What do you think?
Rate this book
The War of the Spider Queen #1-3
War of the Spider Queen Gift Set, Part I
This striking new boxed set contains the first three titles from R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen six-book Dissolution, Insurrection, and Condemnation . Each author is a veteran writer who is well-known to Forgotten Realms fans, and multiple-time best-selling author R.A. Salvatore consulted on the entire series of titles.
When the evil goddess of spiders stops answering the prayers of her faithful, the matriarchal theocracy of the dreaded dark elves teeters on the brink of ruin. A hand-picked team of powerful drow embark on an epic quest to answer a simple Where is the Queen of the Demonweb Pits? The question may be simple, but finding the answer could either save or destroy an entire civilization.
When the evil goddess of spiders stops answering the prayers of her faithful, the matriarchal theocracy of the dreaded dark elves teeters on the brink of ruin. A hand-picked team of powerful drow embark on an epic quest to answer a simple Where is the Queen of the Demonweb Pits? The question may be simple, but finding the answer could either save or destroy an entire civilization.
1112 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 19, 2006
9 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
About the author
Richard Lee Byers
198 books370 followersA resident of the Tampa Bay area, Richard spends much of his leisure time fencing, playing poker, shooting pool and is a frequent guest at Florida science-fiction conventions. His current projects include new novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe and the eBook post-apocalyptic superhero series The Impostor.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 12, 2018
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Shadowhawk reviews the first three novels of the bestselling War of the Spider Queen series, recently re-released in 3-book omnibus-sized editions for the 10th anniversary of the series.
“Depicting the treacherous, back-stabbing, scheming Dark Elf society at it’s best, the three novels can only be described as adventure on steroids.” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
Forgotten Realms is one of those settings that I always wanted to get into, but never quite managed to do so. There was always something else that I wanted to read or I was just generally unconcerned about reading. I used to devour Dragonlance novels back in high school and the first couple years of college but Forgotten Realms, while it was on the radar, never locked in. And then I discovered NetGalley a few months ago, a fantastic source of ARCs for reviewers, and saw that Wizards of the Coast was offering digital copies of the upcoming 10th Anniversary Edition of the War of the Spider Queen series. I was sold. I was super-excited about getting to read them and I promptly transferred the ebooks over to the iPad.
Where they sat for more than 2 months while I got busy reading other stuff. Then July kicked in, and I was like, I’m definitely going to read these now. So there I was sitting around, iPad in hand, opening the Bluefire Reader app, and selecting the file for the first omnibus.
And I got an error message that my license had run out. Damnation. I learned the hard way that the DRM-locked ebooks from NetGalley have an expiry date, something I was unaware of until then. So I ended up buying the two omnibuses anyway. I was too committed and too worked up now to forget about them. I love reading Fantasy, especially of the “epic” style, and I opened up the file with a supreme interest, ready to dive in. Reading Paul S. Kemp’s fantastic Erevis Cale Trilogy back in May had already whetted my appetite for the setting.
By the time I was done with the omnibus, I was immensely satisfied. The three novels had pretty much hit the notes I wanted them to and they were great reads, barring a few odd things that, in the grand scheme of things, don’t actually mean all that much and certainly didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the series.
You see, one of the unique things about the series is that it is all told from the POVs of a few choice Dark Elves, or drow as they are known in the Forgotten Realms setting. This is unique where I’m concerned as I can’t recall reading entire novels, no less a trilogy, from the POVs of such characters. Some snippets here and there, such as in Raymond E. Feist’s various novels, were all that I had to go on at the time. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, reading about one of the most treacherous and self-serving race as the Dark Elves/drow takes some getting used to and the experience is quite rewarding. Thanks to JD, I found out that this was indeed true. This uniqueness was one of the big draws of the novels for me.
The start of the first novel, Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, is really patchy. A lot of characters are introduced, often for only a brief while until the POV shifts, and it made following the various plots being set in motion quite tedious. Combined with a general unfamiliarity with Forgotten Realms and the drow capital of Menzoberranzan and the drow themselves, this was a big negative of the book for me. It takes a long while to get used to all these characters and grasp at the drow culture that permeates the entire narrative. Once I was about a quarter of my way in though, I was moving along at a steady clip, (metaphorically) devouring the pages one after another. Watching the primary characters all “come together” and seeing how the bubbling insurrection in the city comes about was like watching a great disaster movie. The mood, the atmosphere, the tension, the feel, it is all there in spades.
The only other thing that put me off a little about Dissolution was that Byers uses some rather convoluted sentence structure. Long paragraphs consisting of really long, multi-part sentences really puts me off. It’s akin to reading a wall of text for me. It also made following the narrative that much difficult and that is definitely not something that I enjoyed about the novel.
However, Byers makes up for it with his characterisation and some really vivid descriptions of both drow city and the city of Menzoberranzan. Whether it is master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, master swordsman Ryld Argith, High Priestess Quenthel Baenre, or Archmage Gromph Baenre, or any of the host of minor characters that pop up in the novel, they are all portrayed excellently. Byers definitely captures the inherent treacherous nature of the drow, as well as making them all otherworldly and familiar at the same time. The convoluted politics of the drow are neither dumbed down nor bigged up to the point where following them is a chore either way. Through his characters, Byers’ exploration of the drow is near perfect. As someone who had only a passing interest in the drow before reading the novel, I was totally hooked. Reading Byers’ novel is like being caught in a feedback loop that passes along an addiction to read more of the drow, Menzoberranzan and the Spider-Queen Lolth, the goddess of the drow race.
The novel’s world-building is also excellent and it is easy to visualise the various locations that the narrative takes place at and the cavern-city itself. The “elf” feel is definitely there, as is the particular and specific touch of the drow, which makes Menzoberranzan and the Underdark two of the most fascinating locations in fantasy fiction. You definitely can’t get enough because Byers delves deep into the locations and the culture, delivering on a greater whole that is both intriguing and realistic.
While the two negatives I pointed made it not so easy to get through Dissolution, I had fun with it all the same and by the time I was done, I wanted more.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Insurrection by Thomas A. Reid. We are back with the major characters we saw in the previous novel as they are tasked with heading to another drow city in the Underdark and carry out an investigation of sorts into the disappearance of Lolth herself. As an incident that has led since before the chronological start of the previous novel to Lolth’s priestesses being bereft of innate magic, this is a rather important task and also serves to expand the nature of drow society and the Underdark alike where the reader is concerned.
Off the bat, Reid has a similar sentence construction style as Byers and, truth be told, I did sigh at that. I wasn’t even 20 pages in and already the novel had presented me with one reason to “not like it”. That was disappointing. The thing is that this approach makes the narrative far too convoluted for my tastes and everything comes across as too formal or archaic. One word that springs to mind is “Iliad”. I felt as if I was reading that instead of a modern fantasy novel.
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Shadowhawk reviews the first three novels of the bestselling War of the Spider Queen series, recently re-released in 3-book omnibus-sized editions for the 10th anniversary of the series.
“Depicting the treacherous, back-stabbing, scheming Dark Elf society at it’s best, the three novels can only be described as adventure on steroids.” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
Forgotten Realms is one of those settings that I always wanted to get into, but never quite managed to do so. There was always something else that I wanted to read or I was just generally unconcerned about reading. I used to devour Dragonlance novels back in high school and the first couple years of college but Forgotten Realms, while it was on the radar, never locked in. And then I discovered NetGalley a few months ago, a fantastic source of ARCs for reviewers, and saw that Wizards of the Coast was offering digital copies of the upcoming 10th Anniversary Edition of the War of the Spider Queen series. I was sold. I was super-excited about getting to read them and I promptly transferred the ebooks over to the iPad.
Where they sat for more than 2 months while I got busy reading other stuff. Then July kicked in, and I was like, I’m definitely going to read these now. So there I was sitting around, iPad in hand, opening the Bluefire Reader app, and selecting the file for the first omnibus.
And I got an error message that my license had run out. Damnation. I learned the hard way that the DRM-locked ebooks from NetGalley have an expiry date, something I was unaware of until then. So I ended up buying the two omnibuses anyway. I was too committed and too worked up now to forget about them. I love reading Fantasy, especially of the “epic” style, and I opened up the file with a supreme interest, ready to dive in. Reading Paul S. Kemp’s fantastic Erevis Cale Trilogy back in May had already whetted my appetite for the setting.
By the time I was done with the omnibus, I was immensely satisfied. The three novels had pretty much hit the notes I wanted them to and they were great reads, barring a few odd things that, in the grand scheme of things, don’t actually mean all that much and certainly didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the series.
You see, one of the unique things about the series is that it is all told from the POVs of a few choice Dark Elves, or drow as they are known in the Forgotten Realms setting. This is unique where I’m concerned as I can’t recall reading entire novels, no less a trilogy, from the POVs of such characters. Some snippets here and there, such as in Raymond E. Feist’s various novels, were all that I had to go on at the time. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, reading about one of the most treacherous and self-serving race as the Dark Elves/drow takes some getting used to and the experience is quite rewarding. Thanks to JD, I found out that this was indeed true. This uniqueness was one of the big draws of the novels for me.
The start of the first novel, Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, is really patchy. A lot of characters are introduced, often for only a brief while until the POV shifts, and it made following the various plots being set in motion quite tedious. Combined with a general unfamiliarity with Forgotten Realms and the drow capital of Menzoberranzan and the drow themselves, this was a big negative of the book for me. It takes a long while to get used to all these characters and grasp at the drow culture that permeates the entire narrative. Once I was about a quarter of my way in though, I was moving along at a steady clip, (metaphorically) devouring the pages one after another. Watching the primary characters all “come together” and seeing how the bubbling insurrection in the city comes about was like watching a great disaster movie. The mood, the atmosphere, the tension, the feel, it is all there in spades.
The only other thing that put me off a little about Dissolution was that Byers uses some rather convoluted sentence structure. Long paragraphs consisting of really long, multi-part sentences really puts me off. It’s akin to reading a wall of text for me. It also made following the narrative that much difficult and that is definitely not something that I enjoyed about the novel.
However, Byers makes up for it with his characterisation and some really vivid descriptions of both drow city and the city of Menzoberranzan. Whether it is master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, master swordsman Ryld Argith, High Priestess Quenthel Baenre, or Archmage Gromph Baenre, or any of the host of minor characters that pop up in the novel, they are all portrayed excellently. Byers definitely captures the inherent treacherous nature of the drow, as well as making them all otherworldly and familiar at the same time. The convoluted politics of the drow are neither dumbed down nor bigged up to the point where following them is a chore either way. Through his characters, Byers’ exploration of the drow is near perfect. As someone who had only a passing interest in the drow before reading the novel, I was totally hooked. Reading Byers’ novel is like being caught in a feedback loop that passes along an addiction to read more of the drow, Menzoberranzan and the Spider-Queen Lolth, the goddess of the drow race.
The novel’s world-building is also excellent and it is easy to visualise the various locations that the narrative takes place at and the cavern-city itself. The “elf” feel is definitely there, as is the particular and specific touch of the drow, which makes Menzoberranzan and the Underdark two of the most fascinating locations in fantasy fiction. You definitely can’t get enough because Byers delves deep into the locations and the culture, delivering on a greater whole that is both intriguing and realistic.
While the two negatives I pointed made it not so easy to get through Dissolution, I had fun with it all the same and by the time I was done, I wanted more.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Insurrection by Thomas A. Reid. We are back with the major characters we saw in the previous novel as they are tasked with heading to another drow city in the Underdark and carry out an investigation of sorts into the disappearance of Lolth herself. As an incident that has led since before the chronological start of the previous novel to Lolth’s priestesses being bereft of innate magic, this is a rather important task and also serves to expand the nature of drow society and the Underdark alike where the reader is concerned.
Off the bat, Reid has a similar sentence construction style as Byers and, truth be told, I did sigh at that. I wasn’t even 20 pages in and already the novel had presented me with one reason to “not like it”. That was disappointing. The thing is that this approach makes the narrative far too convoluted for my tastes and everything comes across as too formal or archaic. One word that springs to mind is “Iliad”. I felt as if I was reading that instead of a modern fantasy novel.
August 14, 2016
(4/5 EC14+)
In the War of the Spider Queen is possible to enjoy the continuity of a story thru six different books while, at the same time, you can see the personal touches of every author. The characterization is very well done and it is very easy to feel identified with the characters. The plot and conflict has good continuity thru the six books but the resolution is ―to some degree― disappointing. The setting and cultural background are excellent since they are supported by the framework of Dungeon & Dragons.
If you want to read a brief article about this story, then take a look at the article I wrote in my blog: http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
I would recommend these books for young adults and adults, due as much as the reading level as for some sexual content. My content rating: EC14+.
Technical Aspects:
Characterization and Point of View: …….. 4/5
Setting and Cultural Aspects: ……………. 4/5
Plot and Conflict: ……………………….….. 3/5
VOTE! If you like this review, then help others to find it. Vote for “useful” and help the next reader to find it.
Take a look at my blog to find out more about my content rating criteria and review method
http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
──────────────────────────────────────────────
ESPAÑOL
(4/5 EC14+)
En La Guerra de la Reina Araña es posible disfrutar de la solidez y continuidad de una misma historia principal, contada a través de los seis libros, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, uno también puede apreciar los toques personales de cada autor. Los personajes se encuentran muy bien desarrollados y producen apego con facilidad aunque el desenlace final me desilusiona un poco. El ambiente y aspectos culturales es excelente ya que se encuentra reforzado por el marco de Calabozos y Dragones (D&D).
Si quieres leer un pequeño artículo acerca de esta historia, dale una mirada a mi blog: http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
Esta obra la recomiendo para lectores adolescentes (más de 14) y adultos, tanto por el nivel de lectura como por el hecho de que tiene carga sexual en algunos pasajes. Mi rating: EC14+.
Evaluación Técnica:
Ambiente y Aspectos Culturales:…4/5
Personajes y Punto de Vista:…….. 4/5
Trama y Conflicto:…………………. 3/5
¡VOTA! Si te ha gustado la reseña, entonces ayuda a otros a encontrarla. Vota por “useful” y ayuda a que sea descubierta por otros lectores.
Dale una mirada a mi blog si quieres más detalles acerca de los criterios que utilizo para las reseñas
http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
In the War of the Spider Queen is possible to enjoy the continuity of a story thru six different books while, at the same time, you can see the personal touches of every author. The characterization is very well done and it is very easy to feel identified with the characters. The plot and conflict has good continuity thru the six books but the resolution is ―to some degree― disappointing. The setting and cultural background are excellent since they are supported by the framework of Dungeon & Dragons.
If you want to read a brief article about this story, then take a look at the article I wrote in my blog: http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
I would recommend these books for young adults and adults, due as much as the reading level as for some sexual content. My content rating: EC14+.
Technical Aspects:
Characterization and Point of View: …….. 4/5
Setting and Cultural Aspects: ……………. 4/5
Plot and Conflict: ……………………….….. 3/5
VOTE! If you like this review, then help others to find it. Vote for “useful” and help the next reader to find it.
Take a look at my blog to find out more about my content rating criteria and review method
http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
──────────────────────────────────────────────
ESPAÑOL
(4/5 EC14+)
En La Guerra de la Reina Araña es posible disfrutar de la solidez y continuidad de una misma historia principal, contada a través de los seis libros, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, uno también puede apreciar los toques personales de cada autor. Los personajes se encuentran muy bien desarrollados y producen apego con facilidad aunque el desenlace final me desilusiona un poco. El ambiente y aspectos culturales es excelente ya que se encuentra reforzado por el marco de Calabozos y Dragones (D&D).
Si quieres leer un pequeño artículo acerca de esta historia, dale una mirada a mi blog: http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
Esta obra la recomiendo para lectores adolescentes (más de 14) y adultos, tanto por el nivel de lectura como por el hecho de que tiene carga sexual en algunos pasajes. Mi rating: EC14+.
Evaluación Técnica:
Ambiente y Aspectos Culturales:…4/5
Personajes y Punto de Vista:…….. 4/5
Trama y Conflicto:…………………. 3/5
¡VOTA! Si te ha gustado la reseña, entonces ayuda a otros a encontrarla. Vota por “useful” y ayuda a que sea descubierta por otros lectores.
Dale una mirada a mi blog si quieres más detalles acerca de los criterios que utilizo para las reseñas
http://jalanderseries.blogspot.com/20...
January 12, 2018
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Shadowhawk reviews the first three novels of the bestselling War of the Spider Queen series, recently re-released in 3-book omnibus-sized editions for the 10th anniversary of the series.
“Depicting the treacherous, back-stabbing, scheming Dark Elf society at it’s best, the three novels can only be described as adventure on steroids.” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
Forgotten Realms is one of those settings that I always wanted to get into, but never quite managed to do so. There was always something else that I wanted to read or I was just generally unconcerned about reading. I used to devour Dragonlance novels back in high school and the first couple years of college but Forgotten Realms, while it was on the radar, never locked in. And then I discovered NetGalley a few months ago, a fantastic source of ARCs for reviewers, and saw that Wizards of the Coast was offering digital copies of the upcoming 10th Anniversary Edition of the War of the Spider Queen series. I was sold. I was super-excited about getting to read them and I promptly transferred the ebooks over to the iPad.
Where they sat for more than 2 months while I got busy reading other stuff. Then July kicked in, and I was like, I’m definitely going to read these now. So there I was sitting around, iPad in hand, opening the Bluefire Reader app, and selecting the file for the first omnibus.
And I got an error message that my license had run out. Damnation. I learned the hard way that the DRM-locked ebooks from NetGalley have an expiry date, something I was unaware of until then. So I ended up buying the two omnibuses anyway. I was too committed and too worked up now to forget about them. I love reading Fantasy, especially of the “epic” style, and I opened up the file with a supreme interest, ready to dive in. Reading Paul S. Kemp’s fantastic Erevis Cale Trilogy back in May had already whetted my appetite for the setting.
By the time I was done with the omnibus, I was immensely satisfied. The three novels had pretty much hit the notes I wanted them to and they were great reads, barring a few odd things that, in the grand scheme of things, don’t actually mean all that much and certainly didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the series.
You see, one of the unique things about the series is that it is all told from the POVs of a few choice Dark Elves, or drow as they are known in the Forgotten Realms setting. This is unique where I’m concerned as I can’t recall reading entire novels, no less a trilogy, from the POVs of such characters. Some snippets here and there, such as in Raymond E. Feist’s various novels, were all that I had to go on at the time. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, reading about one of the most treacherous and self-serving race as the Dark Elves/drow takes some getting used to and the experience is quite rewarding. Thanks to JD, I found out that this was indeed true. This uniqueness was one of the big draws of the novels for me.
The start of the first novel, Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, is really patchy. A lot of characters are introduced, often for only a brief while until the POV shifts, and it made following the various plots being set in motion quite tedious. Combined with a general unfamiliarity with Forgotten Realms and the drow capital of Menzoberranzan and the drow themselves, this was a big negative of the book for me. It takes a long while to get used to all these characters and grasp at the drow culture that permeates the entire narrative. Once I was about a quarter of my way in though, I was moving along at a steady clip, (metaphorically) devouring the pages one after another. Watching the primary characters all “come together” and seeing how the bubbling insurrection in the city comes about was like watching a great disaster movie. The mood, the atmosphere, the tension, the feel, it is all there in spades.
The only other thing that put me off a little about Dissolution was that Byers uses some rather convoluted sentence structure. Long paragraphs consisting of really long, multi-part sentences really puts me off. It’s akin to reading a wall of text for me. It also made following the narrative that much difficult and that is definitely not something that I enjoyed about the novel.
However, Byers makes up for it with his characterisation and some really vivid descriptions of both drow city and the city of Menzoberranzan. Whether it is master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, master swordsman Ryld Argith, High Priestess Quenthel Baenre, or Archmage Gromph Baenre, or any of the host of minor characters that pop up in the novel, they are all portrayed excellently. Byers definitely captures the inherent treacherous nature of the drow, as well as making them all otherworldly and familiar at the same time. The convoluted politics of the drow are neither dumbed down nor bigged up to the point where following them is a chore either way. Through his characters, Byers’ exploration of the drow is near perfect. As someone who had only a passing interest in the drow before reading the novel, I was totally hooked. Reading Byers’ novel is like being caught in a feedback loop that passes along an addiction to read more of the drow, Menzoberranzan and the Spider-Queen Lolth, the goddess of the drow race.
The novel’s world-building is also excellent and it is easy to visualise the various locations that the narrative takes place at and the cavern-city itself. The “elf” feel is definitely there, as is the particular and specific touch of the drow, which makes Menzoberranzan and the Underdark two of the most fascinating locations in fantasy fiction. You definitely can’t get enough because Byers delves deep into the locations and the culture, delivering on a greater whole that is both intriguing and realistic.
While the two negatives I pointed made it not so easy to get through Dissolution, I had fun with it all the same and by the time I was done, I wanted more.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Insurrection by Thomas A. Reid. We are back with the major characters we saw in the previous novel as they are tasked with heading to another drow city in the Underdark and carry out an investigation of sorts into the disappearance of Lolth herself. As an incident that has led since before the chronological start of the previous novel to Lolth’s priestesses being bereft of innate magic, this is a rather important task and also serves to expand the nature of drow society and the Underdark alike where the reader is concerned.
Off the bat, Reid has a similar sentence construction style as Byers and, truth be told, I did sigh at that. I wasn’t even 20 pages in and already the novel had presented me with one reason to “not like it”. That was disappointing. The thing is that this approach makes the narrative far too convoluted for my tastes and everything comes across as too formal or archaic. One word that springs to mind is “Iliad”. I felt as if I was reading that instead of a modern fantasy novel.
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Shadowhawk reviews the first three novels of the bestselling War of the Spider Queen series, recently re-released in 3-book omnibus-sized editions for the 10th anniversary of the series.
“Depicting the treacherous, back-stabbing, scheming Dark Elf society at it’s best, the three novels can only be described as adventure on steroids.” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
Forgotten Realms is one of those settings that I always wanted to get into, but never quite managed to do so. There was always something else that I wanted to read or I was just generally unconcerned about reading. I used to devour Dragonlance novels back in high school and the first couple years of college but Forgotten Realms, while it was on the radar, never locked in. And then I discovered NetGalley a few months ago, a fantastic source of ARCs for reviewers, and saw that Wizards of the Coast was offering digital copies of the upcoming 10th Anniversary Edition of the War of the Spider Queen series. I was sold. I was super-excited about getting to read them and I promptly transferred the ebooks over to the iPad.
Where they sat for more than 2 months while I got busy reading other stuff. Then July kicked in, and I was like, I’m definitely going to read these now. So there I was sitting around, iPad in hand, opening the Bluefire Reader app, and selecting the file for the first omnibus.
And I got an error message that my license had run out. Damnation. I learned the hard way that the DRM-locked ebooks from NetGalley have an expiry date, something I was unaware of until then. So I ended up buying the two omnibuses anyway. I was too committed and too worked up now to forget about them. I love reading Fantasy, especially of the “epic” style, and I opened up the file with a supreme interest, ready to dive in. Reading Paul S. Kemp’s fantastic Erevis Cale Trilogy back in May had already whetted my appetite for the setting.
By the time I was done with the omnibus, I was immensely satisfied. The three novels had pretty much hit the notes I wanted them to and they were great reads, barring a few odd things that, in the grand scheme of things, don’t actually mean all that much and certainly didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the series.
You see, one of the unique things about the series is that it is all told from the POVs of a few choice Dark Elves, or drow as they are known in the Forgotten Realms setting. This is unique where I’m concerned as I can’t recall reading entire novels, no less a trilogy, from the POVs of such characters. Some snippets here and there, such as in Raymond E. Feist’s various novels, were all that I had to go on at the time. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, reading about one of the most treacherous and self-serving race as the Dark Elves/drow takes some getting used to and the experience is quite rewarding. Thanks to JD, I found out that this was indeed true. This uniqueness was one of the big draws of the novels for me.
The start of the first novel, Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, is really patchy. A lot of characters are introduced, often for only a brief while until the POV shifts, and it made following the various plots being set in motion quite tedious. Combined with a general unfamiliarity with Forgotten Realms and the drow capital of Menzoberranzan and the drow themselves, this was a big negative of the book for me. It takes a long while to get used to all these characters and grasp at the drow culture that permeates the entire narrative. Once I was about a quarter of my way in though, I was moving along at a steady clip, (metaphorically) devouring the pages one after another. Watching the primary characters all “come together” and seeing how the bubbling insurrection in the city comes about was like watching a great disaster movie. The mood, the atmosphere, the tension, the feel, it is all there in spades.
The only other thing that put me off a little about Dissolution was that Byers uses some rather convoluted sentence structure. Long paragraphs consisting of really long, multi-part sentences really puts me off. It’s akin to reading a wall of text for me. It also made following the narrative that much difficult and that is definitely not something that I enjoyed about the novel.
However, Byers makes up for it with his characterisation and some really vivid descriptions of both drow city and the city of Menzoberranzan. Whether it is master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, master swordsman Ryld Argith, High Priestess Quenthel Baenre, or Archmage Gromph Baenre, or any of the host of minor characters that pop up in the novel, they are all portrayed excellently. Byers definitely captures the inherent treacherous nature of the drow, as well as making them all otherworldly and familiar at the same time. The convoluted politics of the drow are neither dumbed down nor bigged up to the point where following them is a chore either way. Through his characters, Byers’ exploration of the drow is near perfect. As someone who had only a passing interest in the drow before reading the novel, I was totally hooked. Reading Byers’ novel is like being caught in a feedback loop that passes along an addiction to read more of the drow, Menzoberranzan and the Spider-Queen Lolth, the goddess of the drow race.
The novel’s world-building is also excellent and it is easy to visualise the various locations that the narrative takes place at and the cavern-city itself. The “elf” feel is definitely there, as is the particular and specific touch of the drow, which makes Menzoberranzan and the Underdark two of the most fascinating locations in fantasy fiction. You definitely can’t get enough because Byers delves deep into the locations and the culture, delivering on a greater whole that is both intriguing and realistic.
While the two negatives I pointed made it not so easy to get through Dissolution, I had fun with it all the same and by the time I was done, I wanted more.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Insurrection by Thomas A. Reid. We are back with the major characters we saw in the previous novel as they are tasked with heading to another drow city in the Underdark and carry out an investigation of sorts into the disappearance of Lolth herself. As an incident that has led since before the chronological start of the previous novel to Lolth’s priestesses being bereft of innate magic, this is a rather important task and also serves to expand the nature of drow society and the Underdark alike where the reader is concerned.
Off the bat, Reid has a similar sentence construction style as Byers and, truth be told, I did sigh at that. I wasn’t even 20 pages in and already the novel had presented me with one reason to “not like it”. That was disappointing. The thing is that this approach makes the narrative far too convoluted for my tastes and everything comes across as too formal or archaic. One word that springs to mind is “Iliad”. I felt as if I was reading that instead of a modern fantasy novel.
August 12, 2020
Interesting book. Not at all what I expected. I look forward to book 2
November 10, 2022
I very much enjoyed this view into the world of the Dark Elves from a different view than Drizzt. Something about the Drow has always appealed to me as a reader.
June 4, 2010
Great Series For Fantasy Fiction. Fun and full of intrigue, the entire 6 volumes are fantastic, but books 3, 5, and most importantly book since it is by far the most interesting.
A must read for those who love fantasy fiction!
A must read for those who love fantasy fiction!
May 6, 2011
Probably the best books ever written for this genre. The story is epic and the characters interesting.
Read
September 4, 2012see review here: http://pagesofnote.com/?p=9100
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews