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AdamBridger
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
118 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 16:58:26
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What was your first Forgotten Realms novel that you remember reading or purchasing?
Mine was the Cleric Quintet by R. A. Salvatore that was listed in the Fantasy and Sci Fi Book Club catalogue. I read them, loved them, found the Drizzt Do-Urden books as a result and from there discovered the rest of the Realms.
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 17:26:09
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Darkwalker on Moonshae: Not when it first came out or anything (as the first book in the Realms), but it just happened to be the first one I had access to.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Tarrok of Halruaa
Acolyte
United Kingdom
37 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 17:27:17
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| Mine was Dark Walker on Moonshae way back in 1987, and I have every Forgotten Realms novel published since then! Little did I think when I was a 14 year old buying Doug Niles' novel back then that I'd still be buying Forgotten Realms 24 years later at the age of 38 (I got Bury Elminster Deep today!). |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 17:39:57
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The Summoning by Troy Denning. The title Return of the Archwizards intrigued me, plus the label itself, Forgotten Realms, which I thought were worlds that became mere rubbles of some devastated kingdoms, and that some survivors endeavored to restore them...
I must admit while I had great fun reading the said book, I also got lost in a myriad of information that were new to me---the setting, the Chosen, the Netherese, the phaerimm, the elves (I was not accustomed to seeing them nearly peerless), and a whole lot more. The ones that really captured my interest were Melegaunt, the rest of the Netherese, and their fallen empire. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 18:04:26
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Pretty sure my first book was Shadowdale, followed by Pool of Radiance. Despite such an inauspicious beginning, I kept reading Realms novels, and became the FR geek y'all now know me to be.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 11 Aug 2011 18:08:43 |
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Thieran
Learned Scribe
Germany
293 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 18:10:26
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| The German translation of The Crystal Shard, which was split into two books for the German edition (the first book being called Der gesprungene Kristall, i.e. 'The Shattered Crystal'). Published in 1991 and bought and read by me in the same year, I think... To echo Tarrok of Halruaa: I was eleven years old, and of course I wouldn't have imagined to be reading novels from the same series twenty years later... |
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Murray Leeder
Forgotten Realms Author
Canada
228 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 18:14:12
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| Azure Bonds. |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 18:32:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Pretty sure my first book was Shadowdale, followed by Pool of Radiance. Despite such an inauspicious beginning, I kept reading Realms novels, and became the FR geek y'all now know me to be.
If either of those two was the first I read, I doubt I'd be reading any more FR novels. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Thelonius
Senior Scribe
Spain
730 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 18:35:15
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| Mine was the Avatar Trilogy, unwisely followed by Cormyr , after that I read the Azure Bonds saga. |
"If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast, not adherence to a single ideal." - Kreia
"I THINK I JUST HAD ANOTHER NEAR-RINCEWIND EXPERIENCE"- Discworld's Death frustrated after Rincewind scapes his grasp... again.
"I am death, come for thee" - Nimbul, from Baldur's Gate I just before being badly spanked
Sapientia sola libertas est |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 19:09:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Pretty sure my first book was Shadowdale, followed by Pool of Radiance. Despite such an inauspicious beginning, I kept reading Realms novels, and became the FR geek y'all now know me to be.
If either of those two was the first I read, I doubt I'd be reading any more FR novels.
There weren't many other FR novels at the time, so there was no basis for comparison. To my teenaged self, those books were enjoyable.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 19:15:52
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Darkwalker on Moonshae back when it was first hot off the presses. 
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 21:35:50
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| Probably Darkwalker or some of the Curse of the Azure Bonds/Pools of Radiance. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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BARDOBARBAROS
Senior Scribe
Greece
581 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 22:28:52
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| Homeland R.A Salvatore |
BARDOBARBAROS DOES NOT KILL.
HE DECAPITATES!!!
"The city changes, but the fools within it remain always the same" (Edwin Odesseiron- Baldur's gate 2) |
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PaulSKemp
Forgotten Realms Author
808 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2011 : 23:55:43
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| Darkwalker for me, too. |
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1266 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 01:06:52
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Spellfire, then The Avatar trilogy. After that I just kept buying...
Not quite as good as the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends...but better than anything else from the DL world (except the new Lost Chronicles, which are awesome). |
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Alystra Illianniis
Great Reader
USA
3750 Posts |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
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Brin
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 05:34:50
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| The Lone Drow by Salvatore. The funny thing is that I found it in the database of an elementary school library. It wasn't available to be checked out though unfortunately, had to buy it >.>.... |
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Kno
Senior Scribe
452 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 10:59:46
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| cause of the cover I first read Bloodwalk by Davis |
z455t |
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ElaineCunningham
Forgotten Realms Author
2396 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 13:07:38
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| Darkwalker on Moonshae. And for many years, I read EVERY Forgotten Realms novel, as well as the novels in every other TSR/WotC setting. |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1707 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 19:33:33
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My first NOVEL was Bob's Crystal Shard for one reason--unlike every other fantasy book on the shelf before me in 1989, it wasn't part of a trilogy or multi-part epic. At that moment, I wanted a stand-alone, which it was at that time. Little did I know I'd be working for TSR within 8 months of buying that book....or how many were to follow after CS...
My first exposure to the Realms, though, was FR1-Waterdeep & The North (the details of which are easily read in the introduction to CITY OF SPLENDORS, the 1994 boxed set still available as PDF from WotC).
Steven |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Kajehase
Great Reader
Sweden
2104 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 20:00:07
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| Can't remember exactly, but either War in Tethyr or Cormyr: A Novel. Didn't much like the first, but enjoyed the second enough to have at least 3/4 of them by now... |
There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Terry Pratchett |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 21:09:11
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| The first books they translated were Pool of Radiance, Elfshadow or Shadowdale, then Azure Bonds. Don't remember exactly. |
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mitchellboeck
Acolyte
23 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2011 : 22:28:46
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| Spine of the world, R.A Salvatore. I was at the library and heard that Salvatore was good so I looked him up. For some reason I thought that was the first book until I got to around the end (I was 10) and I went to the real beginning and have read every FR book by him. I havn't really gotten into any other FR books but mostly because I don't know what other ones are good. The only other one I have read is the one where it explains Elminster's beginning (Which was an okay book). Any suggestions on what I should read next? |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 03:36:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
My first exposure to the Realms, though, was FR1-Waterdeep & The North (the details of which are easily read in the introduction to CITY OF SPLENDORS, the 1994 boxed set still available as PDF from WotC).
Steven
Pretty sure that that one has never been on WotC's list of free downloads... I have it, of course, in print and pdf -- I made a point of buying that pdf very early on. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 04:16:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
My first exposure to the Realms, though, was FR1-Waterdeep & The North (the details of which are easily read in the introduction to CITY OF SPLENDORS, the 1994 boxed set still available as PDF from WotC).
Steven
Pretty sure that that one has never been on WotC's list of free downloads... I have it, of course, in print and pdf -- I made a point of buying that pdf very early on.
No, I don't think Waterdeep & The North has never been made available as a free legal download from Wizards. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 04:43:46
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The very first FR material I saw (from a used bookstore) is The Crystal Shard. I didn't buy it, of course. But if with some cosmic intervention I did buy and read it, I don't think I'd be here in the 'Keep at all... |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Thieran
Learned Scribe
Germany
293 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 12:04:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
The very first FR material I saw (from a used bookstore) is The Crystal Shard. I didn't buy it, of course. But if with some cosmic intervention I did buy and read it, I don't think I'd be here in the 'Keep at all...
Why "of course"? Didn't you like the cover, the blurb, the reviews? |
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AdamBridger
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
118 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 12:23:30
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quote:
Originally posted by mitchellboeck
I havn't really gotten into any other FR books but mostly because I don't know what other ones are good. The only other one I have read is the one where it explains Elminster's beginning (Which was an okay book). Any suggestions on what I should read next?
You might want to consider some of the Forgotten Realms Omnisbus's are they will come as a complete trilogy and at a much discounted price compared purchasing individually. Two I would highly recommend are;
Richard Lee Byers Year of Rogue Dragons Omnibus
Paul S. Kemp Erevis Cale Omnibus |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 12:38:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Thieran
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
The very first FR material I saw (from a used bookstore) is The Crystal Shard. I didn't buy it, of course. But if with some cosmic intervention I did buy and read it, I don't think I'd be here in the 'Keep at all...
Why "of course"? Didn't you like the cover, the blurb, the reviews?
Many scribes here (I suppose) are aware of my aversion to fighter-centered novels. I sampled some before (not FR), and learned my lesson well.
quote:
Originally posted by mitchellboeck
I havn't really gotten into any other FR books but mostly because I don't know what other ones are good. The only other one I have read is the one where it explains Elminster's beginning (Which was an okay book). Any suggestions on what I should read next?
I suggest you check the thread "Experienced help for recommending FR Novels" in the Novels Section. As for my own recommendation: The Haunted Lands trilogy by Richard Lee Byers and The Twilight War trilogy by Paul S. Kemp. |
Every beginning has an end. |
Edited by - Dennis on 13 Aug 2011 12:46:03 |
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AdamBridger
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
118 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2011 : 16:36:16
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mitchellboeck you might also want to consider reading some of the Forgotten Realms anthologies from the Realms Of Series. This way you will be able to read around 8 short stories and through these you might find some characters or an authors writing style that interests you. From there you can check out their previous and future works.
Anyway I hope this has helped you, let me know how it goes. |
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First Forgotten Realms Book
