mxcn3

"I'm really enjoying this Minecraft game, I think I'll buy it."

"But... don't you already have it?"

"You misunderstand."

[deleted]

Mr. Salvatore! I missed your last AMA by like an hour so I have this bit saved from way back then.

First, a bit of backstory, but it is related to my questions (skip if you're pressed for time). I started reading your Drizzt books about 10 years ago, and at this point they're pretty much the only books I will buy blindly. I've heard people criticize your writing style/story choices or whatever, but honestly they hit a spot that I abosolutely love: it feels like playing D&D but with much better plots than an anyone in our group can come up with. I like having a group of (usually) good people going on an adventure and taking on all sorts of interesting challenges.

Questions!

1) I'd say starting around the Sellswords trilogy, your books have taken a much darker tone. Media today is crowded with "gritty" and "mature" stuff, but I liked your books originally because they were generally very upbeat and positive. I was wondering what prompted this shift? Was it just media trends, or do you feel that the story has to go this way to progress?

2) I guess this goes with #1 a bit, but honestly, why so much sex? I don't really have a problem with it, it's just a little weird because I think your first ~10 Drizzt books had about the same amount of explicit sex as a single recent one. There was a lot of implied/referenced sex in the past, but it seems that recently you've been more upfront about it, and to me some of it just seems unnecessary/gratuitous. Is this some GRRM influence leaking out?

3) This is more of a complaint than a question, but in the Companions and Neverwinter books, there was a fairly large page count spent developing the villains. This bothered me a bit because I don't pick up your books for the antagonists, I pick them up because I want to read about Drizzt and co.! For example, with Quenthel I, thought that her extended development hurt the character because a) it seemed like the scenes were just constantly people telling us how powerful and intelligent she is rather than letting us see that for ourselves, and b) we can see her plans coming a mile away rather than experiencing the heroes' surprise. So I guess the relavent question would be: why all of this villain development? Is it in response to some sort of criticism about underdeveloped villains, or maybe you have future plans for them?

Sorry if these all seem like "negative" questions or complaints or whatever, again I love your books. And sorry for the length.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to Rise of the King; I just preordered it a few days ago, in fact. And I haven't played Neverwinter so I obviously never saw the connection, but that's pretty awesome that they use characters other than Drizzt. I guess I never really saw Jarlaxle as a villain, and Entreri post-Starless Night seemed more like an anti-hero, so I didn't really think of those.

Thanks for answering!

Mr. Zahn! I just want you to know that your Thrawn trilogy was the second series of full-length books I ever read (first being LotR), back when I was 9 years old! I still consider them to be some of the best books I've read, considering how well you captured the feel of the Star Wars universe.

So, questions. I won't be hurt if you skip some.

• First, considering how much love you've put into the development of Thrawn, how did you feel about Disney throwing out the EU?

• If you can tell us, do you have any plans or offers for working with the "new" Star Wars universe?

• Last, I'm looking to pick up another book or series; which of your books (outside Star Wars) are you most proud of/which did you enjoy writing the most?