Seems this thread went off the rails a bit. Anyway, bringing it back for a moment...
I would first recommend the first 10 novels in the Drizzt saga (The Dark Elf, Icewind Dale, & Legacy of the Drow). These are Salvatore's best work and tell a pretty complete story. I wouldn't suggest reading any further than that, they just go downhill from there (maybe even stopping at book 9). These novels give you a good feel for the Sword Coast, Thief guild operations, the Underdark, and of course Drizzt & co whom you meet more than once in the game series.
Next I would recommend the Avatar series. I consider this to be a prequel of sorts for Baldur's Gate because you learn what happens to Bhaal (how he died in the first place), and why you should fear the Zhentarim. You also get a great education on all the gods of Faerun and their subjects. You run into a lot of temples and worshippers in the BG series, so this really helps.
Those are the must reads, IMO. I've also heard good things about The Harpers series, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
Edit: Oh and btw, humblebundle.com is doing a pay-what-you-want D&D comic book deal right now which includes the Legends of Baldur's Gate series.
"The man Abdel had killed took ten or twenty seconds to realize he was dead." (page 1) Followed by Abdel stunned empathy and borderline psychopathy:
"The expression on the man's face was nearly comical: surprised, pale, and somehow disappointed. The look of it made Abdel's heart leap, and he couldn't tell if it was from the horror or the pleasure of the sight."
I'm sure that's how serial killers and worse things are born.
To be fair, as a child of Bhaal, the protagonist of any Baldur's Gate novel adaption is going to feel some sorts of murderous feelings that he or she can't necessarily control. So the mixture of horror and pleasure at a man's death would make sense, in a twisted sort of way.
But what would make the protagonist more likable would be a resistance to those feelings, acknowledging them and fighting back. That despite the odds, they would strive to be a good, heroic person, and in their best moments, succeed in doing that. From what I've heard, however, Abdel doesn't really do that. Ever.
That assumes you are making a tragic hero-- if the goal was to make a type of antihero or the "lesser of two evils", it may have been perfectly valid.
So I'm seeing a lot of people delightfully discuss how they would torture or kill Abdel Adrian, while accusing the author of the novels as being juvenile. Seems that the novels were what the players deserved. Anyway in the recent adventure "Murder in Baldur's Gate" Abdel does show up as the canonical Bhaalspawn. He is extremely popular among the common people of Baldur's Gate, and shows none of the negative qualities people list from the book. I'm not going to hold the novels against him.
Comments
I would first recommend the first 10 novels in the Drizzt saga (The Dark Elf, Icewind Dale, & Legacy of the Drow). These are Salvatore's best work and tell a pretty complete story. I wouldn't suggest reading any further than that, they just go downhill from there (maybe even stopping at book 9). These novels give you a good feel for the Sword Coast, Thief guild operations, the Underdark, and of course Drizzt & co whom you meet more than once in the game series.
Next I would recommend the Avatar series. I consider this to be a prequel of sorts for Baldur's Gate because you learn what happens to Bhaal (how he died in the first place), and why you should fear the Zhentarim. You also get a great education on all the gods of Faerun and their subjects. You run into a lot of temples and worshippers in the BG series, so this really helps.
Those are the must reads, IMO. I've also heard good things about The Harpers series, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
Edit: Oh and btw, humblebundle.com is doing a pay-what-you-want D&D comic book deal right now which includes the Legends of Baldur's Gate series.