Chronological order of the Drizzt series
A long time ago, when I was a wee child I read some of the Drizzt Do'Urden books, they really captured my imagination. I'd like to continue reading, but I've lost track of which books contain him, and indeed what order they should be read in.
I'm specifically interested in the chronological order (not publication order).
I read the Neverwinter Series and enjoyed it. If you follow some of the advice here, I would add that you should read Neverwinter series LAST. I read it and realized (despite knowing much of the back story) that I wanted to re-read the stories to better understand the Neverwinter series.
Please Please Please, If you enjoy Drizzt novels, Read through the transition series.... Amazing finish to your adventures with our beloved drow, if you feel you can stop there...
R.A. Salvatore posted a suggested reading order for *his* Forgotten Realms stories in April 2015.
In chronological order, they are:
- The Dark Elf Trilogy (Homeland, Exile, Sojourn)
- The Icewind Dale Trilogy (The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, The Halfling's Gem)
- Dark Mirror, a short story in the Realms of Valor anthology.
- The Legacy of the Drow series (The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness, Passage to Dawn)
- The Paths of Darkness series (The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard*, Sea of Swords)
- The Hunter's Blade trilogy (The Thousand Orcs, The Lone Drow, The Two Swords)
- The Transitions trilogy (The Orc King, The Pirate King, The Ghost King)
- The Neverwinter series (Gauntlgrym, Neverwinter, Charon's Claw, The Last Threshold)
- The Sundering (The Companions, Book 1)
- The Companions Codex series (Night of the Hunter, Rise of the King, Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf).
- Homecoming (Archmage, Maestro, Hero).
- Generations (Timeless, Boundless).
My actual recommendation is to read them in publication order (swap the first two series) as Drizzt changes significantly between the first series and later ones. To my mind he is more an atypical drow rather than the pure force for good he ends up being in later series.
And if you want my really harsh recommendation, speaking as someone who read up to the Hunter's Blade trilogy, read the Icewind Dale Trilogy and stop there.
*Servant of the Shard is also the first book of The Sellswords series
+1 for harsh truths. Even if you find you like and want to read more, *definitely* stop before the Hunter's Blade trilogy. The editorial-forced-plot will scar your soul.
Bonus for harsh truths +1
+1 I wholeheartedly agree with the above. Just read the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Icewind Dale trilogy and stop. I recently read the Legacy of the Drow series and, while there is a little bit that's interesting, it's mostly the same plot and the same character issues rehashed four times.
Any chance you could work in the stories from "The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories" into this timeline? Dark Mirror is already there. http://amzn.com/B00L5F1IXM
The books that feature Drizzt as a primary character, listed in the in-universe chronology, should be:
The Dark Elf Trilogy
- Homeland
- Exile
- Sojourn
The Icewind Dale Trilogy
- The Crystal Shard
- Streams of Silver
- The Halfling's Gem
Legacy of the Drow Tetralogy
- Legacy
- Starless Night
- Siege of Darkness
- Passage to Dawn
Paths of Darkness
- The Silent Blade
- The Spine of the World
- Sea of Swords
The Hunter's Blades Trilogy
- The Thousand Orcs
- The Lone Drow
- The Two Swords
Transitions
- The Orc King
- The Pirate King
- The Ghost King
The Neverwinter Saga
- Gauntlgrym
- Neverwinter
- Charon's Claw
- The Last Threshold
The Sundering:
- The Companions
The Companions Codex:
- Night of the Hunter
- Rise of the King
- Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf
Homecoming:
- Archmage
- Maestro
- Hero
Generations:
- Timeless
- Boundless
There's also a short story, Dark Mirror (in the anthology *Realms of Valor*) - I removed it from my list above because the question specifies "books about", but you might still find it interesting.
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Content dated before 6/26/2020 9:53 AM
Cavaz 7 years ago
personally I advice against reading the book in chronological orders since often there are references to later events or short cameos that you wouldn't get. The same was for me: you will miss the excited of seeing for the first appearance of a certain "black figurine" or after the cameo of certain characters you will simply wonder "why did he spend an entire chapter on this guy? What was his part in the plot?".