Sirius_Black
First Post
Okay DocMoriartty...which authors have written about drow within a novel that met to your satisfaction?
Liriel Baenre?
- Thread starter Lurks-no-More
- Start date
JacktheRabbit
Explorer
Sirius_Black said:
Cannot say that there is one that I have read. Cunningham and Salvatore both heroworship fanboy the drow throughout their books and I have not read any others.
If someone could suggest one I would pick it up but since Fantasy Novels are so hit and miss I have pretty well stopped reading them.
Dark Jezter
First Post
DocMoriartty said:
Exactly. In Elaine Cunningham's novels, elves (and drow in particular) are the best at everything they do. Her novels read like they were written by a fanboy (or fangirl, rather) elf player.
As for Liriel, she does act like a spoiled teenaged girl. You took the words out of my mouth, Doc.
I really enjoy R.A. Salvatore's novels, but can't stand Elaine Cunningham's novels, despite the fact that they both write about drow.
Last edited:
Interesting. I'm torn between thinking that DocMoriarty is being rude and abrasive and finding myself forced to agree with him. Which, let me tell you, is uncomfortable.
I haven't read Salvatore in awhile, pretty much for the same reasons that people have mentioned -- the goodness of the simple story held together by a bunch of fun fight scenes got overwhelmed by the badness of "drow are cool and evil" with occasional helpings of "dwarves are comic relief".
I like Cunningham's other stuff -- the fun and quirky romance of Danilo and Arilyn is good romantic-comedy-adventure fodder on a Sunday afternoon -- but the Liriel stuff never caught on with me. I read the first novel and one of the short stories in some anthology, and never bothered with anything else. It just wasn't doing it for me.
I haven't read Salvatore in awhile, pretty much for the same reasons that people have mentioned -- the goodness of the simple story held together by a bunch of fun fight scenes got overwhelmed by the badness of "drow are cool and evil" with occasional helpings of "dwarves are comic relief".
I like Cunningham's other stuff -- the fun and quirky romance of Danilo and Arilyn is good romantic-comedy-adventure fodder on a Sunday afternoon -- but the Liriel stuff never caught on with me. I read the first novel and one of the short stories in some anthology, and never bothered with anything else. It just wasn't doing it for me.
John Crichton
First Post
I'm a huge RAS fan and his drow stuff goes from average to great for me, so I won't even get into that.
I did read the first 2 by EC and I think I enjoyed them at the time. However, I remember next to absolutely nothing of what happened. I recall liking the main character and the way she used magic and something about going to the surface but other than that, nada. I guess that means that they may not have been very good for them to not stick into my memory at all.
Maybe one day I'll re-read them as I own both. In hardcover no less....
*shrugs*
I did read the first 2 by EC and I think I enjoyed them at the time. However, I remember next to absolutely nothing of what happened. I recall liking the main character and the way she used magic and something about going to the surface but other than that, nada. I guess that means that they may not have been very good for them to not stick into my memory at all.
Maybe one day I'll re-read them as I own both. In hardcover no less....
*shrugs*
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Dark Jezter said:
For the most part, I read this as being somewhat in-character, since in the Realms elves tend to usually be completely in love with themselves as a culture. On the other hand, I really hated that whole wand of lichdrow thing...that part really bothered me from a gamer's point of view.
Ironically, Jezter, you took the words right out of my mouth here.
Sirius_Black
First Post
Dark Jezter said:
And I'm the exact opposite. I look at R.A. Salvatore's writings with...well let's just say I sent the last R.A. Salvatore novel to a foreign country very quickly after I read it. Besides wanting to send it to a service member I had befriended on the WOTC message board, I figured I'd be safer with as much distance between myself and that book as possible.
Kinda like those guys in the decon suits on last night's 24. Only picture instead of a virus, a typical Drizzt novel. I can see the scene now.
Jack Bauer: "Tony! The book is loose. I repeat, the Salvatore book is loose."
Tony: "Copy Jack. We're tracking it right now. Moving in to intercept, but we're being delayed by a couple of fat guys dressed up like Neo from the Matrix in long black trenchcoats."
Jack: "Damn it!"
Tick tock..tick tock..tick tock..tick tock.
Sirius_Black
First Post
John Crichton said:
How did you get the first two Liriel books in hardcover? They were only released in paperback. What powers do you have Mr. Crichton? Or is that your real name?
John Crichton
First Post
Untrue. I bought them the day they came out in Waldenbooks.Sirius_Black said:How did you get the first two Liriel books in hardcover? They were only released in paperback. What powers do you have Mr. Crichton? Or is that your real name?
The original covers can be seen here:
http://www.candlekeep.com/bookshelf/novels/8553.htm
http://www.candlekeep.com/bookshelf/novels/8557.htm
I have the power of Google. Fear me.
re
Some of you are a little hard on the Realms writers. I read Daughter of the Drow. I didn't think it read like fan fic. It was a drow centric novel, and the main characters barely had any contact with other races. Kind of hard to see how the drow stand up to other groups, and of course the drow think they are the best.
To answer the question, I thought Liriel was an interesting character. She wasn't particularly evil or good. She wasn't angst-ridden. Just a young adventurous drow girl wandering the world looking for a different life from the one she was supposed to have. Enjoyable read.
Some of you are a little hard on the Realms writers. I read Daughter of the Drow. I didn't think it read like fan fic. It was a drow centric novel, and the main characters barely had any contact with other races. Kind of hard to see how the drow stand up to other groups, and of course the drow think they are the best.
To answer the question, I thought Liriel was an interesting character. She wasn't particularly evil or good. She wasn't angst-ridden. Just a young adventurous drow girl wandering the world looking for a different life from the one she was supposed to have. Enjoyable read.
