Love the D&D universes! Big fan of the realms and Salvatore's books. I'm currently reading the new D&D novel, "The Temple of Yellow Skulls". It's the first novel in the "Abyssal Plague" series. I've also been getting IDW's new Dungeons & Dragons and Dark Sun comic series. I've really been loving the D&D series. So far the Dark Sun comic is slowly growing on me.
offical DUNGEONS & DRAGONS fiction disscousions & comments :
- Thread starter timothy
- Start date
for those who like douglas niles's forgotten realm books "black wizards" is aviable
for pre-order on the NOOK. I know it's the second book in the trilogy which is
realy weird . but I am so happy that his books are coming out . I allways wanted to
read the second trilogy . also on margret weis books that are not dragonlance are also aviable except the rose of the prophet and the fourth book in the dark sword series. and her sci fi books most of those are out as well . So hopefully by this time next year we will have a complete library of dragonlance and forgotten realms .
I am hoping we will also have the grey hawk novels or even the gary gygax books.
for pre-order on the NOOK. I know it's the second book in the trilogy which is
realy weird . but I am so happy that his books are coming out . I allways wanted to
read the second trilogy . also on margret weis books that are not dragonlance are also aviable except the rose of the prophet and the fourth book in the dark sword series. and her sci fi books most of those are out as well . So hopefully by this time next year we will have a complete library of dragonlance and forgotten realms .
I am hoping we will also have the grey hawk novels or even the gary gygax books.
I tried to get into Dragonlance a few months back. Got about half-way through Autumn Twilight and gave up. Thought it was utter crap.
The characters were dull and uninspired tropes; the dialog was flat; and the story was just one convoluted 'action' scene after another. I thought it was very amateurish. In fact, I've read better written fan-fics on this very site.
Drizzt on the other hand? Excellent.
IMO the difference in talent between Salvatore and Weis/Hickman is glaring.
Though, even the other FR stuff seems much more polished and professional than Dragon Lance.
The characters were dull and uninspired tropes; the dialog was flat; and the story was just one convoluted 'action' scene after another. I thought it was very amateurish. In fact, I've read better written fan-fics on this very site.
Drizzt on the other hand? Excellent.
IMO the difference in talent between Salvatore and Weis/Hickman is glaring.
Though, even the other FR stuff seems much more polished and professional than Dragon Lance.
Well, Autumn Twilight is amateur because it was their first go at a novel and they based it entirely on the module they had written. Even they admit they really screwed the pooch on Autumn Twilight. Winter Night is where they came into their own and really started figuring out how to write a novel.
I'm a bit the opposite on Salvatore, though - I find his characters and situations fairly dull. Not dull enough that I didn't read the first 3 series of his Drizzt stuff, but holy crap is Drizzt a Mary Sue character.
I'm a bit the opposite on Salvatore, though - I find his characters and situations fairly dull. Not dull enough that I didn't read the first 3 series of his Drizzt stuff, but holy crap is Drizzt a Mary Sue character.
Dragonlance is probably my favorite D&D setting, but aside from the books by Weis and Hickman, and some of Richard A. Knaak's work (mostly The Legend of Huma and his minotatur books), there isn't a lot of great stuff. A couple years back they released a trilogy about Taladas, Ansalon's sister continent, which I thought was pretty cool.
I like what I've read about Eberron, but I've only read one book about it. I think it was the first in Keith Baker's introductory trilogy. I liked it, just never got around to reading more.
Most of the Forgotten Realms books that I've read have been pretty meh. Ed Greenwood's first Elminster novel, The Making of a Mage, was actually more amateurish than Dragons of Autumn Twilight, but at least DoAT was entertaining. Drizzt Do'Urden is quite possibly the most egregious example of a Mary Sue character I've ever encountered in tie-in fiction. I found Artemis Entreri far more interesting than Drizzt, and usually I'm not a fan of evil characters.
It's not D&D, but Pathfinder, a really cool setting by Paizo that's continued, modified, and expanded D&D's 3.5 Edition (under the Open Game License) has started putting out some fiction, though so far they've all been standalones. I've read one by Elaine Cunningham called Winter Witch, which I enjoyed, and I'm in the middle of another called Plague of Shadows by Howard Andrew Jones, which has also been pretty good, so far.
I like what I've read about Eberron, but I've only read one book about it. I think it was the first in Keith Baker's introductory trilogy. I liked it, just never got around to reading more.
Most of the Forgotten Realms books that I've read have been pretty meh. Ed Greenwood's first Elminster novel, The Making of a Mage, was actually more amateurish than Dragons of Autumn Twilight, but at least DoAT was entertaining. Drizzt Do'Urden is quite possibly the most egregious example of a Mary Sue character I've ever encountered in tie-in fiction. I found Artemis Entreri far more interesting than Drizzt, and usually I'm not a fan of evil characters.
It's not D&D, but Pathfinder, a really cool setting by Paizo that's continued, modified, and expanded D&D's 3.5 Edition (under the Open Game License) has started putting out some fiction, though so far they've all been standalones. I've read one by Elaine Cunningham called Winter Witch, which I enjoyed, and I'm in the middle of another called Plague of Shadows by Howard Andrew Jones, which has also been pretty good, so far.
Plague of Shadows has so far been more of a standard 'quest' story, with a band of four venturing into the wild to procure a specific item to save the day, but the characters and the setting are interesting enough to keep the story from feeling stale. Winter Witch was a bit more intimate, focusing on two characters, one of which I thought was a pretty interesting twist on the common wizard archetype.
Even then the series still suffered from having a lot of the action left out and saved for the modules, and as a result didn't really come into its own until the second trilogy. It was like, "Remember when everyone went to that ice fortress and fought the elven Dragon Highlord Feal-Thas? No? Well, here's a ballad."
Yeah, that's pretty funny, but I don't think the modules needed to dictate the action. Autumn Twilight also suffered from that weird middle climax bit too where you could actually see the point where you were switching into the next module. I think the novels were better for not following the module action after the first novel and the Legends trilogy was fantastic for not having any modules to follow.I still think the characters were much better written and developed in the 2nd and 3rd novels and I still can't help but be touched by Sturm's death. By contrast, Wulfgar's death just had me rolling my eyes and saying out loud "I wonder how long before he comes back". Turns out it wasn't too long.
I've never gotten into the "mainstream" D&D novels - Dragonlance, etc. I tried reading one once and found them to be a bit dull. But that's just me. One exception was a short-lived series of 10 novels by TH Lain (a house pseudonym) that came out about 7 or 8 years ago based upon the so-called "iconic characters" created for the big rules revision that came out around that time. They also did an interactive CG movie for DVD called Scourge of Worlds featuring several of the same characters.
The 10 books were novellas compared to the massive novels of the main series (a point of complaint for many readers) but I found them quick and enjoyable and if there'd ever been an attempt at a live action D&D TV series, you had the makings of one in those books. I was disappointed that the books didn't continue, but I think they were only intended to be a limited-run series.
Alex
The 10 books were novellas compared to the massive novels of the main series (a point of complaint for many readers) but I found them quick and enjoyable and if there'd ever been an attempt at a live action D&D TV series, you had the makings of one in those books. I was disappointed that the books didn't continue, but I think they were only intended to be a limited-run series.
Alex
well for those who are dragonlance fans I was doing some diging on my nook. found several new dragonlance novels coming out. most importantaly the time of legends.
very cool news. this makes about 30 new books in e form.
also allmost all of margret weis's books are in e form as well.
very cool news. this makes about 30 new books in e form.
also allmost all of margret weis's books are in e form as well.
I was wondering if there was a reading order for the drow books, which includes elaine cunningham and the war of the spider queen with r a salvatore? I've only read the first six dritz books and want to read more of the series and I was wondering if there is a reading order? all so I was wondering how many books are in the sell swords?
The Drizzt comic that was released this week is a good jumping-on point for new readers. The story-line jumps ahead a hundred-odd years and establishes a new status quo for Drizzt that will be carried over into his next novel.
Similar threads
