Welcome to first installment of the new era of my Infinite Book Shelf , and I return to it with a universe very dear to my heart, The Forgotten Realms.
This vast and complex world was created by Ed Greenwood, he use it as a backdrop for his adventures since he was only 8 years old, but the first story was published on the magazine The Dragon in 1982 titled the Assassin’s Run.
My first encounter with this mesmerizing world was thru the now classic tales of the Drow Elf Drizzt Do’Urden, brilliantly crafted by the great R.A. Salvatore, from the 39 books of the Legend of Drizzt, I have gone thru 35, and I intent to catch up with what is my favorite series of all time in this trek thru The Forgotten Realms.
To start off the amazing journey, I picked a six book series, The War of the Spider Queen, that R.A Salvatore lead as a creative overseer but leaving the writing to six different authors to play in the Underdark .
We start the series with Dissolution, we journey back to the incredible city of Menzoberranzan, the black heart of the Drow Society, to find that catastrophe has struck, Lolth, the spider queen, has stop answering the calls of her priestesses, and with that, all the magic has been cut off.
The matriarchs of the major houses try to keep Lolth’s silence secret and pin the fault of the scorn of their beloved Queen on some dissident Drow males that escape the city and the hunt begins to bring them back and put things right.
Much of the story is followed thru the eyes of three characters Pharaun Mizzrym, a master wizard, Ryld Argith, a master from the legendary Melee Maghere school of combat, and Quentel Baenre, the main mistress of the Arach-Tinilith, the school of sorcery for the acolytes of Lolth, tasked with unveiling the mystery of the Spider Queen silence
As you will expect with a story involving the backdrop of the Drow Society, the intricacies of their political and treacherous nature are on the main stage of the story, but with the treat of a total collapse of their way of life becomes more evident, this plethora of highly different characters converge to find answers, leaving behind their conniving secret plans and uniting to save their very existence.
My favorite part of the journey was to dive even deeper into the magical and treacherous city of Mezonberranzan, with its stalactite architecture and ever glowing castles, knowing that just beyond this purple glowing of the ethereal spires lie the treat of the Underdark creatures ready to swallow everything into the oblivion of the ever dark.
This series is a great gateway to enter the vast universe of The Forgotten Realms, with more that 300 books published to date, and follow one of the most complex and intriguing characters that modern fantasy has to offer.
Dissolution: The War of the Spider Queen Book I
Author :Richard Lee Byers
No. of Pages: 457
Publishing Date: July 2002
lostinamillionpages.com 
Leave a comment