Amph R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels

We have a banner for the Drizzt series, but not a thread? Something is seriously wrong here.

Anyways, I've finally gotten around to reading the Drizzt books recently, and I have to admit they are pretty good. Not my favorite series, but still quite enjoyable.

I know some of the rest of you have read these books too, so what did you think?

 

Some are really good, some kind of drag on a bit. I really enjoyed the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the Dark Elf Trilogy, after that it gets a bit more hit and miss for me. Lately I have enjoyed his stuff a bit more again, the Hunter's Blades Trilogy was fun, as was The Sellswords.

The fun thing about the Savatore novels is that he seems able to create interesting characters at will. Regis, Bruenor, Artemis Entreri, Matron Mother Baenre and Jarlaxle Baenre. The list goes on and on, I tend to like most of the characters he creates. Except Wulfgar, can't stand him.

 

I have alot of these books from the SFBC but I have only read most of the IcewindDale tri. I like it until I got to a part with Bruenor fighting with a big spider and I put it down and have never touched another one sense.

 

I enjoyed them.

 

I have the first book, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Evil.

 

Not the first fantasy series I ever read, but definitely the one that started my love affair with the genre. I got the Icewind Dale and Dark Elf trilogies from my cousin almost ten years ago and became obsessed; my copy of The Crystal Shard has been...well-loved, you could say. I was forced to do an emergency book-binding on it last year, as the back cover was completely missing, the spine was barely holding together, and the front cover was almost gone. It is now encased in cardboard, and I need to hurry up and get another copy that I lend out to people.

And seeing as RASalvatore not only started my love affair with fantasy, but also made me start seriously considering writing as a possible side-career...well, let's just say that he--and his characters--will always and forever hold a very, very special place in my heart.

 

Well, I've read (pretty recently) all the books in The Legend of Drizzt series, The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, Transitions I and II, and Sellswords I and II.

My favorite so far: The Orc King. Really. I didn't think he could top Siege of Darkness, but he did. I'd put The Pirate King as my second favorite. The Transitions trilogy is turning out to be excellent. I put The Crystal Shard as my #4 favorite and The Lone Drow as #5.

My most hated: The Legacy. I'm sorry, this was a horrible book for me. I had to actively force myself to read it and I suffered the whole time. The pacing was all wrong and the characters were misused. Also, Exile was pretty uneventful and turned out to be a bore.

But the majority of the books are good if not great, and I certainly can't wait for The Ghost King.

As far as characters go, Regis and Jarlaxle are my favorite. Regis went through a lot in the series and has made some significant changes. A real round character, if you ask me. Jarlaxle because he's...well...he's Jarlaxle. He's daring, intelligent, and well written.

I can no longer stand Catti-Brie for some reason. Maybe I find her too whiny? I don't know, but I find myself dreading the sections where it's her point of view.

 

I actually don't care so much for Entreri/Jarlaxle. Not really sure why, but they just don't hold my interest quite as much.

 

RJ, I didn't like Entreri or Jarlaxle until The Silent Blade, at which point I did an about-face.

Lord_Vivec, Legacy is one of two that I rarely re-read; Spine of the World is the other. As for the Sellswords, I disagree strongly with them removing Servant of the Shard from the Paths of Darkness series and making it the first of the Sellswords. I think Promise of the Witch-King should've been first, then Road of the Patriarch split into two novels; as is, I feel as though Road was rushed, with too much crammed into one novel. (There's also the fact that I disagree with what Bob did with Entreri's character in that one, but that's the die-hard fangirl in me railing. )

Most other fans I talk with dislike Catti-brie as well, for a variety of reasons. I've always found her at least tolerable, and I'm interested to see where Bob's taking her character now. My own personal favorite character is Entreri.

 

I'm not sure its so much of removing Servant of the Shard from the PoD (that abbreviation makes me think Path of Daggers...) series as letting it have a double role - both in that series and the Sellswords. At least, my brand new copy still has it as part of the Paths of Darkness set. Haven't read Road of the Patriarch yet, though, and unless I go to the library, I may not get to it for a while.

I enjoyed the Dark Elf and Icewind Dale trilogies much more than Paths of Darkness or Sellswords.

Also, I've been told I need to read the Cleric Quintet, so that's been added to my ever-growing list of stuff to read

 

Double role, huh? Well, that's not so bad--everything I was reading when it was first announced gave the impression that it was a series shift instead of a double role. Silly PR people.

The Icewind Dale trilogy is hands down my favorite series, although I also love Servant.

The Cleric Quintet is very good indeed. *nods* And you know you can always borrow Road or any of the CQ from me if you'd like; it's only the first six books in the series that I fear lending out to people.

 

Well, I say double role because they're clearly still selling it as part of the Paths of Darkness boxed set.

I probably should borrow at least Road.. the Quintet looks like I might be able to get relatively cheaply, as books go - the advantage of one-volume editions. I'm debating whether or not to order it in the near future.

 

Where is the best place to start this series?

Evil.

 

Depends on who you ask. I started the Drizzt books with the Dark Elf Trilogy (Homeland-Exile-Sojourn) because they take place before the Icewind Dale trilogy, though the latter was written first (and thats pretty clearly the case when you read them). I'd probably say thats the better place to start, because then you don't have to jump around, time-wise.

 

I have yet to read Road of the Patriarch, so I'll not comment.

I just had difficulty reading The Legacy...I don't know why, I found it horrendous.

 

hmmm...what I think of Forgotten Realms?

Horrible, horrible ripoffs of all that Tolkien stood for? Where is a copyright agent when you need one?

Well, yes, though I admit that the few I could stand to read were entertaining, if a little repetitive, and I'll agree on the interesting characters. Drizzt is way cool. I just don't quite agree with commercialising poetry and high literature into serialised lightweight fantasy (see Twilight and literary crack as well).

 

I have to admit there were more than a few times I thought the books were a bit too close to LotR, though certainly not on Tolkien's level.

 

The Crystal Shard

 

Really? I was told Homeland.

 

age old argument, order written vs in-universe chronological order. I prefer order written, especially with Drizzt. You get to know his character better IMO

 

Oh, okay, sounds like with Katherine Kurtz. I just got a copy of Homeland in, though, so I'll probably start with that.

 

You can definitely tell the Icewind Dale trilogy was written first, but I still prefer the Dark Elf Trilogy as a starting point.

 

Yeah Icewind Dale is...really not very good literary. But it is fun if you like high fantasy escapism. I think its a good intro to the characters to see who is your favorite, especially Wulfgar

 

I started with homeland, because it's what I had. It's pretty good so far, I like the dark political structure of the Drows.

Evil.

 

The drow political structure is quite interesting... surprising that they manage to live so long, sometimes.