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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faraer" data-source="post: 1589574" data-attributes="member: 6318">Best starting points are Ed Greenwood's Spellfire (written to introduce the Realms to new readers, and unparalleled in that purpose), Elaine Cunningham's Elfshadow, and the multi-author The Halls of Stormweather. Ed's written in the Realms for 20 years longer than anyone else, and there's no substitute for the authentic Realmsian life his novels breathe.Elminster in Hell is much the most ambitious Realms novel written, with only Cormyr and Evermeet of comparable ambition. It may be my favourite, but its resonance is greater if it's not the first Realms book you read. The latest, Elminster's Daughter, is actually a good Realms-introduction that stands up just fine as a stand-alone sword and sorcery novel.Bob Salvatore's books, and I don't think he'd necessarily disagree, are only peripherally about the Realms. They're set in their own enclave which doesn't have much to do thematically or in terms of continuity (though this is less true lately) with the greater Realms.(I second the Caitlín Kiernan recommendation, on an unrelated note.)</blockquote>