Character-driven fantasy books

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Never read DragonLance (it's on my TBR -- somewhere) but there's no world-apocalypse events in Drizzt, although there is the SpellPlague kicking in at The Ghost King, does that count?

Uh... yes. The SpellPlague puts the entire FR on the top of its head. Major characters are either killed of or hugely incapacitated. Elminster, for example, is now a raving lunatic, who can sometimes muster the power he has wielded for thousands of years, but if he does, he turns mad for a time. He is also searching for rare magical objects to keep The Simbul in check; if she doesn't get them, she becomes... annoying.

I don't really know yet if I like the SpellPlague. I know the FR as it was during AD&D Second Edition, and I could make the transition to Third Edition and 3.5 Editions, because they basically were only rule changes; 4th Edition and the SpellPlague are not only rule changes, but basically a reboot of the entire world, while some older characters surviving in one way or another.

"Hey, dude. You've been reading this stuff for 15 years. You know what?"
- "What?"
"As of next month, its not true anymore. You can forget everything you ever read about this subject. We're restarting."

AAAAWWRrGgghHhh.....

[khazaddum]

Originally Posted by HarryT

May I ask what you find to be incredible about it? I'm reading the trilogy myself at the moment, and I find the characters very believable.

whoops, bad choice of words, by incredible I meant "amazing".
The characterization is really good, certainly the soul of the books.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Uh... yes. The SpellPlague puts the entire FR on the top of its head. Major characters are either killed of or hugely incapacitated. Elminster, for example, is now a raving lunatic, who can sometimes muster the power he has wielded for thousands of years, but if he does, he turns mad for a time. He is also searching for rare magical objects to keep The Simbul in check; if she doesn't get them, she becomes... annoying.

I don't really know yet if I like the SpellPlague. I know the FR as it was during AD&D Second Edition, and I could make the transition to Third Edition and 3.5 Editions, because they basically were only rule changes; 4th Edition and the SpellPlague are not only rule changes, but basically a reboot of the entire world, while some older characters surviving in one way or another.

"Hey, dude. You've been reading this stuff for 15 years. You know what?"
- "What?"
"As of next month, its not true anymore. You can forget everything you ever read about this subject. We're restarting."

AAAAWWRrGgghHhh.....

Okay. I wasn't thinking of that as an apocalypse so much as drastic changes in the nature of things. But I just read the books, and I haven't read a lot about events after the SpellPlague (I'm getting there, but you know how TBRs are The Forgotten Realms are just a fraction of the books I have lined up) so I guess I'm not the expert on it... The only post-SpellPlague books I've read so far are The Ghost King through Charon's Claw, none of which seem to have shown the full impact.

Where do you suggest I start exploring the events/impact of the post-SpellPlague world?

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Uh... yes. The SpellPlague puts the entire FR on the top of its head. Major characters are either killed of or hugely incapacitated. Elminster, for example, is now a raving lunatic, who can sometimes muster the power he has wielded for thousands of years, but if he does, he turns mad for a time. He is also searching for rare magical objects to keep The Simbul in check; if she doesn't get them, she becomes... annoying.

I don't really know yet if I like the SpellPlague. I know the FR as it was during AD&D Second Edition, and I could make the transition to Third Edition and 3.5 Editions, because they basically were only rule changes; 4th Edition and the SpellPlague are not only rule changes, but basically a reboot of the entire world, while some older characters surviving in one way or another.

"Hey, dude. You've been reading this stuff for 15 years. You know what?"
- "What?"
"As of next month, its not true anymore. You can forget everything you ever read about this subject. We're restarting."

AAAAWWRrGgghHhh.....

Yeah...kind of like DL's Chaos reboot. No thanks.

I'll still probably read Salvatore's books, because I know he puts out a solid book, but they're not high priority.

I did read Sanderson's Way of Kings, picked up book 1 for like $2-$3 last year, but no rush to spend $12-$18 on the next book since there's like a huge pile of them still to come. Will grab it when it shows up cheap somewhere again.

[kyrilson]

Holy cow. I read the original trilogy of the Riftwar Saga and loved it. I had no idea Feist wrote, what appears to be a LOT more books in that world. Going to have to reread the original trilogy and work on the rest sometime soon, methinks. Where have I been, to have missed these??? *hangs head in shame*

Regarding fantasy books to try, you might enjoy the Erevis Cale Trilogy, or the Eberron novels by Bassingthwaite, since you like Salvatore. The first is set in the Forgotten Realms world. You may have already read these, but thought I'd throw them out there.

[mgbino]

I'd suggest the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham and Crown of Stars (first book is King's Dragon) by Kate Elliott for good character driven fantasy.

Crown of Stars is a little traditional, but there is seriously nothing in the fantasy genre like Long Price.

[xg4bx]

My go-to was, is, and probably will always be David Dalglish. I have never wanted to be a paladin as badly as I did after reading about his Jerico character.

http://ddalglish.com/wp/

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Where do you suggest I start exploring the events/impact of the post-SpellPlague world?

I don't really know where you should start. I have read just a few books that are placed within the SpellPlague, such as the Sage of Shadowdale series (a continuation of the Elminster series). Some time ago I've started to re-read much older books in the FR universe (Drizzt), and now that I actually have all of the ebooks, I plan to re-read them all from the very beginning, by series, in order of publication.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

Holy cow. I read the original trilogy of the Riftwar Saga and loved it. I had no idea Feist wrote, what appears to be a LOT more books in that world. Going to have to reread the original trilogy and work on the rest sometime soon, methinks. Where have I been, to have missed these??? *hangs head in shame*

Regarding fantasy books to try, you might enjoy the Erevis Cale Trilogy, or the Eberron novels by Bassingthwaite, since you like Salvatore. The first is set in the Forgotten Realms world. You may have already read these, but thought I'd throw them out there.

I like Salvatore, but I consider that guilty pleasure reading. It fills more of thjat action and oldschool D&D craving once in a while. I definitely prefer character-driven books better (thus the recommendation thread).

I read a ton of FR and DL and such as a teen but no so interested now. I might occasionally still keep track of Raistlin & Drizzt stories but they're not exactly what I'm looking for.

[kyrilson]

Perhaps the Earthsea Trilogy by LeGuin might qualify.

[WillAdams]

Steven Brust's Taltos / Dragaera novels?

C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine trilogy?

Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy revolves around the character of Aillas (once he gets on stage)

[kyrilson]

The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust is great stuff. Unfortunately the first few are not out in ebook format, as far as I've been able to determine. I just recently picked up the dead tree omnibus collecting the first three novels from abebooks.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Never read DragonLance (it's on my TBR -- somewhere) but there's no world-apocalypse events in Drizzt, although there is the SpellPlague kicking in at The Ghost King, does that count?

I read them when they first came out in the early 1980s (my student days) and thoroughly enjoyed them, but I tried re-reading one recently, and found them terribly shallow. They're definitely aimed at teenagers, rather than adults, to my mind.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust is great stuff. Unfortunately the first few are not out in ebook format, as far as I've been able to determine. I just recently picked up the dead tree omnibus collecting the first three novels from abebooks.

I've had to attempt to import a copy from the US, myself. It's not here yet. If it came by ship, I should be able to start expecting it this week, although the estimate they gave me was April 9th, which means it could be going the long way round. I'm still worried that I'm actually just going to get the first book, rather than the omnibus.

[jscarbo]

I'm currently reading Elizabeth Moon's latest fantasy series, Paladin's Legacy, which begins with "Oath of Fealty": http://www.amazon.com/Oath-Fealty-Le...0DST45WGS6ZZG0

There are currently four books which have been released. The final book, "Crown of Renewal", is scheduled for release in late May 2014. This series is a sequel to her three book Paksenarrion series written in the late '80's. This series is now available in a single omnibus edition: http://www.amazon.com/Deed-Paksenarr...1D5F5AH42MG3SN

In my opinion, the new Paladin's Legacy series is far superior to the original Paksenarrion series, but the Paksenarrion series is also good and I recommend that you read it before starting the new series, although Moon says it's not necessary to do so.

Both series are very much character-driven and are well-written and enjoyable. There's also a prequel series, "The Legacy of Gird", also available in an omnibus edition: http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Paksena...0DST45WGS6ZZG0 . I didn't enjoy it very much and it's not ecessary to read it in order to appreciate the other two series.