War of the Spider Queen, Volume II
War of the Spider Queen, Volume II is an anthology of three books from the original War of the Spider Queen series, with lead development by R.A. Salvatore and published by Wizards of the Coast.
By Lawrence “darth_kwan_doh” Grabowski
Before I dive into the second half of The War of the Spider Queen, let me first say that Savage Insider Premium 3, http://mysticalthrone-ent.com/?p=723, is out and that I have a new blog, http://wrtngbtstff.blogspot.com, where each day I write one hundred words from a different, previously untold story
The second trilogy picks up where the first left off. Some of the characters are traipsing around the surface, Menzoberranzan is under siege and the other protagonists are trying to get back to the Demonweb Pits.
While I still enjoyed reading the second trilogy, I was disappointed after, as though I had just eaten my favorite food, but prepared with subpar ingredients. It was still good, but it left me vaguely unsatisfied. I probably made a face like Mckayla Marone when I finished it.
Like any good serial, at the end of the arc Menzoberranzan and much of the Underdark returned to normal. I wasn’t too happy about that, but I certainly understand the rational, you can’t have drastic alterations to the setting every novel.
More disappointing was the resolution of several conflicts set up earlier. The exploration of the possibility for friendship among Drow largely fizzled. Exploration of loyalty to the matriarchy and religion got rather Charlie Brown and Lucy. It seemed like they were going to have several characters with nuanced, conflicting beliefs about what should happen in the apparent disappearance of Lolth, but then they pulled the football out from under us. Instead, it was reduced, in my opinion, to people who supported the matriarchy out of self-interest and people who opposed it out of self-interest, rather than any particular philosophical belief.
If I were to compare this series of six to another, which I shall, I would say that it is akin to the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends books. The first trilogy was interesting and exposed new fruit on the tree of fantasy settings. In contrast, the second one left you disappointed and hungry for the freshness of the books that came before.
Like the first trilogy, this one contained an epic clash of armies, this time deep in the Abyss, but it just wasn’t as cool as the collapsing city from the first trilogy.
The mysterious antagonists from the previous trilogy are more fully revealed. I suppose one could argue that generally they oppose Lolth on philosophical grounds and manipulate the self-interest of the other characters, but that hardly accounts for the lackluster treatment of the situation, because some of the characters have minimal contact with the antagonists.
There was one plot line I did really enjoy. Gromph, the archmage of Menzoberranzan, gets some great screen time. Despite the rather dopey sound of his name, he turns out to be something of a badass, taking on another lich, but not of the Mindflayer variety.
If you enjoyed the first trilogy, I would recommend reading the second. It’s more of the same, not as good, but still worth it if you are into Drow.
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