MarkChevallier
First Post
I'd imagine it would be hard not to include someone who's books have become iconic representations of D&D for so many people who were teenagers when the first Drizzt novels came out. Some of those folks are game designers now, so I can see how it would rank. Much like how the Dragonlance Chronicles sit up on the list as well - they're classics of the game fiction genre now, no matter what you might think of them as literature. I'm somewhat surprised that they didn't include Gygax's Gord books in there - they're not high literature, and they certainly aren't to everyone's tastes, but I would think they'd rank.
You're right; I never really enjoyed them but I did enjoy the cheesy Dragonlance books when they came out. In retrospect, they were pretty awful too but I overlooked that because of my familiarity and affection for them as they partly formed my view of fantasy. RA Salvatore will probably be the same for others.
On the other hand, there are plenty of actually good fantasy novels in there, and I hope no-one begrudges me wishing there were a few more instead of the fantasy-factory type novels. (I admit to the possibility of good fantasy tie-in novels while remaining ignorant of an actual example.) Where is Jack Vance's Lyonesse? And they really, really should have included Joe Abercrombie.