Worthwhile Forgotten Realms novels?

[RenoOfTheTurks]

I second (third, fourth) any recommendations of Cormyr and of Elaine Cunningham's books, though I liked her book on Evermeet less than the rest.

The Simbul's Gift, which is book six in the non-linear Nobles series, is very good too, and Red Magic isn't bad. Anyone who likes the Drizzt books should enjoy the Cleric Quintet as well.

Green Knight and John Crichton, yes, you guys are talking about 2 differents series. The Shadow of the Avatar series is completely written by Ed Greenwood and is just an (overly) action-packed breathless war against the Shadowmasters, magic-using shapeshifters from the plane of Shadow. The descriptions of these beings were somewhat interesting, though, in my opinion.

The Avatar trilogy is the one about Midnight, Kelemvor, Adon, and Cyric. I too thought that the third book, Waterdeep, was by far the best, but I kind of liked the first two as well. And Prince of Lies and the other follow-up were indeed cool!

 

[John Crichton]

Green Knight and John Crichton, yes, you guys are talking about 2 differents series.

Yes, yes we are. That will teach me to post during work and to fully read threads. One of the problems with the Realms books is that when WotC took over they switched series around and screwed with trilogy titles, etc. Messed me all up.

 

[jonesy]

Avoid the Double Diamond Triangle Saga like the plague. Not only are the books boring, full of plot holes and slightly inconsistent with each other, they are also completely non-canon. Thank goodness I read them as library books instead of wasting money on them.

 

[Celtavian]

re

I've read some FR books here and there. The ones I liked the most were Cormyr: A Novel and Evermeet: Island of the Elves.

I highly recommend that you stay away from the Avatar series (at least the first three) and the Shadow of the Avatars series, both were teeth grinding reads that I finished because I started them.

Daughter of the Drow was pretty good as well. I haven't read the other books, but Liriel is a neat little character.

The best series that I can recommend is the Empires Trilogy. The three books are Horselords, Dragonwall and Crusade. It was a very good series, the best one I have read to date. Great characters, believable situations and just a great read.

 

[orbitalfreak]

I also recommend Cormyr: A Novel, and suggest getting the War of the Spider Queen books, as well. The Avatar Trilogy was quite good, as well.

 

[Welverin]

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.

In what? While I likely read I just can't remember anyone else having written anything with them in it.

 

[John Crichton]

In what? While I likely read I just can't remember anyone else having written anything with them in it.

In the "Realms of the Underdark" anthology. I believe the title was something like The Fires of Narbondel. Anthony was actually in line to write a full novel before TSR was able to get Salvatore back on board to write more FR Drizzt books (that could be a bit off about RAS, but Anthony was slated to write a full Drizzt novel).

 

[Dark Jezter]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everybody.

After reading the Cleric Quintet, I'll probably read Cormyr, a Novel or the Avatar Trilogy. The Sembia novels sound great as well.

A friend of mine once referred to Elaine Cunningham's novels as "Elf Operas"; meaning that you will probably like them if you're a big fan of elves. I'll admit right now that elves are far from being my favorite D&D race, but I might check out some of the EC novels that have been recommended so far.

(By the way, I know that Salvatore's books often involve drow, who are elves. But I'd rather read about elves who are always backstabbing and plotting against each other than elves who sing in the forests and dance under the moonlight )

 

[John Crichton]

A friend of mine once referred to Elaine Cunningham's novels as "Elf Operas"; meaning that you will probably like them if you're a big fan of elves. I'll admit right now that elves are far from being my favorite D&D race, but I might check out some of the EC novels that have been recommended so far.

"Elf Operas" eh?

I would say the novels starring Arilyn Moonblade are not so much Elf Operas as they are simply good reads. YMMV.

 

[Welverin]

In the "Realms of the Underdark" anthology. I believe the title was something like The Fires of Narbondel. Anthony was actually in line to write a full novel before TSR was able to get Salvatore back on board to write more FR Drizzt books (that could be a bit off about RAS, but Anthony was slated to write a full Drizzt novel).

Some where on his site RAS mentioned that one of the conditions in him coming back was that no one else could write a book about his character so the novel that was already in the works got canned. As I recall this was after WotC bought TSR and went about rehiring people TSR pissed off and ran out of the company.

I had wondered for quite some time what happened to that book, I rememebred it being announced and then nothing for some time. Eventually RAS had another one on the way and it wasn't until years later looking at his site that it all got put togehter.