Forgotten Realms the Mills & Boon of Fantasy?

[Wulfa_Jones]

What do you people make of the Forgotten Realms books and others such as the Dragon Lance series?

I like some of them... The Ice Wind Dale books by Salvadore where good, but I never really enjoyed the Dark Elf books as much.

Otherwise I find alot of them to be quite poorly written, I did like the idea of them all taking place within a pre-existing world... but other than that their are not many that are really outstanding or particually readable.

I used to read quite a lot of them when I was younger (coz it was all the fantasy my local libary used to stock) and I did try to re-read the Pool of Radiance because I had it in game version but could not do it...

So what is the forums opinion on books within the Forgotten Realms world and also others like the Dragon Lance books and even the worse (in my humble view) the WarHammer books?

[ezchaos]

You'll probably find a mixed opinion on these books here.

When I was a teenager I read some of the first D&D novels that were published. The first Dragonlance trilogy, the Greyhawk books by Gary Gyax, etc. I enjoyed those books back then, but I think eventually I outgrew that type of stuff.

At this point in my life, I don't really see myself reading any of these kind of books again. However, I have given some thought to reading the trilogy about Drizzt the drow (can't rememeber what it's called). From what I've seen here on the board and elsewhere, it's supposed to be a little better than the average D&D book.

BTW, have you seen how many D&D novels there are now! I looked at them the other day and it floored me!

[allanon]

Well, I like D&D books, but I have read only Salvatore from FR and Weis&Hickman from DL, so I know only the best. I doubt the the others are on the same rank.

[SilverDagger]

I like the Forgotten Ralms but I'v only read 6 of them

The Dragonlance is harder I'v only read one, but the one I read was good, so I'll read more when I gett time to do it

[Erfael]

I started out on these books ten years or so ago, and have to say that in retrospect, they're just pretty much bad. There are a few in the group that would rank up there with mediocre mainstream fantasy authors, but on the whole they are extremely formulaic with nothing to say.

[rune]

I've read the Dark Drow series by Salvadore and the Clerics Quartet Series by Salvadore and thoroughly enjoyed them

I've often wondered myself what the books are like by other authors. I did read Dragonlance some time ago by Wies and found it OK, but not as good as Salvadore work.

There as to be other good authors though with the forgotten realm series, as there are so many who write for it?

rune

[Erfael]

There as to be other good authors though with the forgotten realm series, as there are so many who write for it?

sadly, no.

[Erfael]

sadly, no.

Though realize, this is coming from someone who doesn't think that Weis&Hickman and Salvatore are particularly good writers. They're entertaining, but pretty shallow for my tastes. And pretty much all of the FR and DL that I read back then were of even lesser quality than those authors.

[allanon]

Well, I heard that Greenwood, Cunningham are good, but still I haven't read'em. But I have read Richard Knaak and i think he is cool, if not as good and Salvatore and Weis, who I find excellent authors, especially Bob.

[jbcohen]

Hi, its been a while since I chimed in on any of the message threads on this board. Some of you will recognize me others will not. I have been away from the fantasy genre of literature, but I come back on occasion to keep current.

That said, I am Sffworld’s resident expert on Dragon Lance. I have been reading Dragon Lance books for the past five years and I own a copy of every Dragon Lance book ever written and published. I am currently going though Linsha Trilogy Volume I - City of the Lost and I am enjoying it a lot. I always liked Mary Herbert’s writing.

Is there anything you would like to know about Dragon Lance and/or any of the books that make up the saga, please do not hesitate to ask. Anything about reading order, anything about any of the authors. I have read them all backwards and upside-down. I can probably recite all of them from memory. However, I never was much interested in Forgotten Realms. So please, I only understand Dragon Lance.

What do you wish to know about it? Please pick my brain.

[Kanin]

The Dragonlance Chronicles were the first fantasy books that I read. I read them when they first came out way back in the 80's. I still enjoy them today.

I've read the Icewind Dale Trilogy and liked it better than the Dark Elf series. Spellfire by Ed Greenwood has to be the worst book ever written. I can't believe it was ever published.

Richard Knaak writes some great books for Dragonlance. Especially his minotaur books. The Citadel by Knaak is horrible though, I couldn't even finish it.

The books are lighter reading, but that doesn't make them worse than anything Jordan or Goodkind has written.

If you read Dragonlance, stick with the Chronicles and Legends. They are the best.

[jbcohen]

Everyone that I know of including myself would agree that Chronicles and Legends are the best of the Dragon Lance novels, no argument there. The trouble is that if this is all that you read then you are missing out on a lot of the saga. You will be missing out on a true understanding of the Kender and Minotaurs as well as many of the other colorful races that make up the population of Krynn. There are a lot of excellent novels in the series, but Wiess and Hickman are sort of like the grandmasters of Dragon Lance. Everyone has agreed that everything they write is top-notch quality writing. I would, however, urge that you go on to read some of the other books in the saga. Some of the newer novels are even better then the older ones, in my opinion.

Although Wizards makes most of its money from Forgotten Realms, I still think that there are many advantages to the Dragon Lance saga. You are missing out on a lot if you stick strictly to Weiss and Hickman novels.

[Kanin]

You know, I've read Stormblade, Weasle's Luck, Darkness & Light, Tanis; the Shadow Years, and The Elven Nations Trilogy.

Apart from the Elven Nations Trilogy, I would probably never re-read any of them. They just aren't that good. I also see that the newer books are by the same authors as some of the older ones that I've read and I wasn't impressed by them.

Plus, I really didn't like the whole War of Souls.

The only books that I would probably read would be Richard Knaak's current minotaur books. Night of Blood isn't it?

[Erfael]

As poorly as most of it is written, I am more than happy to leave it at Chronicles and Legends and "miss out" on all the time I feel I would waste reading the rest of them.

[jbcohen]

Well Dragon Lance is not for everyone. I freely acknowledge that some people will not care for the novels. They tend to be a bit on the formulaic side and not as fast paced as some people would like. I tend to go elsewhere when I want action packed novels.