I was curious about other scribes Realms reading habits. I was looking at my "to read" stack and noticed Elaine's Song and Sword(along with a note to read her short stories as well) novels coming up very soon(for their third read by me)...
What Realms novels do you eo=ither find yourself reading again or wish you had time to???
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
Homeland of the Dark Elf Trilogy wasn't bad. I wouldn't hate to read that book again.
But, since I have so many others I need to finish, I'll focus on that.
Sheriff: Oh one other thing Earlie. Your boy needs to be in school. Earlie Cuyler: School? Ain't dat da damn place where they got all dem uhh lets see, whatcha call um uhh? Fold outs covered in scriblins wrote up all over. Earlie Cuyler: uhh? Books? Earlie Cuyler: uh-uh, uh-uh, No they square like a magazine. Sheriff: Books Earlie. Earlie Cuyler: Noo not not that, but something like that, I wanna say boooooo...
"Don't you start with me. I have hobbies. I collect autographs. I don't Judge you for all those books you read!"
I re-read Ed's Knights of Myth Drannor trilogy fairly often, and as a guilty pleasure, I re-read his Stormlight. Then it's Elfshadow by Elaine and (now, just joining the list) Downshadow by Erik Scott de Bie. Also "on the bubble" to join the list is City of Splendors by Ed and Elaine. BA
Ring of Winter you say? I'll be getting that book soon. From what little I've heard, the story sounds awesome.
Sheriff: Oh one other thing Earlie. Your boy needs to be in school. Earlie Cuyler: School? Ain't dat da damn place where they got all dem uhh lets see, whatcha call um uhh? Fold outs covered in scriblins wrote up all over. Earlie Cuyler: uhh? Books? Earlie Cuyler: uh-uh, uh-uh, No they square like a magazine. Sheriff: Books Earlie. Earlie Cuyler: Noo not not that, but something like that, I wanna say boooooo...
"Don't you start with me. I have hobbies. I collect autographs. I don't Judge you for all those books you read!"
Elaine's novels, Ed's novels, Sage Schend's great works, Erik Scott de Bie's, Bruce Cordell's works, and Lisa Smedman's "House of Serpents" because I'm a scaly folk/yuan-ti fan. Also, Crypt of the Shadowking and Curse of the Shadowmage. And, every so often, I'll re-read the "Empires" trilogy -- for reasons of nostalgia mostly.
I have read all of them multiple times over the years. Some more than others. I waaaas caught up on my novels until about a year ago. by the way - hey, I have been away from the boards for a while. What's up??
I have more and more problems with finding the time to actually reread books, as there are only so many books one has time to read in life and there's to many still unread .
The ones I have read the most times (and am probable to read again) are Night Parade, Soldiers of Ice, Spellfire, Crown of Fire, the Moonshae books, Crypt of the Shadowking, Curse of the Shadowmage, Azure Bonds, Elaines first two Harper novels and the first book of the Giants trilogy.
In addition most of Eds novels and Blackstaff[/i] are likely to be reread if I ever find the time.
Elaine's stuff, the Novak-Grubbs, some of Ed's works, and most recently, Rosemary Jones's books.
There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist. Terry Pratchett
Although there are still many novels that I haven't read: these are the stories
1) that I already re-read: a) everything with Erevis Cale b) The Black Bouquet c) City of Ravens
2) planing to re-read: a) WotSQ b) again everything from 1)
"You make an intriguing offer, one that is very tempting. It would seem that I have little alternative than to answer thusly: DISINTEGRATE!" Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick 625
Kemp's Cale books, the Elminster series, the Cormyr series, Steven Schend's awesome Blackstaff books, Homeland, Exile and Sojourn, Elaine's books (especially Evermeet).
I must have re-read Siege of Darkness 5 or 6 times. Lately I've been less interested in Drizzt, but SoD was a favourite for me.
I've re-read The Last Mythal trilogy once, Evermeet: IoE I've read 3 or 4 times, and the Avatar Trilogy once (I'm one of the few who liked the Time of Troubles).
"...because despite the best advice of those who know what they are talking about, other people insist on doing the most massively stupid things." -Galen, technomage
Richard's The Haunted Lands trilogy and The Captive Flame (and I'm pretty sure same with books 2 and 3 of The Brotherhood of the Griffon when they're released), Paul's The Twilight War trilogy, Troy's The Return of the Archwizards trilogy, and Clayton's The Netheril trilogy.
I've reread Spellfire and the Grubb-Novak books. I want to reread some of Rich Baker's books, the Cormyr series, and perhaps the first Drizzt books and the Rogue Dragons series.
Great thread btw. Need to get the Blackstaff books. Rosemary Jones? Need to check out her books...
Richard's The Haunted Lands trilogy and The Captive Flame (and I'm pretty sure same with books 2 and 3 of The Brotherhood of the Griffon when they're released), Paul's The Twilight War trilogy, Troy's The Return of the Archwizards trilogy, and Clayton's The Netheril trilogy.
I was about to say, while I actually didn't find Return of the Archwizards to be very good (I think long scenes of magical combat tend to bore me), my absolute favorites are:
Waterdeep by Troy Denning Crucible: the Trial of Cyric the Mad by Troy Denning with an honorable mention to James Lowder for Prince of Lies
I had been slogging through the otherwise boring Avatar trilogy to get a better sense of the characters Kelemvor and Cyric, when Waterdeep suddenly turned up the quality tenfold. Crucible absolutely floored me. The character of Malik is very reminiscent of a haplessly-evil ibn Fadlan. It's impossible not to love the truth-telling Seraph of Lies.
For me, it's Ed's Knights of Myth Drannor trilogy, El in Hell, and Stormlight. Not so often: City of Splendors by Ed and Elaine, and Elfshadow by Elaine. Just promoted onto the re-read list: City of the Dead by Rosemary Jones, Downshadow by Erik Scott de Bie, and Elminster Must Die! by Ed. Consistently, the novels with most depth, layered meanings, and the ability to please me with elements I hadn't noticed - - or appreciated in a previous reading - - are Ed Greenwood's. Whereas an RAS or Denning book, to pick two examples, are far more straight-ahead, in-your-face action narrative. Less depth, more fast action narrative. Which for me means less enticement to reread. However, YMMV, of course.
The Crystal Shard Novak and Grubb - all the Alias / Finder stories Pools of Radiance
Most of the time I'd rather by reading something new, but when I'm stressed reading an old favourite is very relaxing - no need to think, just the comfortingly familiar.
I'm planning on running down copies of Elaine's various elf books and reading them for lore purposes. Plus I really enjoyed the Starlight and Shadows series.
Fools to right of them, Jesters to left of them, Clowns in front of them Pun'd and parody'd.
I read most books over and over. If I don't read a series all at once, I have to re-read them each time a new book comes out. Recently, I've read the Last Mythal, Rogue Dragons, the Lireal Banre series, Twilight War, Haunted Lands, Lady Penitent, The Wizards, War of the Spider Queen, Evermeet, and the latest Drizzt books several times.
"Those with talent become wizards, Those without talent spend their lives praying for it"
Richard's The Haunted Lands trilogy and The Captive Flame (and I'm pretty sure same with books 2 and 3 of The Brotherhood of the Griffon when they're released), Paul's The Twilight War trilogy, Troy's The Return of the Archwizards trilogy, and Clayton's The Netheril trilogy.
I was about to say, while I actually didn't find Return of the Archwizards to be very good (I think long scenes of magical combat tend to bore me), my absolute favorites are:
Waterdeep by Troy Denning Crucible: the Trial of Cyric the Mad by Troy Denning with an honorable mention to James Lowder for Prince of Lies
I had been slogging through the otherwise boring Avatar trilogy to get a better sense of the characters Kelemvor and Cyric, when Waterdeep suddenly turned up the quality tenfold. Crucible absolutely floored me. The character of Malik is very reminiscent of a haplessly-evil ibn Fadlan. It's impossible not to love the truth-telling Seraph of Lies.
It's the return of the denizens of Netheril, the Empire of Magic, so expect a lot of magical battles of grand proportion. You cannot expect the shades to fight the magically potent phaerimm by throwing kitchen knives at them.
Waterdeep plain bored me. I didn't finish it; I stopped at page 60. And don't intend to resume reading it.
Crucible is nice, but haven't reread it. Cyric is too crazy to like or even try not to dislike. There are demented villains out there, but no one, thank Ed or WotC, is as ridiculously mad as Cyric. I'd be happy if Shar eats him for dinner.
I re-read almost every book I read, but there are a few series I've read many, many times. The Erevis Cale trilogy has been read 3 or 4 times I believe, I've lost count of my re-reads of the War of the Spider Queen series, though not all have been full re-reads, some have just included a few of the books. The Icewind Dale trilogy, my gateway drug into the Realms novels and D&D in general after playing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 when they came out, has been heavily worn from re-reads, as are a few of my Elminster books. Elminster in Hell I especially remember enjoying multiple times, I loved reading all the different memories he had accumulated over the many years. The Cleric Quintet and the Servant of the Shard are two of my favorite works from RAS and I've read them both repeatedly along with the Homeland trilogy which I really enjoyed. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple but these are the ones that stick out in my memory.
Life is too short, and there are a lot to read, so I never reread a novel more than twice, except Unholy, Shadowrealm, and The Siege (and some non-FR, too) which I read thrice.
What Realms novels do you read again and again?
Posted - 25 Aug 2010 : 20:59:31
