Elminster Novels

[Lela]

I'm looking to start reading Elminster novels. Can anyone give me a good place to start?

I've noticed that a lot don't seem to be in print anymore (I prefer not to buy used).

(Crap, I got class. Gotta go!)

 

[GSHamster]

The Elminster-specific novels are (in order):

The Making of a Mage (1994)
Elminster in Myth Drannor (1997)
The Temptation of Elminster (1998)
Elminster in Hell (2001)
Elminster's Daughter (2004)

He also pops up in other FR novels that Ed Greenwood has written (most notably the Shadow of the Avatar series).

Here's a good site with lists: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Ed_Greenwood.htm

 

[Lela]

(Hmmm, that's odd. It didn't subscribe me to my own thread. . .)

Thanks GSHamster. I really appreciate it.

And I loved the Shadow of the Avatar series, which is what drew me to poking into him.

 

[RaceBannon42]

Run away!

Oh no please don't tell me you like Ed Greenwood's writing. As a product developer he was outstanding. As a novelist he makes Baby Jesus Cry. I really tried to read him. I gave him every oppourtunity to prove he could write fiction, but he is just plain awful. Every book I read by him got less and less readable. Spellfire was pretty bad, crown of fire was worse. Elminster :making of a mage had me cringing through every page. And the shadows of an Avatar series was just plain unreadable. I mean half of one of the books describes one long excrutiatingly unintersteresting battle. I stopped trying after that. I cant be alone in this opinion can I?

 

[Celtavian]

Oh no please don't tell me you like Ed Greenwood's writing. As a product developer he was outstanding. As a novelist he makes Baby Jesus Cry. I really tried to read him. I gave him every oppourtunity to prove he could write fiction, but he is just plain awful. Every book I read by him got less and less readable. Spellfire was pretty bad, crown of fire was worse. Elminster :making of a mage had me cringing through every page. And the shadows of an Avatar series was just plain unreadable. I mean half of one of the books describes one long excrutiatingly unintersteresting battle. I stopped trying after that. I cant be alone in this opinion can I?

You are not alone. I will say no more since that will be a thread hijack.

 

[Lela]

And the shadows of an Avatar series was just plain unreadable. I mean half of one of the books describes one long excrutiatingly unintersteresting battle.

Which book was that? I don't seem to recall a long battle. Unless you're refering to Prince of Lies, I guess. The City of the Dead battle was rather long. But it was broken up well.

Really, I won't say that I thought the Avatar series was excellent. Just good. I especially enjoyed Prince of Lies as it helped me get an understanding of how a god thinks. Good DM tool.

It is, however, worth noting that Ed Greenwood didn't write it. At least, not according to bn.com, amazon.com, and all the authors notes in each of the books I've read.

You are not alone. I will say no more since that will be a thread hijack.

Go for it. This thread might as well become something interesting.

 

[diaglo]

el Munchkin also makes appearances or is referenced in some of the Harper series of books.

 

[ElMorte]

Elminster :making of a mage had me cringing through every page.

Then you should read the german translation. They translated everything from city names to monsters.

They translated "Lich" with "Lurch" (that's an amphibian animal in german). I riddled a long time till i read that it is an undead spellcaster.

 

[RaceBannon42]

Which book was that? I don't seem to recall a long battle. Unless you're refering to Prince of Lies, I guess. The City of the Dead battle was rather long. But it was broken up well.

Really, I won't say that I thought the Avatar series was excellent. Just good. I especially enjoyed Prince of Lies as it helped me get an understanding of how a god thinks. Good DM tool.

It is, however, worth noting that Ed Greenwood didn't write it. At least, not according to bn.com, amazon.com, and all the authors notes in each of the books I've read.


Go for it. This thread might as well become something interesting.

Those are two different series. The Avatar series was written in conjuntion with the change from 1st ed to 2nd ed. The "author " was Richard Awlinson, which is a pseudonym for 2 or 3 different authors, I can't recall who atm.
Shadows of the Avatar came out several years later at least. That trilogy was written by Greenwood. It involves the rangers 3 and Elminster.

What bugs me most about Greenwood, is not that reading his books caused my eyes to boil in the sockets. Its that what he puts in those novels becomes FR canon, and when I was playing in a regular FR campaign I felt I needed to " Keep up" and therefore subject myself to was he passed off as a novel.

I know I am being pretty critical, and I'll admit he's a better novelist then I am. But I'm not releasing what I write on hordes of unsuspecting consumers.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

The only thing by Greenwood that I have read was Elminster: Making of a Mage. That ruined any chances of me reading any other works that he has written.

Then again, IMHO, I really haven't been impressed by any of the FR books that go beyond their initial book/trilogy. I liked Azure Bonds, but I wasn't that crazy about the 2nd book & couldn't read the 3rd (IIRC, wasn't Azure Bonds just a stand-alone book that got made/added into a trilogy?). The Icewind Dale trilogy was good, but I haven't enjoyed anything beyond that.