Forgotten Realms - the classics

[Mr. Patient]

IMO, Crystal Shard was his best work by a large margin.

I just read Crystal Shard for the first time. I've been playing D&D for almost 30 years, but I had never read any of the licensed fiction. This was my first and thus far only encounter with it. If this is Salvatore's best work, I can scarcely imagine how dreadful everything else must be. He and his editors torture the English language ("grizzly" instead of "grisly," "principle" instead of "principal," and my favorite, "quelched"). Although he crafts a few moderately effective scenes, notably the fight with Biggrin, so many others, like the Battle of Icewind Dale, are just totally slack and suspenseless.

And the names, my God, the names. How can you say Crenshinibon or Cattie-Brie without laughing? Could you possibly choose a more inappropriate and absurd name for a warhammer than Aegis-fang? While I don't expect any author to go to the lengths that Tolkien did to create plausible and consistent cultures, it seems that Salvatore paid no attention at all to what he was doing. Welsh, English, Latin, Greek, German, French, Norse(ish) -- they all just went into a blender with no rhyme or reason. Oh well, that's D&D, I suppose.

 

[Kzach]

How have they held up? Are they actually worth my reading time if I've grown picky about my fantasy novels? Any recent experiences would rock.

If you thought they were decent back when you read them originally, then it really depends on whether your tastes have matured or not. Because, really, they are terrible. It's all vanity fiction. You can count the Mary Sues just by looking at the covers.

 

[Eridanis]

Elaine Cunningham is an exception and it almost always good. <snip> Rich Baker, however, is good.

I completely agree with these statements. Most TSR/WotC fiction doesn't do anything for me, but I've very much enjoyed the novels by Cunningham and Baker.

 

[Obryn]

If you thought they were decent back when you read them originally, then it really depends on whether your tastes have matured or not. Because, really, they are terrible. It's all vanity fiction. You can count the Mary Sues just by looking at the covers.

I think it's safe to say they have. My bar nowadays is set by folks like Iain Banks, Steven Erikson, R Scott Bakker, Martin (if he ever writes again), and Neal Stephenson. I can still read and mostly enjoy Warhammer novels, but those are generally a cut above most tie-in fiction. I'm kind of a fantasy snob, I'm almost ashamed to say. But, I frankly have less reading time nowadays, and I'd rather read great sf/f or really good non-fiction than waste my time on crap.

I completely agree with these statements. Most TSR/WotC fiction doesn't do anything for me, but I've very much enjoyed the novels by Cunningham and Baker.

Good to know. My wife grabbed Baker's first Swordmage book for me off Paperback Exchange, so I will give that one a shot!

-O

 

[Derulbaskul]

Wow. Someone else who thinks Bruce is a better gamer than writer. (snip)

I've never read a positive review of his writing. Actually, on the gaming front he also needs to get his mojo back. It's been a long time since the brilliance of The Gates of Firestorm Peak. Too often now it's weird for weird's sake.

And yes, the Cale series (snip) Paul Kemp?

Yes, Paul Kemp. I do believe he was a real "find" for WotC and definitely their best author.

 

[diaglo]

Anyway, among the things I pulled out of storage was the fabulous Atlas of the Forgotten Realms by Karen Wynn Fonstad (who apparently passed away a few years back...)

Anna Dobritt is a member here. she posted a lot on www.mortality.net too.

Has anyone read these classic Forgotten Realms novels recently?

How have they held up? Are they actually worth my reading time if I've grown picky about my fantasy novels? Any recent experiences would rock.

i own all of them upto the feb 2006 releases.

but they all kinda blur together after a while. the only stuff i can remember standing out right now are some of the later releases by Paul Kemp (who posts here too). edit: which i see others have mentioned already in this thread

 

[AllisterH]

Anything by Kemp and Cunningham are good....

But really, FR licensed fiction is akin to those trashy Harlequin novels. You're not supposed to keep them after you read them...

 

[JohnRTroy]

Funny that people used to say that about the pulps...

Or Dickens...

 

[SSquirrel]

The Avatar trilogy is awful, but I re-read it every couple of years and it still has a special place for me. The Dark Elf books can go either way for me. There was an excellent parody chapter sample written several years back that described Drizz'DD using his dual scimitars to make a sandwich that I thought was hilarious and a perfect summation of what the series was becoming. I think the original trilogy (Crystal Shard and such), the Dark Elf trilogy and a few of the later books are worth reading, but I've had a hard time wanting to read much beyond the book or 2 after WUlfgar showed back up.

My wife hates Feist and Aspirin, but I'm a big fan of both of their writing. Not D&D novels of course, but the Riftwar books from Feist, the Myth and Phule series, as well as the Dragons Wild line started shortly before Asprin's death are all fun reads. I love that Feist is not scared to push the timeline along, even if it means changing the cast thru violent death and/or old age.