There are many different series within the Forgotten Realms brand of books, who can have stories that can be very unrelated to others. The shared universe setting is comparable books written for a certain time period here in reality. But by reading fantasy books set in a different universe, you can feel glad that your impression of history isn't mixed up by fictional elements ;) The important thing is that the characters personalities seem very human, even when they look somewhat inhuman. The author R.A Salvator seem to do that job very well, which no doubt had elevated him to be a very popular author.
Below is a picture of iconic character from the Forgotten Realms novel "Icewind Dale" by R.A Salvatore, a great novel which started my Forgotten Realms reading obsession.
