Worthwhile Forgotten Realms novels?

[Dark Jezter]

As many of you know, there is a virtual ocean of Forgotten Realms novels out there. Now, I've already read all of R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels (except for the Cleric Quintet, but I'll be starting that series soon) and found most of them to be enjoyable reads.

So, this thread is for people to give their recommendations for good Forgotten Realms novels and help me avoid the bad ones (like those AWFUL novelizations of the Baldur's Gate games). I've been considering the new War of the Spider Queen series of novels, has anybody read them yet?

Recommendations?

 

[LuYangShih]

I would recommend The Finder's Stone Trilogy, which comprises Azure Bonds, The Wyvern's Spur, and Song Of The Saurials. I also enjoyed the other works by the same authors, in Masquerades, Finders Bane, and Tymoras Luck. I also recommend Cormyr, part one of a trilogy. I did not care for the two sequels, but the first one was very good.

 

[Eternalknight]

I quite enjoyed the Moonshae trilogy of books.

 

[John Crichton]

As many of you know, there is a virtual ocean of Forgotten Realms novels out there. Now, I've already read all of R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels (except for the Cleric Quintet, but I'll be starting that series soon) and found most of them to be enjoyable reads.

So, this thread is for people to give their recommendations for good Forgotten Realms novels and help me avoid the bad ones (like those AWFUL novelizations of the Baldur's Gate games). I've been considering the new War of the Spider Queen series of novels, has anybody read them yet?

Recommendations?

Harpers Book 6 - Crypt of the Shadowking by Mark Anthony
Harpers Book 11 - Curse of the Shadowmage by Mark Anthony

Good reads with some solid ideas for games. It is noteworthy that Mark Anthony was the only author that got a chance to write about Zak/Drizzt other than Salvatore. He did a great job, as well.

Daughter of the Drow & Tangled Webs (Starlight and Shadows series) by Elaine Cunningham. I have yet to read the 3rd book (I read the first 2 before WotC picked up TSR) but the first two were pretty good.

The Songs and Swords Series by Elaine Cunningham. I haven't read the last 2 but the first 3 were quite good. Actually, most of the original Harpers books were at the very least entertaining and gave a good overall picture of the Realms. Really helped me to run it back in the day.

I would recommend The Finder's Stone Trilogy, which comprises Azure Bonds, The Wyvern's Spur, and Song Of The Saurials. I also enjoyed the other works by the same authors, in Masquerades, Finders Bane, and Tymoras Luck. I also recommend Cormyr, part one of a trilogy. I did not care for the two sequels, but the first one was very good.

I'll second this. Masquerades was my favorite of the bunch.

You may want to hit up Amazon.com and see people's reviews there. They are fairly accurate just stay away from long reviews as they may contain spoilers.

 

[Green Knight]

Do NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, waste your money on The Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy by Ed Greenwood. I was stupid enough to plunk down the cash for the whole trilogy before reading a single page, expecting a good story, when I instead ended up with a painful, slow, and dull mess.

Ithar and Belkram, for one, are possibly the two most ANNOYING Forgotten Realms characters ever conceived. It seems all they do is go from joke to puke to joke to puke. I've never seen a character puke so often in a book, nevermind these two. What the hell are they doing adventuring, if the sight of any gore sends them into convulsions and vomitting?

Can't speak about the entire trilogy, but I can say this. I had to FORCE myself just to get halfway through the first book (There's an incident which goes on in a castle which is INTOLERABLY long! I wanted the damn castle siege to be OVER, already, but it just went on and on and on chapter after chapter after chapter). And I only reached that point after about two weeks. By that point, I'd had enough and threw the book across the room and never looked at it, again. If the first book is anything to judge by, then the other two books in the trilogy are undoubtedly crap as well.

As for books you SHOULD read, I suggest Cormyr: A Novel. This book was REALLY good. Let me put it to you this way. It took me TWO WEEKS to just get HALFWAY through the first book of The Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy. It took me all of ONE DAY to read Cormyr: A Novel. I LITERALLY couldn't put it down. I started reading it the day I got it in the mail, and I just couldn't wait to read the next chapter. I spent the rest of the day into the late hours of the night reading that book until I finished it.

It has the occasional weak chapter, but overall it's an excellent book. I especially love the odd numbered chapters, which describe the history of Cormyr. Let me explain. For the most part, the even numbered chapters center around ONE story. That of an assassination attempt on King Azoun. The odd numbered chapters, for the most part, are separate stories about Cormyr's past. In a way, this book is sort of an anthology, but with all the stories written by the same man, with all about the same subject, and all in chronological order. And there's an underlying story to each chapter. Some characters carry over, while others don't. But it was endlessly interesting to see how people and times had changed. How a member of a noble house in one age was a legendary hero, and a member of that same noble house in a later age was a treacherous villain.

Cormyr: A Novel is a GREAT book! I can't recommend it, enough.

 

[Aulayan]

I highly enjoyed some of the Sembia novels I read. In particular, they being Halls of Stormweather, Shadow's Witness, Black Wolf, and Lord of Stormweather.

Didn't care for Shattered Mirror. And I have yet to pick up Sands of the Soul because my local B&N never has it and I've been too lazy to order it via Amazon.

 

[Sirius_Black]

I'd like to put a vote in for the Sembia series. I enjoyed reading every book within the series, some more than others. The experience really made me long for a Sembia source book for the FR game.

Yes, the War of the Spider Queen series is a very good read so far. However, the series is incomplete. Thus, if you wanted to start with a series that has been completely published, you might want to look elsewhere for now.

Additionally, anything written by Elaine Cunningham, I'd strongly recommend.

http://www.elainecunningham.com/

That's her website if you want to read up on any of her books set in the FR World. I have enjoyed every one of her books and she is a very classy lady on messageboards showing patience that others would not when it comes to some posters.

 

[John Crichton]

Do NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, waste your money on The Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy by Ed Greenwood. I was stupid enough to plunk down the cash for the whole trilogy before reading a single page, expecting a good story, when I instead ended up with a painful, slow, and dull mess.

Ithar and Belkram, for one, are possibly the two most ANNOYING Forgotten Realms characters ever conceived. It seems all they do is go from joke to puke to joke to puke. I've never seen a character puke so often in a book, nevermind these two. What the hell are they doing adventuring, if the sight of any gore sends them into convulsions and vomitting?

Can't speak about the entire trilogy, but I can say this. I had to FORCE myself just to get halfway through the first book (There's an incident which goes on in a castle which is INTOLERABLY long! I wanted the damn castle siege to be OVER, already, but it just went on and on and on chapter after chapter after chapter). And I only reached that point after about two weeks. By that point, I'd had enough and threw the book across the room and never looked at it, again. If the first book is anything to judge by, then the other two books in the trilogy are undoubtedly crap as well.

The first 2 books of that trilogy were pretty weak. I read them when I was 14 so they weren't that bad for me and I was reading more for knowledge of that time period than anything because I was running a Realms campaign at the time. They are good for that. I can say that the trilogy gets much better especially in the 3rd book (which was authored by Troy Denning who had nothing to do with the first 2 books).

I would try and get the first 2 at a library and buy the third. The third will also lead you into the related books by Troy Denning about the continuation of the trilogy (stuff about Cyric, Midnight, etc). Those books are actually quite entertaining. But yes, the first book was pretty bad and I can't recommend it as good fiction but it is good for a Realms history lesson about the Time of Troubles.

 

[Green Knight]

The first 2 books of that trilogy were pretty weak. I read them when I was 14 so they weren't that bad for me and I was reading more for knowledge of that time period than anything because I was running a Realms campaign at the time. They are good for that. I can say that the trilogy gets much better especially in the 3rd book (which was authored by Troy Denning who had nothing to do with the first 2 books).

I would try and get the first 2 at a library and buy the third. The third will also lead you into the related books by Troy Denning about the continuation of the trilogy (stuff about Cyric, Midnight, etc). Those books are actually quite entertaining. But yes, the first book was pretty bad and I can't recommend it as good fiction but it is good for a Realms history lesson about the Time of Troubles.

My memory of the book's hazy (Which is a good thing. I've done my best to forget that blasted book), but doesn't it go against the Avatar Trilogy? After all, Elminster spent a lot of time running around with Midnight and Co. So was he running back and forth between plot lines or what?

As far as the third, eh. Two out of three means that 2/3rds of the story sucks, so why bother? Though was Denning the one who wrote that Prince of Lies book (I think it's either him or James Lowder)? I read that one YEARS ago, but I still remember it as having been a really good read. I've been meaning to read the follow-up ever since.

 

[BobROE]

The early Drizzt stuff is good, as is the start of the sembia series (liked the starting books but the latter stuff wasn't as good. The WotSQ books are great cause everyone's evil. People either love or hate Ed Greenwood's stuff so opinions will vary, but I generally like it. I like EC's stuff.