Amph The Realm of Fae'Run: Forgotten Realms discussion (Books, games etc)

Yes. Bad even for a Forgotten Realms book

 

Those are amazing anthologies. Realms of Shadow are very interesting, though my favourite "Realms of..." book remains Realms of Mystery. Stories in this book are a mix of Fantasy and crime-stories; the result are very intrigueing tales - like CSI in Fae'Run.
Speaking with the dead by Elaine Cunningham has an excellent plot. A gnome necromancer brings a spirit of her dead husband to tell who killed him. I bet forensics could use something like that today.

Speaking of Spider Queen, the books are not bad, but also nothing special. I too, am not into homosexuality in FR books.

 

My favourite are 'Realms of Valor'.

 

I'm thinking of picking up a trilogy called Kings and Counselors(I think), the second book is called Magehound and it appears the series takes place in Halruu. Can anyone give me a review?

 

I've seen that in a bookshop, but I haven't read it. People say that it is quite good, though.

 

I'm going to pick up the first of that series today, Borders was nice enough to give me one of those 25% off coupons the other day with another purchase.

 

I've now made it to the Underdark in the Shadows of Amn game. I've got the impression it's just a LOTR Moria.

Is it?

 

They're similar in the fact that they're underground.

What similaraties are you noticing? I'm no LOTR scholar, but the Underdark extends all the way around Faerun, and is home to several highly advanced races, like the drow, illithids and beholders. It's not just caverns, though in that particular instance there happens to be a quest which is very familiar...

 

Are the Underdark books any good?

 

The War of the Spider Queen books happen mostly in the Underdark and are probably some of the better FR books.

 

I think it's safe to say that the idea of the Underdark has some roots in Moria.

I just finished off The Magehound by Elaine Cunningham. Magehounds keep up the laws of magic in Halruaa. Abusing magic in this land is a very serious crime.
Another thing they watch over is to make sure that a group known as jordains stay the way they are, without magic. They are combatants, advisors, and have resistance to magic, but are not allowed to learn magic, or even use magic items.

The book centers around the former with a plot centering around an evil minded magehound named Kiva. I had more interest in her and her side of the story than any of the good guys.

It's not quite what I was expecting but it's a decent read and I'll probably read the next two books in the trilogy.

 

I don't know why, I think I started to like this Shadows of Amn. True, I've hardly used a magic spell. Maybe just one protection against Kangaxx. I just met this smartmouth Beholder in the shark city yesterday. There is some really good dialogue at times. And now I have this inkling, just an inkling, to read a FR book. But how can I, when they're all light reading material? Spider Queen . . . the one with small homosexual content?

 

I hacked throught the game Minsc-style (swords for everyone!) also. It becomes easier if you are a proficient spellcaster, but not impossible.

I'd be interested in recommendations also, though I don't really want to be reading 20 Drizzt books. Are there any about the Time of Troubles, since the backstory of that is most interesting era to me?

 

Have you read the Shadows of the Avatar trilogy by Ed Greenwood? Those are Shadows of Doom, Cloak of Shadows and All Shadows Fled. Typical Greenwood stuff: Lots of Elminster, Harpers, action, etc.... I've only read the first book but I thought it was pretty good. I won't give you any spoilers if you haven't read it but Elminster is without his magic for most of the book.

 

There is nothing more guaranteed to keep me away from a book. The man is a pretty good world-builder, but in my opinion an absolutely dreadful author.


I disliked the War of the Spider-Queen because in the end, there was no redemption for a certain character. Really, if everything had happened the same way but that character had found that character?s redemption in the end, I might have liked the series a lot better. But with what happened instead, I can?t stand them. My favorite kind of plotline in any series is one of redemption, of a bad guy who comes over to the good guys side for one reason or another, and when I see a plotline like that the one I?m thinking of in WotSQ it makes me pretty sad and depressed.

 

I have to admit I always have a problem getting through Greenwood's stuff.

As for the last WotSQ book, just got it yesterday I'll be getting to that one pretty soon.

 

Raven, are you saying a villain comes over to the hero side but doesn't redeem all the way? Like Qel-Droma not feeling guilt over his brother, staying mean? . . . If so this has enticed me more, a villian who sticks to their colour all the way.

 

Cool! I haven't read that yet, but it sounds very interesting. I love Elminster character. Ed Greenwood is nothing special as a writter, but he makes up very good stories.

 

I'm just starting the third book in the Kings And Counselors trilogy which takes place in Halruaa. The counrty is not quite what I was expecting, and not quite what I wanted. Quickly: A Magehound in a magical investigator, interrogator, a ultimate law keeper. There is only one Magehound in the series, ans she doesn't even do but a small number of Magehound things. I think I was expecting the good guy to be the hero, investigating some abuse of magic leading to some greater evil. Well, it leads to a greater evil but only one of two main characters who are the heroes are interesting, and the main hero is quite frankly boring to read anything about.
The villain is a "Magehound" named Kiva, a 200+ year old elf woman who is out for revenge against everybody and is the most interesting character in these books. All together it's a decent read.

In Halruaa you have to be born into the wizards of the land, they don't like outsiders too much, and learning magic doesn't seem to be something anyone can just pop in and learn. There is a concept presented that I like that not everyone has the touch of magic to be able to learn it, not everyone can be a wizard, but that's not the point. It seems someone who has the potential for magic that is not from Halruaa will not learn magic from Halruaa. The laws of magic are strict. You can be a good person who gets put to death for learning magic because you were not allowed to learn magic. Marriages between wizards are arranged, and if you are not the offspring of such a union, no magic for you.

 

The Sellswords Trilogy 1: Servant of the Shard

Opinions?

 

[nerd rant]Eh. Typical Wizards ploy.... This book was originally released under the "Paths of Darkness" quartet: The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard, and Sea of Swords. It's now reprinted under The Sellswords title. They did the same thing with Cunningham's Songs and Swords series which were originally released under the Harpers series. They just renamed it because they needed a place to fit The Dream Spheres. Now they've released Servant of the Shard again to kick off these Sellswords books. It would have been much better to have a completely new title to start off this series. [/nerd rant]

But I digress....

The book is pretty good if you like Jarlaxle and Entreri. It really cements their relationship as partners and almost friends. You see a lot of Jarlaxle struggling to master the Crystal Shard but really failing in the end. Entreri at times almost seemes worried for the fellow. This book is also good if you want to see Cadderly and Danica in action again because they team up with Jarlaxle and Entreri to destroy the Shard. Pretty good action and Drow politics. There's also a brief fight between Danica and Entreri. All in all, a good book.

The only problem is that you really need to read the previous Salvatore books to know what's going on. You need to know what the Crystal Shard is so you need to read The Icewind Dale Trilogy (The Crystal Shard at the very least), and you need to know how the crystal shard ended up in the hands of Jarlaxle so you really need to read the Legacy of the Drow books (Passage to Dawn at the very least). You also need to know who Cadderly and Danica (at least basically) are so reading the Cleric Quintet would be a good idea but you might squeak by with just reading Passage to Dawn. It's not a good book to begin a series because it was originally released in the middle of another series and references characters in another of Salvatore's series.

 

My appreciation, Zebra. Can one just read the book or is it like reading The Joiner King without a single prior SW book?

 

Ex, start with the earliest Icewind Dale books about Drizzt, dagnabbit!

E_S

 

It's a bit like reading TJK without other SW experience.

I'd take Ender_Sai's suggestion and read The Crystal Star first. Or Homeland would be pretty good to start off with if you want to know more about Drizzt.

 

fixed