Some excellent growth for the series. After the stifling paranoia of Menzoberranzan, Drizzt's time in the wilds of the Underdark feels cold and grim. For the first time this place felt brutal to me. Encounters with many other races open up the world a lot and expand the fantastical and archetypal possibilities. Salvatore is setting up not just another world but a thousand of them closely stacked. The mind flayers and the whole situation with Clacker (genuinely made me upset) were both unexpected elements that wowed me. I can't wait to see what Salvatore does with the surface, though I'm greedy for more Underdark at the same time and I hope we get to go back. goodbyes are hard, and a character saying goodbye to someone they know they'll never see again always makes me want to bawl.