Heirs of Prophecy (Sembia #5) (Forgotten Realms)

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Title: Heirs of Prophecy
Series: Sembia #5, Forgotten Realms
Author: Lisa Smedman
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

Synopsis:
Larajin, illegitimate daughter of Thamalon Uskevren by an elf, tries to find out her past and connect to her elvish heritage. In that process she finds out she has a full on twin brother, is the priestess of 2 goddesses and is prophesied, along with her brother, to avert a war between the elves of the 'local' forest and Sembia and surrounding human cities.
And we get a little bit o' drow *grin*

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed Smedman's Lady Penitent trilogy and so was looking forward to this. Sadly, I found it to be the weakest book of the Sembia series so far. Not because of the story or any egregious errors of the wordsmithing craft but because of the characters.

All of Thamalon's other children have been whiny brats in the books they've starred in and while I didn't care for them, I could kind of understand the whole rich spoiled brat thing. But Larajin has been hidden as a maid and didn't find out about her heritage until the last couple of years, so she isn't a rich spoiled brat.  Instead, she is a sentimental drip with barely an ounce of sense in her head. Her brother, who while half-elf appears fully elvish, is a human hating machine. We're talking "It is better to die while killing one human than to live on in dishonor of sharing the world with humans" type of hate. Eye rolling, cringe worthy kind of hatred.

Thankfully there is a good bit of action to the story and we get a tiny bit of Drow involvement [I've been a huge fan of the drow ever since the War of the Spiderqueen series, not that wretch Drizz't] which always perks the story up.

While most series have a weak book, this was definitely weaker than expected. I just hope the series can pick up again. Only 2 more books left!

On a completely different note, I am absolutely LOVING these covers. They are very busy and dark, but once you read the story you can look at the cover and pick out details that make complete sense. I love that kind of thing. Almost makes me want to buy these, even if they are only in paperback with no chance of ever seeing hardcover.