D&D General What Obscure/Lesser-Known Book Series Got You Into D&D?

[Stormonu]

I was already playing D&D, but Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords series (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3) ended up having a huge influence in my homebrew - both in the aspect of a set of mythic (intelligent) weapons and my deities (they are ascended mortals that can be killed).

I enjoyed Book 2 the most, due to the presence of the majority of the action taking place in a maze-like dungeon.

Never did get to read the follow-on books named for the individual swords.

 

[Zardnaar]

The Lone Wolf books were an influence. Idk if that was the sole reason.

 

[Ancalagon]

Some book by some obscure British author. It had something to do with a ring and gnomes and angry birds. Barely finished it to be frank.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Actually, D&D got me into fantasy novels, not the other way around. My first real series was Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles

same here. I watched my older brother play D&D as a kid, and after playing myself, I was drawn to fantasy books, including one of my favorite series, the one you listed

 

[humble minion]

RA Salvatore and The Crystal Shard changed my life as a 13 year old...

 

[Retreater]

I inherited my older cousin's bronze age comics collection, including typical superheroes like Batman but also Disney comic strips like Scrooge McDuck.
Amongst the ads for mail-away junk like Sea Monkeys and X-Ray glasses was a spread for D&D, showing the miniatures and dioramas of dangerous dungeons, forbidden forests, and creepy caverns - similar to current day Dwarven Forge.
That lingered in my mind for years. I had a mom who wouldn't let me buy such stuff - I had to sneak to even watch the Saturday morning cartoon. Finally the day came when I got to read the Hobbit. And I tricked her into buying me the AD&D 2e manuals, saying they were basically art books for the Hobbit. (And they were even on the shelves of the fantasy section at our local bookstore.)

 

[CleverNickName]

I don't think there was a single book or piece of fiction that "got me into D&D." Growing up I read a lot of fantasy fiction like The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Prydain, but it was a friend of mine that got me into the hobby. He suggested we play it one day after school, and I was immediately hooked. Everything else I had read up to that point kind of...fed into it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I'm going to add another series that I totally forgot the name of until today, Leven Thumps by Obert Skye. I also highly recommend this series, it has a ton of creatures that would fit right into the Feywild as well as having some of the strangest characters in a fantasy series that I have ever seen (trust me. Nothing's weirder than a magical, maniacally evil toothpick).

 

[Keldryn]

As a kid, I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books. My mother used to get them for me at garage sales and flea markets.

One time, she found a similar type of book series, called Endless Quest.

I think this particular one was the first that I read in that series, although at one point I had most of them. I didn't actually start reading any real fantasy literature until I started playing D&D.

 

[Shiroiken]

David Edding's Belgiariad was the first before I started D&D, but I was always into fantasy tropes.