Hi Everyone,

With all the new attention on D&D due to the release of 4th Edition I've started feeling the urge to get back into the D&D novels. I read a bunch of them years and years ago -- Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends, Icewind Dale, etc -- all of which were good reads IMO.

Anyway, now that I'm back in the mood for D&D Novels I've started asking people what D&D books were worth reading, and their answers are *always* the same: Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragonlance Legends, Icewind Dale Trilogy, Avatar Trilogy, Dark Elf Trilogy, etc. Pretty much the same list I read years and years ago.

The thing that strikes me is all of these books were written from the mid 80s through the early 90s. Did the D&D books (or at least good ones) suddenly stop in 1991? I'm hoping not, since I want to read something new... so, what would you guys recommend? What D&D Novels from the last handful of years hold up to those classics listed above?

Thanks.

The War of the Spider Queen series was alright (in parts). If you like the Dark Elf trilogy then you'll enjoy it, since the writing is better than what Salvatore could manage.

And on that note, the later Salvatore stuff is better than the earlier things he wrote. So 'The Path of Darkness' series (written in the late 90s and early 00s) is far better that the slightly unrefined Icewind Dale series.

I haven't read any of the non-FR stuff that has come out recently, so I can't comment on the other novels.

there is MUCH more available than those standard books and authors.

Be sure to check out:

I, Strahd - Ravenloft
Pages of Pain - Planescape
Netheril Trilogy - Forgotten Realms
(not so unstandard) the Doom Brigade & Siege of Mt Nevermind - pretty much the only Dragonlance stand alone novels that weren't too boring to me.

If you are willing to take a little side step from D&D, try the Hellboy novels. Yes, there are novels, and they are very enjoyable most of the time.

I do enjoy the book " Lady of Poison" it is based in FR and I'm not sure if its from a set of books called " the priests" or not because I got it from a second hand book store and it was the only dnd book there. It was quite good in my opinion, and you should read them if you like DnD novels. Maybe I'm biased though because I am quite partial to clerics, and also if anyone has any infortmaion on " the priests", please tell me. I would love to read more books from this series.

I am an avid reader of FR books and there are a couple seiries that i have read that arent mentioned yet dont quite know if they are in the date perionds or not but there is the Elminster series by ed greenwood< the grammer is a little off but its written well enough. And the Cleric Quinted, dont remember who the author is but the first book is Canticle. i am sure you have probably read these though

Disclaimer: In only my 5th post to this forum, I was accused of insulting someone because I asked about a spelling error clarification. What I write here IS NEVER intended, in any way, to deride, berate, or insult anyone for any reason.

That being said:

Is your focus to stay within that limited realm of reading? You mention specifically the D&D, FR, DL, and other series of books of the same ilk. Maybe "limited" is not the word to use, but it is the one that comes to my mind.

I ask because I can recommend a few series of fantasy series books that have nothing to do with any gaming settings:

Lankhmar Tales series by Fritz Lieber
Magic of Shannara series by Terry Brooks
Magic in Ithkar series (short stories) by Various Authors
Xanth series by Piers Anthony
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson

There are many more ...

Again, no offense is meant. I was just curious and wondering ...

.. one of my favorites from early 80s has always been Magician by Raymond Feist.

The Book was later divided into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master.

He went on to right two more books that became the Riftwar Saga. These were all so successful that he wrote several more Sagas which wer all wonderful IMHO.

Feist is a avid D&D player and the adventures take place in a world that he created and used with his tabletop players. Every D&D Players dream come true.

Check them out if you havent read them.

..... a book I bought at the Tulsa DefCon7 that was included with some other books I bought from Peter Bradley [including Castles & Crusades] that was written by Gary Gygax with Art and Graphic Design by the aforementioned Peter Bradley!

The name of the book is Gord the Rogue Book 1 Saga of Old City which features a character Gary Gygax created years ago for D&D play and begins in the City of Greyhawk which I found to be a read most interesting from the D&D creator!

Copyright 2008 Chenault & Grey Publishing with quite an interesting 2 page Afterword that explains his character level progression throughout the adventure!

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but this is a moderated site, and we have a reputation for being relatively flame-free because of it. I had a look at the post in question, the other person's response to it and didn't really see any issue with either person's comments. If you faced undue criticism because of it elsewhere, and it's making you hesitant to participate, do let one of the moderators know and we'll...you know, moderate