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.
