I got started reading books set in the Forgotten Reams because on my interest in the Fantasy genre. I had several friends in highschool that were already into Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition game. My closest friends started playing Dungeons and Dragons with 3rd Edition and later transitioned to 3.5 edition. At the time, the Lord of the Rings movies were also huge and popular. I had also read all of the Lord of Rings books at that time.
After college, several friends moved away and we stopped playing except for rare instances.
In the Fantasy Genre, Dungeons and Dragons was very popular at the time, with a great many novels being published, movies made and video games being published.
Forgotten Realms is a unique world of Dungeons and Dragons.
I took to reading a great many Forgotten Realms books. I found them to be light but interesting reads. Unlike Lord of the Rings, where you often had to read between the lines, but Forgotten Realms was always straight forward reads.
If starting to read Forgotten Realms today; I would recommend to start:
Cormyr: A Novel is a great read. It is written by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. Ed Greenwood is the original creator of Dungeons and Dragons and therefor Forgotten Realms. I do find Ed at times to be unfocussed in his writing at times, but Jeff seemed to help write this novel into perfect.
The novel spans through a great deal of time, from when the region was ruled by dragons, then elves and then through different ages of men. I found it truly interesting.
