Daughter of the Drow (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 1) [Hardcover]

Elaine Cunningham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 1995 | Series: Forgotten Realms

Longing for travel and adventure, free-spirited elf priestess Liriel Baenre sets aside her duties in Menzoberranzan when she discovers a way to bring magic to the surface world and impulsively begins a hazardous quest. 50,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elaine Cunningham published her first novel, Elfshadow, in 1991. Since then sheÕs written the Songs & Swords series and the more recent Counselors & Kings trilogy. Cunningham lives in New England. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast; First Edition edition (August 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786901659
• ISBN-13: 978-0786901654
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars love it, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Daughter of the Drow (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Drizzt and I wish the humans of Earth were all like him. I was very happy with this book. It takes us into the city of menzo and lets us know what happen after the drow war. For i as was wondering about that after i finshed R.A. Salvatore's books. I found that reading both of Elaine's books is important to understand the whole story.For true D&D fans know that there are good Drow as well as evil just like all other races. I hope that Drizzt and Liriel meet each other and become friends. Then Drizzt will know that he is not alone. That is what is so wonderful about TSR books, all the races blend together to make one whole adventure. I have read every single book of the forgotten realms and other worlds so i know it is true. If you love Drow and adventure then read Elaine's 2 novels of the underdark.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a complex Drow, June 24, 2001

By 

Keith Tokash "twigles" (Laguna Niguel, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Daughter of the Drow (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Without taking anything away from RA, (without whom I probably wouldn't have heard about the FR world) I would like say how refreshing it is to see a complex drow. While Drizzt is definitely thoughtful and easy to love, he always does the right thing. Lireal however, does not reject everything Drow, and this leads to an interesting character mesh.

As Lireal is chased out of Menzo, she discovers how many options there truly are in Toril. She travels with a virtous human warrior and the romance that develops between them is not only free from the moral condescension of Drizzt's love life, but filled with doubt and uncertainty. By the end of the book I found myself really rooting for the two to get together.

The two main characters themselves were great. I really cared about them. As mentioned above, Lireal doesn't always do the right thing. She uses her looks to her advantage, she doesn't reject Lolth, she's not above kicking men in the groin.

On the other hand she isn't evil. You can follow her internal debates as her Menzo heritage tells her to handle a situation one way, but some inner feeling disagrees. Overall she comes across as a fun-loving adventure seeker who doesn't know any better. Fyodor (her traveling buddy) is constantly trying to reform her, but reserves the moral judgements that he could have applied.

This book is great. The characters, their interaction, the alternate Drow gods introduced, this was a fine work by Elaine Cunningham and the next book "Tangled Webs" is a great follow-up so you don't have to worry about being left hanging.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that can stand on its own., March 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Daughter of the Drow (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Daughter of the Drow" is a book that can stand on its own. No, it isn't in the tradition of R. A. Salvatore; the drow are portrayed differently, and even Menzoberranzan seems to have changed. But all of this is readily explainable; Elaine Cunningham's book is set in a time when Menzoberranzan itself is going through change, and the character of the book is a female drow mage. If the character of Liriel Baenre had been modeled on R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt, it would have been much less enjoyable, not to mention somewhat false. I thought this book was fascinating for portraying another side of the drow (the description of the nedeirra dance is particularly good), for the character of Liriel and the way she managed to be both evil and humorous at the same time, and for the character of Fyodor. Finally, two characters in fantasy who are going on a quest to solve a problem for themselves, not to save the world! That was a wonderfully refreshing idea. In short, this is a book that is different from the "traditional" books about the drow. Reader expectations, not the writing, are what would drag it down.