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schwarmgiven's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the first part of the War of the Spider Queen.
Lolth is quiet, clerics are powerless, and great forces threaten the city of Menzoberranzan. This is a fantastic first part to the series. The Party is cleverly introduced (with the Baenre well represented), the intrigue of Drow culture is perfectly presented. The battle scenes (and riots) are epic in scope and well described. Demons are summoned and dismissed--some of my favorite parts of the book are the Drow working with the Demons. Elemental forces are unleashed, just absolutely tons of fun.
I really enjoyed this book a lot + am looking foreword to reading the rest of the series.
Lolth is quiet, clerics are powerless, and great forces threaten the city of Menzoberranzan. This is a fantastic first part to the series. The Party is cleverly introduced (with the Baenre well represented), the intrigue of Drow culture is perfectly presented. The battle scenes (and riots) are epic in scope and well described. Demons are summoned and dismissed--some of my favorite parts of the book are the Drow working with the Demons. Elemental forces are unleashed, just absolutely tons of fun.
I really enjoyed this book a lot + am looking foreword to reading the rest of the series.
hidekisohma's review against another edition
2.0
Wow..that took...FOREVER.
Having started playing a dnd campaign recently i decided to read a dnd inspired book and this took me two whole weeks to read. this book NEVER ENDED. it just kept going and going and going.
The plot is basically the priestesses who get their power from the spider god lolth have lost their powers and they don't know why. also there's unrest among the lesser races because they're slaves and treated terribly.
That's the basic premise. all the rest of the book is politics. Dark Elf society politics. and it's very very very boring. I don't like fantasy politics. i really don't. I have never read any game of thrones books because of this. I think having politics in your fantasy settings is one of the most boring things you can do, but, here we are.
If you want 400 pages of, who's backstabbing who, who's making a deal to further themselves, intrigue, assassinations blah blah blah then this book is for you. For me, i just found myself INCREDIBLY bored.
There were a lot of characters. like a LOT of characters to the point where i confused 3 of the main female characters more than i'd like to admit. i zoned out through a LOT of this one because of this. There isn't a lot of description, but there IS a lot of dialogue.
Nobody in this book is a good person. Everyone in this book is a terrible, awful person and there is literally no one to root for. I understand this is the concept of drow, but i figured there would be SOMEONE i could latch onto and like. No, this is not the case. everyone is awful.
Every single percent in this book on kindle was a schlog. i felt myself growing older with every single page i read.
The only real positive i can say was that the battles were done nicely. Basically if you've ever played a single dnd campaign, then you know how the battle system works and the characters were fighting as if they were playing a dnd campaign. and that was pretty cool.
I am SO glad this book is done and i can move on.
It's not that i HATED it, it's just that i felt every single page and wanted to move on. This book was about ~400 pages and it FELT like 400 pages. For the last half i felt like Freddy Krueger going "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" to the book.
All in all, I probably will eventually go onto the next in the series just because i am a tad intrigued to see what happens and the sequel IS a different author so maybe that will be better. It's just sad that i despise everyone in this book as they're all terrible people doing terrible things.
2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2.
Having started playing a dnd campaign recently i decided to read a dnd inspired book and this took me two whole weeks to read. this book NEVER ENDED. it just kept going and going and going.
The plot is basically the priestesses who get their power from the spider god lolth have lost their powers and they don't know why. also there's unrest among the lesser races because they're slaves and treated terribly.
That's the basic premise. all the rest of the book is politics. Dark Elf society politics. and it's very very very boring. I don't like fantasy politics. i really don't. I have never read any game of thrones books because of this. I think having politics in your fantasy settings is one of the most boring things you can do, but, here we are.
If you want 400 pages of, who's backstabbing who, who's making a deal to further themselves, intrigue, assassinations blah blah blah then this book is for you. For me, i just found myself INCREDIBLY bored.
There were a lot of characters. like a LOT of characters to the point where i confused 3 of the main female characters more than i'd like to admit. i zoned out through a LOT of this one because of this. There isn't a lot of description, but there IS a lot of dialogue.
Nobody in this book is a good person. Everyone in this book is a terrible, awful person and there is literally no one to root for. I understand this is the concept of drow, but i figured there would be SOMEONE i could latch onto and like. No, this is not the case. everyone is awful.
Every single percent in this book on kindle was a schlog. i felt myself growing older with every single page i read.
The only real positive i can say was that the battles were done nicely. Basically if you've ever played a single dnd campaign, then you know how the battle system works and the characters were fighting as if they were playing a dnd campaign. and that was pretty cool.
I am SO glad this book is done and i can move on.
It's not that i HATED it, it's just that i felt every single page and wanted to move on. This book was about ~400 pages and it FELT like 400 pages. For the last half i felt like Freddy Krueger going "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" to the book.
All in all, I probably will eventually go onto the next in the series just because i am a tad intrigued to see what happens and the sequel IS a different author so maybe that will be better. It's just sad that i despise everyone in this book as they're all terrible people doing terrible things.
2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2.
egophagia's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kalreadsalways's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
max343's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
rivensbane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
most of the characters were incredibly one-dimensional and boring (excluding pharaun? maybe?), but i'm curious enough about what's going to happen next to continue the series.
poisonenvy's review against another edition
3.0
Being steadfast loyal to Dragonlance, I had always sworn that I would never read Forgotten Realms, despite the fact that they're from the same publishing company and share a lot of the same authors. Nevertheless, I've had this book sitting on my bookshelf for probably a decade, so I figured I should probably read it at some point.
Despite the fact that there was ton of characters, there were only two that were remotely interesting or engaging (shockingly [not so shockingly] they were the only main male characters in the book). It was Ryld and Pharaun's relationship and personalities kept me engaged throughout the book, and reading literally any other section felt like a slog (it took me over a week to read this book. A book this length should typically take me a couple of days). I wasn't sure if I would continue on with this series at all, but because of the changed dynamic with Ryld and Pharaun, I figured that I'd at least give Insurrection a shot to see what comes from it.
Despite the fact that there was ton of characters, there were only two that were remotely interesting or engaging (shockingly [not so shockingly] they were the only main male characters in the book). It was Ryld and Pharaun's relationship and personalities kept me engaged throughout the book, and reading literally any other section felt like a slog (it took me over a week to read this book. A book this length should typically take me a couple of days). I wasn't sure if I would continue on with this series at all, but because of the changed dynamic with Ryld and Pharaun, I figured that I'd at least give Insurrection a shot to see what comes from it.