Philip Athans

Don't judge a book by its cover, they say; and they're right, because this book has an awful, kind of cringy cover (my wife physically cringed when she saw it), but it's been the best book on writing SFF that I've picked up so far.

I'm not certain if the writing in this is genuinely worse or if it just feels that way because book 4 was so good but...the fights are rough to read and the plot feels thin and stretched over too much book. Characters that die/leave the narrative feel like they die/leave the narrative purely to cut down on how many characters there'll be in the final book. There's not always anything wrong with plot driving the narrative but it is frustrating to feel like you can see The Plot making show more decisions in the story. show less

Good fun but wears thin after a while. It's a bit like an infographic that's been stretched out to book length.

I read the entire "War of the Spider Queen" series back to back, so it's hard to rate each book separately. Set in the familiar forgotten realms universe, the characters encounter perils that get more dangerous as the series progresses. Filled with the distrust and backstabbing that has come to be expected with drow in this world, there are still occasional moments of tenderness and soul searching, making this a very worthwhile read.