, but comes before any of the rest of the books. I would recommend reading this one first since it is a good starting point and the writing is at least somewhat better than the writing in the Icewind Dale trilogy.
Profile Image for Kelsey Low.
34 reviews
March 27, 2013
This was a wonderful adaptation of The Dark Elf Trilogy. The artwork was stunning and it was great to actually see the characters come to life on the glossy pages. I say this is a great read for anyone just wanting to get into the series or a fan wanting to see the books they love in a different light.
Profile Image for Rob Tesselaar.
151 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2015
Excellent illustrations, I have read the books several times and enjoyed this graphic novel version. I will caveat that with the comment that some of the character development gets lost in the abbreviation, but a great way to spend a couple of hours nonetheless.
Profile Image for Allie.
121 reviews5 followers
August 19, 2016
This was a decent look into the world of Drizzt. The prime points of the story were highlighted well and the art was nicely done and flowed well with the story.

I would definitely recommend reading the books themselves, as a lot is left out, but still a good taste of what to expect!
Profile Image for Tod Hilton.
330 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2017
A great way to revisit one of my favorite characters, Drizzt Do'Urden. The stories are true to the books and the art is well done. My only complaint is that the lettering is so tiny it's difficult to read.
Profile Image for Ben Shee.
226 reviews11 followers
November 13, 2019
Standard tropes and good fun - as a DnD fan myself I chose to read these instead of the books - I understand that they are faithful, and I thought them to be perfectly good comics, if not particularly unique.
Profile Image for Bill Brown.
8 reviews1 follower
February 11, 2011
I love this series. If you haven't ever read any Drizzt, he's an awesome character. Easy beach read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews

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