Forgotten Realms Books

[Jadow]

I would like to start reading Forgotten Realms paperbacks, but it is such an overwhelming section at the bookstore. Where do I start, and are they worth it?

 

[vi edit]

Dark Elf Trilogy is some of the best of the bunch. From there you can follow the sequels (technically prequals) which follow Drizzt out of the underground and around the rest of the Realms.

Basically, if it's by Salvatore, it's pretty good IMHO.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

As a counterpoint I dislike all of R.A. Salvatore's books and hate the Drizzt character most of all. His heroes are so perfect, so unbearably noble, so unfailingly brave, so utterly unfazed by even the most dire of circumstances that I wind up despising each and every one of them. A couple of books into the Icewind Dale series I started rooting for the bad guys.

My favorite books out the FR series were written by Ed Greenwood. His Elminster the wizard is a really enjoyable character with a lot of different facets to his personality.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Drizzt, eh? Now I finally know where 78.4% of the Night Elves players' names in WoW come from!

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Drizzt, eh? Now I finally know where 78.4% of the Night Elves players' names in WoW come from!

Yeh, he's arguably the most "famous" FR character.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

It's a drizzit!

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Dark Elf Trilogy is some of the best of the bunch. From there you can follow the sequels (technically prequals) which follow Drizzt out of the underground and around the rest of the Realms.

Basically, if it's by Salvatore, it's pretty good IMHO.

Yeah! Anything with Drizzt and Artemis Entreri was awesome! Been a million years since I read those.

KT

 

[I Saw OJ]

Seems like every FR series my local bookstore carries is either written by Salvatore or Ed Greenwood.

 

[Oakenfold]

Is there a reason why you aren't interested in Dragonlance? If you haven't touched any of those I'd checkout the Chronicles, Amazon Linky

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oakenfold
Is there a reason why you aren't interested in Dragonlance? If you haven't touched any of those I'd checkout the Chronicles, Amazon Linky

Those were the first books of that style I read, Legend of Huma being the absolute first. The Chronicles Trilogy was freaking awesome and the Legends series after that was also excellent.

KT

 

[Finalnight]

The first few drizzt series are good, then RA Salvatore gets mid-life depressed. The Sellswords series is good.

Cleric Quintet is good.

The new Blades of the Moonsea series by Richard Baker is quite excellent and takes place in the new 4E era.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
As a counterpoint I dislike all of R.A. Salvatore's books and hate the Drizzt character most of all. His heroes are so perfect, so unbearably noble, so unfailingly brave, so utterly unfazed by even the most dire of circumstances that I wind up despising each and every one of them. A couple of books into the Icewind Dale series I started rooting for the bad guys.

pretty much.


fantasy books are generally horrible because they know that a captive audience of jr. high dorks will buy them regardless of how bad they are. they're like romance novels. you could probably write a computer program to generate them. just choose from a couple of back stories like 'dwarves dug too deep' or 'ancient evil awakes in the north' (why is it always the north?), introduce the main character exactly the same way each time (farmboy from nowheresville is the prophesied one), add some rag tag supporting cast, choosing from an outcast wizard, a loner, or some dwarves that are on their own side quest, and have them beat insurmountable odds (and have to travel really far to do it) to defeat the dark wizard/king/necromancer.

 

[xeemzor]

IMO most FR books are trash at best. Try reading some "real" fantasy books from authors like George R. R. Martin and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Other than FR, this is a damn good fantasy book:

http://www.amazon.com/Legend-H...e-Heroes/dp/0880385480

 

[masterxfob]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: vi edit
Dark Elf Trilogy is some of the best of the bunch. From there you can follow the sequels (technically prequals) which follow Drizzt out of the underground and around the rest of the Realms.

Basically, if it's by Salvatore, it's pretty good IMHO.

Yeah! Anything with Drizzt and Artemis Entreri was awesome! Been a million years since I read those.

KT

ditto, artemis entreri really made the books enjoyable.

other than that, i'd have to say that george martins 'a song of ice and fire' really takes the cake. now only if the old fart could finish the damn thing...