Favorite Forgotten Realms Novel

Remove all ads!

Whats your favorite Forgotten Realms Novel?I'm trying to decide which one I want to read for my class. Name a specifc book in a series.

 

Depths of Madness

 

Anything written by Paul Kemp.

Or, if you need a standalone, try Darkvision by Bruce Cordell

 

The Empyrean Odyssey. It's a series but it's a GOOD series.

 

"Servant of the shard" by Salvatore. I have not read much FR mostly just the Salvatore stuff and although I am not much of a fan most of it is somewhat entertaining. This one is actually a half decent book, not great by any normal standard but by FR och Salvatore standards it is outstanding.

 

I thought that the Halruuan trilogy was wicked awesome. Started with the Magehound and I forget the titles of the next 2.

I also have a soft spot for Thornhold and Elfsong in the Harpers series since those were the first 2 FR novels I'd ever read.

And for stand-alone, I thought that The Shadow Stone was awesome.

 

Hmmm.... Favorite novel... hard to pick just one.
Personally it is a toss up between two series for me. the Avatar series and the Cleric Quintet.

Avatar:
Shadowdale
Tantras
Waterdeep
Prince of Lies
Crucible: Trial of Cyric the Mad

Cleric Quintet:
Canticle
In Sylvan Shadows
Night Masks
The Fallen Fortress
The Chaos Curse

The avatar series is quite a bit darker and deals with the "Time of Troubles". Tells the tales of Kelemvor, Midnight, and Cyric and how they ascended to godhood.

The Cleric Quintet is a bit more light hearted (although it does have it's moments) and deals with the life of Cadderly Bonaduce, Danicia Maupoissaunt, and The brothers Bouldershoulder Ivan and Pikel. It tells the tale of the Fall of the Edificent Library and the machinations of Aballister the evil wizard and the order of Talona he belongs to.
During this series Cadderly is forced to come face to face with his faith and must overcome many challenges to save those he loves.

 

I really enjoyed "The Citadels" series. Also, the Erevis Cale series.

 

The Alabaster Staff or The Gossamer Plain

 

I've read it and I have to agree with joacqin about the "not great by any normal standard" and to be honest I have to say that "half decent" is rather generous.

 

Paul S. Kemp is the only FR author i consider to be really good . The revis Cale Trilogy is great by any standard (as good as lets say A Song of Ice and Fire in my book ) .

 

Probably one of the early Drizzt Novels, Sojourn or Exile.

I've read all the Drizzt books, The Cleric Quintet, All the Elminster Books, The Avatar Trilogies, the Harper Series dealing with Arilyn Moonblade and Danillo Thann (about 5 books), The War Of The Spider Queen, and most of the Cormyr series.

It's tragic what's happened to these characters and story lines since fourth edition forced the 100 year jump in the timeline. Honestly, I don't know if I'll read another Wizards Of The Coast book in my lifetime.

 

Seems like Paul S. Kemp is a name to check up on.

I have to second Halruaan trilogy. A notch above the FR expectations. Avatar series are rather decent as well.

The problem i have with most FR books is that they seem too constricted in Forgotten Realms world with all it's rules. Seems to me that rather than risking altering/reinterpreting the world, they tunnelvision one specific narrow path that just invites cliches and not all that imaginative story, resulting in subpar novels.

 

That didn't use to be the case, but has become so with 4th edition. Authors have been forced to make drastic changes to their story lines to accommodate the 100 year jump in the timeline. It's really turned me off. I'm looking for something new, now. Problem is, I spent so much time playing in second and third edition FR campaigns that reading about it felt a bit like reading about home. Now home is a hundred years in the past.

 

I'll second Elminster being a good read.

Also, Cormyr: A Novel was one of my favorites.

Although I did read the Drizzt Novels for a while, I found that there was too much introspective soulsearching and it kind of put me off. Jaraxle is by far the most interesting character in all of Salvatore's books.

Azure Bonds was a really good one that never really got much attention. It's sequel Masquerades was good as well.

Finder's Bane was cool because it took place in Sigil and I love all things Planescape: Torment related, heh.

 

That *has* gotten to be a problem with some of the longer running story lines, like Drizzt and Elminster, who have now lived through First, Second, Third, and Fourth Editions.

No coming back from fourth edition for me. That 100 year time jump is a deal breaker.

 

Out of nostalgia, I will say the Liriel Baenre books by Elaine Cunningham. Loved the stuff in junior high: it had DROW elves and BARBARIANS, cool! . Now I'm not that much into FR books anymore - ambulance! Ambulance! My inner geek is dying!

 

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend starting with Salvatore's Drizzt series. It's good, but not his best work. His Cleric Quintet is, imho, of much higher quality. (As is his non-FR stuff, but that's for another topic)

As for which book to read; the first one!

If you want a standalone book to do a report on, I would agree with the previous poster who said The Shadow Stone. Very good book.

 

War of the spider queen. Those drow are just so cheeky.

Drizzt novels turn to too much fighting. I read so many of them, still own them, that helps, so picking out one is hard.

Lisa Smedman has made a few nice ones.