Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m welcoming Robbie MacNiven back to the site to talk about his new book The Gates of Thelgrim, which is his second contribution to Aconyte Books’ range of Descent novels. As someone who’s been introduced to this setting by the novels, rather than playing the games, I’m really enjoying getting to know more about Descent, and this book promises to deliver loads more subverted tropes and fun fantasy entertainment. It’s available now as a global ebook and US paperback, with the UK paperback coming in November.
Without further ado then, let’s get straight on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start things off, could you give us an overview of what The Gates of Thelgrim is about?
Robbie MacNiven: The novel follows three adventurers as they’re sent on a quest to retrieve a magical artifact from the dwarf city of Thelgrim. There’s just one problem – for unknown reasons, the great mountain city has sealed its gates shut. With no one able to enter or leave, the fate of the city and its inhabitants remains a mystery.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
RM: The primary gang consists of three adventurers, Shiver, Astarra and Raythen. Shiver is a deep elf sorcerer with a dark and painful past, Astarra is a feisty human runewitch and a dropout of the famed Greyhaven University, and Raythen is a straight-up dwarf rogue.
ToW: Your previous novel The Doom of Fallowhearth, was a Descent: Journeys in the Dark story, while this one is branded as Descent: Legends of the Dark. Assuming that’s a new edition of the game, has anything changed with the setting that you’ve been able to incorporate this time around?
RM: For this novel it’s really just a branding change – it’s set slightly before the events of the new boxed game. Don’t worry though, that Legends of the Dark aspect will be getting fleshed out in future works!
ToW: The Doom of Fallowhearth also followed a trio of adventurers on a quest. What have you done differently this time – with the characters, plot, tone or anything else – to set this book apart from the previous one?
RM: That’s a good question, because on the face of it, it sounds pretty similar. The main difference on a character level is the fact that unlike the heroes of The Doom of Fallowhearth, Shiver, Astarra and Raythen have never worked together before. They start off, shall we say, on the wrong foot, and as the novel progresses, we see them trying to work out how to survive together as a team. In The Doom of Fallowhearth it’s very much a “get the old gang back together again” sort of situation, so this is the opposite really.
The nuances of specific characters are also very different. Both novels have a ‘rogue’ character, for example (Logan and Raythen), but that’s the only similarity between them. Logan is an aging human who likes to complain but secretly has a heart of gold (well, he’s sort of nice when you get to know him). Raythen is more hard-edged and self-serving, less likeable but maybe a little more respectable as a proper thief!
Besides the characters, the plot diverges from the style of The Doom of Fallowhearth pretty early on. After being dispatched on their task, the heroes of The Gates of Thelgrim find themselves not in some miserable border town, but in the heart of the greatest dwarf city in Terrinoth. Just what awaits them… well, that’d spoil it!
ToW: Where did this specific story come from, and these characters? Was there anything in particular that inspired you to write this story?
RM: Mainly, the Moria sections from The Lord of the Rings! I chose the characters after much the same process as the one I pursued for The Doom of Fallowhearth – I went through the huge wealth of pre-existing Descent characters and pulled up three that I thought would work well together (or, in a technical sense, wouldn’t work together, at least initially). I like them all for different reasons, and while this particular novel is fairly plot heavy and mystery-oriented, I think the characters are still driving forces, and a strong reason for writing the book in the first place.
ToW: Judging by what I’ve seen on your Twitter account, I gather you’re a pretty speedy writer! How did the writing process go for The Gates of Thelgrim? Did it throw up any interesting challenges, hurdles or opportunities while you were working on it?
RM: I had to keep coming up with ways to describe tunnels, passageways, corridors and other subterranean features like stalagmites and stalactites (yes, I still get them mixed up!). Almost all of the novel takes place underground, so it was important to try and keep the specific settings unique as well as to try and capture the grandeur of Thelgrim – it’s the biggest dwarf city in Descent, after all, so that deserves some respect. Getting to describe something like that is both exciting and daunting. It’s a chance to really hit the classic fantasy tropes, but there’s always a worry when dealing with somewhere important for the first time that you might not be doing it justice. That’s for the reader to judge.
ToW: You talked last time we spoke about Terrinoth being a “classic high fantasy setting” – what would you say makes this world stand out from other fantasy settings, and how have you explored that in your Descent novels?
RM: I enjoy that some of what once might have been a set-in-stone fantasy trope doesn’t hold true in this setting. For example, orcs aren’t considered to be inherently warlike and aggressive, and interact with everything else just like other characters. I got to explore that with Durik in The Doom of Fallowhearth, and while there are no orcs in this one, the elves and dwarfs that do show up certainly don’t all conform to their fantasy stereotypes either (one of the latter is even beardless!).
ToW: You described The Doom of Fallowhearth as “a high fantasy dungeon crawl crossed with a Victorian Gothic novel”. Is there something about Descent that lends itself to blending classic fantasy styles or tropes with the unique tone of the setting?
RM: I’d say so, but there’s still a lot of exploring for me personally to do, and a lot of types of story that I want to tell – it’s a big setting, and because of that there’s big potential when it comes to implementing different styles. That, and I just want to see what other awesome parts I can visit and help to expand.
ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
RM: Hopefully they don’t develop claustrophobia. But a fun romp with an unlikely band of adventurers through dangerous depths is the aim of the game, so hopefully that’s what readers enjoy.
ToW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on with Aconyte for future release, or anything else you’ve got in the pipeline?
RM: I can indeed, and it’s topical! I’m nearing the end of the first draft of Zachareth, my third Descent novel, due out in spring next year. It’s a bit of a departure from the previous two insomuch as, whereas they both follow a band of adventurers on a quest, this one covers the backstory of one of the setting’s Big Bads (the eponymous title character). It’s been great fun to get under the skin of the villain for this one. Watch this space!
The cover art for Zachareth hasn’t been revealed yet, but I’ll show it off as soon as I see it!
ToW: Lastly, if you were to join a party of adventurers embarking on a dungeon crawl through the dark places of Terrinoth, what role do you think you would play in the party?
RM: Do adventure parties need scribes and history nerds? I guess that’d be my niche, hopefully there’d be some aspiring paladins or barbarians around to keep the worst of the gribblies at bay while I describe them.
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Robbie MacNiven is a Highlands-native History graduate from the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of several novels and many short stories for the New York Times-bestselling Warhammer 40,000 Age of Sigmar universe, and the narrative for HiRez Studio’s Smite Blitz RPG. Outside of writing his hobbies include historical re-enacting and making eight-hour round trips every second weekend to watch Rangers FC.
Check out Robbie’s website for more information.
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As always, huge thanks to Robbie for taking the time to chat to me for this interview, and for giving us the lowdown on The Gates of Thelgrim. I had a lot of fun reading Robbie’s previous Descent novel, so I’ve got high hopes for this one too! The Gates of Thelgrim is available as both a global ebook and US paperback right now, with the UK paperback due out on the 25th November.
Check out the main Aconyte Books page on Track of Words.
See also: all of the other Descent author interviews and reviews on Track of Words.
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