R.A. Salvatore is joining us today to talk about his novel, Glacier’s Edge. Here’s the publisher’s description:
There’s a lot that Jarlaxle doesn’t know: is he the lone survivor of the raid on the slaad fortress, can he even find a way to get out, and beyond his immediate predicament, could he possibly escape the ice caverns and get help for his friends?
However, what Jarlaxle does know is that if he plans to come back—if Catti-brie, Entreri, and Zaknafein are to have any hope of surviving—he’s going to have to bring back far more firepower. An army of aevendrow seems unlikely, so he must go home and pull together a team with great skill and unimaginable power.
But how will he get home? Will such a collection of warriors and mages come to his aid? And even if he manages all that, will it be enough? For Jarlaxle has seen the slaadi’s power and their god in a most personal and terrifying way.
Trapped in the ice while the world is on fire, Jarlaxle is in a race against time—and burdened with a magical secret—to save a peaceful city and his companions.
And he’s running out of tricks in his bag of holding…
What’s R.A.’s favorite bit?
R.A. SALVATORE
After many years and many trilogies, I’ve come to understand well that the second book in a series is usually the toughest one to write. And if you’re not careful, it can be the one that stays relatively flat when compared against the trilogy’s inciting incidents in book 1 and crash-bang conclusions in book 3.
I work hard to avoid those pitfalls in two ways, and “Glacier’s Edge” epitomizes both, which is why I’m so excited to get this one into the hands of the readers.
First, I write all of my books with a beginning, a middle, and an end. That might sound obvious, but what I mean with regards to a trilogy is that each book should and must also stand alone. The reader can pick up “Glacier’s Edge” and, reading only a few pages, understand that there’s a lot of trouble here for the heroes.
A lot of trouble, and it’s going to take an enormous amount of firepower to try to get some of them out of it. That’s the fun of the book.
Add to that the fact that this trilogy, the Way of the Drow, had three very distinctive parts to it making “Glacier’s Edge” as much of a completion of one of those as a sequel to next year’s finale, and there is no slowdown, no pause.
And that lack of slowdown is the second point. The last few chapters of “Glacier’s Edge” are my favorites because they include one of the biggest battles, involving a myriad of monsters, magic, and melee mayhem, all choreographed in a wild scene and shifting battlefield. Truly, the knock-down, drag-em-out in the end of this book is as detailed and wild a battle as I’ve written in many years – perhaps my most ambitious fight scene ever. Long-time readers will know the team of heroes, as unlikely as it is to have them all fighting together in one place.
Let me take you into a grand cavern of ice in the bowels of a living glacier, a glacier formed from the sleeping body of a god of old, and fill this cavern with swordplay and magical fire, with dragon breath and demigod fury, with giants and undead and living ice that encapsulates and draws the life from its victims.
With the cries of pain.
With the sadness of loss.
The emotional ride was harrying for me to write, and will be, I know, for many readers, as well. Characters we’ve known for a long time, or even if you just meet them in here for the first time, will not be coming back.
There will be pain. There will be great cost…permanent cost.
“The Legend of Drizzt” series is at tickling the point of emotional payoff in “Glacier’s Edge.”
LINKS:
Glacier’s Edge Universal Book Link
BIO:
Thirty-four years ago, R. A. SALVATORE created the character of Drizzt Do’Urden, the dark elf who has withstood the test of time to stand today as an icon in the fantasy genre. With his work in the Forgotten Realms, the Crimson Shadow, the DemonWars Saga, and other series, Salvatore has sold more than thirty million books worldwide and has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list more than two dozen times. He considers writing to be his personal journey, but still, he’s quite pleased that so many are walking the road beside him! R.A. lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Diane, and their two dogs, Dexter and Pikel. He still plays softball for his team, Clan Battlehammer, and enjoys his weekly DemonWars: Reformation RPG and Dungeons & Dragons 5e games.
