Rating: 
Summary: The one FR Book you should own
Review: I own most of the 3E Forgotten realms books (FR campaign setting, Faiths and Pantheons, Lords of Darkness, Magic of Faêrun, Monster Compendium, Silver Marches, etc.) and most of them are good. I recently bought this book, and let me tell you, it is the best one i've bought so far. It expands the information available on the FR setting regarding races, but it also adds some new races as well (Fey'ri and Tanaruk -new planetouched races, Avariel -the winged elf-, Aarakocra, Centaur, Goblinoids, Kir-lanan, Lizardfolk, Lycanthropes, shade, wemic and yuan-tis) so you can add more variety (without buying the "Savage Species" book) and has some excellent special worth-having feats for the races, some monsters/pets usually associated with some of the races, and some good prestige classes (I specially liked the battlerager, the warsling sniper and the bladesinger, some of the other p-classes I didn't like so much). And the book is totally usable in the confusing turmoil of character generation, because each race's important information is readily available. I really liked this book, and I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: The one FR Book you should own
Review: I own most of the 3E Forgotten realms books (FR campaign setting, Faiths and Pantheons, Lords of Darkness, Magic of Faêrun, Monster Compendium, Silver Marches, etc.) and most of them are good. I recently bought this book, and let me tell you, it is the best one i've bought so far. It expands the information available on the FR setting regarding races, but it also adds some new races as well (Fey'ri and Tanaruk -new planetouched races, Avariel -the winged elf-, Aarakocra, Centaur, Goblinoids, Kir-lanan, Lizardfolk, Lycanthropes, shade, wemic and yuan-tis) so you can add more variety (without buying the "Savage Species" book) and has some excellent special worth-having feats for the races, some monsters/pets usually associated with some of the races, and some good prestige classes (I specially liked the battlerager, the warsling sniper and the bladesinger, some of the other p-classes I didn't like so much). And the book is totally usable in the confusing turmoil of character generation, because each race's important information is readily available. I really liked this book, and I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: fantastic sourcebook
Review: i really liked this book. i think it expanded nicely on the basic races set up in the forgotten realms campaign setting. some of the new races i really liked, such as the Orogs and the Avariels that i remember from 2nd ed. speaking of which, they brought back probably my 2 favorite specialty classes from 2nd edition-blade singer and dwarven battlerager. granted bladesinger was in tome and blood but this version is much beefier. and some of the feats like high born drow bring the races back to their old glory. i really enjoyed all of the racial feats.
most of the magic items are weak, and i was hoping for new enhancements like were brought up in magic of faerun, but oh well. overall it does what you'd think it would, it gives a gajillion options for making non-human races more interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay but not great
Review: I was excited about this book b/c of the quality of the Campaign Setting Book in terms of writing. This book has the same quality of art, but the writing is not very good. In a way it is worth buying b/c the information is not available elsewhere in such detail (you still do not get a real feel for the races and subraces in here, just the data in prose form). However, it is not as much fun to read as other books in the series. It is essentially only useful as a reference book, but for that purpose it is not bad at all.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful and informative, BUT
Review: It should be called SOME of the Races of Faerun. The book offers a great deal of information, however it leaves gaps here and there just so it can fill them through another volume. For the price tag of this book I feel it is a bit incomplete. It could contain a lot more info on a lot more races. If you're only looking for general information on the most prominent races of Faerun, this is for you. However it should not be considered THE source of info, as it is anything but complete and thorough.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Resource!
Review: Races of Faerun provides more background to some of the lesser known, but just as popular other races that populate the Dungeons and Dragons world of Faerun. For the more experienced players old friends such as the Winged Elves are finally brought up in the Third Edition rules. For the new player many more choices will be laid out before them to make thier character truly unique, and game masters across the world will be pulling thier hair out as players try to utilize as much as possible in making the game their own. Each of the 50 or so races are explored well, and in a fair amount of depth. The book explores region, equipment, religion, and even feelings toward some of the other races. The art is nice, and the game content is just first rate.
This is one sourcebook that EVERYONE can use, and not have to worry about learning too much information. The price is a bit steep for the half hearted player, but the book really is very nice, and worth the money you are going to shell out. I was just happy to see one of my favorite raves the Wemic included, but was a bit disappointed that the Saurials were dropped for "Lack of Interest". I was interested! I won't let that one decision override or cloud a glowing review of another excellent product put out by Wizards of the Coast.
Rating: 
Summary: Races
Review: The information in this book is helpful but not neccessary. I enjoyed reading about elves in this book. There is a lot of info on different regions of humans, which at first I thought would be helpful, but there is too much and it limits the creative process. The art work, and I use the term loosely, is horrid, mostly the dwarves. Do not look at the pictures. All in all I'm glad I didn't pay full price.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful, nearly a must
Review: This book is very useful, especially for players who hate to have ordinary characters. The fact that humans were fleshed out is very good. It is always possible to improvise, but to have a general background makes life easier and helps you keep a balanced level.
Rating:
Summary: Great formatting + Great information = Excellent book
Review: This books contains volumes of information about a number of previously described races, a more thorough description of races briefly mentioned and outlines rather completely some races I wasn't expecting. It also has some new magic items, lots of new feats and a whole lot other stuff to add flavour to just about any campain, not just the ones in Faerun.Of course, the Player's Handbook contained a lot of information as well, but in its initial incarnation, it was hampered by formatting that made it hard to find the information you needed. This pattern would repeat through several books; the format would be easy to read, with information that was less than useful or the format would be confusing, with excellent information. Here, we have a perfect synthesis. My only quibble is that some of the feats and items seem a little powerful, but a creative DM can work around any of that.
Rating: 
Summary: Most of this is already in print
Review: This draws upon previously released work and attempts to put it between new covers. If you already own the Forgotten Realms sourcebook and the other core rulebooks, you already own ninety percent of this volume. Don't throw your money away, wait for the updated players guide for the 3.5 edition.
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