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Sophelios
Acolyte
0 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 00:39:30
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Ok, so the last FR book I read was The Two Swords, and so when I picked up The Orc King today and started reading, It took me quite some time to figure out that it was set one-hundred years later. So can anyone tell me which books to read to figure out what happened. No spoilers please.
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Fillow
Master of Realmslore
France
1608 Posts |
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Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 10:03:49
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First of all - a warm and friendly Welcome to the Keep, Sophelios!
To start off I will comment on the answer by my frensh fellow Fillow:
Only the short story 'Comrades at Odds' in the 'Realms of Elves' Anthology (which deals more or less with some minor plots from the Hunters Blade Trilogy and provoides only little info for the grand picture) and the Orc King are about Drizzt Do'Urden and the events in the North. The Sellswords Trilogy covers a story about the darkelf Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri and is located mainly in Damara and Vaasa. It has nothing to do with Drizzt, the North or the events that take place during the last book of the Hunters Blade Trilogy and the Orc King novel.
To be frank: there are no books that cover that 100 and something years!!!
WotC (Wizard of the Coast) has decided to make a 100-year-time-jump in the Realms to retcon/implement the changes for the upcomming 4th Ed. rules.... A fact that is widely discussed and argued on these boards. I cannot give you all the details about this time. If you look around in various other threads here, you will eventually grasp what all this is about...
Anyhow, the last official book for 3rd Ed. was the 'Grand History of the Realms', a sourcebook/chronology by Brian R. James, which covers all the important events up until 1385 DR which lead to the 'Spellplague'. After the Grant History there is nothing but the void! No sourcebooks (as of today), no novels, only D&D Inside articles (online) with some minor info...
Hope that helps a bit.
Ergdusch |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
Edited by - Ergdusch on 01 Jun 2008 10:10:36 |
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Fillow
Master of Realmslore
France
1608 Posts |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 14:17:43
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Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look. |
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Ayunken-vanzan
Senior Scribe
Germany
657 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 14:42:45
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quote: Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look.
Shameless plug ... ... but, indeed, that sounds interesting. I am tempted to acquire these books to watch the end of the FR. |
"What mattered our lives now? When our world had been torn from us? Folk wept, or drank, or stood staring out over the land, wondering what new horror each dawn would bring." Elender Stormfall of Suzail
"Anyone can kill deities, cause plagues, or destroy organizations. It takes real skill to make them live on." Varl
FR/D&D-Links • 2ed Downloads |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 23:18:52
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quote: Originally posted by Sophelios
Ok, so the last FR book I read was The Two Swords, and so when I picked up The Orc King today and started reading, It took me quite some time to figure out that it was set one-hundred years later. So can anyone tell me which books to read to figure out what happened. No spoilers please.
Only the prologue and epilogue are set 100 years in the future. The main part of the novel is set at the current time (probably around 1372 DR). |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams." --Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 01 Jun 2008 23:20:20 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2008 : 23:21:21
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quote: Originally posted by Fillow
I saw on another website that the reading order to read these Drizzt novels was this one :
- The Two Swords (The Hunter's Blades Trilogy 3) - Comrades at Odds (Realms of the Elves III) - Promise of the Witch King (The Sellswords 2) - Road of the Patriarch (The Sellswords 3) - The Orc King (Transitions 1) - The Pirate King (Transitions 2) - The Ghost King (Transitions 3)
Of course, they all were written by R.A. SALVATORE ! But I did not read those. I cannot tell you more about it.
I would like to point out that the last two books on that list have not been released yet. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams." --Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jun 2008 : 00:35:26
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quote: Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look.
Accent mine...
Are you referring to FR, or.......
Sorry, couldn't resist. I do plan on picking up the books once the trilogy is complete (I have learned to never start a series that hasn't already come to a conclusion). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jun 2008 : 00:51:43
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quote: Originally posted by Sophelios
Ok, so the last FR book I read was The Two Swords, and so when I picked up The Orc King today and started reading, It took me quite some time to figure out that it was set one-hundred years later. So can anyone tell me which books to read to figure out what happened. No spoilers please.
Please forgive my cynicism, Acolyte Sophelios, but the bald facts of the matter are these: if your involvement with the Forgotten Realms is through its fiction, heed the other scholars here to keep your reading chronological and enjoyable; if your involvement with the Forgotten Realms is primarily through role-playing, the Spellplague and 100 year jump means that Wizards of the Coast has cheated you of every cent which you have already spent on the game books which they published up to the end of 2007 without telling you that you were about to waste your money.
As for Mr. Byers, he is a fine novelist, and one of the chief reasons that I began reading Realms fiction, having become captivated by the first Realms novel of his which I chanced to read. I hope that he will not think ill of me if I tell you that he, like many other "Realms writers" has written for other game worlds, too. My local library has at least three of his books for White Wolf's World of Darkness, including at least one work each for Vampire: the Requiem, Wraith: the Oblivion, and Werewolf: the Somethingorother. It is thus possible to read and enjoy his fiction without feeling that someone from Hasbro has plunged a knife into your back while you were reading and is slowly twisting it with one hand while simultaneously picking your pocket with the other.
I sincerely hope that after Mr. Byers has finished his contractual obligations with Wizards of the Coast, he will concentrate on writing for some other fantasy world, one which is not likely to be completely destroyed because someone at Hasbro feels the need for a new Porsche. I have been given to believe that Oz is safe; one of my players collects Oz novels, and I would happily join him if Mr. Byers were to write about Good and Wicked Witches, Munchkins, Tick Tock people, and the like. What's the worst that the Baum Estate is likely to do to Oz? License a musical to which I cannot obtain tickets? That I can live with. What I will not endure, however, is being cheated, bamboozled, defrauded and swindled by avaricious corporate hyenas who ensnare people with fascinating novels and then sell them thousands of dollars in game books and accessories, only to announce every five years that -- "Oh oh. Hot dog!" -- everything they have bought to date is now obsolete, and that a player who has a new expensive book is "more correct" than a DM using an older book.
What I shall not do, however, is wallow in self-pity, because I know that I have a lovely collection of novels and short stories, most of which fit very nicely into TSR's Forgotten Realms, and I may buy TSR books and accessories on eBay and at Amazon without a single cent of my money going to Hasbro. Pfft! The only D&D adventure ever to take PCs to character level 100 was published by TSR, is Realms-based, is out of print, and I am confident that if I buy a copy of it, I can keep my players occupied with a multi-planar adventure for many years, and have the pleasure of knowing each week that not a cent of my money is ever again going to Hasbro.
And that is how I really feel.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Fire Wraith
Acolyte
USA
37 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2008 : 06:56:49
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quote: Originally posted by Markustay
quote: Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look.
I do plan on picking up the books once the trilogy is complete (I have learned to never start a series that hasn't already come to a conclusion).
Now if only I could show such fortitude in waiting!
I will say that, as much as I dislike the way the whole spellplague/etc is being done, I have thoroughly enjoyed both Unclean and Undead. I highly recommend them, and expect very good things from the third book.
quote: - The Pirate King (Transitions 2)
At the risk of perhaps going too off topic, this just makes me think of one thing...
"Foooooooor I am a Pirate King! And it is, it is, a glorious thing, to be a Pirate King!"
Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Icewind Dale, anyone? |
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creyzi4zb12
Learned Scribe
Philippines
129 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 14:27:54
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quote: Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look.
Is it released already? Can't wait tho' Grrrr...how come I don't see any new novels in Philly National Bookstore ryt now. |
orc orc orc orc orc orc orc orc orc orc orc |
Edited by - creyzi4zb12 on 25 Oct 2008 14:31:49 |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 14:46:22
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Yes. both Unclean and Undead have been released. Unholy, the third book in the trilogy, comes out in February, 2009. |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 15:25:46
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Erm...doesn't the Orc King merely preface the 100 year jump in the first chapter and then return to pre-Spellplague Faerun thereafter...? |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 17:03:00
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quote: Originally posted by Markustay
quote: Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Actually, the Spellplague figures in my novel Undead (Book 2 in the trilogy that began with Unclean.) So if anyone wants to see the cataclysm happen, that's a place to look.
Accent mine...
Are you referring to FR, or.......
Sorry, couldn't resist. I do plan on picking up the books once the trilogy is complete (I have learned to never start a series that hasn't already come to a conclusion).
Highly recommend this trilogy. many do not agree with the changes and the spellplague in general, but Richard's portrayal of this event is excellent.
I can never wait to pick them up as they are released. However, I go back and read through the first 2 just prior to scheduled releases of the final book of a trilogy. I am doing that now with Kemp's books. I always surprise myself with bits of information I had either forgotten or glossed over the first read through |
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Fillow
Master of Realmslore
France
1608 Posts |
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