Forgotten Realms: Get started

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.

Boundless by R.A. Salvatore: Review

 Boundless by was just released by the famed author R.A. Salvatore. This is number 2 or 3 in the Generations series.

Once again the novel is split between what is happening in the present time, and in the past. The common element is that Drizzt's father is alive in both settings, as he was newly returned from the dead.

This novel might be considered the "Empire Strikes Back" in the series. Enemies became extremely powerful versus our heroes. 

Armies of power demons assaulted many cities including Gauntylgrym and Luskan. 

A new and strong faction of Drow emerges. And the Drow of Menzoberranzan are all but forced to attack the cities these cities. 

And on top of that of these these enemies, two giant indestructible spider constructs target both Drizzt and his father!

Forgotten Realms in 2019

I have been an avid fan of Forgotten Realms novels for many years, but the series had ran into some significant issues in the last lately.

 Forgotten Realms is a shared world, with many different authors contributing to it. Authors may want to move the story in different directions in a shared world. This was previously manageable in the Forgotten Realms because each author is focusing on a specific area of the shared world, so an overlap maybe unlikely.

This changed however in the transition from 3rd edition to 4th edition. The world of Aber-Toril was dramatically changed. Entire nations were instantly wiped out, or suddenly appeared, as part of Aber and Toril swapped places, new races appeared such as the Dragonborn, and the ancient Nethril Empire re-appeared.

Today Dungeons and Dragons has now entered the 5th Edition, but the current timeline has now been well established. A Forgotten Realms campaign setting has not been published, and very few authors are contributing new novels.

The best and most significant Forgotten Realms author, R.A. Salvatore is however still writing Forgotten Realms novels, thankfully. Salvatore has written many books in the Forgotten realms series usually starring the unusually good dark elf  Drizzt Do'Urden. I have read the entire Drizzt Series. It is remarkable for world building, amazingly described combat, and humor.

The 2nd part of the current novel series involving Drizzt, Boundless will be releasing in September 2019. Here s something to look forward to.

Timeless: A Drizzt Novel: Review

Timeless: A Drizzt Novel has recently been released. Salvatore returns with our favorite Dark Elf, after a 2 year break. 

It seems that Salvatore is the only author still writing novels in the forgotten realms universe. The decline in novels is not due to last of interest from the public! Dungeons and Dragons is more popular than ever. 

In this novel, the father of Drizzt, Zaknafein has been resurrected from the dead! 

At first Zaknafein struggles to return to life, as he still harbors some racism towards races other than Dark Elves. Yet Zaknefein is inherently a good character; so he must come around and realize this is wrong. 

We also get to experience a time centuries before, when Zak's life was very controlled by Drizzts mother Malice Do'Urden. 

R.A Salvatore once again, shows off his great ability to express combat situations in writing. 

All-in-all, this was a fantastic novel for any Salvatore fan, or Forgotten Realms Fan. 

Brotherhood of the Griffon by Richard Lee Byers

All 5 novels of the Brotherhood of the Griffon series by Richard Lee Byers is now out. 

Our heroes in the Mercenary company returns. 

After at least party thwarting the evil plans of the Lich Szasst Tam; Aoth and the rest of his company moved on to other realms. 

A Reg Dragon, Tchazzar is rescued from the Shadowfel. The returned Dragon returns to claim the throne of Chessentea. The Brotherhood is soon employed by the Red Dragon King; yet a Red Dragon may not be what you expect from just reading the Monster Manual. 

Evermeet: Island of Elves: Review

 Evermeet: Island of Elves is a must read for a Forgotten Realms fan. 

The novel begins with the origins of the Elves and their gods. The Elven goddess Araushnee betrayed her lover and King of the Elves, Corellon Larethian and started a war. Araushnee eventually lost the war and was cast out of Elven heaven, Arvandor. Araushnee became the twisted evil goddess Lolth.

From this point on in the Novel, we focus on the surface Elves. The dark elves (Drow) follow Lolth into the Underdark, which is covered in other novels, such as those from R.A. Salvatore.

The Island of Evermeet was created by a feat of powerful elves high magic. It is known as the First Sundering. The term is ominous as it did have a terrible side effect of destroying much of Faerun (the main continent) as well. 

The novel continues with the struggles of the Elven Royal family, including the young Prince Lamruil Moonflower until time is caught up to the present day (when published) in the Realms.

This is a fantastic read for any fan of Elves or any Forgotten Realms fan. 

The Haunted Lands by Richard Lee Byers

 The Haunted Lands by Richard Lee Byers is a fantastic 3 Novel series set in the forgotten realms. 

The series delves into the land of Thay and the Red Wizards. The realms are shaken when the Red Wizard of Necromancy Szass Tam vies for dominance.  

Unfortunately for Thay, Szass is very successful in his plot to take over. 

Yet the struggle to prevent a greater tragedy unfolds.

Be prepared for an out of this world experience in an land of the Undead.