Daughter of the Drow

Writing books based on established RPG worlds is a tricky business which very few authors can successfully pull off. Elaine Cunningham is one such author, and her series (both this one and Harper series) are pretty much the best books set in the Forgotten Realms one can find.

The characters are interesting and likeable, knowledge of Forgotten Realms lore is deep, language is pleasant to read, the author clearly possesses a sense of humor and, most importantly, it does NOT read as a nationalisation of a DnD campaign.

The protagonist is most interesting, being an example of non-evil drow who, unlike Drizzt (if you are reading this review you probably know who that is :)), retains very drow-ish qualities and mindset - ambition, love for show more intrigues, devotion to Lolth, love for spiders, sense of superiority... What sets Liriel apart is not innate goodness of the heart but curiosity and love for adventure. She is just too busy having fun to do evil. show less

I read this book after War of the Spider Queen and The Lady Penitent series at the encouragement of my partner. I felt very distanced from the Drow in most of the War of the Spider Queen books and felt that, in part, it was because of the lack of female perspective on the matriarchy.

In short, I greatly enjoyed this book. That isn't to say that I didn't feel there was flaws, but that I felt the good far outweighed the bad. It brought up interesting, new conundrums that weren't touched on heavily in previous books, and introduced new lore and ideas previously unexplored.

The character of Liriel was especially interesting. I know that other reviews have said something akin to 'but the drow are EVIL!' and that's not necessarily true. They show more are pragmatic, and they are required to be cold and calculating, and their Goddess is evil, however no group is homogeneous. I've loved Ellistrae's followers in both the War of the Spider Queen and The Lady Penitent series, and found them to be interesting and, having followed those two other books, I see no reason to fault this book for the followers of Ellistrae.

Daughter of the Drow was well written, introduced interesting new characters, as well as fleshing out already established characters, and had me fascinated from start to end. I found the hypocrisy of Vhaerun's followers to be especially subtle and well handled.

This was a book that could have easily fallen flat, but Elaine Cunningham managed it with enough grace and subtly to reignite my passion for the Drow. I would highly recommend this book to any who enjoyed The Lady Penitent series, in particular. show less

As a book in the Forgotten Realms I give it more credit then it probably deserves. I really enjoyed the Liriel character, and felt her development was suitable to the Drow standards, however I don't think she matches Fyodor at all. I was not a fan, and will not be a fan of Fyodor. The character seems underdeveloped and unliked. Too plain to be part of this fantasy.
As a previous commenter had said, if this was role playing, I would be interested. But it isn't, and I'm not.

If you are a fellow fan of the Forgotten Realms novels, then this is not bad of a book to add to the collection, however. Liriel still proves to be a notable drow, however un-drowlike she may seem.

I suggest reading all the way through before throwing the book to the show more side, it's worth the read.

All in all: Great begining and character creation (Liriel), weak character creation (Fyodor), medium length, weak ending, medium plot. show less

I enjoyed this book for what it's worth. Liriel is a great character, and it was really nice to read a fantasy book with a strong female protagonist. This book really bothered me though. I don't like the idea of there being many drow who are not evil, or that there a many drow that live on the surface. Nisstyre's Vaehrun community didn't bother me as much as the Elistraee group. The whole point of the drow is that they are evil and conniving. It undermines that if there's a whole group of them out there helping people, acting as a force for good. It makes Drizzt less unique, and it changes the overall feel of the drow. I know there is variety in any and every race, but the idea in the realms is that humans have wide variety, while the show more other races are much more homogeneous. The first part of the book, that takes place in Menzoberranzan, is much more interesting that the latter parts on the surface. The interaction between Liriel and Fyodor is the one redeeming quality of the surface section.

And what kind of name is Fyodor?!? Is he going to return to Rashemen to sell travel books about the realms? It just makes me think of those travel guide books we used to have. show less

I didn't finish this, barely began. The description sounded OK, but it is too focused on intrigue & fighting. I have too much to do to waste my time on this. I didn't reallize it was a Role Playing Game takeoff.

http://nhw.livejournal.com/652616.html

Sorry, got a hundred pages into it and just can't be bothered. Unattractive characters and derivative world. If I was still roleplaying it would probably grab me a bit more effectively. But I'm not, so it doesn't.

Liriel Baenre es una princesa drow de espíritu despierto que busca la aventura con el mismo apasionamiento con que la mayoría de los de su raza persiguen el poder. Cuando descubre un modo de llevar su magia a la superficie, decide ponerse en camino para llevar a cabo una peligrosa búsqueda. Perseguida por enemigos de su propio país, Liriel tampoco encuentra una calurosa bienvenida en el mundo de la luz.