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Series: R. A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen

Title: Dissolution (Book I)
Author: Richard Lee Byers
ISBN: 0-7869-2714-3
Format: Hardcover 344 Pages

Title: Insurrection (Book II)
Author: Thomas M. Reid
ISBN: 0-7869-2786-0
Format: Hardcover 338 Pages

Title: Condemnation (Book III)
Author: Richard Baker
ISBN: 0-7869-28-24-7
Format: Hardcover 344 Pages

Title: Extinction (Book IV)
Author: Lisa Smedman
ISBN: 0-7869-2989-8
Format: Hardcover 344 Pages

Title: Annihilation (Book V)
Author: Philip Athans
ISBN: 0-7869-3237-6
Format: Hardcover 342 Pages

Title: Resurrection (Book VI)
Author: Paul S. Kemp
ISBN: 0-7869-3640-1
Format: Hardcover 343 Pages

Overall Concept 9
Execution 6

This is a six book series that is situated in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game by Wizards of the Coast. The general premise of this series is that Lloth, the god of the Drow (evil elves), has shut herself off from her priestesses and followers, and what kind of impact that holds for her ‘children’.

The first book deals with the jewel of the underdark, Menzoberranzan and how the loss of Lloth impacts the power struggles and day to day life of those in this city.
The 2nd book follows the ‘protagonists’ of the story and their traveling to the next closest city of the Drow in an attempt to discern if the issue is isolated or universal.
The 3rd – 6th books continue on the journey and the various external people that impact on the ‘antagonists’ journey to find their goddess and how they help or hinder for the reasons of their own.

I have put the term ‘antagonists’ in quotes as the heroes of this story are all members of the evil race of the Drow and as such are neither good or lawful, so for some readers it might be distasteful to see how callous and selfish they are during their mission.

Each book has a short prologue that deals with Lloth and what she is doing during the time of the book in question. These were rather well done as they were written in a dreamlike or allegorical method and were such that I was finding myself looking forward to these prologues of every book.

These novels were written by six different authors, despite their being one continuing tale of six primary characters. I found that this cooperative story telling method was both a good and bad thing. It was bad as the differing styles and tones of the authors were quite apparent and nearly distracting from the story, but was good as if the story was only written by one of these authors, I most likely would not have continued it, as not all the authors were to my liking.

Overall I found the concept of what was being set forth by this series to be an excellent idea with lots of opportunity for engaging stories, but I found the overall final product to be rather lacking to the point of finding myself saying “for such a huge concept, they didn’t seem to go very far with it”.

I would suggest to any lovers of the Drow or of the Forgotten Realms, that this would be a worthwhile series to borrow or loan from the library, but not anything one would or should invest their personal monies into.

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Title: Servant of the Shard
Author: R.A. Salvatore
ISBN: 0786918780
Format: Paperback - 359 pages
Rating: Overall Concept - 6/10
Execution - 9/10

This is the 12th book in R.A. Salvatore's saga detailing the events in the lives of Drizzt Dourden, Cattabrie, Bruenor, Wulfgar, Regis, etc.

The focal characters of this book, is surprisingly, two of the series previous main villians, Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle. This is most refreshing as it adds a needed jolt to the energy of this series. The previous book in the series, Spine of the World which dealt exclusively with Wulfgar, almost finished my reading of this series.

Having a book where most of the characters are just different shades of evil was a most excellent read. It was probably during or shortly after this book that the seeds of the War of the Spiderqueen were planted.

This book was also refreshing as the characters from the Cleric Quintet series (Cadderly, Danica, Ivan & Pikel) were around for a significant portion of this book.

And the end of the book leaves endless possibilites for adventures around Artemis and Jarlaxle, with Jarlaxle revealing a secret that could very well shake the foundation of Mezzoberanzan.

A most excellent read that I would highly recommend.