By Brian Thomas, Staff Reviewer

Available at Amazon.com

"Eilistraee is the only deity to offer the drow any hope. With Lolth missing and her priestesses unable to mount a defense, the cities of the Underdark are going to fall, one by one. Soon hundreds - if not thousands or even tens of thousands - of drow will come streaming out of the Underdark, looking for refuge. Elistraee's priestesses will offer it to them. They'll help guide our people up into the light. They'll teach the drow to take their rightful place in the world - to not just survive up here, but thrive. We'll be able to reclaim our birthright. We're creating a new home on the World Above, one in which the drow can live in harmony with one another. What more noble cause can their possibly be than that?"

Initiative Round
These words, spoken with the raw passion and blind confidence which underlie all such statements made by the overzealous religious convert, betray both the false hope and desperate actions of the characters in Extinction, the fourth volume in R. A. Salvatore's "War of the Spider Queen" series, published by Wizards of the Coast.

This installment in the series is written by Lisa Smedman, also the author of the House of Serpents series, featuring the books Venom's Taste, Viper's Kiss, and Vanity's Brood. Extinction clocks in at 371 pages in trade paperback, and its cover, once again by Brom, is a rather unflattering, rigid depiction of the battle-captive Danifae Yauntyrr; after the vivid, ad nauseum descriptions of her beauty and charm, I imagined her being so much hotter!

Extinction begins with our band of adventuring drow once again in the World Above, lost and on the run from the acolytes of House Jaelre who want them dead for the murder of their priest who had led them (sort of) through the Astral Plane to the blocked, vacant doorsteps of Lolth. With more questions than answers, Quenthel Baenre decides that they must make their way back to the Demonweb Pits for real this time and has Master of Sorcere Pharaun Myzzrym summon Belshazu, a nasty glabrezu who also just happens to be the draegloth Jeggred's father. Talk about a messed up family reunion!

Anyway, after much magic-infused interrogation, Belshazu tells the party about a lost Ship of Chaos which will be able to sail a crew to the lower planes. To find it, they must travel to Lake Thoroot and visit the aboleth city of Zanhoriloch, whose queen Oothoon knows the whereabouts of the ship and can lead them the rest of the way, if she can avoid the temptation of eating their brains first. After some very well-written, cat-and-mouse negotiations, where Quenthel and Pharaun spar with both the queen and each other, the group travels to the Lake of Shadows and commandeer the Ship of Chaos. Of course now they have to figure out how to tame the demon that currently is bound to the ship, and actually learn how to sail the monstrosity, before any real progress can be made, but that's for another book.

It's what's, or rather who's, missing from all these goings-on that makes this volume click. Halisstra Melarn, whose home city of Ched Nasad was leveled in book two of this series, has grown very unhappy with Lolth and her frustrating absence. She blasphemed the silent goddess at the end of the previous volume and her attitude hasn't gotten any cheerier as this book opens. She convinces Quenthel to let her travel to Menzoberranzan to report their findings, but plans instead to begin a new life in the World Above. Weapons Master Ryld Argith, whose infatuation with Halisstra continues to mature in spite of his best cynicism, decides to abandon the party and join her. They sneak away just before the summoning of Belshazu and spend the rest of the book in the company of a group of drow and elven priestesses who worship Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden. Ryld, for obvious reasons, doesn't fit in very well, but Halisstra takes to Eilistraee like a fish to water. In the Dark Maiden she finds a goddess who responds to her prayers, offers hope instead of chaos and, more importantly, imparts forgiveness. She also feels the pull of destiny as it is revealed to her that she may be chosen one to find and wield the long-lost Crescent Blade, a weapon designed by Eilistraee that holds the power to destroy Lolth for good, ultimately offering redemption for the entire drow race.

Critical Hit
Extinction is a leisurely read, with fewer battles and more dialogue, written with a solid emotional punch. The reader begins to care for these characters and see a bit of the motivation that lies beneath their adventures. The battle for Menzoberranzan as presented here, featuring the return of Gromph and a clearer definition of battle lines and alliances, takes a back seat to the unfolding of the drama between the characters and their goddesses, one silent and one fully alive. Consider the contrast between Quenthel who is on the verge of madness and depression as she begins to question her place as a drow priestess of Lolth, and Halisstra who is for the first time armed with compassion and hope instead of hatred and cruelty. These are welcome changes in a volume that is truly an emotional turning point in this series.

Critical Fumble
One can't read too much into the religious opinions expressed in books of this sort. This is fantasy after all, and lines are consistently being drawn between the "good" gods and the "bad" ones. But the blind devotion both sets of priestesses display does get old after a bit. Faiths of these sorts are a reliable predictor of future actions, and here the characters react in ways that seem scripted by the gods and are unable to do otherwise, even though they may entertain doubts from time to time.

Coup de Grace
As a middle volume in an epic series, one would expect this to be a mere vehicle for the passage of time, pressing us toward the big finale. By getting personal with Halisstra and Ryld, and letting the other stew in their inability to track down their silent goddess, Extinction does so much more than just present us with another 371 pages to slog through. The characters evolve and the story deepens and finds a groove that will make the end that much more meaningful.

Final Grade: B+