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Zoomings
Acolyte
United Kingdom
15 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Oct 2016 : 01:44:49
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Hey Realms fans, I've a lot of questions with nowhere to ask them so I'll ask them here 
Okay to start out with, I've read Drizzt (1-9) and Elfshadow. That's it. I have, on my bookshelf Azure Bonds, the first book in Moonshae, and 2 anthologies. Lately, I've been searching on the Realms forums, wiki and so forth and I wanted to get more into the lore, and history. If anyone's got some links that'd be great Anyways, I'm really feeling like I'm stuck. I want to read the books, and be into the whole thing but I'm not for the game, rpg roleplaying part of it IRL. I just LOVE to read the books, and I've been confused on HOW to read them. What's 3ea or whatever and 4 and 5? Do I need to read certain books before something else so it doesn't become confusing? I'm really, really lost and I would love for someone to help me. I want to read everything and get into the lore and history but I feel like there's a missing link. Please, if you can help. Thank you.
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 06 Oct 2016 : 02:25:45
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| For the most part, the Forgotten Realms novels are written to be stand alone, so you can read them in any order. Still, I'd recommend starting with the older ones. Read through the Azure Bonds and Moonshae series and then go to the Spellfire series (so you get a view into Ed Greenwood's work). If you liked Elfshadhow (how could you not, it is the first of several books Elain wrote with those characters - and it is also one of the Harpers series - of which there are like 15 or 16 others. |
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Zoomings
Acolyte
United Kingdom
15 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2016 : 00:56:26
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| Still wondering on the 3e, 4, and 5 and how the effect the novel line, if at all. Is it for the game itself or...? Thanks :) |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2016 : 01:04:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Zoomings
Still wondering on the 3e, 4, and 5 and how the effect the novel line, if at all. Is it for the game itself or...? Thanks :)
They are tied to some events in-world. For example, with 3e came the Return of the Archwizard books, explaining the return of Thultanthar. The end of 3e and 4e devastated Faerun with the Spellplague, nuking whole cities, removing regions, killing off a lot of gods for whatever reason, and fast-forwarding 100 years. Then all that (except the fast-forwarding) was reverted in 5e, which brought back a lot of those regions and all of the gods with the Sundering. |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 07 Oct 2016 01:06:27 |
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Zoomings
Acolyte
United Kingdom
15 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2016 : 04:25:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
quote:
Originally posted by Zoomings
Still wondering on the 3e, 4, and 5 and how the effect the novel line, if at all. Is it for the game itself or...? Thanks :)
They are tied to some events in-world. For example, with 3e came the Return of the Archwizard books, explaining the return of Thultanthar. The end of 3e and 4e devastated Faerun with the Spellplague, nuking whole cities, removing regions, killing off a lot of gods for whatever reason, and fast-forwarding 100 years. Then all that (except the fast-forwarding) was reverted in 5e, which brought back a lot of those regions and all of the gods with the Sundering.
What books are available to read to get more into the topics on the Spellplauge and Sundering? Thanks by the way!:) |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2016 : 06:30:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Zoomings
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
quote:
Originally posted by Zoomings
Still wondering on the 3e, 4, and 5 and how the effect the novel line, if at all. Is it for the game itself or...? Thanks :)
They are tied to some events in-world. For example, with 3e came the Return of the Archwizard books, explaining the return of Thultanthar. The end of 3e and 4e devastated Faerun with the Spellplague, nuking whole cities, removing regions, killing off a lot of gods for whatever reason, and fast-forwarding 100 years. Then all that (except the fast-forwarding) was reverted in 5e, which brought back a lot of those regions and all of the gods with the Sundering.
What books are available to read to get more into the topics on the Spellplauge and Sundering? Thanks by the way!:)
Both include so many heavy changes, yet a lot of those changes happen offscreen, and are at best reported in some novels as lore bits.
However, the Spellplague itself, as an event, is touched in the Empyrean Odyssey. The Sundering has a series of 6 books, but most of the changes that the Sundering brought to the setting are not in those 6 books (although some of those offscreen changes are either mentioned or explored in Ed Greenwood's and Erin Evan's post Sundering novels. Spellstorm/Death Masks, and Ashes of Tyant/The Devil you Know. Although I suggest that you read the previous Erin Evan's Farideh books before those two. The overview of the status quo is given, respectively, in the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, and the 5e Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide). |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2016 : 21:02:05
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I would say, since you are new to the Setting, that in my mind, the 4th Edition books felt less and less like "the Realms" to me. With 4th edition came a lot of new lingo and races and monsters and places - and the authors tried to work that into their stories. Over and over characters throw in words that had never seen print in the Realms before like they are common vernacular.
While I know my view is not the only one, I think this really hurt some of the stories.
By far and away the worst Realms novels, in my mind are the ones you're looking to - those that show the RSEs that came with the setting change into 4th E - because they try to bridge the gap and explain these changes. Problem is, there is not enough space to do so and so it usually feels like a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am style of writing/publishing.
As far as getting a good view of the Spellplague, I think the series that did it the best (even though I hated the plot/setting development) was the Abolethic Sovereignty (sp?) series. It starts with one of the main characters and a city getting hit by the spellplague, and then explores the results of it. There is even a couple chapters about his venturing into a "plagueland" (or region where the spellplague did not just pass through but took up root and never ended). |
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