Sacrifice of the Widow: Lady Penitent, Book I [Mass Market Paperback]

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!

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