Rating: 
Summary: It could've been better
Review: After reading the first two books in this series, I had very high hopes for this book. Unfortunately this book was not as well written as the first two, however serious fans of the series will be pleased with the general direction of the storyline and as with the first two books the ending will leave you with a dire need to read the next book as soon as it comes out. I don't believe the battles were described as well in this book as they were in the last two and there was also a disappointing error in the story at one point near the end which is why I can't bring myself to give this book five stars, other than those few problems this was a very excellent book and I would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story, mediocre writing, unforgivable editing
Review: After the first two books I was sure I was reading one of the great fantasy series ever concocted. Storywise I still believe I am. Beyond that, everything's starting to decline. While I have heard many good things about Richard Baker, I don't think I will go out of my way to read anything else of his now that I've seen a sample of his writing. It seemed as though they were trying to include to much in this one book and he subsequently didn't give any of it enough attention. It reads like he was either rushed or too lazy to give it the time and attention a story this great, or any story really, deserves. What ever the reason behind the books lack of content, there is NO excuse for the pathetic editing. For a first edition book, a comma here or a puncuation mark there is forgivable (and there have been a couple I've caught in this series). INCLUDING PARTS OF THE ROUGH DRAFT IN THE FINAL COPY IS INEXCUSABLE! Mistakes like talking to characters who aren't even in the scene, causes the readers attention to be distracted by the writing itself rather than engulfed by what is written. READ THIS BOOK THOUGH, THE STORY'S GREAT and skipping books in in this series will only leave you lost and greatly diminish you're enjoyment of the series as a whole.
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing
Review: As some others have mentioned there are a number mistakes in the book. Also it seems that this guy didn't even read the other books in the series. The Sceptered one is clearly described as "half elf like" yet Mr. Baker describes him as a red skinned demon type. In the last book there were mini plots that this guy just ignored. My biggest complaint is that he doesn't write dark elves as dark elves. Can you Imagine a Drow wizard using speech like "Kin Folk" or "I reckon"???? da... they aren't ogers or hillbillies Mr Baker. The characters in the last book had a quick wit and very descriptive vocabulary in this book they are "dumbed down" the witty jousting between the wizard and priestess is reduced to a 5th grade lvl. In the other 2 books Quenthel is the character you love to hate. I didn't like her but found myself routing for her at times and was impressed with her abilities. In this book she is little more then an irrational tyrant. Pharaun was written as an articulate egotistical wise guy that always seemed to come out on top. In this book his jokes and off hand comments remind me of my 6 year olds attempts at humor. The 2nd book in this series was a page turner possibly the most action packed book I have ever read, on top of that the author developed the characters and sub plots very well. If I were one of the other authors in this series I would be pretty upset at Richard Baker. In this book I found it hard at times to figure out what was supposed to be going on as it seemed that the writer didn't bother to finish thinking out what he was describing. Also I'm not sure why he choose to tell the story from Hilistra's point of view. I liked her in the other book but hardly consider her a main character. In the last book she had a depth to her, she was a strong priestess but was struggling with emotions. In this book she is kind of an idiot. (One last rant then I'll stop). The romantic relationship that appears in the book really undermines the character development achived in the last 2 books. I found it a bit simple minded and sort of stereotypical bashing of strong willed women. I will probably finish this series as I want to see how it turns out. If the the first 2 books weren't so good I would have trashed this book 1/3 of the way threw and not read the next 3 books. P.S. If Richard Baker should happen to read this: Maybe you should write books about ogres and trolls. Lesser minded creatures might be easier for you, oh but make sure they have teleportaion abilities so you can have an excuse when they mysteriously appear on another plane of existence then disappear again without explanation.
Rating:
Summary: A good story, and I can't complain
Review: First off, for those that are reading this review to know if they should 'go on' in the series should stop right now and buy it. No matter how good this book is, it is a *must have* to continue the saga. Secondly, I enjoyed the book. I was not bothered by anything in the style of writing such as the combat scenes, or character development. I believe this author gave more life and humor to some of the characters. Pharaun and Valas seemed to pickup a sense of humor in this book as compared to some of the prior books. Although some characters did not develop to a high degree, they assisted in pushing the storyline and the author spent more time on group interaction between the main Drow party. Overall a different author helps give you more experience with other writing styles. It seems to me that each author does his best to make Quenthel more and more bitchy and "drow priestess" like. :) Each book she gets on my nerves more and more. Like a little spoiled girl with way to much power. Pharaun seems to act more like a teasing brother during this story. Two things I did not enjoy which keep me from adding that last star: 1. The paper book cover over the hardcover novel is way to small and it makes the book hard to open, and slides off easily. Not a problem with Salvatores hardcover "Demon War Series". I just took it off while I read it (defeating the purpose of course). 2. Unless I am reading it wrong on page 315 the author writes: " 'Save your magic', Quenthel decided. 'That strand will do. Jeggred, Ryld, carry Valas and Danifae'" -- what? Jeggred is not even in the group in this scene, but back on the material plane while they are in the outer planes.... type-o? Pretty big inconsistency if I read that right... Other then that, Its worth the money. Buy it, read it, and enjoy every minute.
Rating:
Summary: A good read but too short to please everyone
Review: I enjoyed the first and third book of this series alot whereas the second was a little dissapointing. Of course this is based on what I like in novel, just personal taste and I realize many people like the action filled second novel. In the end you just can't cram everything into three hundred pages odd pages. If the format allowed the authors to increase the length maybe this tradeoff wouldn't be necessary. That said one minor problem with this series is the characters nature which changes from author to author. It isn't soo bad and natural character development can account for some of it but it is noticable. Another question is the nature of the drow. Aren't they supposed to be magic resistant? I know having spells fizzle is a waste of paper but it seems when two powerfull mages are dueling some of the spells will be resisted. This is a problem (inconsistencies in Drow nature) in several other novels . . . RAS stated drow don't have very many children in Homeland and EC said they were quiet prolific in her first novel. It is also surprising that many drow reach hundreds of years given the carnage in the various drow books which only reflects a portion of events in the drow communities. My favorite thing about these novels is the portrayal of the antagonists and protagonists. If I were a drow born 500 years after these books conclude I would probably want the 'bad' guys to win but I like some of the 'good' guys and end up rooting for them which is odd as there society is chalk full of things I rationally would despise in my own life. I did notice while reading the novels that the author fast forwarded through a lot of battle and was actually a bit relieved as I thought the last one focused on it to the exclusion of character development and conversation etc. Again if the books were a little longer this would be avoided In all I reccomend this book- I guess I would give it four and a half stars if I could but that isn't an option so it gets four and it isn't exactly "Crime and Punishment" so I will withold the fifth. It was good enough though that I will check out the author's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Condemnation
Review: I entered into this book with high hopes, and for the most part I was satisfied. One point that I never settled with me was how in the last book Quenthel and Phaeraun seemed to be heading toward something, and then Baker went and changed that, not to mention Quenthel's gender preference.
Rating:
Summary: Help me I'm addicted!!!
Review: I felt the writing was decent, though I found the second in the series to be the strongest in this respect. The story is great great great can't get enough. When the next one come out again, 'cuz I need a fix!!!
Rating:
Summary: It's not bad, but not great.
Review: I recently picked this up after waiting for it's release since the second book came out. Richard Baker does a great job describing the details of the surface world and the Underdark. It seems to me he skipped parts and didn't describe battles, but flashed forward to after something happend. I don't know the reason why, but I found it slightly annoying. This book is a good read, and is worth it for those who have read the previous 2. The storyline is good, and the characters are developed quite well. He follows well to the rules of the AD&D world and does a masterful job in describing spells being casted. Definetly a good book for those already involved with the storyline. Looking forward to the next book, too bad its not coming out sooner.
Rating:
Summary: Nicely Done!
Review: I thought that this novel was a great continueation of the series. I enjoyed how Baker discribed the drow's reation to the worlds of light, but it confused me a bit when the drow ventured to Lolth's sacred temple in the demonwebs. Neverless, I really enjoyed reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Suffers from the classic "tweener" syndrome
Review: It's always difficult for any author to write the middle parts of any series and be able to make the book strong enough to stand alone on its merits, rather than being seen as just something that marks time until the concluding books of the series. It's even harder when six different authors are writing each book in the series, as they have to try and get a "feel" for where the series is heading. Condemnation suffers from this - if you look at it as Book 3 of a series then it's not too bad, but by itself it's woefully lacking. As opposed to the first two (Dissolution by Richard Lee Biers and Insurrection by Thomas Reid) which were entertaining enough in their own right, I found this book to be frustrating more than anything - the plot does advance, but it's all done in a very haphazard way. I thought that little was done to advance the characterization of some of the characters in this book, as opposed to the second one which really provided some insights into the drow culture and how a group of essentially evil, self-serving creatures could still manage to work effectively as a team to achieve a higher goal. In this one, they seemed more superficial somehow, as if their working together was a given. It's also sometimes difficult to get a sense of the characterizations because different authors have written each book - you sometimes expect certain characters to act in certain ways based on how you've started to visualise them from previous novels and when they don't react *exactly* the way you expect it's like a big "...what? He shouldn't have said that!" feeling. Still, I think Baker's done a reasonable job of keeping the characterization true to the previous novels - it can't have been easy. An interesting book and enjoyable to read...with an interesting plot twist at the end (though it did stretch the imagination somewhat, this is the Forgotten Realms after all). Just not as good as I had hoped for it to be.
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