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isnt_it_pretty's review against another edition
The protagonist is Liriel Baenre, a 40-year-old drow described as looking just under 16. She is innately magically talented, and stunning. Her father is the most powerful man in Menzoberranzan, and she bares the last name of the most powerful house. In general, Liriel is as privileged as a drow can get. Personality wise, Liriel reminds me of girls who bully people in high school. She does bully other characters in the drow academy, and she peer pressures people into joining her to do dangerous things for her enjoyment. Every male she encounters wants to sleep with her, despite how old they are portrayed, including her magic teacher.
The villains are a heavyset, unattractive, nearsighted women (in a society that values physical appearance and perfect), and a male fighting against the tyranny of a female-dominated society. It's as if the author couldn't let go of real-life power dynamics, and decided all men are evil. The villain says he wants to keep Liriel as a sex slave to bare children, albeit not in as overt language. He also keeps a 'harem' of surface elves, described as desperate women who had nowhere else to go.
The story is about a privileged girl who gets thinks rules (however wrong they are) don't apply to her because she's special, and deserves better than those around her. It makes minorities and those without power out to be villains.
The villains are a heavyset, unattractive, nearsighted women (in a society that values physical appearance and perfect), and a male fighting against the tyranny of a female-dominated society. It's as if the author couldn't let go of real-life power dynamics, and decided all men are evil. The villain says he wants to keep Liriel as a sex slave to bare children, albeit not in as overt language. He also keeps a 'harem' of surface elves, described as desperate women who had nowhere else to go.
The story is about a privileged girl who gets thinks rules (however wrong they are) don't apply to her because she's special, and deserves better than those around her. It makes minorities and those without power out to be villains.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Rape
Minor: Ableism
Quotes alluding the sexual assault.luke___'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I’m on a kick of investigating old drow fiction and also wanted to see a female protagonist in a DnD novel, so here we are! Started good, I liked all the characters including the antagonists which were given more dimensions than I expected. They were a highlight for me in the beginning of the book. I LOVE it when drow are more than evil caricatures and you can see the rhyme and reason of why Menzoberranzan works the way it does. The deep-seeded paranoia and cruelty that drives the society is given reason, oft traced back to the oppression of Lolth, and you can see that so many have become so downtrodden that they can barely fathom a life where they don’t need to stab before being backstabbed themselves. Fascinating perspectives to read!
[“hot” take warning] This is so much more satisfying to read than the “dark-skin elves bad!” that is prevalent in DnD. Worth noting that it seems for these books that the drow were not the modern blue-skinned versions, but the shades of black skin a human would have. Some edition covers feature this and you can see clear references in the text. The implications that all the black-skinned drow are evil by their blood and skin color has terrible real life implications. People who deny that drow can be given dimensions and need to all be the dictionary definition of comical evil are, at worst, contributing to a long history of racist fantasy tropes. At best, they’re very boring! Not judging a person based on racial stereotypes is predictably a theme in this book, but that will always fall a little flat when the drow are made up by racist fantasy tropes. The book does what it can to add some badly needed depth to Menzoberranzan in its era, even if flawed due to the drow in general being very flawed concepts from their start. Seeing more drow and how their minds work through their actions when they aren’t inherit goody-two-shoes like Drizzt (sorry Drizzt, I still like you too!) is what I liked most about this book. People who say that giving drow depth is a flaw clearly shouldn’t be reading a book following a drow protagonist. [rant end!]
Liriel, for the most part, I quite liked. She isn’t an angel. She still holds onto the ruthless and crafty parts of her hometown and even the paranoia. She lived for decades in Menzoberranzan, for goodness sake. You don’t forget about that overnight. She’s both proud but also conflicted about her heritage and you could believe her inner conflicts. Pacing of her character development felt a little rushed at the end, but pacing in general fell apart at the end of the book. I liked her inner conflict, but as for outer conflicts it sometimes felt a bit much when Liriel strides through whatever her enemies throw at her… Which brings me to my next point—
Earlier I praised the dimensionality of the villains at the start, but as we approached the endShakti and Nisstyre became boring stock-villains to me. Worst of all, they made some really stupid decisions which I frankly could not believe them doing considering they got where they are now due to their scheming and craftiness. Completely took me out of what was happening on those pages.
Overall; the beginning was the strongest, even when it was slower I just liked reading the intrigue and different character perspectives. The latter part of the book was Fine with a capital F. I felt confused on the amount of time passing. I also think Cunningham’s actions scenes were the weakest parts, which filled the end, compared to her much better character drama. I found most of the cast quite endearing, despite the flaws. If you like drow and want to see more perspectives from Menzoberranzan, maybe give it a shot. If those don’t interest you, skip.
[“hot” take warning] This is so much more satisfying to read than the “dark-skin elves bad!” that is prevalent in DnD. Worth noting that it seems for these books that the drow were not the modern blue-skinned versions, but the shades of black skin a human would have. Some edition covers feature this and you can see clear references in the text. The implications that all the black-skinned drow are evil by their blood and skin color has terrible real life implications. People who deny that drow can be given dimensions and need to all be the dictionary definition of comical evil are, at worst, contributing to a long history of racist fantasy tropes. At best, they’re very boring! Not judging a person based on racial stereotypes is predictably a theme in this book, but that will always fall a little flat when the drow are made up by racist fantasy tropes. The book does what it can to add some badly needed depth to Menzoberranzan in its era, even if flawed due to the drow in general being very flawed concepts from their start. Seeing more drow and how their minds work through their actions when they aren’t inherit goody-two-shoes like Drizzt (sorry Drizzt, I still like you too!) is what I liked most about this book. People who say that giving drow depth is a flaw clearly shouldn’t be reading a book following a drow protagonist. [rant end!]
Liriel, for the most part, I quite liked. She isn’t an angel. She still holds onto the ruthless and crafty parts of her hometown and even the paranoia. She lived for decades in Menzoberranzan, for goodness sake. You don’t forget about that overnight. She’s both proud but also conflicted about her heritage and you could believe her inner conflicts. Pacing of her character development felt a little rushed at the end, but pacing in general fell apart at the end of the book. I liked her inner conflict, but as for outer conflicts it sometimes felt a bit much when Liriel strides through whatever her enemies throw at her… Which brings me to my next point—
Earlier I praised the dimensionality of the villains at the start, but as we approached the end
Overall; the beginning was the strongest, even when it was slower I just liked reading the intrigue and different character perspectives. The latter part of the book was Fine with a capital F. I felt confused on the amount of time passing. I also think Cunningham’s actions scenes were the weakest parts, which filled the end, compared to her much better character drama. I found most of the cast quite endearing, despite the flaws. If you like drow and want to see more perspectives from Menzoberranzan, maybe give it a shot. If those don’t interest you, skip.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Rape