Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters

Forgotten Realms - Publication Order

by Ed Greenwood

Rise, and be not afraid.

Widespread and many-tentacled is the evil that threatens Faerûn. Before its heart can be found, all of the Seven Sisters will play a part, and all too much blood will be spilled... drow blood.

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Anthologies, High Fantasy, Magic

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Ed Greenwood is the creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy world, which became the setting for his home D&D game in 1975. Play still continues in this long-running campaign, and Ed also keeps busy producing Realmslore for various TSR publications.

Ed has published over two hundred articles in Dragon magazine and Polyhedron newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Associaton (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times.

In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk and has edited over a dozen small press magazines.

Invented the character Elminster from the popular Forgotten Realms RPG series. Currently resides in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

[Victor · Rating 2 out of 5]

For those that are new to the magical world of the realms, and want to have more insight as to who the seven sisters are, this book can be a good resource. Mainly, the only good part of the book is the infomration it provides about the sisters, whoch can be scarce at parts. However, this books gets extremely tedious early on and it demands total concentration just to finish it.

The book's structure is simple; it is a collection of seven linked novellas, each featuring one of the sisters. Each part is a continuation of the story presented in the preceding part and continues on until each sister has played her part and the story comes into conclusion. In essence, is a long story from seven different points of view.

I personally did not like this book, other than as a resource. The action was extremely tedious and the writting style was mediocre. About 30% of the book's content was useless in one way or another and the amount of sexual inuendo included was detestable.

Greenwood erred when he decided to portray the sisters as sexual tools, that use their bodies more than their brains instead of focusing on their wisdom and intelligence, and maybe a little bit of humility. The fact that the sisters are mostly wearing only skin most of the time is very bothersome. The added sexual inuendo was completely uneccesary and deviates from the vision players have of the sisters. Do not be deceived, Greenwood still portray the sisters as almighty from half of each individual story and that depletes the characters from any depht or depevlopment. I felt each story was the same, just a different situation. That you're sisters, or borthers, does not mean you think completely and absolutely alike.

The conclusion of this book was awful. The plot resolves like gleam of fairy fire as nobody could see tis coming. It is not a plot twist that I am talking about, it is a fabricated ending that could have had no relationship to the story, and happens in the last three or four pages. I felt shortchanged.

One last thing to say about this book, the great majority of supporting characters, if any, were completely blank as well. They did not add a mint of flavor to the story. I felt some of them should be completely wiped out from the face of this earth because of their uselesness.

I generally do not give one star to books. If I finished a book, I feel that the effort counted to keep me interested, but I was very tempted to give it one. I feel that the good material from this book could have been added to some of the RPG campaign, but to write 370 pages was ridiculous.

[Odile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silverfall is perhaps a typical example of why RPG tie-in novels rarely work. Greenwood is the lead designer of the Forgotten Realms setting, and deserves a lot of respect for that, but fascinating setting characters like the Seven Sisters don't necessarily make for interesting protagonists in a novel.

All seven are too much like a masochistic RPG geek's wet dream to be truly memorable: extremely powerful and magic-savvy, tall, beautiful, mysterious, but at the same time a bit slutty and accessible even. The adventures they have, all involving saving the Realms from a plot hatched by the dark goddess Shar in a sort of relay race where one sister takes over from another, are entertaining enough, but frankly, it's more fun playing such a thing than reading about it, especially when you can see D&D game mechanics shine through just about every paragraph.

There are pleasant exceptions to the above observation about RPG novels, but this isn't one of them. Only for total Forgotten Realms freaks and completists, this one.

[X · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has never been touched by an editor, and its author has never been touched by a woman.

[Valerio Manzo · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOW... REALLY.
It is plainly ridicolous this book has got an average of almost 4 stars on here, so after painstakingly making it and managing to finish this utterly useless and pathetic reading, I cannot but give 1 star, and not beucase I want to make it more even and decrease the average, but because... REALLY, it does NOT deserve more. And I have read other stuff about Greenwood, but STOPPED, cos it's like reading the same book anyway.
It's ridicolous they wasted money and paper to publish his rubbish.
But be reassured, because:
1) I am a number one fan of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
2) I am an ABSOLUTELY NUMBER ONE fan of the Seven Sisters, from Slutty Storm to Lesbian-like Dove Falconhand, Nutsy Alassra, Diplomatsy sons-n-daughters dispenser Alustriel, Witchy Old Hag from Shadowdale, Double-Chosen Qilue and the bloody heck of the rest of it.
3) I am an absolute sucker for every little bit of details from background setting for my favourite characters (applies to Forgotten Realms, Star Wars as well as any other setting for movies, videogames, RPGs and so on).
BUT... NOW... REALLY...
This book is a total waste of time, and people giving it more than 2 stars are probably not used to good reading matter, not to say literature...
Comparisons won't apply and are not fair, alright, so I am not going to mention Tolkien, Martins or Pratchett, but now THAT is a worth fantasy reading.
These novels by Ed Greenwood are a total waste of time, eye-sight and pennies, really.
His writing is absolutely pompous and annoying, so self-conscious and frankly inadequate for such a widely published novelist, and I am talking "grammar and vocabulary" here. There's not plot whatsoever to be seen, just encounters between Sisters or between Sister and respective foe, sometimes with ridicolous special effects (like Qilue setting every possible magic trap in Blackstaff's Tower), sometimes with ridicolous allusive and sexually explicit scenes (like Dove and Qilue kissing on the lips "moon-clad" in a circle of analogously "moonclad" eilistraeean priestesses). All these encouters follow each other without so much as a link or a plot or a consecution. And of course, they are so powerful and almighty, so divinely attractive and sexually activated, you wonder WHY THE HELL are they wasting their time with such a petty and trivial story told? Also, you read the novel and it's like you see dies rolling, or read the names of the spells, and the dinamics of RPGs gaming, and I really HATE it when it happens cos it's proof of very POORLY written prose, I SHOULD NOT think and DO NOT want to be reminded of D&D rules while I read related fiction.
If you are looking for additional background "setting" information, there's pitifully little stuff about the girls, the "Seven Sisters" manual from 2ed Forgotten Realms is uncomparably better. Likewise, if you are looking for a nicely written (IT IS NOT) engrossing (IT IS NOT!) novel, please look elsewhere.

[Rachel ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was painful to get through. If I could have returned this book, I would have. Ed Greenwood tells seven plain, bland, repetitive stories. If it weren't for their names being different, I would have had a hard time telling any of the female protagonists apart. They are all youthful, seductive, powerful women with exactly the same personalities, as well as each of them having entourages of men around them at all times flirting with, sexualizing, or at other times assaulting them. I could have honestly overlooked these details if they were ever even slightly relevant to the story, or if there was a single woman Greenwood could describe without calling her either a seductive power house or a horrible evil hag, but there weren't. "The writer's barely-disguised fetish" has never been more accurate, and I wish I had never picked up this book. As a reference for in-universe lore, it's decent, but nothing you couldn't google with more ease and peace of mind.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's nice to be able to read more about the Seven Sisters, some of whom are very rarely mentioned in any novel or FR sourcebook. Unfortunately, this book is not exactly up to the mark. While the flow from one sister to another is done fluidly, too much was spent on zeroing in on the action rather than the interactions. There's not enough depth per character, not enough time spent dwelling into each of their personalities and motivations more. Still, if you wanted to read about the plot that gets all seven sisters involved, it's entertaining enough, just lacking in being able to connect.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An even mix of good and bad elements (see my earlier posts paired with updates) but still worth reading, especially if you enjoy the background of the Forgotten Realms setting. Greenwood tries to appeal to many reader's peccadilloes (including his own, of course), but each reader will have to just how successful the author is at that.

[Eric Kreeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best book, some stories better than others

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information on the infamous Seven Sisters of the Realms. Easy to read, though a bit annoying at times.

[Me · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a struggle to get through. Characters of such power don't have much of a challenge, plot and antagonist wise. And the writing...just too much...well, too much of something.

[Thomas Gowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars for me

[The Batman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me believe I didnt like reading anymore. It took about two years to get through before I committed to finishing it. The 7 sisters felt like they were written for 12 year old boys.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay,

I read this book before I had read any of the other stuff by Ed Greenwood. Now, I can confidently say that I am not a big fan of the author, but he does suprise me from time to time. I keep reading his books because he created the Forgotten Realms, but sometimes the stories are so long winded and repetitive that it become excruciating.

Having said that, I think if I reread this book I might like it better. I know a lot more about the seven characters that the story focuses on, which I always like. The novel is written in kind of an interesting style; it's really 7 short stories with a new main character in each one. The biggest problem with it is that by the end of it, I really can't tell you what it was about. Each character is introduced and shown to have some really cool powers and stuff, but the plot jumps all over the place. I think maybe the Red Wizards of Thay were the bad guys...but I'm not really sure...

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Forgotten Realms stories. This book though was a little disappointing. While the story at times was interesting the characters were either: a) badly developed; b) purposely developed as trollops; c) as Ed Greenwoods attempt at adolescent porn; or d) all of the above. Me I'd probably say d. Sure he might have created The Forgotten Realms, and I am not a prude, but when it seems to be more about the description of the Physical attributes of the women--who also by the way have their tongue down someones throat most of the time--at the sacrifice of the story, well I have a problem with that, not to mention the story never concluded anything, it just ended, with no resolution. In short this book, was disappointing.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis is the 3rd time I have read this book. I really like it. It was one of the first forgotten realms books I ever read. I like greenwood's(creator of the forgotten realms) writing. I know some people don't like his way of jumping from person to person but I find it interesting. It is not a good beginning book if you are delving into the realms for the first time.

[Tkulvete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never read Forgotten Realms until this book, I found the sisters stories to be good source of information for those not familier their dealings in Faerûn and with eachother. The only thing I didn't like was the sometime confusing nature of the story line; other than that I loved it. Keeps you wanting to know what happens next!

[Fernando Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even when this in not one of the better forgotten realms novel, you should take some time and read it, it gives some insight about the famous seven sisters, and this is something you'll not find in other books.

[Lovely Rotten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed Greenwood does a great job displaying the power and humility of the Seven Sisters of the Forgotten Realms. Great shift of stories across a single path. It's Ed Greenwood. What more needs to be said?

[Rhi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get through more than three chapters without being either bored out of my brain, confused and totally lost, or just generally uncomfortable with the sexism. I love The Forgotten Realms and I'll always be in awe of Greenwood's world building, but he can't hold down a good story at all.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot of the book began well enough, but as the story progressed, it seemed as though everything that was happening was more and more tangential. The ending was very confusing.

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tales of the seven sisters. Not bad but not as interesting as I had hoped.

[Shadow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started my obsession with the Drow