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Have u guys read the books BG, BG SoA and BG ToB? Are they any good or is it just a waste of money?

Plz let me know b4 I decide to buy 'em... or not.

I've never seen a good word written about the BG or SoA books. The ToB book was written by someone else, a member of the Bioware team. It was probably too late to save them by then though.

They are absolutely terrible!!! I've bough and read a couple of chapters in each of them but just couldn't get myself to finish. I've read most of the other Forgotten Realms books and even though the quality in those may vary, these are by far the worst! It seems evident that the author hasn't even taken the time to play the games. So extremely sad when a true writer, such as Salvatore or Cunningham, easily could have made a really great story of the material.

Too bad... I'd hoped that it was some good reading. Guess I won't be spending money on this....

Thanx for warning me!

Well *obviously* the author couldn't play the games, because they were nothing more than design docs at the time.

They're even bad for AD&D books, and that's saying something.

Well, the Elminster and Drizzt series were awesome.

But those are the only ones I can speak for; the other D&D novels were mediocre to plain bad. And the BG novels sucked.

they sucked...and even some of the really bad fan fic wuz better...ick....

still waiting for the next david weber

"war of honor" not out until oct, crap...

I liked the Dark elf trilogy as well, but I would also recommend Salvatores Demon Wars series. I thought the characters were great, and the plot was better than some of the FR books. And I liked it a lot better than the Crimson Shadow series.

If u have the chance to read it, try the old Dark Sun novels "Tribe of One".
Probably some of the best AD&D books I've ever read. (Even though it's not F.R)

I'd recommend Fletcher Pratt's The Well of the Unicorn. Long before AD&D, exceptionally well-grounded in Danish history (the starting point for this epic fantasy), with a host of highly memorable characters and some superb writing.

The BG series of books, as said before, are not worth reading. ToB wasn't as bad as the other two, I thought Karpyshryn (sp?) did a better job than Athans did, but that's not to say the book was great. I agree with Astafas in that R.A. Salvatore or Elaine Cunningham would have been able better represent the story. I just want to say that the only FR books I read are by either Salvatore, Cunningham, or Ed Greenwood. These three can write very exciting stories.

I had read the BG books, but I agree that Salvatore is one of the best, just wondering if anybody's read Weis and Hickman's Death Gate cycle or James Silke's Death Dealer series?

Sorry, I meant I hadn't read the BG books!!

the best fantasy series i have EVER read, and i read a LOT...

Barry Hughart's

Bridge of birds...

its not AD&D, just the best ever...

outa print, i think, so try used bookstores...

i am seriously unimpressed by current fantasy writers...

fable is right, (hey, this dates the two of us...grr...) the older books are far better...


also try poul andersons operation chaos...

avram davidsons book on virgil magister(forgot title)

garret's lord darcy

and lets not forget moor****...before he became too commercial...

Talk about dating ourselves...

I actually remember when you could go into a bookstore and find books written by completely different authors, with entirely unique concepts, in a *gasp* imagined world of the writer's own creation. Whoa!

Now I'm lucky to spot anything stacked on the "worst sellers" shelves between the Star Wars, Star Trek, _insert-crappy-serial-here_ "books". . Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance stuff wasn't too bad (for DnD serial pulp).

Even though he's in vogue right now (and a death-knell to fans of the genre for a generation or so)...You gotta give kudos to JRR. The man wrote the very best fantasy of ANY time.

S_S

EDIT: And I liked MM's Elric and Hawkmoon novels (Even the Jerry Cornelius stuff was ok), but I never really liked his always taking a politically-correct stance on issues I couldn't care less about.

Originally posted by Sirius_Sam
Even though he's in vogue right now (and a death-knell to fans of the genre for a generation or so)...You gotta give kudos to JRR. The man wrote the very best fantasy of ANY time.

Very true. As far as the Forgotten Realms go, my absolute single favorite book is Servant of the Shard. No Drizzt, but Entreri and Jarlaxle are way cooler, in my opinion. I've never read any Dragonlance books, but I'd like to.