Originally Posted by KillerRabbit
I usually play casters so I'm biased:

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Counselors_%26_Kings

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/The_Magehound

Salvatore's strength is his handling of combat. When you read his books you feel like you are seeing through Drizzt eyes deciding what his sword will travel next.

Cunningham gives an outsider's view of a magic society. The hero is born a sorcerer in a land of wizards. An intuitive in a world of rationalists.

But this land was destroyed in 4e (grrrrr) and thus we never got 4th book but I think it captures part of realms nicely.
Seconding Cunningham. Everything I have read of hers is pretty solid. Her Starlight and Shadows trilogy is a good alternative to Drizzt for drow-related stuff. The latter is a rather long series and quite the commitment to follow to the end.

Though as a warning, the setting was essentially rebooted in 4th edition with the spellplague, and novels set past that era (including the timeframe of BG III) are much less numerous and good ones even less so.