Forgotten Realms novels

[treide]

After encountering some of the characters from the Forgotten Realms novels in Bioware games, and also seeing miniatures of Drizzt, Elminster and other characters on CMON, I am tempted to read some of the source novels.

Are they worth reading, and if so, is there a particular order in which they should be read? If someone were to compare them to other popular fantasy series, such as Tolkien\'s LOTR, Moorcock\'s Elric saga, and others, what is the closest fit?

 

[darthfoley]

Some of the series in the FR setting are pretty good. There\'s nothing in the range along the lines of \'high fantasy\' like LOTR, though. One of the most popular and longest running is, of course, the Dark Elf series (start with the Icewind Dale trilogy IMO, the Dark Elf trilogy though chronologically \'first\' is a bit too emo to allow you to really get into the flow of the story).

Some personal favorites of mine are the Darkwalker on Moonshae series (the first FR series released), the Twilight Giants series, the Empires trilogy, and the Cleric Quintet (more Salvatore, but some of the best humor he\'s ever done).

 

[treide]

Thanks darthfoley! I\'ll check them out.

 

[Drake Farstrider]

Darth gave you a bunch of great recomends. I also liked the Avatar series, I am curently reading the Return of the Archwizards trilogy and I have heard good things about the Mithal series.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Just remember that they are not aimed at a target audience of Adults. More like 13-16 year olds, ok so innocent 13-16 year olds. lol They are not as Dark as GW\'s Black Library series, but good non the less.

One or two of them are showing their age (in terms of the writing style) and I\'ve read a couple recently which were heavily over \"action sequenced!. It got to the point where I was glad to get to the end of the book.
But all in all they are an easy read nothing to make you struggle with exotic concepts, or complex plots.
The \"Harpers\" series I enjoyed, especially the \"Night Parade\" (I think that\'s it\'s title).

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by treide


Are they worth reading, and if so, is there a particular order in which they should be read? If someone were to compare them to other popular fantasy series, such as Tolkien\'s LOTR, Moorcock\'s Elric saga, and others, what is the closest fit?

The closest fit is TSR\'s Dragonlance

In all fairness the stuff ain\'t bad, but it\'s the Mills & Boons of the fantasy genre. Waterdeep and Shadowdlae are part of the avatar series I believe and they weren\'t bad. Probably my favourite.

 

[treide]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Pestie]

Dont forget Curse of the Azure bonds - that was a brill book!! (although i was only 13 at the time)