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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
 Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 15:03:40
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For a long time I've had the goal of reading every Forgotten Realms novel published. I'm doing well and closing in on my goal ... hopefully by the end of 2015. I'm curious if anyone has done this with the Realms books AND the Dragonlance books. I read 15-20 Dragonlance books back in the day and am flirting with the idea of making Dragonlance my new reading goal when I finish with the Realms.
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Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 17:10:56
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| I started something like this with Eberron a while back. I made it through The Draconic Prophecies, The Dreaming Dark, The Inquisitors, The Dragon Below the first Thorn of Breland novel, the first Blade of the Flame novel. Out of all of these, I'd be most likely to try to finish up the Blade of the Flame series. I remember really loving the first novel in that series. |
"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Tanthalas
Senior Scribe
Portugal
508 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 18:06:08
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I'm slowly closing in (well, more like 1/3 maybe, lol) on this objective for the Realms.
I've read almost all 4E books and a very large portion of 3E books. Earlier stuff I've only managed to read the more well know authors. |
Sir Markham pointed out, drinking another brandy. "A chap who can point at you and say 'die' has the distinct advantage". |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 18:28:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Tanthalas
I'm slowly closing in (well, more like 1/3 maybe, lol) on this objective for the Realms.
I've read almost all 4E books and a very large portion of 3E books. Earlier stuff I've only managed to read the more well know authors.
For the Realms or Dragonlance too? |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Mirtek
Senior Scribe
595 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 18:53:23
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After reading The Godborn in October 2013 I finally finished my quest of reading every FR novel and made it to the bleeding edge of the release schedule. Took me ~ 16 years from my first FR novel until I had them all
Haven't read any DL novel yet, but I was actually considering them just last week. With the slow release of new FR novels and the even slower pace of other authors I am following (Martin, Rothfuss) I am looking for new fodder.
I see me starting either Dragonlance or Eberron sooner or later |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 19:04:50
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At one point in time, I'd read all of the FR and Dragonlance novels... Of course, there were not even a couple dozen novels in each line, at the time.
I lost interest in the Dragonlance setting. At the time, there were only 5 trilogies: the Chronicles, Legends, Tales, Heroes, and Preludes. Aside from the Chronicles and Legends, most of them didn't grab me, and some of them had some serious continuity glitches. I've never really had that much urge to revisit the setting, aside from the stuff written by Weis & Hickman -- that, I stayed up on.
I was trying to read all of the FR stuff for a long time... But I later decided against that.
I disliked the Moonshae trilogy enough to not want to read the Maztica trilogy.
Then came 3E, and a couple of novel series that I simply didn't care for -- like the Sembia books or the War of the Spider Queen.
Between those, and the horrible cover art on some of the "class" books (Fighters, Priests, all them), as well as finding some of those class books underwhelming, I got to where I no longer felt the urge to read a novel just because it was FR.
When the 4E novels came out, I read a couple of those, but they, too, did not make me want to read more (note: avoiding an edition discussion, here).
I've read 5 of the Sundering books... I did not care for most of them -- they weren't bad, to me, just underwhelming. And with my previously-stated issues with Ed's fiction, I've not read the 6th and final book yet. I will read it; I'm just reading other stuff, first. |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 19:47:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Between those, and the horrible cover art on some of the "class" books (Fighters, Priests, all them), as well as finding some of those class books underwhelming, I got to where I no longer felt the urge to read a novel just because it was FR.
Yeah some of the cover are choices of Realms books leaves much to be desired ... even from back in the 2E days. Starless Night went beyond hideous. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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swifty
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
517 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 20:34:14
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 too right.when I saw the cover of starless night I thought it was matron baenre.I'm about 180 books in with the realms.read everything up to 4e apart from the short stories and murder books. |
go back to sleep america.everything is under control.heres american gladiators.watch this.shuttup. BILL HICKS. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11695 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2015 : 01:03:36
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| lol, I only recently made it a goal to get through all of Salvatore's stuff, because I hadn't read anything since streams of silver and the prequels (and I stopped before getting into Pirate King because I got sidetracked by catching up on 30 years of Thor and other Marvel Comics.... btw, for those that haven't read the Loki storylines in Journey into Mystery in the last 4 years... you're missing good stuff.... check on Amazon for Journey into Mystery Vol 1 and 2 by Kieron Gillen). I'd never make it through ALL the novels and watch the tv shows I want, read the comics I want, read the other authors I want, read the rules I want. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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VikingLegion
Senior Scribe
USA
483 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 17:18:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
For a long time I've had the goal of reading every Forgotten Realms novel published. I'm doing well and closing in on my goal ... hopefully by the end of 2015. I'm curious if anyone has done this with the Realms books AND the Dragonlance books. I read 15-20 Dragonlance books back in the day and am flirting with the idea of making Dragonlance my new reading goal when I finish with the Realms.
I'm currently doing almost exactly this, but in a reverse order. Roughly 5 years ago I set out with a goal to read EVERY D&D novel from the worlds/settings I loved the most: Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms. Apologies to any Eberron fans reading this, it just isn't "my D&D". Also I only included a smattering of Greyhawk/Mystara stuff, mainly because it's so old and of dubious quality (I've heard the Rose Estes Greyhawk series is among the most excruciatingly bad fantasy ever written.)
It was a daunting, almost overwhelming prospect, so in order to feel I was making progress, I started out with the smaller, defunct worlds.
5/5 Planescape - I liked 2 of the standalone books, but the Blood Wars Trilogy was a massive disappointment
15/16 Darksun - I recently picked up the last book, I've just yet to get around to reading it. The quality of these books is up and down, as can be expected from any shared world with multiple authors contributing, but it's such an interesting and unconventional setting, that I enjoyed for the most part.
20/20 Ravenloft - I LOVE these books for the most part. Sure there are some serious clunkers among the bunch, but I really dig the setting and had a great time with this read-through.
4/? Greyhawk/Mystara - I read the standalone novel The Rod of Seven Parts, as well as a series called the Penhaligon (sp?) Trilogy. Neither stood out to me as exceptionally good, so I veered away from the older TSR game worlds. I know there is a 6 part Spelljammer series called the Cloakmaster Cycle that I may pick up at some point, but it's not currently a high priority.
149/155 Dragonlance - So after getting those smaller settings out of the way, I next set my sights on the true behemoths - Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. I opted to start with DL first, as it is a smaller overall library, and it's not being added to like FR is (albeit much slower than it used to). I generally read about a book per week, so this endeavor has consumed my last 3 years, and I still have 6 more books to go. As I sit on the cusp of finishing this task, do I look back and say it was worth it? That's hard to say. The original Chronicles/Legends and some of the peripheral material was magnificent, and will always hold a place in my heart. Conversely there is a whole lot of really poorly written "filler" to expand on the setting.
Then, at some point they go with a Second Generation approach, advancing the timeline forward and bringing in the children of the original heroes. This is where a lot of the hardcore DL fans stopped - simply pretending the series was over and not going any further to see "their world" tarnished. I continued on because I'm an OCD completionist type, but there were times where I definitely saw the purist viewpoint as valid - there's some absolute garbage mixed into that line. On the other hand, there are certainly some gems to be mined out from it. Some of the latter authors to join DL (Chris Pierson, Lucian Soulban, etc.) turned in sterling efforts, so it made skimming through the dross worth it. As I mentioned, I'm 5-6 books away from completing this run, then I turn to an even bigger challenge in:
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms - I read a bunch of FR novels in the late 80s through the mid 90s, then completely went away from the setting for 15-20 years. I plan to restart from scratch with Darkwalkers on Moonshae. I'm working on filling in the gaps of my collection, I currently own everything from 1987 to 2002, but after that it becomes a bit scattershotted. But it will take me a couple years to read to that point, so I have plenty of time to continue acquiring the novels.
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 17:38:36
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quote:
Originally posted by VikingLegion
quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
For a long time I've had the goal of reading every Forgotten Realms novel published. I'm doing well and closing in on my goal ... hopefully by the end of 2015. I'm curious if anyone has done this with the Realms books AND the Dragonlance books. I read 15-20 Dragonlance books back in the day and am flirting with the idea of making Dragonlance my new reading goal when I finish with the Realms.
I'm currently doing almost exactly this, but in a reverse order. Roughly 5 years ago I set out with a goal to read EVERY D&D novel from the worlds/settings I loved the most: Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms. Apologies to any Eberron fans reading this, it just isn't "my D&D". Also I only included a smattering of Greyhawk/Mystara stuff, mainly because it's so old and of dubious quality (I've heard the Rose Estes Greyhawk series is among the most excruciatingly bad fantasy ever written.)
It was a daunting, almost overwhelming prospect, so in order to feel I was making progress, I started out with the smaller, defunct worlds.
5/5 Planescape - I liked 2 of the standalone books, but the Blood Wars Trilogy was a massive disappointment
15/16 Darksun - I recently picked up the last book, I've just yet to get around to reading it. The quality of these books is up and down, as can be expected from any shared world with multiple authors contributing, but it's such an interesting and unconventional setting, that I enjoyed for the most part.
20/20 Ravenloft - I LOVE these books for the most part. Sure there are some serious clunkers among the bunch, but I really dig the setting and had a great time with this read-through.
4/? Greyhawk/Mystara - I read the standalone novel The Rod of Seven Parts, as well as a series called the Penhaligon (sp?) Trilogy. Neither stood out to me as exceptionally good, so I veered away from the older TSR game worlds. I know there is a 6 part Spelljammer series called the Cloakmaster Cycle that I may pick up at some point, but it's not currently a high priority.
149/155 Dragonlance - So after getting those smaller settings out of the way, I next set my sights on the true behemoths - Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. I opted to start with DL first, as it is a smaller overall library, and it's not being added to like FR is (albeit much slower than it used to). I generally read about a book per week, so this endeavor has consumed my last 3 years, and I still have 6 more books to go. As I sit on the cusp of finishing this task, do I look back and say it was worth it? That's hard to say. The original Chronicles/Legends and some of the peripheral material was magnificent, and will always hold a place in my heart. Conversely there is a whole lot of really poorly written "filler" to expand on the setting.
Then, at some point they go with a Second Generation approach, advancing the timeline forward and bringing in the children of the original heroes. This is where a lot of the hardcore DL fans stopped - simply pretending the series was over and not going any further to see "their world" tarnished. I continued on because I'm an OCD completionist type, but there were times where I definitely saw the purist viewpoint as valid - there's some absolute garbage mixed into that line. On the other hand, there are certainly some gems to be mined out from it. Some of the latter authors to join DL (Chris Pierson, Lucian Soulban, etc.) turned in sterling efforts, so it made skimming through the dross worth it. As I mentioned, I'm 5-6 books away from completing this run, then I turn to an even bigger challenge in:
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms - I read a bunch of FR novels in the late 80s through the mid 90s, then completely went away from the setting for 15-20 years. I plan to restart from scratch with Darkwalkers on Moonshae. I'm working on filling in the gaps of my collection, I currently own everything from 1987 to 2002, but after that it becomes a bit scattershotted. But it will take me a couple years to read to that point, so I have plenty of time to continue acquiring the novels.
Keep up the good work! Other D&D novel categories I've completed are Darksun, Ravenloft, Planescape, Birthright, and Spelljammer. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 17:40:32
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quote:
Originally posted by VikingLegion
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms
I think the current Realms book total is 279 counting e-book only publications. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Mirtek
Senior Scribe
595 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 20:35:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
quote:
Originally posted by VikingLegion
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms
I think the current Realms book total is 279 counting e-book only publications.
How did you count the Cold Steel and Secrets ebook? As 1 or as 4?
My count is at 284, counting Cold Steel and Secrets as only 1 novel and including the 4 yet to be released this year (Archmage, Spellstorm, Ashes of the Tyrannt and Throne of the Dead).
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 20:50:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Mirtek
quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
quote:
Originally posted by VikingLegion
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms
I think the current Realms book total is 279 counting e-book only publications.
How did you count the Cold Steel and Secrets ebook? As 1 or as 4?
My count is at 284, counting Cold Steel and Secrets as only 1 novel and including the 4 yet to be released this year (Archmage, Spellstorm, Ashes of the Tyrannt and Throne of the Dead).
Hmmm my count on Goodreads is at 284 counting the Cold Steel books as 4 and including the unpublished 2015 books.
EDIT: Just did a manual count through the Realms Wiki and got 284 counting unpublished 2015 books, Cold steel as 4 books, and NOT counting any omnibuses. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
Edited by - Artemas Entreri on 10 Apr 2015 21:11:20 |
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Mirtek
Senior Scribe
595 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 21:31:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
quote:
Originally posted by Mirtek
quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
quote:
Originally posted by VikingLegion
~70/200+? Forgotten Realms
I think the current Realms book total is 279 counting e-book only publications.
How did you count the Cold Steel and Secrets ebook? As 1 or as 4?
My count is at 284, counting Cold Steel and Secrets as only 1 novel and including the 4 yet to be released this year (Archmage, Spellstorm, Ashes of the Tyrannt and Throne of the Dead).
Hmmm my count on Goodreads is at 284 counting the Cold Steel books as 4 and including the unpublished 2015 books.
EDIT: Just did a manual count through the Realms Wiki and got 284 counting unpublished 2015 books, Cold steel as 4 books, and NOT counting any omnibuses.
INteresting, I did not count the omnibuses either. So could it be that there are three FR novels I have missed? When I get home I could upload my list, if we could compare that would be nice.
Edit: How about novels appearing in more than one series? E.g. some of the harper and drizzt novels. I only counted them one. Could that be the difference? Or are those more than three? |
Edited by - Mirtek on 10 Apr 2015 21:32:21 |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
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Mirtek
Senior Scribe
595 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 22:39:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Artemas Entreri
Here's a link to the list I counted from. It does not count books used in multiple series more than once:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_novels_in_order_of_publication#2015
After comparing this list and remvoing omnibusses and cold steel and secrets (which is twice on the list since 1-3 and 4 were released in different years) as well as cancelled novels (6) and Rise of the Blade (never an official FR novel), I found that it matches my list.
I even have 3 novels more, since I counted the Stone of Tymora trilogy, which is missing on this page
So it's 280 released FR novels (if you include Stone of Tymora) or 277 if you don't. And then 4 novels to be relased later in 2015 |
Edited by - Mirtek on 10 Apr 2015 22:41:47 |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 23:19:13
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| I wonder how those Stone of Tymora books are. I'll probably buy them if they ever get released as MMP. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Tanthalas
Senior Scribe
Portugal
508 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2015 : 23:45:46
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| Is there a reason not to include the Stone of Tymora books? |
Sir Markham pointed out, drinking another brandy. "A chap who can point at you and say 'die' has the distinct advantage". |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2015 : 00:15:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Tanthalas
Is there a reason not to include the Stone of Tymora books?
Nope, I just forgot about them when doing my list and they aren't on the Forgotten Realms wiki novel list yet either. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Mirtek
Senior Scribe
595 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2015 : 13:30:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Tanthalas
Is there a reason not to include the Stone of Tymora books?
Well, they don't actually bear the FR logo, they only have a D&D logo on the front and back cover, but no FR
Edit: Correction, the first one has the FR logo on the front cover (but not on the spine) but books 2&3 lack the FR logo |
Edited by - Mirtek on 11 Apr 2015 13:32:20 |
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Reading Goal: Complete Realms & Dragonlance?
