I have a couple Drizzt and Elminster books, but thats it. I havent read them all, Ive only gone through the Icewind Dale trilogy and Making of a Mage.
What other books in the Forgotten Realms setting should I look out for, or check out? I dont really know any of the authors other than Greenwood and Salvatore so far. How are the other Drizzt or Elminster books?
Thanks for any help, there is alot out there to choose from.
-As far as "must haves", I don't think there are any. The setting is very large, and is largely devoid of one large metaplot that you must know about driving everything.
-As far as books that I liked, among my favorites are Evermeet: Island of the Elves, The Starlight and Shadows trilogy, and the Empires trilogy.
-Like I already said, among my favorites are Evermeet: Island of the Elves, The Starlight and Shadows trilogy, and the Empires trilogy. For the most part, Elaine Cunningham is the main connecting thread there (excluding the Empires trilogy).
-Since there is no "starting point", there isn't a "wrong place" to start reading books. I usually suggest picking up one of the many Realms of X anthology collections, which are short story books all having one major theme in common, be it Magic, Dragons, Elves, The Underdark, whatever. Those books have a bunch of different authors (usually about 6-8 or so) different characters, different places, and so on. By picking one of those up, you'll get a sense of the writing styles of different authors, some of their characters, and some different places across Faerûn, which then allows you to be more selective in picking up future books that are written by that author, are set in that specific place, feature that specific character, and so on.
) Also, Im not necisarily looking for a starting point, Im just curious to hear some opinions.
Now you mentioned Evermeet: Island of the Elves, The Starlight and Shadows trilogy, and the Empires trilogy. What about those series of books do you enjoy?
I have not read a whole lot of the FR books as I said, so I like your idea of checking out an anthology collection.
I also highly recommend the
BEst of the Realms line.
I also recommend Depths of Madness staring the lovely Fox at Twilight.
Darkvision isnt bad.
I hear goodthingsabout Blackstaff and waterdeep.
Best of Realms 1, 2 & 3
Queen of the Depths
Lady of Poison
I would definitely recommend the Best of Realms books ... most of the short stories are excellent. I didn't particularly like the one with Ed Greenwood storied (no. 2 I think) ... but mostly because I didn't feel like reading about Elminster, 7 sisters or Danilo Tann.
Queen of the Depths is a different kind of novel than usual, and I really liked it. I would recommend that too.
Lady of Poison (still reading it) have potential, but I dislike the writing style. Don't know why exactly.
I enjoyed the Avatar series back when it came out, but I am not sure I would enjoy it as much today.
I think there is still one of the Erevis Cale stories for free download on the Wizards website. It was actually quite good, even though it was my first one with him, and it seems to sort of happen in the middle of things (i.e. not the first with that character).
since you just read the icewindale trilogy, go ahead and finish up with the dark elf trilogy, Homeland, exile, sojourn. enjoy RA at his best before the idea became cliche'(note i still kinda dig Drist, and LOVE artemis and Jarlaxle)
after that take a break from Drizzt to enjoy some other parts of the Realms..
At this time I would suggest some of the classic or starter Realms books(before dates became really important) and either read the moonshae trilogy or the pools of radience trilogy(forget name sorry) they are both well written and help flesh out the world when it was starting. Moonshae is: Darkwalker on moonshae. Black wizards and darkwell. other is: Pools of radience, pools of darkness, and pools of twilight.
I would recomend a couple of the harper series, but dont consider it a must read, the Avatar trilogy is good, but not really great, wel mabye it is great because it made me upset and mad at the choices that happened in the books(mabye that is the sign of a truely great book) but it does kinda take you through the time of troubles.
perhaps at this time you could get through another few Drizzt books, you really need to to get to the sell swords trilogy, which is FUcting priceless! really I bear no il will twards RA however I was thoroughly bored with Drizzt and thease treinspired my faith in him as a writer. nuff said.
The War of the spider queen was so much fun to read(cept waiting so damn long for each book to come out) kudos to everyone involved. the queen penitent was also a good read and also lead up to the, for lack of a better term end game of 3.5.
The last 2 , ops 3 trilogies are the Erevis Cale/ twilight wars trilogies, and the Haunted lands trilogy both are excellently written. no stupid bad guys, and the Heroes arent Lawful good fops with a BIG god.
thopse are the last few I have read. I know its really still alot to read but to tell the truth they kinda draw you onward...
best of luck with your reading, and i must say im a bit jelous that you get to experience this world for the first time in such a complete way.
My favorite series (again, barring Salvatore) is Threat from the Sea. Great action, I actually rooted for the main character to not get eaten by a monster (a rarity), a good villain with a cool backstory that remains appropriately mysterious, and a plot which was actually coherent throughout all three books (also, a rarity). The short story volume that goes with it is also readable.
My single favorite FR book (barring Salvatore's better efforts) is Temple Hill. it's a one-shot with some interesting characters, a complex but enjoyable plot, and only one part where you smack yourself in the head with the writer putting in something just plain ridiculous (which, I believe is a record for FR).
Which part? Just curious.
beyond that, Temple Hill was a pretty good read. the hand itself was pretty cool though.
Has anyone yet written a book that takes place during the the 4th Edition era? Or during the Cataclysmic spellplague event that happened? Just curious as I know it caused quite a commotion in the community.
Has anyone yet written a book that takes place during the the 4th Edition era? Or during the Cataclysmic spellplague event that happened? Just curious as I know it caused quite a commotion in the community.
Books that take place (partially or wholly) during 1,479 DR
Blackstaff Tower
Corsair
Downshadow
The Fanged Crown
Mistshore
Plague of Spells
The Restless Shore
Swordmage
Books that take place (partially or wholly) during the transitory years between 1,375 DR and 1,479 DR, or are somehow otherwise relevant to the events culminating in the 4e Forgotten Realms*
The Empyrian Odyssey trilogy
The Lady Penitent trilogy
The Transitions trilogy
The Twilight War trilogy
Plague of Spells
*Note that the designers specifically stated that this time period is/was supposed to be left carte blanche. Already, some novels take place during this time period, wholly or partially. That the time period continue to be left mostly untouched is theoretically up in the air, being as the designers/authors have already tip-toed over the line to begin with. So, there might be more in this category in the future, or there might not be.