The Journey: August 7, 2026

The last few days have been brutal , between the scorching heat and the tribulations of adulthood my reading has been subpar.

Between the last two weeks, I have only racked up only 1,295 pages, it will seem like a lot, but in the scheme of things that’s around 1,400 pages less that I projected for this year’s total, and don’t even get me started with the idea of reaching 100,000 pages for the year.

But not all is negative things, I’m only 237 pages away from the first 10,000 pages and halfway through reading the fourth book of the year, Extinction from my treacherous trek thru the Forgotten Realms.

Also, and much to my delight, I got back to read more DC Comics, this thanks to the newly discovered app, Infinite. Right now, I’m working on the incredible run of Absolute Wonder Woman, the book is perfectly written, by Kelly Thompson, and beautifully illustrated by Hayden Sherman, this has been a breath of fresh air, it’s been a while since something has impressed me this much, simply put, comic book perfection.

The early challenge of this month is to get back on track with the minimal goal projected for the year, this task are do or die if I want to reach the 1,000,000 pages. The balance for August sits at 6,826 pages left to read, a little over 209 pages per day.

The focus as always should be going after the side quests in order to achieve the bigger goals, with that in mind, my goal is to aim for the 90,237 left to achieve, for the first time I might add, a 100,000-page year. With 43 weeks left on my year of reading, I should and must read at least 2,099 pages per week, quite the gargantuan task, but as always, I’m more than up to the challenge.

On the second side quest, also known as Azriel’s Infinite TBR, the clock hasn’t move along that much, as you can see below, there’s still a good chunk left on the first 49 hours of clocked reading and for those two new additions to my shelves.

Screenshot

With all this little quests and machinations surrounding my journey, I’m more than confident that everything that this year has prepared should be conquered with flying colors.

For now, I’m off to read.

Azriel

Azriel’s Infinite Book Shelf-Dissolution: The War of the Spider Queen Book I

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.

On the cover by artist Brom is the master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym

Dissolution: The War of the Spider Queen Book I

Author :Richard Lee Byers

No. of Pages: 457

Publishing Date: July 2002

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