Extinction (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider, Book 4)

Extinction (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider, Book 4) | Lisa Smedman | Enjoyable and continues the story nicely. A transition book.

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Extinction (Forgot...

	Extinction (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider, Book 4) Lisa Smedman Wizards of the Coast, 2005 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The New York Times best-seller is now in paperback!

Now available in paperback, Extinction is the fourth title in the epic Forgotten Realms series about one of the most popular races in the setting. This title landed on the New York Times best-seller list for two straight weeks upon initial hardcover release. Best-selling author R.A. Salvatore wrote the prologue to Extinction and continues to consult on the series, lending his expertise as the author who brought drow society to the forefront of the Forgotten Realms setting.

Awesome Series

Incredible six part series "War of the Spider Queen" is best of the best when it comes to F.R. fantasy novels. I am a big fan of the Drow and love the chaos their lives cause. I will forever be a Salvatore reader and recommend this book and it's entire series to any fantasy novelist. An author as good as Salvatore can ensnare you from first word to last quotation, so read on and enjoy!

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Enjoyable and continues the story nicely. A transition book.

The fourth book of the War of the Spider Queen continues the story nicely. Focusing mostly on Halisstra's conversion to another faith, the constant maneuvering between Pharaun and Quenthel, and the invasion of Menzoberranzen, this book jumps around a lot, keeping the reader entertained. As has been happening throughout the series, the characters undergo slight shifts in behaviour and personality, reflecting the author's view of the story and each individual player. As a couple of other reviewers have pointed out, Pharaun seems to have grown much more powerful as a wizard, and Quenthel seems to have suffered some kind of brain damage or something. Nothing seems impossible for the wizard, while the priestess becomes completely reliant on her personal slave-whip for advice and is easily fooled. Overall though, and contrary to many of the other reviewers, I liked Smedman's writing style. The book flowed smoothly and was entertaining. Really very little to complain about and the story seems to be headed in a good direction. One thing, if typos and errors annoy you, get these books in the mmp edition, where all of those things have been corrected. Apparently they were very prevalent in the original editions.

For the best enjoyment, start the series at the beginning and for the best value, get the War of the Spider Queen Gift Set, Part I, available here on Amazon.

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A decent entry to the series, but probably the weakest thus far

Lisa Smedman's effort comes up a little short for me. Coming off the tidal wave that ended Condemnation, I had high expectations for this book. While it had some strong points and highly entertaining moments, I felt overall it was a bit unorganized and somewhat "soft".

First i'd like to point out, it was very noticeable that this entry was written by a female, because the book has a sort of sentimentality and soft side the other books did not. This was good for telling the story of Hallistra and Ryld, but bad for other things. The drow in this book didn't have quite that same overall negative feel they should have, and that the other authors held onto. There are also some events of the book that go somewhat unexplained and are told haphazardly. For example: (no spoilers, dont worry!) there is a part where Quenthel and Jeggred are instantly underwater with the aboleths without explanation. I suppose Smedman wanted us to assume Pharaun did that with his "do it all" magic? You will also notice in this entry that Pharaun's magic seems to be of archmage status... getting the expedition out of virtually any situation and saving his hide every time. That was somewhat hard to believe at times.

The book was not without its good parts though! On a positive note, I really like how Smedman wrote both Hallistra Melarn, and Gromph Baenre. We really got to see a new side of Hallistra in this book, and I feel Smedman had the sentimentality to write the female drow well. I also like how she handled Gromph, as she seemed to capture his nature and personality well.

One must question the more weak willed role Quenthel Baenre is taking in the series though.I dont know if this is deliberate, or if its just how Smedman portrayed her, but it seems with every book she becomes less of a leader and more of a fumbling ill-willed priestess who relies on her vipers for advice more than her own instinct.

There were many enjoyable parts of the book, but given its shortcomings, I could not give this book 4 stars. Its not a bad entry to the series, but I feel its been the overall weakest thus far.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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