Condemnation [Hardcover]

Second hundred pages we see alot more of Valas, who becomes more and more useful to the party. Danfae starts to become more of a character but ends being a distraction, and not really contributing to the party, or the book.

Last hundred or so pages seemed rushed. The editing became poor and the story seemed to jump in different directions that made it hard to follow. The main point here is when Jaggred is told to carry Hallistra. When I read this I was taken back, the author not only lost track of his characters he seemed to give up the story. The battles were glazed over compaired to the last book and didnt have any of the depth, nor were there any of the intriguing sub plots that really made the second book shine.

The fact that this series will have different authors for each book is both a boon and a bane.

The boon was that the massive scope of the series will have rich contributions from various perspectives, making it more multi-dimensional and more credible.

The bane was that the same characters written by different people will inevitably have different interpretations. Not all these differences are subtle, and I wonder at the end of Book 6, whether the characters will get as garbled as in a "secret message" game.

There were two threads of development in this book. One followed the party of drow despatched from Menzoberranzan to Ched Nassad, the other on a secret organisation of male drows engineering attacks on drow cities.

Barely escaping with their lives when Ched Nassad was destroyed, the party of drow picked up two additional travellers, and considered on the next step in order to learn of the silence of Lloth, the Spider Queen. Without her granting spells, drow societies, which had for millenias been ruled by her clerics, were under great tension and verge of breakdowns. The enemies of the drow cities were quick to take advantage, with a deep dwarven kingdom and a fiend-led horde of evil denizens converging on Menzoberranzan.

Here, colourful characters were fleshed out through witty dialogues and stylistic actions. Unfortunately for the book, editors, or the writer, failed to spot a number of irritating errors, which other reviewers have posted.

Another problem was the level of credibility.

The party of six drows and a draegoloth faced many enemies - their combat strength do not seem to be consistent. One moment they could fight off powerful foes in an apparently deserted city, the next moment they were fleeing from mundane pursuers. Then they would be taking on lower-planes denizens and an unusually powerful beholder.

There were several brief references to sexual encounters, which are reminiscent of Hollywoods obligatory nude scenes in many mainstream movies - these sections could have been better written to add to the characterisations. Unfortunately, each section was little different from each other without adding anything new.

Nonetheless, I look forward to reading the next book as this book ended with cliff hangers on each thread development.