Empty Joys

I decided to dive back into the world of fantasy through my short story this week. Empty Joys is by one of my favourite fantasy writers, R. A. Salvatore. As you may have previously read on my blog, Salvatore has created one of the most famous characters in Forgotten Realms and potentially in the fantasy genre. Empty Joys, however, is not about Drizzt, though I miss him and hope to see him soon.

Empty Joys is the last story in the Forgotten Realms collection The Best Of The Realms: Book 1. It tells the story of one small adventure had by two former enemies of Drizzt Do’Urden, Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri. Jarlaxle and Entreri are on the road, though they have no destination. Once villains, the reader finds the pair saving innocents from a band of merciless highwaymen.

The story is a stopover or a peek, into the happenings betweens books. It’s a quick punch of adventure, fast-paced and exciting. In its thirty pages, the story gives the reader insight into the main characters. It functions as a short story more than I thought it would. It still felt like part of a larger story, especially with Jarlaxle secretly meeting with his Underdark lieutenant. Empty Joys [thankfully] doesn’t read as a misplaced chapter of a novel, it makes you eager for more of the Forgotten Realms and these characters.


Thanks to John at The Book Mine Set for hosting Short Story Monday.