Insurrection Review

[HighLordDave]

No, this isn't a thread about the third-worst Star Trek movie, but rather the second book in R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen series, Insurrection by Thomas M. Reid. It follows Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers as the second book in a six volume series that will feature a common storyline, but six different authors, similar to the New Jedi Order of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Consider this my spoiler warning!!!! If you do not want to be spoiled, stop reading now!!!

I do not have the book in front of me right now, so I apologise in advance for spelling any of the drow names wrong.

Insurrection picks up with five drow and a half-demon journeying from Menzoberranzan to Ched Nasad. The leader of this troupe is Quenthal Baenre, Mistress of Arach-Tinilith. Along for the ride are Feryl Zuvirr, an ambassador from Ched Nasad who the Baenres think is a spy; Phaun Mizzym, master of Sorcere; Ryld, master of Melee-Methargee; Valas, a scout and also master of Melee Methargee; and Jaggred, Triel Baenre's half-demon son.

The reason for the outing is because Lloth had abandoned her clerics; there is no clerical magic to be had among anyone in Menzoberranzan, and Triel Baenre, the matron mother of the ruling house, wants to know why. Particularly upset at this are the female drow, who rule the matriarchial society with the divine power of Lloth's magic. Triel sends the group to Ched Nasad to see if Lloth has abandoned all drow, or just those in Menzoberranzan.

There is a second plot involving one of the lower houses in Ched Nasad attempting to improve its standing in the city pecking order by enlisting an army of dreuger dwarves to fight a battle for them. Unlike Dissolution, there aren't four or five layers of plot and sub-stories running around and there aren't many major plot twists.

Like Salvatore and Byers, Reid is big on fighting, but unlike Salvatore, he's not very good at it. In fact, the last third of the book is pretty much one big battle that gets rather tedius after the first twenty pages. Also unlike Byers, Reid doesn't really capture the mood of drow society and he is far less into the subtle nuances of drow politics.

Still, the book isn't all bad and it does a good job of advancing the plot of the story arc. Unfortunately, Reid concentrates the majority of his character development on Phaun, and all of the other characters are two-dimensional archetypes and Phaun is interesting but not compelling enough to drive the book himself. I also found Reid's style to be dry and hard to read. Dissolution was fast-paced book as was The Thousand Orcs; I finished each in a day, but Insurrection took me several settings and a couple of weeks to get through.

I'm not sure what Salvatore has to do with the books; his name is on them and his fingerprints are on the blueprints, but to the best of my knowledge, he didn't have any direct part in their direction; I think they just wanted to use "his" characters and cash in on some name recognition.

As an individual work, Insurrection leaves a lot to be desired; however, it's not intended to stand on its own, although that doesn't make it any easier to read. If you're into Forgotten Realms books, or you want to see how R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen turns out, you should pick it up, just don't set your expectations too high.

Overall rating: 5.5 out of 10

[Gwalchmai]

I have been purchasing all my Forgotten Realms novels from the used book store, so that I don't have to pay actual money for them. As such, I only just now found Insurrection, and I read it without having read Dissolution before.

Consequently, the focus on the arch mage, leaving the priestesses and other characters as more two-dimensional, didn't bother me as much as it did HLD. Pharaun Mizzrym is perhaps more intelligent than his fellow Drow, and possesses a wry, snide sense of humor that is appealing to me and puts him at odds with every other Drow in existence. Surely, no good will come of that.

Also, I suppose that the focus on one character in the core group is a necessary contrivance due to how the series is being written by multiple authors. I suspect that Extinction will focus on Ryld.

But the book had many drawbacks. I would have been interested in greater exposition into the culture of the Drow, particularly contrasting Ched Nasad to other Drow cities. I suppose this might have been more obvious if I had read the first book, but I didn't.

I found the subplot with the she-demon to be interesting, but the author didn't do much with it. Actually, the author seemed to have a number of good ideas, but he didn't take them very far, leaving me feeling rather unquenched. Grey Dwarf battle tactics, the ugly Drow character, and Feryl's revenge were all inadequately described, to name a few.

Worst of all, the ending of the book seemed contrived.

Still, the book read better and had a more epic feel than many of the old FR novels I've read (I'm thinking of some of the forgettable Harper series ones I've slogged through recently). Consequently, I am looking for a used copy of Dissolution, and am looking forward to Condemnation and Extinction, just to find out what will happen.

The fact that RA Salvatore's blessing is on the book doesn't actually do much for me. I don't really hold him to be the Great God of fantasy literature that some people do. It smacks of disgusting commercialism, and I wonder if Wizards of the Coast may be feeling like their market is slipping, having to resort to such tactics. I see they have come out with an anthology of re-printed short stories that included "one new story by RA Salvatore" boldly emblazoned on the cover.

[Lost]

I read Insurrection a couple months ago which I thought was alright. I didn't think it was as good as Dissolution though. Like it has already been said they haven't developed the other characters enough. I think that Ryld would be interesting given the chance.

[Galuf the Dwarf]

So, you all would REALLY suggest that I get the War of the Spider Queen novels? My local Waldenbooks has 'Dissolution', 'Insurrection', and 'Condemnation' in paperback (though whether they have book four or the latest to be released at all, I do not know for sure).

[Rob-hin]

I'm not a fan of FR books.
There are way better fantasy writers out there.

Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy
Raymond E Feist - Riftwars & Serpentwars
Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time

I suggest you try those if you like fantasy and it doesn't have to be FR.

[LastManStanding]

i not a fan of Forgotten realms books either except for a couple of salvatore's books but if you like fantasy i suggest you suck my nuts

[LastManStanding]

just jokin. really try the dungeons and dragons books there a little different at least