📚 Forgotten Realms Reading Order Checker
Track your progress through the Forgotten Realms series — estimate reading time, books remaining & series completion
| Series Name | Books | Avg Pages | Days (35pp/day, 5d/wk) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icewind Dale Trilogy | 3 | ~350 | ~60 days |
| Dark Elf Trilogy | 3 | ~340 | ~58 days |
| Cleric Quintet | 5 | ~355 | ~101 days |
| Legacy of the Drow | 4 | ~360 | ~82 days |
| Paths of Darkness | 4 | ~370 | ~84 days |
| The Sellswords | 3 | ~365 | ~62 days |
| Elminster Series | 8 | ~380 | ~174 days |
| The Sundering | 6 | ~370 | ~127 days |
| Avatar Trilogy | 3 | ~310 | ~53 days |
| Baldur's Gate Duology | 2 | ~320 | ~37 days |
| Shandril's Saga | 3 | ~330 | ~57 days |
| War of the Spider Queen | 6 | ~360 | ~124 days |
| Format | Dimensions (in / cm) | Avg Pages | Avg Weight (oz / g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mass Market Paperback | 6.75x4.19 in / 17.1x10.6 cm | 350 | 7 oz / 198 g |
| Trade Paperback | 8.5x5.5 in / 21.6x14 cm | 320 | 11 oz / 312 g |
| Hardcover | 9.5x6.5 in / 24.1x16.5 cm | 380 | 22 oz / 624 g |
| Anthology / Omnibus | 8.5x5.5 in / 21.6x14 cm | 500 | 16 oz / 454 g |
| Short Novel | 6.75x4.19 in / 17.1x10.6 cm | 250 | 5 oz / 142 g |
| Series | Book Count | Shelf Space (in) | Shelf Space (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drizzt Complete (26 books) | 26 | ~30 in | ~76 cm |
| Elminster (8 books) | 8 | ~9 in | ~23 cm |
| Sundering (6 books) | 6 | ~8 in | ~20 cm |
| War Spider Queen (6) | 6 | ~8 in | ~20 cm |
| Cleric Quintet (5) | 5 | ~6 in | ~15 cm |
| Avatar Trilogy (3) | 3 | ~4 in | ~10 cm |
The Forgotten Realms form the main landscape for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. It is one of the most liked, commonly played and oldest settings among its relatives. The story focuses mostly on Faerûn, ancient territory full of spell and creatures, risks and wonders.
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Magic disaster together with the merging of two worlds destroyed all rearranged the planes and cast populations in ruins.
How to Start Reading the Forgotten Realms Books
There is no strict order for going across the books of the Forgotten Realms. The best way is to choose a character or chain and simply follow it. Focusing on characters like Drizzt and tracking their adventures helps to properly enter the world.
The universe offers many different cycles and volumes written by various writers, that add to the same universe.
For the books about Drizzt, start with Homeland has much logic. Even so recall, that while you arrive to the trilogy of Icewind Dale, there will be gaps between the backstory of Drizzt here and in the first trilogy. Here the case, that the first set genuinley appeared later and carries storylines, that affect almost everything following in the Drizzt cycle.
The trilogy of the Sold Swords also pleases read from that view of the Realms. Almost every reader of the Forgotten Realms carries stories of R. A. Salvatore, although they are not needed for following the Drizzt chain.
Another good gateway is Elminster. He matches Drizzt in fame among the players. He is the Chosen of Mystra, goddess of magic, important member of the Harpers and one who leads young heroes on the write way.
The book Performance of Magic describes his young life and shows how he became the chief wizard of the Realms.
Chronological reading forms one possible way. Volumes that follow this timetable fix the time of the Forgotten Realms and can change the order of some cycles. For instance, the series of the Impossible Empires starts with the third book according to time.
Read them according to publishing order works just as well. For beginners that explore the setting for the first time, such time cleanup helps to escape misunderstandings of eventual events, that can be mentioned elsewhere.
The first book for the Forgotten Realms came out in 1987, Darkwalker on Moonshae of Douglas Niles. Until December 2025, one lists 303 publications, from novels to stories and readers. This shows the wealth of the series.
After finishing the first 300, one will forget most of what one read. The wiki of the Forgotten Realms is useful for detailparticular events, places or characters by means of checking the section about appearances on any page.
