Ice Wind-Dale by R.A Salvatore Essay -- English Literature

Ice Wind-Dale by R.A Salvatore A book I have read recently and enjoyed was "Ice Wind-Dale" by R.A Salvatore. I received this book as a present and was intimidated by its sheer size, but was blessed as it was the greatest book that I have ever read. It was the only book that has made me depressed because of finishing it and yet was still satisfied and not left wanting. Salvatore created the perfect setting, characters and plot to make the book so memorable. The plot is straight forward as the book is actually a trilogy, and so the story evolves from one book to the next. I will now take the three best features of this book being the setting, characters and plot explaining how it made the novel so incredibly complete. The first feature that I would like to discuss is the setting. "Ice Wind-Dale, a thousand square miles of barren broken tundra, has been described as one of the most unwelcoming lands in all the realms" Right at the start of the novel we are given a vivid picture of this province. This makes you feel more at home with the plot as we now understand the land our adventurers must traverse. Salvatore manages to emphasise this description by using subtle techniques like personification in the word "unwelcoming" and alliteration in the words "barren broken" This all adds to the completeness or wholeness of the novel. By creating the perfect setting you then enhance the plot therefore making the characters more memorable. This leads me to the next feature of the novel, the characters. "Drizzit du-urden trotted along silently, his soft low cut boots barely stirring the dust. He kept the cowl of his brown cloak pulled low over the flowing waves of his dark white hair and moved with such effortless grace that an onlooker... ...s of invaders with fiery eyes, watching as the battle was about was about to commence..." I remember it being about four o'clock in the morning when I read that excerpt. I simply could not put it down. It filled me with such suspense that by putting the book down at that point would have felt sinful. I had to read on. It is points like that in this novel that makes it so incredibly complete and satisfying. In conclusion R.A Salvatore created an extremely well crafted novel concentrating only on the features relevant to the story, these being the setting, characters and plot (unlike "Lord of the Rings" which is full of sub-plots and hidden themes). By focusing in on these features he makes the novel so satisfying that you are left sad to have finished it. "Ice Wind-Dale" is a work of art, in all one thousand and four pages of glory and I would recommend it to anyone.