Playing this game again has made me reread Legend of Drizzt books.

wariisop

Does anyone else play these games and then feel like reading some of the epic D&D books released back in the day or even currently, like the new Neverwinter books?

XerxesV

wariisop said:

Does anyone else play these games and then feel like reading some of the epic D&D books released back in the day or even currently, like the new Neverwinter books?

I really want to read the elminster books, but there are so many it's tough to know where to start.

Cowled_wizard

Having recently read a bunch of forgotten realms books i shall give my opinion:

There are tons of mediocre books. TONS!

Some interesting sagas:

The last mythal: One of the very few trilogies featuring a mage as the main hero. I wish there were more like that, and it talks about myth drannor.... It seems to me that wizards as heroes are not popular at all... pitty.

Salvatores drizzt: Almost all of them are readable. I specially like when the bad guys are the main characters (artemis and jarlaxle, the female elf with the weapon from kozah, etc) , but the last one, the companions was also nice (go regis!).

Elminster books: To be honest, i dont particularly enjoy elminsters books as of late. The forge of the mage was probably the best one (in my opinion) . Recent ones, not so enjoyable, something about the way they are written...

PugPug

I can second on the Last Mythal books.

I also enjoyed Salvatore's The Cleric Quintet, but I was a kid, so I can't promise they are actually good. Then again, they might be. The main hero, Cadderly, is a cleric and makes an appearance in Baldur's Gate.

I've actually avoided Drizzt just because he seems to have... groupies. Fans that adore him because he's just such a badass. Like with Boba Fett. And the whole "good guy who rejected the bad guy ways of his kin" thing seems so cliché. There may be an interesting character/read there, but I've never bothered to find out.

EDIT: Oh, and I think I read an Elminster one where the bad guys had these demons (or devils, I can never remember which) that absorbed all magical spells cast at them (like magic vampires, it healed them) and could only be hurt by cold iron.

Schneidend

Starlight & Shadows and War of the Spider Queen are my current favorite D&D book series.

Awong124

I have all of them, and have read all of them up to Gauntlgrym. I'm actually more of an Artemis fan than Drizzt.

Cowled_wizard

Schneidend said:

Starlight & Shadows and War of the Spider Queen are my current favorite D&D book series.

I specificly like the parts about wizards on war of the spider queen. The story about the archmage gromph was great. I like when the author bothers to read spells from the rules and actually use them in the book. For example gromp using tensers transformation was hilarious.

Schneidend

Cowled_wizard said:

I specificly like the parts about wizards on war of the spider queen. The story about the archmage gromph was great. I like when the author bothers to read spells from the rules and actually use them in the book. For example gromp using tensers transformation was hilarious.

Even outside of the spellcasting, they clearly made an effort to put recognizable D&D stuff in there. Halisstra's mace clearly has the Impact and Thundering properties to make it get critical hits more often and cause explosive thunderclaps when it crits.

BladeDancer

XerxesV said:

wariisop said:

Does anyone else play these games and then feel like reading some of the epic D&D books released back in the day or even currently, like the new Neverwinter books?

I really want to read the elminster books, but there are so many it's tough to know where to start.

I got the elminster book that explains his origins.

onan

I used to enjoy Drizzt books as a teenager but to be frank, these days I can't really tell the difference between him and a solid waste shredder.

SCARY_WIZARD

I'm in the process of reading me some Elminster right now! I also hope to finish reading me some of them Shandril Shesshair books, that girl's such a badass, she could arm-wrestle Wulfgar and win!

...anything with the newer logo that is not a reprint will get a death glare from me, no joke. All it took was me reading Ghostwalker.

BladeDancer

onan said:

I used to enjoy Drizzt books as a teenager but to be frank, these days I can't really tell the difference between him and a solid waste shredder.

How sad

JonelethIrenicus

Cowled_wizard said:

The last mythal: One of the very few trilogies featuring a mage as the main hero. I wish there were more like that, and it talks about myth drannor.... It seems to me that wizards as heroes are not popular at all... pitty..

I have never read any D&D book, something I wish to change but the thing is that I am more of a mage loving guy. Asked some friends but none could recommend me any book with lots of mage content(hero etc etc)

So I am asking you, how god is The Last Mythal trilogi and are there more with the mage as mainchar?

artificial_sunlight

I v got about 250 books of fr but no time to read But i love the Harper books And the tot books are a great read

Schneidend

JonelethIrenicus said:

I have never read any D&D book, something I wish to change but the thing is that I am more of a mage loving guy. Asked some friends but none could recommend me any book with lots of mage content(hero etc etc)

So I am asking you, how god is The Last Mythal trilogi and are there more with the mage as mainchar?

Elminster, obviously.

Starlight & Shadows' female lead is basically a Cleric/Mage multi-class.

War of the Spider Queen has Pharaun, arguably one of the main characters and a wizard of considerable power.

Felspawn

Currently reading The Companions, its been a hell of a ride over the years.

Felspawn

Schneidend said:

War of the Spider Queen has Pharaun, arguably one of the main characters and a wizard of considerable power.

uggh dont remind me of Pharaun.... War of the Spider Queen had such a horrible ending. Poor bastard

the_spyder

To be honest, My 'To read' list is so large these days that I don't have a lot of time to go back and 're-read' stuff. I am currently reading an anthology of H P Lovecraft stories (and some stories written by other authors in the same vein) though and thoroughly enjoying it.

With that having been said, I would strongly recommend any of the Drizzt books. Gotta love Regis and the rest of the gang. And Artimis is always worth reading about.

I would strongly recommend to anyone who hasn't read them, to read the original Dragonlance books. These, to me, are the height of D&D novels and so very well written. They give some particularly good insights into what makes a party, what my vision of a Wizard is, and how the magic system is supposed to work. I also just love the Fistindantilus story line.

Schneidend

Felspawn said:

uggh dont remind me of Pharaun.... War of the Spider Queen had such a horrible ending. Poor bastard

Silence! I haven't read past the third book!

onan

the_spyder said:

I would strongly recommend to anyone who hasn't read them, to read the original Dragonlance books. These, to me, are the height of D&D novels and so very well written. They give some particularly good insights into what makes a party, what my vision of a Wizard is, and how the magic system is supposed to work. I also just love the Fistindantilus story line.

This.

Those books are still great after all that time. Even though the Dragonlance timeline got so messed up later on.

Thrasymachus

Yes, playing BG (and IWD) again has prompted me to read Salvatore's Drizzt and Entreri novels once more (I first read them over a decade ago, prompted by my first experience with BG + BG2). I actually find Salvatore's 'non-good' characters (Entreri, Jalarxle, etc.) more interesting than his 'good' characters.

Salvatore's novels are decent (not great). I find them to be enjoyable bedtime reading.

Unfortunately, in my limited experience, I've found other FR authors to be mediocre at best. This includes, sadly, Ed Greenwood. While I respect Greenwood's creativity, he is a pretty awful fiction writer (IMO). I read one 'Elminster' novel, and couldn't bring myself to ever read another.

I've only read a few non-Salvatore FR novels, though, so perhaps I'm missing out on some good stuff. (The Last Mythal trilogy sounds intriguing, especially since I'd love to read a series with a mage protagonist.)

Finally, I found the Dragonlance novels to be terrible (when I read them over a decade ago). They're exceedingly maudlin, essentially romance novels for teenage boys. Salvatore is Tolkien compared to Hickman and Weis. IMHO and YMMV, of course.

Felspawn

Agreed. Dragonlance suffered some tough times but the War of the Lance and the Twins Trilogy are fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-Chronicles-Dragonlance/dp/0786918705/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_1_2

I recommend this version

wariisop

Thrasymachus said:

Yes, playing BG (and IWD) again has prompted me to read Salvatore's Drizzt and Entreri novels once more (I first read them over a decade ago, prompted by my first experience with BG + BG2). I actually find Salvatore's 'non-good' characters (Entreri, Jalarxle, etc.) more interesting than his 'good' characters.

Salvatore's novels are decent (not great). I find them to be enjoyable bedtime reading.

Unfortunately, in my limited experience, I've found other FR authors to be mediocre at best. This includes, sadly, Ed Greenwood. While I respect Greenwood's creativity, he is a pretty awful fiction writer (IMO). I read one 'Elminster' novel, and couldn't bring myself to ever read another.

I've only read a few non-Salvatore FR novels, though, so perhaps I'm missing out on some good stuff. (The Last Mythal trilogy sounds intriguing, especially since I'd love to read a series with a mage protagonist.)

Finally, I found the Dragonlance novels to be terrible (when I read them over a decade ago). They're exceedingly maudlin, essentially romance novels for teenage boys. Salvatore is Tolkien compared to Hickman and Weis. IMHO and YMMV, of course.

^I own the Elminister Origin story, and I swear 70% of that book was terrible. Only the part about Cormanthor, ancient name for Myth Drannor, was interesting to me. I wished that part had not ended so quickly, but man the book was so predictable and boring. I actually have less respect for Elminister as a character after reading his origin, it is like him being favored was a get out of dying ticket.

GoodSteve

Thrasymachus said:

Yes, playing BG (and IWD) again has prompted me to read Salvatore's Drizzt and Entreri novels once more (I first read them over a decade ago, prompted by my first experience with BG + BG2). I actually find Salvatore's 'non-good' characters (Entreri, Jalarxle, etc.) more interesting than his 'good' characters.

Salvatore's novels are decent (not great). I find them to be enjoyable bedtime reading.

Unfortunately, in my limited experience, I've found other FR authors to be mediocre at best. This includes, sadly, Ed Greenwood. While I respect Greenwood's creativity, he is a pretty awful fiction writer (IMO). I read one 'Elminster' novel, and couldn't bring myself to ever read another.

I've only read a few non-Salvatore FR novels, though, so perhaps I'm missing out on some good stuff. (The Last Mythal trilogy sounds intriguing, especially since I'd love to read a series with a mage protagonist.)

Finally, I found the Dragonlance novels to be terrible (when I read them over a decade ago). They're exceedingly maudlin, essentially romance novels for teenage boys. Salvatore is Tolkien compared to Hickman and Weis. IMHO and YMMV, of course.

I would suggest reading some Elaine Cunningham FR novels then, if you haven't found any others in DnD you enjoy besides Salvatore. She is very good and easily my favorite FR author, she wrote the Starlight and Shadows novels mentioned earlier aswell as my favorite series Songs and Swords. She is very good at fleshing out characters to more than say just their DnD class and while I'm sure there are some cliches in there none seem as prevalent as the ones in the Drizzt novels.

Also, the Songs and Swords novels are a great read if you're looking for a mage main character (I believe a previous post was asking for one) since Danilo Thann, the human mage and nephew to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, is one of the two main characters.

I do agree though that there are a lot of sub par FR novels out there and most of them stem from the same authors. A few I've learned that tend to be quite bad are Lisa Smedman (book 4 of the War of The Spider Queen, Extinction, was her best work but was still my least favorite overall from that series) she wrote the follow up novels to War of The Spider Queen, the Lady Penitent series and it was awful. Also the Yuan-ti centric novels, Vanity's Brood or somesuch, were terrible. Just about every sentance in that book started with the main characters name. "Arvin walked down the road. Arvin saw a copper piece on the ground. Arvin pocketed the copper piece" (this gets very difficult to read after a while.)

Bruce R. Cordell is another notoriously bad author in my opinion. I'm currently reading his first ever novel, Lady of Poison, and it is very tough to get through. You can tell that he is a game designer first and author second.

CoM_Solaufein

I would rather reread the Avatar series. I haven't read those since BG came out.

Awong124

GoodSteve said:

I would suggest reading some Elaine Cunningham FR novels then, if you haven't found any others in DnD you enjoy besides Salvatore. She is very good and easily my favorite FR author, she wrote the Starlight and Shadows novels mentioned earlier aswell as my favorite series Songs and Swords. She is very good at fleshing out characters to more than say just their DnD class and while I'm sure there are some cliches in there none seem as prevalent as the ones in the Drizzt novels.

I find Elaine Cunningham's writing incredibly boring. I read through maybe a third of Evermeet and stopped because it was so boring. I read Daughter of the Drow and couldn't bring myself to read the rest of the trilogy for the same reason (even though I bought them, should have done more research before buying).

Cowled_wizard

Having read around 80% of all novels (some i already know they are going to be bad) I would have to say that Elaine Cunningham does write Ok, but can get repetitive.

Salvatore is imho the best writer and also the best seller. His worst novels are as good as some of the best novels of most writers. If you find him tiring, i recommend you ¨servant of the shard¨ one of my favs, entreri being the main character, drizzt doesnt appear and jarlaxle is secondary character.
(love when he describes jarlaxles swashbuckling fighting style, suits him perfectly)

Elminsters books are not about mages in the sense he always has a rabbit in the hat. Spells dont have much meaning with this guy.. and the writting style.. meh.

So, if you want mage based stories you have return of the archwizards , which isnt bad in some ways, and in others is just so so (karsus statue and heavy magic, love to read about that) , the main hero is a sorcerer.

But if you really want to read about that spell or that other being prepared, the last mythal is the only saga that truly fits the ¨wizard¨ idea.... i find it a real pitty.

There is a lot of potencial for good stories in the forgotten realms but i feel the authors dont take full advantage of it... not to mention it has to be for ¨young teenagers¨ so, describing in detail how you butcher somebody into pieces and eat him is ok, but a man and woman doing something that isnt vague... god no! that would be terrible!

nano

Cowled_wizard said:

There is a lot of potencial for good stories in the forgotten realms but i feel the authors dont take full advantage of it... not to mention it has to be for ¨young teenagers¨ so, describing in detail how you butcher somebody into pieces and eat him is ok, but a man and woman doing something that isnt vague... god no! that would be terrible!

I actually prefer when that sort of thing is left to the imagination. I imagine chopping someone up and eating them is supposed to be horrifying so it warrants a description, but sexy times are supposed to be sexy and I find that describing them in detail is usually more awkward and hilarious than anything.

GoodSteve

Awong124 said:

GoodSteve said:

I would suggest reading some Elaine Cunningham FR novels then, if you haven't found any others in DnD you enjoy besides Salvatore. She is very good and easily my favorite FR author, she wrote the Starlight and Shadows novels mentioned earlier aswell as my favorite series Songs and Swords. She is very good at fleshing out characters to more than say just their DnD class and while I'm sure there are some cliches in there none seem as prevalent as the ones in the Drizzt novels.

I find Elaine Cunningham's writing incredibly boring. I read through maybe a third of Evermeet and stopped because it was so boring. I read Daughter of the Drow and couldn't bring myself to read the rest of the trilogy for the same reason (even though I bought them, should have done more research before buying).

To each their own. She is one of their best selling authors (until she left to write Pathfinder novels in the wake of the 4e shenanigans) and is highly priased by most every other author that writes DnD novels including Mr. Salvatore. In fact I recall him saying somewhere that she was his favorite DnD author in an interview along with Ed Greenwood (whom I find to be quite boring). While many of her novels aren't as action packed as say a Drizzt book she has incredibly ell fleshed out characters that her readers get attached to. She is also fairly well versed at making an interesting story with many unexpected twists and turns, as far as a young adult book goes, anyway. I find a lot of Bob Salvatore's writing to be boring simply because it's typically just filler in between "epic fight scenes" when Drizzt kills yet another group of Orcs or somesuch, but that's my opinion of course.

Awong124

I read Salvatore's books for the fight scenes really. The other parts are, as you say, kind of just filler, and I don't find that Salvatore is that good at making those parts too interesting, when it comes to Drizzt at least. His writing of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle are awesome though. I guess I'm just not that enamoured about Drizzt's personality. But I read these types of books mostly for action, so that's okay. I prefer books that are heavily plot-driven. Books that are mainly character-driven I mostly find incredibly boring. Also, I don't know why, but I simply hate Elaine Cunningham's Fyodor character.

Cowled_wizard

one great thing about elaine cunningham: she writes about a bard... i think she's the only one so far .