Boundless: A Drizzt Novel (Generations Book 2)
This second book in New York Times bestselling author R. A. Salvatore’s all-new Forgotten Realms trilogy—full of swordplay, danger, and imaginative thrills—features one of fantasy’s most beloved and enduring characters, Drizzt Do’Urden.
Split between time and two worlds, Zaknafein had always been conflicted. That inner turmoil was magnified by his inferior position as a male dark elf in the matriarchal drow society. Only his status as one of the greatest warriors—as well as his friendship with the mercenary Jarlaxle—kept him sane. When he finally perished, he was content knowing he left behind a legacy as substantial as his son Drizzt.
Except . . . someone isn’t ready for Zaknafein to be dead. And now he’s back, hundreds of years later, in a world he doesn’t recognize. His son’s companions are not the prideful—and bigoted—males the drow warrior was accustomed to in his previous life. Drizzt’s circle includes dwarves, elves, and, perhaps worst of all, a human wife.
Struggling to navigate this transformed new world, Zaknafein realizes that some things have not changed: the threat of demons and the machinations of a drow matron no longer content with her family’s position in the ranks of Houses.
Though he has been displaced in time, Zaknafein is still a warrior. And no matter what prejudices he must overcome, he knows he will do his duty and fight by Drizzt’s side to stem the tide of darkness that threatens the Realms.
Reviews (170)
Some good, some bad
I have had mixed feelings about the last several Drizzt novels. Drizzt was my introduction to the Realms, and I still love the character. But I feel like Bob just kind of…plays in the Faerun sandbox, so to speak, without really paying attention to the lore of the setting (though he did contribute greatly to the development of Menzo). Since the Drizzt novels are currently all we are getting, I personally think Bob has a responsibility to the setting and lore. With as much as he deals with drow, he has had ample opportunity to bring up Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, but he ignores them, even though he mentions there are other goodly drow. The gods and the afterlife of the Realms are a well established fact, yet he often treats them as if it is just “faith”. That’s fine in the real world, but in the fantasy setting, the deities are very real and active. Maybe it’s just me, as the gods of the Realms are among my favored aspects of the setting, so I feel strongly about them. I’m surprised Corellon Larethian was even mentioned. I liked the touch of Buddhism in the teachings of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, but a connection to everything doesn’t mean an absence (even absolute nothingness is implied in Buddhism to be a *something*, at least what I have read). But it seems like Bob treats the characters who have faith as lesser, ignorant. That’s fine if you believe that in real life—I am not a religious person, either—but again, the gods are an established fact in the Realms. Please, Bob, if you read this, acknowledge their existence a little more? And show some followers of Eilistraee and/or Vhaeraun. With Bregon D'earthe and characters like Yvonnel, there is great opportunity to do so. And with Zak's hatred of Lolth, showing him the teachings of Eilistraee would be a huge boon to him. I am glad we got confirmation it was not Lolth who returned Zak (I knew this since Hero, since Lolth herself confirmed she didn’t have him). But I still want to know the “good place” his soul was in. I hope we get that answer in the next book. Though the implication that Lolth wanted Zak back doesn’t make sense, because if she didn’t have him in the first place, how could she want him “back”? Semantics? But oh, man, the ending! Talk about a cliffhanger! I am sure Drizzt has some trick up his sleeve (having to do with being one with the world. Besides, there is one more book to go. Unless Bob is truly sadistic, I doubt he would give us that kind of end). I fear for Entreri. I hope he gets out of that situation soon! Despite my feelings about Bob’s treatment of the Realms, I do await the next one, because…that ending… Nothing worse than being chased by a big, bad spider. I would probably die of fright. On a side note, I also wonder if Joen’s Heirloom is a reference to Joen from Stone of Tymora.
Too much and too little
I have loved this series for more than 20 years and for the first time I am truly disappointed in it. This entry is schizophrenic, jumping from past to present, bouncing from one point of view to the next with very little time spent in one place. The jumps to the past in particular feel really bad. Perhaps they are building to something in the future but for now it just feels like filler because Salvatore doesn't know what to do with the massive powerful cast of characters he has in the current timeline so he instead focuses on Jarlaxle and Zaknafein. Unfortunately that filler comprises half the pages. As with everything Salvatore the fights are fantastically written, and the only reason this isn't a 1 star, but unlike previous entries they all feel nearly pointless. The enemies here are either unbeatable, unchallenging, or some outside force intervenes to make the whole encounter pointless. I will read the next entry, especially with the way this one ends, but I truly hope Salvatore finds a way to recapture the magic he instilled in the series for so many years. If not it may finally be time to let Drizzt and the Companions rest.
Couldn't put it down!
So for a series that's going on for three decades, you'd think the story would go a little stale, but that's not the case with this latest book. I adore this book, it went by too fast, it started off with a bang and ended on one too. I can't wait for the next book!
He’s getting old.
The main plot didn’t move along very much and most of the pairings of characters and their relationships seemed contrived and unnatural without much depth or thought to developing them to have unique reactions to each other. The demons are also an incredibly shallow antagonist and don’t really seem scary or threatening at all throughout the story. This and Timeless are probably the worst books in the series since Dellie Curtie was around and I thought about giving it a 2/5 rating but the sword fights are good and the ending of the book set up the potential for the Next book to hopefully right some of the wrongs of the last two books. After two misses in a row you have to wonder if Salvatore still has IT. Here’s hoping.
Bummer boring impossible to believe - don't buy it! Don't waste your money! Not worth it.
I love RA Salvatore books. I've bought every single book about the forgotten realms and Drizzt. He peaked at the book that reincarnated the companions of the hall, especially writing about Regis and Toppolina and the lich wreck. Ok on to the bad news. This book sucks. The book has no plot. Has no character development. Flips between hundreds of years is confusing as heck, and the worst sin possible? DRIZZT THROWS AWAY ALL OF HIS ARMOR AND WEAPONS TO FIGHT A DEVIL NAKED?!!!! WTH IS RA SALVATORE THINKING? SURE, EMASCULATE DRIZZT, MAKE HIM DEFENSELESS THEN KILL HIM OFF, SURE OK WHATEVER. RA SALVATORE IS INTIMIDATED BY A Minority MAN BEING POWERFUL AND BEING ABLE TO KILL MONSTERS AND HAVE CHILDREN SO DRIZZT HAS NEVER EVER ACTUALLY KILLED ANYONE WITH DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS ITS ALWAYS "IMPLIED" THE MONSTER DIED. NOW HE RUNS AWAY FROM A DRIDER DEVIL DEMON CONSTRUCT NAKED??????SURE RA SALVATORE KEEP EMASCULATING DRIZZT. Really just kill Drizzt off or stop writing about him. We're tired of your drizzle and stupid plots. You really were at your peak when you wrote actual adventure modules like Artemis and Jaraxle killing dragons and going into the blood lands etc. I wish that RA Salvatore was back. Not this bored with Drizzt emasculated crap your writing now, bored with him, drained of ideas and stupid stupid plots. You've lost your most ardent supporters. I'm done. Don't buy this book for any reason. Trust me. Drizzt running around naked. Give me a break.
Excellent, as always
I have been reading this author from his beginning. I was a teen then, now I'm 45. His stories are just as compelling and dear to me now as ever before. Thank you Mr. Salvatore... Sincerely I thank you.
Great battles as always, plot is up in the air, but the infinite demon hordes are getting old
Like a lot of people I've read all of Salvatore's Drizzt novels and enjoyed most. However this is one of the few I've felt compelled to review. The overall introduction of Zaknafein to the series has been interesting. Salvatore has given the companions such tremendous powers that he has little choice but pulling other characters from their past that are able to run with them. And the Jarlaxle/Zaknafein bromance is both entertaining and enlightening helping move their characters forward to whatever inevitable conclusion Salvatore has come up with. I have personally enjoyed his back story, arguably the focus of Timeless, but continued here more than I enjoyed the main plot. So that's where this gets a star or two knocked off. The main story once again has a demon army rising up to crush the Dwarves and their allies. In addition to the demons, who have infinite resources/lesser demons to call on there are now two major demon constructs that are completely unstoppable coming after some characters. On top of that another major drow house has taken it upon them to march against the Dwarves, humans, and halflings even after multiple houses and countless nobels (and slaves) have gotten crushed repeatedly over the past couple hundred years. Ok. Sure. Let's go with that. Where is the balance against these demon hordes? The dwarven gods have basically given the Battlehammers a throne that gives them wisdom. That's swell. But Tyr and other goodly gods seem to not really be interested in the entire Abyss emptying out repeatedly on Faerun. A nobel family from Waterdeep is involved but apparently them raising a fleet of pirates along with demons and sending them against a city isn't enough to pique anyone's interest. There is a dwarven clan that has gone into an arrangement with these nobels and with demons to kill off other dwarves. I'm not even sure Duerger would knowingly ally with demons but here are a regular clan of Dwarves throwing their own beliefs out the window on a whim. Last complaint. And it's a small one but I think it's important. When a character is removed in a book from the series it's OK to let them stay removed. I won't say which character but Salvatore tends to bring back characters he really liked creating even after dramatically killing them off. Let them stay dead please. Take the opportunity to expand the characters you draw from. When I was halfway through this book I would have rated it 2 stars. It finishes off with a cliffhanger but left off giving me some hope that my issues with the main plot would be dealt with in the final book of the series. Really this is a 3 1/2 star rating but if the plot doesn't help clear up the mess of this book I'll probably come back and drop it back to 2 stars. One of the great things about Forgotten Realms is that there is a natural balance at work represented by the different gods and different races. Salvatore seems to have forgotten that in this latest series.
Middle of a tangled ball of dark yarn.
There was a time that I thought maybe these stories had lost some of what drew them to me but I wouldn’t put them down. This, like so many before prove that these characters and their journeys still have much to play out. We get to know even more about Jaraxle and Zaknafein’s relationship and history. We get to wonder how much that history and the relationships spawned so long ago may yet come in to play in the here and now. What more can they go through? Can any of them go through? What is racism and how does it taint how one views the world and how you might interact with those who have so much to offer you? How does growing up with such defined beliefs and narrow viewpoints hold one back? R.A. Salvatore writes fantasy, yes; however, he seems to have his pulse on what is happening outside on the streets of our reality.
It's a Drizzt novel but not really.
Huge huge huge fan have been reading these books over and over again since Crystal Shard was released and I was a freshman in high school. I am sure I will read this book again when the next one comes out, assuming one does, but... this book felt more like set up for another book. Most of the story centered on Drizzt's father, in the past, with story cutting back and forth between current events and past. Probably less than an 1/8 of the book followed Drizzt. Really enjoy Regis/Spider charecter but not much more with him either. And then a just a cliff hanger ending.
One Of The Best
The book is set in the past in Menzobarranzen and in the present in Menzobarranzen, Luskan, Gauntilgrym, Neverwinter and Waterdeep. It gives you quite bit of background in the years before Drizzt was born. Boundless goes deeper into the relationship between Jarlaxle and Zaknafien. I found the book fascinating and poignant. You see the Drizzt series in a whole new light. I would recommend Boundless to any fan of the Drizzt series.
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