D&D FR novels, the good, the bad, and the ugly

[HeavenShallBurn]

FR novels lets see.

Haven't read many of them but out of the lot.
*Troy Denning books should probably be avoided if the Return of the Archwizards trilogy is any measure of his writing.
*Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy was ok as far as FR novels go but nothing special.
*Ghostwalker was surprisingly good
*Spellfire was one of Greenwood's better ones, but his style tends to grate on me.
*Mark of Death Eberron not FR but I generally warn people not to waste their money on this trilogy at every opportunity.
*Kang's Regiment Again Dragonlance not FR but it's good enough that I recommend it and it is D&D based. 2 Books Doom Brigade and Draconian Measures

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

There are good FR novels?

TS

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I'm a moral relatavist, an attitude I'm willing to extend to art. So by my definition there are novels that are good by FR standards.

 

[Slaygrim]

I'm not a fan of Ed Greenwoods books either. They are hard for me to follow, they don't flow easily. And all of his female characters act like hookers. And that's bad coming from me because I can't stand people being uptight about sex.

 

[Cilmoran]

I like EG's books a lot, except for Temptation of Elminster. I love the characters and the feel of the world. Shadows of the Avatar is one of my favorite two FR series (the other is EC's Counselors and Kings).

As for the the ugly, unfortunately there are a number:

* Pretty much the entire Nobles series, with the exception of The Simbul's Gift. By far the worst was Council of Blades, which was wrong in every sense of the word. It was a transplanted Renaissance Italy (complete with those checkered pants), it had the wrong kinds of warfare, the characters were awful, and on, and on. The Undermountain book was a close second in awfulness.
* Everything by Troy Denning. Not called Death Star for no reason. The Summoning was so bad I stopped reading any FR book for years. The two Avatar continuations were equally awful.
* The Avatar series. Gods, that was terrible. The *only* good thing about it was that it gave EG the reason to write Shadows of the Avatar, which was great. That was another achingly bad series.

Those are the worst three, in my opinion. Oh, and the last two books in the War of the Spider Queen. What a terrible end to a great start.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'm a moral relatavist, an attitude I'm willing to extend to art. So by my definition there are novels that are good by FR standards.

I guess that makes me a personal reletavist, at least when it comes to art. If I don't like a novel, it's a bad novel. If someone else likes that novel, it doesn't mean it's a good novel to them; it just means they have bad taste.

...Okay, I'm done being a moron now.
TS

 

[Ghost2020]

The Pool of Darkness/Twilight books were decent.

The Crypt of the Shadowking and Curse of the Shadowmage weren't too bad.

Spellfire, I didn't really like it.

 

[The Crippler]

The good:
Whisper of Waves.
I loved the re-interpretation of Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead. It is certainly one of the most unique trilogies in the FR library. Big props to WoTC for allowing such a distinctly unorthodox novel to be published.

The Bad.
The Hunter's Blades Trilogy
Blech. This story went nowhere. What a waste. It was 3 books of filler.

The Ugly.
The Road of the Patriarch
I'm sorry, but this novel was terrible. I'm not picking on Salvatore. I obviously like his books since I own all the FR ones, and Jarlaxle and Entreri are great together - sort of like the Odd Couple - but wow, this novel was a real slog to get through with a very unsatisfying climax.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Interesting topic. (Now if we could only one for the White Wolf fiction lines...)

The good?

ELaine CUnningham: I find her FR fiction to typically be a tad above that of some of the other FR authors.

The Cleric Quintet: SUre,it has it's problems, (the Bouldershoulder Brothers can grate), but it's not a Drizzt book! Caderly is (IMO) a fun character to read about,and his prgoression as a cleric is one of the best in D+D fiction to this point. (YMMV of course.)

Spellfire: Not "War and Peace", but entertaining enogh to read, and I found Shandril likeable.

The Dark Elf trilogy: Before Dark Elves/Drizzt became mockeries of themselves,this was a fast-paced read that shed light into a dim corner of the Realms.

The bad?
War of the Spider Queen; Bar none, the WORST of the FR fiction. Just when you find a charcter you like, they kill him/her, or make him/her ultimately irreeemable. ESPECIALLY (IIRC) Halistraa, in the final two books.

The Dark Elf books: At least those beyond the intial trilogy. Read any of the above posts or threads,and you'll see why.

Eye of the Hunter trilogy: (At least I think that's the name of it.) WHere the Sahaguin try to invade the Realms. Poorly written,poorly plotted, and wooden characters. (I'm still cursing Mel Odom to this day!!)

The Elminster saga: Does this even need explaining?

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Good; Cunningham.

Bad; Denning.

Ugly (like Tuco); Salvatore.