Customer Reviews

Sacrifice of the Widow (Forgotten Realms: The Lady Penitent, Book 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sacrifice of the Widow by Lisa Smedman is the first book in the Lady Penitent trilogy. For fans of the Forgotten Realms, this book follows up on the events of the six book series War of the Spider Queen. So, before I start this review, if you have yet to read the War of the Spider Queen series, I strongly suggest you do before you read this as events from that series are talked about, and have consequences, in this book. If you choose to read this book, and most likely this trilogy, without reading WotSQ then there may be some things that just don't make sense - So consider yourself warned.

The plot of this book is not your traditional plot, in that it is not really one linear plot with a few sub-plots sprinkled in. The sub-plots are very good and hint at much larger ramification that will more than likely transpire in the next two books. There is the sub-plot of what really happened to Hallisstra Melarn at the end of the sixth WotSQ book, and how she became what she is now. There is a sub-plot of the followers of Eilstraee fighting followers of tow other entities. There is also a sub-plot of a larger `battle' between Lolth and Eilstraee. Ms. Smedman does a wonderful to weave all these sub-plots together to create not only an engaging story, but a seamless one at that. When the sub-plots shift between one another there is not much transition that throws the pace of the book off at all. The overall plot is very well written and easy to follow.

There are several characters in this book. This is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. With all the different sub-plots there needed to be many characters to keep everything going. However, with this amount of characters there is less time for them to be developed fully so the reader has a better connection with them. There are a few characters that I would have definitely liked to read more about, and maybe that will be remedied in the next two books. Don't get me wrong, there was some character development in this book, such as that of Hallisstra, her brother Q'arlynd both had significant development. Yet, the majority of the characters had little development. I believe that was just a part that had to suffer due to how much the plots of this book needed to be explained.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. This is not your traditional Drow novel in that it's not strictly about subterfuge and chaos. The pace of this book is very good and Ms. Smedman's writing lends itself to be easily read. It's very easy to read through one hundred pages and wonder where the time went. With some Drow books, the authors try to make these huge grand flourishes of prose, yet in this book Ms. Smedman seems conserved and this creates an easy feel.

If you are a fan of the Forgotten Realms and have read the WotSQ series you will undoubtedly enjoy this book for the continuation of that storyline. If you are a fan of fantasy in general and know a little about the Forgotten Realms I still believe you will enjoy this novel, although some things may not make much sense to you. At any rate, if you are considering reading this, I have no qualms about recommending it. It's a very nice addition to the Forgotten Realms universe.

First off, let me say that after reading Lisa Smedman's previous book, Extinction, I was very skeptical of her abilities as an author. I thought that book had been the worst of the "War of the Spider Queen" series. I expected that this new one, "Sacrifice of the Widow," would be bad as well. It was far from that. Ms. Smedman has done a great deal to redeem herself as an author in my eyes.

"Sacrifice of the Widow" is suprisingly short for the amount that is crammed within it. It takes a good author to put so many plot lines, main characters, foreshadowing and twists into 320 pages without feeling rushed. I think the story would probably be better served with a 5 book series than a trilogy. Because of this, the characters and unique situations are not given as much attention or development as I would like. This is not by fault of the author, however. It is apparent that there is an overall plot that needs to be resolved and only so many pages within which to do it. Still, I wish more time could have been spent upon the movers and shakers in drow society and the unique interplay between them.

The book starts out simply enough, but turns into a grand game of politics and manipulation between the drow gods Lolth, Selvetarm, Vhaeraun, and Eilistraee. It was wonderful to see how plans folded in upon plans and were twisted by still other plans. By all appearances there was a great amount of foreshadowing for the remaining 2 books laid down in this one. The reprecussions of this book upon all drow society might be quite far reaching--and it's nice to see that the powers that be are not afraid of making significant changes to the highly popular drow mythology. It left me feeling anxious for the continuation of the story and a return of several key characters.

The author does a great job of balancing realism with the fantasy involved. With powerful characters acting and fighting it would be easy to make them seem like unbeatable gods--much like watching an 80's action movie where the hero can shoot all the bad guys with a pistol and they can't manage to hit him once with automatic weapons. Ms. Smedman both keeps every battle tense and stresses the risks and dangers inherent to all combatants. Even when characters can wield powerful magic, there is the realism that a single sword swipe could end it all. Neither does she shy away from describing the powerful abilities of each character. Wizards pull out spell components and throw lightning and fire at their enemies. Clerics heal mortal wounds and bring other back from the dead. All this the author delivers without it feeling like one is reading a transcript of a D&D game session.

So, I take my hat off to Lisa Smedman for a good job with a tough story. Could it have better? Sure....anything can be improved...but this was a quite respectable delivery. My rating of 4 stars instead of 5 most certainly comes from the fact that this should have been spread out into 5 books to do it justice. I'm quite curious how the overall story line was decided and by whom considering it's such a heavily popular topic and has been quite successful for the publisher.

"Sacrifice of the Widow" continues the storyline of the "War of the Spider Queen" novels, and if this novel is anything indication of the ones to come, it's going to be an interesting trilogy.

Lisa Smedman details the drow on a level approaching that of R. A. Salvatore, who, without a doubt, is the master of writing about the drow. Lisa masterfully illustrates the treachery of the followers of Lolth, Vhaerun, and other evil gods, as well as the nobility and grace of the followers of Eilistraee's worshipers.

As mentioned before, the novels picks up after the "War of the Spider Queen" series. I suggest that you read them. They are not only entertaining, but provide background information to the storyline continued in this book. Some familiar characters are back, and new ones are introduced, too. All of them are interesting and thoroughly developed, with their own agendas and personalities.

The book follows the growing tensions amongst the various factions of drow, both good and evil. Each god has an agenda, and they manipulate their followers accordingly. Many sided conflict is one of the themes of the book. This conflict amongst the drow (among others) and their gods leads to some Realm shaking events - including the deaths of some major players in the setting (I'll not spoil it here!). The changes are massive, and while interesting, I hope they don't change the setting or the drow too much in future novels.

The story alternates between a few major characters as they pursue their own interests, those of their faction, and those of their god. These events take place on Toril and in the Abyss.

The book starts the new trilogy off with a bang, and I can't wait for future novels. The potential for redemption of old characters and new ones is apparent, and the events that unfolded in this novel will no doubt shape the future of the drow and FR. If you love reading about the drow and FR in general, don't pass up this book. Lolth's Silence has ended and the Realms will never be the same!

As the title states, I don't really feel that she was true to the lore in any of these books. One of the things that I liked the most about the War of the Spider Queen series in general was the focus on a matriarchal society. In these books, that was kind of left behind and the males are almost always the lead characters and the female characters and their "dominance" seem like almost an afterthought. She spent more time developing the male characters, and it just felt to me like she should have been writing for some other world where she would be more comfortable and could use strong male leads instead of "forcing" herself to put a female lead every now and again.

The idea of the story was great and I thought she was going to go great places with it, but after finishing all three books I just felt like I was reading the same old stories and nothing new and interesting. Now that's not to say that I don't enjoy male leads, quite the opposite; I just didn't feel it was particularly appropriate for her to warp this world as much as she did.

I have read the entire war of the spider queen series and it was great! I was excited to here that Lisa Smedman wrote a series to continue where the war left off. This book is really good.

The only thing I would warn people about is to read the War of the Spider Queen series first. If you don't read those 6 books first you will be a bit lost in this book because it all refers to the events that happened during the WotSQ series.

I can't wait to read the next book!!

As stated previously, this is the 1st title in trilogy that picks up where the OUTSTANDING "War of the Spider Queen" left off. Her contribution to that must-have set of tomes, Extinction (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider, Book 4), piqued my interest in her ability as a novelist.
I was overjoyed to find that she had begun work on her own trilogy and that it would continue the awesomeness of the Spider Queen series.
I am just now finishing up the 3rd installment, Ascendancy of the Last (The Lady Penitent) (Bk. 3) and I am well pleased overall.
I will say here that I am somewhat influenced by her choice of subject matter, as I've been a lover-of-Drow (Drow = a race within the DnD game) for over 2 decades. She delivers it well and adheres to the continuity of The Forgotten Realms lore and the Drow lore as set forth by Ed Greenwood, and R.A. Salvatore, among others.
So...if you enjoy a good story overflowing with spell-slinging/enchanted sword-swinging dark elven priestesses (there are a few boys in the story too), and/or are a fan of The Forgotten Realms, etc., don't miss this. NOTE: This trilogy can stand on it's own, without a doubt. However, the story would be enriched to the Nth degree should the reader decide to dine on the delicious fare offered in The War of The Spider Queen series which begins with: Dissolution (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book 1)

Praise Lolth!

Both myself and my wife read this series. We both enjoyed it though my wife stalled on the last book for pure worry more bad things would happen to the followers of/and the masked lady. I highly recommend this series!

Sacrifice of the Widow is the first book in the new trilogy by Lisa Smedman, and being a spin-off of War of the Spider Queen series, it is strongly suggested, but not necessary to read the 6 book series first.
This book has a very strong plot, supported by several equally strong subplots. The story flows nicely, makes you turn page after page. Writing is, like we got used to from Miss Smedman, fluid and coherent. Believable dialogues, rich but not straggling descriptions, with little repetition necessary in order to keep reader in touch with all the subplots going on.
Book's main character, the Wizard Q'arlynd Melarn is a likable fellow, in many ways similar to Pharaun Mizzrym from WotSQ series. A pure egocentric survivalist, with sporadic "attacks" of soft heart. He gets decent space for development, which is unfortunately not the case with other characters.
This novel has a lot of characters that play more or less important roles in it. Problem is none of them, except the above mentioned Q'arlynd, get any substance throughout the book. They stay just names on paper. Three or four priestesses of Dark Maiden feature in the book, and sadly they differ only by their names.
The thing that bothered me the MOST in this book, is the constant resurrecting of the characters. I have never seen such abuse of it in any Forgotten Realms novel, and I read them all. I am aware that it is the part of D&D game mechanics, but for goodness' sake, a game is a game, a novel is a novel. Characters fall, just to get resurrected in the next chapter. Took the thrill out of it completely for me.
All in all, could have been a really nice novel, if not for the resurrection thing. As it is, just mediocre. I hope we don't see any more of that in the next two installments.

I am an avid drow fan; I love everything drow!!! The series that preludes this book is War Of The Spider Queen. War Of The Spider Queen was notorious for having been writen by multiple authors who seemed to divert the character's personalities/ambitions with each new book. It was one of the most depressing series ever written, but then again it's focus was Lolth's Hell, which has no hope. This book, "Sacrifice Of The Widow," is well writen. There is no way to tell at this time if good or evil will win the day. There is one central character, Q'arlynd, who is the most interesting. He doesn't have the flashy personality of Drizzt or other drow we love but he is interesting enough to want to follow through to see his ultimate end in the universe.

jemcrystaline.livejournal.com

This was a very good book. Stedman ties together sever sub plots that remain from the last book of the War of the Spider Queen "Resurrection".....which was a train wreck. She carries on with the characters from that series and makes them work. This book was very entertaining and an easy read. Steadman made keeping up with the old characters and sever new one easy to do. Lisa Stedman did a very good job with this book.