Let me start off by saying I’m having a blast playing this game. I’ve Played BG 1 & 2 for like 20 years regularly, and was always intrigued by the Forgotten Realms.
So about four years ago, I’ve bought a bundle off the first 30 books about Drizzt Do’Urden, a Drow Ranger, by R. A. Salvatore. If you did not know about these books, I’d like to recommend them wholeheartedly to you, if you love the world of BG3. The books are true to the material, and offer deep insights into Faerûn.
They have their ups and downs, but I’ve read 14 books so far, and I’ve been deeply involved so far.
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Before Baldur’s Gate was a thing, I remember reading Homeland by RA Salvatore. It was 1994 and my sister gave it to be as a bday present. I couldn’t put it down and it firmly cemented me into Dungeons & Dragons. I already had been playing some gold box games like Hillsfar, but that book got me seriously addicted.
This series was amazing… until it wasn’t.
Right around the time D&D shifted to 4th Edition, the writing quality of these books dropped so drastically that, combined with how everyone I talked to felt about 4E, it honestly felt like Salvatore was trying to get himself fired so he wouldn’t have to write for 4th Edition anymore. (If you have never had the misfortune of trying it, 4E is basically D&D for people who would rather be playing WoW.)
Considering how much 5e sucks, I can’t imagine writing for it is any more pleasant.
That said, everything up until the beginning of the Spellplague was fucking incredible, and The Sellswords spin-off series, too. (I still can’t decide if I like Drizzt or Artemis Entreri better, but it doesn’t matter because Jarlaxle is the best.)
God damn it. I’m currently in the beginning of the Sellswords series, and hands down the first of those (Servant of the shard iirc?) was so amazing, I could not stop reading. But yeah, I figured that it would turn bad. Some of the first 10 were really bad too (like Salvatore literally wrote something in the likes of “and he sliced him with his sword, marking him with an X across his chest”), but in total: I loved that journey so far.
Later in the series a lot more characters become the focus and I enjoyed that quite a bit. It feels the series has a constant of Drizzt but it’s best when that anchor is used to show other players stories. Jarlaxle, Kimmueriel (sp?), Artemis, Yvonnel, Gromph, the second round Harpells, the Xorlarrans, the Avendrow etc. And even as someone whose spent a really large amount of time with the series I would say I mostly ignore the Drizzt monologueing feels like mostly catch up content or insights that already made themselves clear and mayhaps our author just filling pages…
I always loved Drizzt’s monologues. >…>
This! 🤣🤌🏼
The Dark Elf Trilogy is one of the greatest fantasy stories ever written, and I hope they make another Icewind Dale game. I’d break the laws of physics pulling my wallet to buy it lol
I replayed Icewind Dale after starting the books, and fell so in love, after I tried the game around 2006 and wasn’t enjoying it at all - was a die-hard Baldur’s Gate fanactic during this time, and was expecting something more like this.
There’s a Drizzt reference in Act 3.
I’m surprised he isn’t in the game himself. They put everyone else in; from BG1 and 2, to actual legends like Elminster.
Also worth mentioning is the Cleric Quintet, same author.
I can’t recall if its a FR books (I believe it is, but been a long time) but I remember it being a satisfying read on a rainy day.
I read it in a week at work, no business because it was a walk in only location for fast food, it was raining to the point that it was overflowing the glass caulking for exterior floor to ceiling windows. So mop up once in a while, and read.
That’s a good one, too. Salvatore can write one hell of a story and legendary battle scenes lol
Yeah it is my all time favorite series by RA. I was also a teen in the 90s reading it and loving it so very much. I remember doing book reports over some of the entries before I even started them lol. I still through out a Drood from them to time.
It is a FR series, and the characters cross over and meet at least once.
Just an FYI…
I read the first 3 Drizzt books in the 90s. Probably was what influenced my love for the Ranger class. Anyways, for those that can do audiobooks at work, etc. There’s a dude who is working on creating them all in audiobook form, and does a great job of it…
https://youtube.com/@thelegendofdrizztdourden3921?si=s5jkOnJRk795kztb
Back in highschool my local library had a program where it could borrow books from the surrounding counties. On three separate occasions I requested the first book to be transferred to my library to check out and each time, being a dumb highschool kid, I would get busy and forget to pick it up and it would invariably get shipped back to its home library. So now every time I think about starting the books I’m met with that shame.
Please get over your shame and start reading! <3
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If not 40 already…
I read and listen to the series through and then start again, usually by the time I’m going through again there’s another book in rotation. Good series.
I’ve only ever read the Icewind Dale trilogy and I never found Drizzt to be as interesting as most fans make him out to be. But those books are what got me into Forgotten Realms for 3e. Faerun is awesome!
I started with the dark elf trilogy and then went back to read the Icewind Dale trilogy afterwards. I do remember thinking that RA Salvatore’s writing improved between the two.
It’s been a while since I read them, but from what I remember it the feel of them, I think the Icewind Dale trilogy was Salvatore writing about a D&D campaign he was in (either as GM or as Drizzt’s PC, maybe both), and the dark elf trilogy was the back story he wrote for the character.
