Rating: 
Summary: This series continues to be amazing
Review: It still suprises me to find such an enjoyable series considering it's "a based on" work and written by different authors.The story was three pronged, following the continued siege of Menzoberranzan where Gromph played a big role, Ryld and Hallistra's adventures above ground, and finally the rest of the Drow parties continued mission to find out what happened to Lolth. I liked a lot of things here, not just the clever use of magic and combat descriptions. I found myself rooting for even characters that are normally considered "the bad guy", like Gromph who got himself out of various troubles in a very clever way. Danifae too, who is obviously evil and devious, and yet I'd like to see her gain her freedom. Pharaun played a big role again, and he was even more clever than before. Wonder if he will meet Alizia again in the next book? *wink* Hallistra and Ryld's new lives in the world above I found very believable, and I am looking forward to them meeting back up with the old party in the fifth book. Even Quenthel and Valas' characters were given more time, and it was interesting to see Quenthel's "weakness". I think that drow should be drow but since we are humans reading this, a few weaknesses or less than drow behavior make it all the more interesting to us. Though obviously no character in this book will be stroking Mielki's Unicorn any time soon! Overall highly recommended for drow lovers, those that like clever use of magic and those that want to follow Menzoberazan's story after the Drizzt and Liriel series.
Rating:
Summary: This series continues to be amazing
Review: It still suprises me to find such an enjoyable series considering it's "a based on" work and written by different authors. The story was three pronged, following the continued siege of Menzoberranzan where Gromph played a big role, Ryld and Hallistra's adventures above ground, and finally the rest of the Drow parties continued mission to find out what happened to Lolth. I liked a lot of things here, not just the clever use of magic and combat descriptions. I found myself rooting for even characters that are normally considered "the bad guy", like Gromph who got himself out of various troubles in a very clever way. Danifae too, who is obviously evil and devious, and yet I'd like to see her gain her freedom. Pharaun played a big role again, and he was even more clever than before. Wonder if he will meet Alizia again in the next book? *wink* Hallistra and Ryld's new lives in the world above I found very believable, and I am looking forward to them meeting back up with the old party in the fifth book. Even Quenthel and Valas' characters were given more time, and it was interesting to see Quenthel's "weakness". I think that drow should be drow but since we are humans reading this, a few weaknesses or less than drow behavior make it all the more interesting to us. Though obviously no character in this book will be stroking Mielki's Unicorn any time soon! Overall highly recommended for drow lovers, those that like clever use of magic and those that want to follow Menzoberazan's story after the Drizzt and Liriel series.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Written, Well Paced
Review: It's a well-paced, fun book, that's fairly action packed. It's fun to read a book about an adventuring party where everyone is evil. Alliances change and anyone can be backstabbed on a whim. The story of this book focuses more on Hallistra, as the party continues to search for Lolth. It's one of the more enjoyable books of a great series.
Rating:
Summary: Quenthel and her scourge steals the show
Review: Lisa Smedsmen wrote part four of this six part series dealing with a band of elite drow searching for the whereabouts of their patroness, Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders.
In the previous book, Condemnation, the band reached the very realm of Lolth herself, because of the actions of a treacherous priest of Vhaeraun, the Drow was forced an early exit from the Demonweb Pits. In Extinction, the band of Drow champions decided to return to the Abyssal layer. To get there, they returned to the Underdark and have to deal with the repulsive aquatic aberrations called the aboleths in the hopes of finding the whereabouts of a Ship of Chaos. With the ship in tow, they will return to the Abyss. Meanwhile one of their numbers, Halisstra, has lost all her faith in the Spider Queen and is on a path that leads to the goddess Eilistraee, whereas Quenthel herself is beginning to express doubt.
What I like about Lisa Smedsmen's style is that she truly captured the underlying deceit and contempt the Drow has for each other...especially between Quenthel and Pharaun. She also put a new and compelling twist that the previous writers didn't really focus on....Quenthel and her five headed scourge. In previous books, they just hissed warnings to Quenthel, here, she carried on full telepathic conversations with them....each of the heads turn out to be as devious and sadistic as their mistress. One can only wonder if Quenthel is not shcizophrenic and these voices are really coming from inside her head and not the snakes.....Just a theory.
One thing that Smedsmen and the other authors still hasn't been able to adequately protray with a fresh twist was the half-demons Aliisza and Kaanyr Vhok. For some reasons, these two remain two dimensional cardboard cutouts. Kaanyr spent most of his time standing around in his armor scowling about how his plans are going while Aliisza spent her time alternating between spying on Pharuan and trying to attract Kaanyr's attention. The conversations between the two of them remain predictable and monotonous. In fact, the pair are pretty annoying.
Despite not much really happened or progressed in the Drows' quest for Lolth in Extinction, but Lisa Smedsmen do managed to make it a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Sheesh, if all you want is action and cool locations, play a game -- if you enjoy true character development and depth of story and plot, then "Extinction" is a breath of fresh air for this series. I'll agree that "Insurrection" was amazing, and Thomas Reid must be half Drow, as his understanding of them is incredible. "Condemnation" is by far the weakest of the series thus far, as the author completely let the characters become as shallow as parking lot puddles, much like his understanding of Drow behavior and inner-workings. "Extinction" is captivating, and Smedman has not only returned depth to the characters, but expanded it significantly. For writing the challenging and pivotal middle book, Smedman has proved her skill and made an already excellent series just that much better.
Rating:
Summary: Great so far
Review: So far, the series has been great. If you love twists and turns and revelations that turn events in a completely new direction, Extinction is a must-read. Honestly, I love fantasy novels, and one that revolves around one of my favorite fictional races- the drow. Finally it is revealed how Quenthel managed to return form the grave after being killed by Drizzt. However, there are some discrepancies, which rather confused me. First and foremost, WTF happened to Bregan D'aerthe? What, did they sit on their royal bottoms while the duergar attacked? Jarlaxle is nowhere to be seen, nor Kimmuriel either. Very, very strange, considering their mercenary group is comprised of elite warriors. 2. It seems strange to me that Halistra could begin to deceive Quenthel as she was planning to. Quenthel has her snake whip, which can detect emanations of power- The Crescent Blade, the emblem of Eilistrae. Which would give her away completely. However, these hitches are minor, and anyone who truly enjoys fantasy should not shy away from buying this series simply because it is an amazing work, considering it is written by 6 authors who have doubtfully even met each other more than once. They all have their own approaches, which makes each book unique and different in its approaches to certain situations. Book #1- Dissolution: *****
Book #2- Insurrection: ****1/2
Book #3- Condemnation ****
Book #4- Extinction ****1/2 My opinions on the books.
Rating:
Summary: Continual Excitement
Review: The book 4 in this series continued the epic adventures of our quest band group of Drow. The book was very good and left me waiting for the next. I truly have become addicted to the War of the Spider Queen Series and look forward to the next installment. I cant seem to get enough of RA Salvatore's World of the Drow. If you like SciFi, You absolutely must read this series.
Rating:
Summary: Good character development, but repetitive
Review: This book continues where Condemnation left off. The plot was great, but seemed a little repetitive. Also some of the characters seemed to have life changing revelations and behavioral changes, which seemed too unbelievable given the circumstances. I did however like the complex thinking of the characters, their elaborate tricks, and plots within plots. It was true to the Drow way of (suspicious) thinking. There were many of these examples. The fighting was great, but sometimes I got the feeling that fights were thrown in for "filler," that didn't add much value to the overall story. Still for a sextet, this series is turning out to be a winner. If you loved the series before Extinction, this will not disappoint. Can't wait till Annihilation comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst of the series so far
Review: This book was clearly the worst of the series so far. The first three (in particular Insurrection, the 2nd book) was amazing to read. Probably one of the best Forgotten Realms novels ever--nothing but action action action from start to finish--cool spells, cool monsters, cool locations. Condemnation, the 3rd book in the series, while not as good as the 2nd, was still a pretty fun read, especially when the characters are fighting in the Abyss. These are clearly high level characters in what makes for another good read. Smedman completely missed the ball with this book. It was boring, slow, and not really that interesting. Not a series killer, but pretty close. Nothing happened, just a very transitional book.
Rating:
Summary: What a BIG let down!!
Review: To think we had to wait for that! The first three books were so amazing I didn't think anyone could have messed the story up, until Extinction. In my opinion the characters personalities were way off in this book. The story didn't seem to accomplish anything and was boring. The others seemed to have a direction or goal and by the end they achieved that goal. It lacked the use of interesting spells like the first three. Smedman seemed to use only the basic spells, nothing interesting or new. It did accomplish one thing, it left me wanting. Now I'm no expert or anything like that. These are just the opinions of someone who has read a few books.
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