Customer Reviews
surprisingly good... 
2007-05-27
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.
Lolth's Silence has ended! A new trilogy begins! 2007-04-23
"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!
CWA 
2007-02-06
This was actually a little bit different than most other novels that involve the drow, for one the city of spiders was not a focal point of the book like it was in War of the Spiderqueen series nor where there any Baerne in this book. This novel primarily dealt with the Drow Pantheon it self, and it's followers (except Lolth's). There are some good surprises in the book Two Gods die for example, it did however show the Eilistraeens actually holding there own in battle against other drow beside's Vhaeraun worshipers, something that hasn't really been done in other drow novels. This book seems to be leading to drow civil war between surface drow and underdark drow. Overall the book was alright it wasn't great but it's something that I'd probably read again.
Interesting start to a new Drow trilogy 2007-02-05
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.
A great beginning 
2007-11-27
She had the best book in War of Spider Queen series and now she finally has her own series about Drow. Lisa rocks!!!
Great book 2007-09-21
This is one of the few books I have read that I dreaded getting to the ending. I am currently reading the second book and I do not want to read to fast because it is that entertaining.
Very Good Book 2007-07-12
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.
Awesome sequel to the War of the Spider Queen series!!! 2007-07-06
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!!
The best Forgotten Realms or D 2007-06-24
Reading the Forgotten Realms, Dragon Lance and random D&D books is something of a hobby of mine. Usually it is a guilty pleasure. Wizards if the Coast, the people who brought you MAGIC and (at one time) POKEMON trading card games publish these books. The Editor(s) over there at WotC have an unenviable task: to make these books digestible for thirteen year old boys men in there thirties and aging nerds in various stages of decay.
This coupled with the fact that the writers subscribe to the `type as fast as you possibly can' school of authorship (brought in to prominence by a hopped up Steven King) often leads to a book which is barely readable. For example, these books sometimes end simply by killing all the characters off.
Into this labyrinth of publishing enters the brave hearted Lisa Smedman. Now, anytime Lisa is penning a book you are in for something better then you have any right to expect. (check out her Venoms Kiss trilogy).
With `Sacrifice of the Widow' Lisa has done something really Magical. She has `improved her game'. She has stepped it up, she is getting better and better at what she does! What a rarity!
In this book Lisa infuses the Forgotten Realms lore with subtle references to Greek, Norse and African mythologies. For example, she hints in the epilogue at what Lolths place in the creation of the universe might have been before the fall. Speaking of which, there are many themes and devices, which, because they are executed well, lift this book onto the level of actual literature. The prologue and epilogue frame the action of the book as one or two moves in an extra-dimensional chess or `Sava' game, a battle between the warring dark elf goddesses. Also explored are sociological themes such as the impossibility of male bonding. I can only hope that in future books the dark elves evolve through union of the sexes rather then this ongoing idea that the sexes corrupt each other. But that is probably up to the editor rather then the author.
The descriptions of action scenes are adequate and better then you deserve. The overall suspense and sense of plot are very well crafted indeed. Character development is very worthwhile and a welcome addition.
I could go on and on but the point is you have to read this book to believe it. If you can't afford the $7 do yourself a favor and get to your local library. If they don't have it ask them to order it.
Well I intended to do better at explaining what a gem this book really is but I am out of time. Drop me a line if you have any questions.
Robert Corrina
[...]
