A cleaner, tighter, more useable presentation of 5e D&D than the PHB, DMG, and MM
Of all the published 5e adventures, the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Dragon of Icespire Peak are the best. They give you a world to explore and quest in, whereas the other 5e adventures give a railroad style campaign narrative or an overwhelming poorly organized jumble (Curse of Strahd is an exception - Curse of Strahd is great too).
For character creation, the Essentials Kit rules are great, especially for beginners or rules-light folks (like me!) - they give you the essential D&D character races, classes, backgrounds and spells, rather than the analysis-paralysis-inducing glut of character and spell options in the Player's Handbook. Spellcaster's spell lists are included in their class description, which I really like.
Likewise, the monsters in the Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak appendices are the quintessential D&D monsters - goblins, orcs, dragons, ogres, owlbears, centaurs, undead, cultists, mimics, stirges, with a smattering of exotic pretties like the doppleganger and nothic - you can run a lot of awesome D&D adventures with them alone, sans Monster Manual! The MM does have all those cool, adventure-inspiring monster write-ups, but I actually prefer the brief monster descriptions in these adventure books - the details aren't necessary when the monsters are already placed in an adventure, and I prefer to imagine up my own monster personalities/descriptions. (Although when it comes to moster tactics, there's no beating The Monsters Know What They're Doing - an essential book for any 5e DM).
For any DM who wants to really study the game and learn it, these are the products to do it: with a tight set of familiar spell, monster, magic item, and character archetypes and the core mechanics of the system, without the dizzying fluff of the DMG, MM, and PHB.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned