Niles was first. The resemblance between Daryth and Drizzt is not accidental. When Salvatore was first asked to write a Forgotten Realms novel he was a bit shaky on what they actually wanted them him to do.#004 Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles (Moonshae Trilogy Book 1)
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Yeah, this is the one I should have read first- in some ways I'm glad I didn't. Set in the Moonshae Isles (obviously) which is home to the Celtic mythos style Ffolk and the marauding Viking-like Northmen. Our hero is a bit of a... I don't know, and neither does he, that might be the problem. The start of the novel gets my back up for a good long while, awfully contrived and a bit (whisper this) unbelievable- when Tristan meets Daryth (a bit Drizzt lite). Also, what's with the faithful side-kick cats/dogs (Guenhywvar vs Canthus) who had the hound/canine companion first Salvatore or Niles. Pawldo is very Halfling.
Read?
You can probably give Spellfire a miss...
You might want to skip Rich Baker's The Shadow Stone. Despite being published as a Forgotten Realms novel, it was originally written for Birthright. But by the time it was set to be released, that campaign setting had been closed down, so Baker went back through and made some quick changes to turn it into an FR novel. Even today, the book makes much more sense if you place it in Cerilia rather than Faerun.
There are some crackers...
I really liked the Drizzt prequels Homeland, Exile and Sojourn... a really fun trilogy for lovers of the Drow and far better than the Icewind dale books IMHO
The Return of the Archwizards series is great
Also loved the Last Mythal series.
Come to think of it, I was partial to Troy Dennings books set in Cormyr.
I love the Spellfire trilogy myself. I feel it actually has a place within FR lore that's important to know about if is interested in FR backgrounds...plus it's by Greenwood himself so there's that.
Did you really read all four of these books TODAY?