Disappointing
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If you are a long time player of drow PC's then there will be many occasions in this book where either the characters' actions don't make sense, something is described that isn't possible or there are errors that contradict the setting.
My main disappointment with this book is that the two goddesses described within its pages come across as 'Valley Girls.' They seem vacant and rather stupid. I related to neither of them or the main characters.
My second disappointment is that the language of the book is too American. As an Englishman I prefer to read a book that improves my language and widens my vocabulary. Which, for example, the books of Trudi Canavan and Katherine Kerr do, so it is reasonable to hope that other authors can achieve this. Maybe at 37, I'm too old for this book. Who knows?
My final comment on this book is that you have to know the setting to appreciate it. If you know the Forgotten Realms setting, then whether you enjoy the book or not is entirely down to whether you approve of the changes being made in that setting. This book documents those changes, which perhaps ties the hands of the author.
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Not a sacrifice to read but not a classic either
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This novel is set after the series 'Forgotten Realms: War of the Spider Queen'. I would therefore recommend that you read those books before embarking upon this novel.
The last part of that series was very good and this novel fails to continue the high standard which were generally maintained throughout that series. Part of the problem with this book is that you don't know who the main characters really are and as such I feel that you tend not to care about any of them.
It is not a bad book and worth reading if you enjoyed 'War of the Spider Queen' but be prepared for a disappointment if your expectations are very high.
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a great book, and fascinating story.
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despite the cover of the book looking a tad scary. This is a really good book. At first as i was reading the war of the spider queen series I didn't really know what to make of this. This set of stories picks up on the events of the "war of the spider queen series" specifically with Halisstra Melarn's quest. so it would be benificial to have read the first series, though i skipped 2 of the last books and still understood this.
The Lady penitent is basically a continuation of that series, with a different focus and different characters. Its quite self explanatory anyway. As for the Lady penitent, she is a main character but her role is i suppose to be elaborated. In that the main storyline doesn't seem to be about her. She's involved but in terms of the battle between the good and evil Gods of the Dark Elves.
It deals more with the surface dark elves and factions of dark elves. That is worshippers of Vhaerun, Elistraee, Seveltarm and Lolth.
It is about the immortal struggle of these Gods against eachother. (it does suggest that soon there will be an end to the good vs evil war for the drow anyway.) those who seek to redeem the dark elf race and return them to the surface world and others who seek to enslave them by keeping them in the underdark.
As for the story, its fascinating. The story is centred around Elistraees faithful, so there are actually some good guys in these books, lots of bad guys and some people who are 'on the fence.' Some of the characters are very likeable. Of interest is Quilué Veladorn (a.k.a, to D&D fans, one of The Seven Sisters)
i read the whole book within 3 days and eagerly await the next one. The story is very well written and therefore deserving of its high score.
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