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Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Alias) narrates The Third Level from the point of view of Artemis Entreri, the assassin Drizzt might have become had he abandoned his principles and remained in Menzoberranzan.

20 pages, Audible Audio

First published August 11, 2014

275 people want to read

About the author

R.A. Salvatore

602 books11.2k followers
As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...

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5 stars
55 (44%)
4 stars
37 (29%)
3 stars
30 (24%)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Meredith Katz.
Author 16 books212 followers
March 8, 2022
A bit grim, this one. (Also, a cw: there's mention of past CSA in it though nothing described or onscreen -- more just, especially in the early 90s, wasn't that such a go to for Tragic Backstories that turn a character grim. Phew.) I don't know that we really needed this story as an 'explanation' for Entreri -- we already know that he was a survivor on the streets and a child assassin and this story doesn't give us more than that, though it's possible this was written before those details were explained in the books -- but the triple-bluff to overcome his thief master was fun and I enjoyed that part of the story a lot.

(Except for the fatphobia parts of it, which again, were not fun to read; I know it's Very Typical for early 90s high fantasy villains but did we need to do this part of it.)
Profile Image for Crissy Moss.
Author 35 books42 followers
October 29, 2018
A short story about a thief earning his rank. It was okay, a simple story of three two thieves trying to outsmart each other. I felt it moved through the different times in the main characters life a little fast and there could have been some connecting story. The way the narrator read one of the characters was not pleasant, but it wasn't a pleasant character so I'll accept it. Just an okay story in the land of Ice Wind Dale.
Profile Image for Brandi.
222 reviews14 followers
May 5, 2018
A short story about Artemis Entreri and how he became Lieutenant to Pasha Bassidoni.
Profile Image for Vader.
3,790 reviews33 followers
June 7, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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