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runecleric's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
mrcabertram's review against another edition
5.0
I will admit to having a strong bias being a long time Guild Wars fan. But when this book came out it was probably the first real book that I sat down and read cover to cover and I loved it. It painted such a beautiful stage for GW2 filled with vibrant characters that exemplified the good and bad traits for all the races with plenty of nods to GW1 lore. Recently Youruber WoodenPotatos uploaded an audio book (With ANet’s blessings of course) on his channel and I must say... story still holds up. I laughed, I cried, well worth the listen if you don’t feel like reading the physical book. :)
brian_the_reader's review against another edition
3.0
For what it is, a media tie in, this was a very enjoyable read. Good characters, good exploration of the world, and plenty of excitement. A minor niggle was the sameness of the voices. The characters all seemed to be sarcastic at the same time or serious at the same time. There should have been more consistency in each character's dialogue instead of mirroring each other.
That aside, it is a good read for any Guild Wars fan.
That aside, it is a good read for any Guild Wars fan.
aische24's review against another edition
4.0
If you play the videogames (1 and 2) read the book, I liked being able to picture the places and people in my head and getting more lore. You really care about the characters and what happens to them.
Now on to the next book!
Now on to the next book!
reeeno's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
endofthyme's review against another edition
4.0
Let me preface this by saying, I did not sign up for these feels.
I play GW2, and I played GW1, and I started this book because I wanted to learn more about the charr. Well, I got what I wanted and what I didn't know I wanted, wrapped in a package of fun, interesting characters of every playable species in GW2. Ember Doomforge, Kranxx, Gullik Oddson, and Killeen are a pleasure to read about, and the humans Dougal and Riona hold their own as the story progresses and we learn more about their shared history. As they were imperiled, individually or as a whole, I worried over them and rooted for them and several times had my heart crushed by an actual or apparent death. And I am still in denial about a certain one. Cold, dead body and no pulse or it didn't happen.
Anyway, the racial politics of Tyria are fascinating. The goal of their mission was to forge a truce between the charr and the humans, but the charr/human interactions were especially charged at first, and I wasn't sure how the mission could possibly succeed with such enmity apparent. But, I do think the book handles the developing accord between Ember and Dougal well, and even between Ember and Riona (however lopsided that one was).
I also have to point out the lovely gender ratio of the main characters, 1:1, and the fact that the handful of side characters we meet mostly maintain that trend. It's something that's depressingly rare in adventure books and it made me very, very happy as I was reading.
I'm not certain I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't a player and therefore familiar with the Guild Wars lore. I think they do a good job of introducing various species and locations, but I am still looking at it through player-tinted glasses. Overall, it's a great, fun, quick read, and I very much enjoyed it.
I play GW2, and I played GW1, and I started this book because I wanted to learn more about the charr. Well, I got what I wanted and what I didn't know I wanted, wrapped in a package of fun, interesting characters of every playable species in GW2. Ember Doomforge, Kranxx, Gullik Oddson, and Killeen are a pleasure to read about, and the humans Dougal and Riona hold their own as the story progresses and we learn more about their shared history. As they were imperiled, individually or as a whole, I worried over them and rooted for them and several times had my heart crushed by an actual or apparent death. And I am still in denial about a certain one. Cold, dead body and no pulse or it didn't happen.
Anyway, the racial politics of Tyria are fascinating. The goal of their mission was to forge a truce between the charr and the humans, but the charr/human interactions were especially charged at first, and I wasn't sure how the mission could possibly succeed with such enmity apparent. But, I do think the book handles the developing accord between Ember and Dougal well, and even between Ember and Riona (however lopsided that one was).
I also have to point out the lovely gender ratio of the main characters, 1:1, and the fact that the handful of side characters we meet mostly maintain that trend. It's something that's depressingly rare in adventure books and it made me very, very happy as I was reading.
I'm not certain I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't a player and therefore familiar with the Guild Wars lore. I think they do a good job of introducing various species and locations, but I am still looking at it through player-tinted glasses. Overall, it's a great, fun, quick read, and I very much enjoyed it.
edgedance5's review against another edition
5.0
I will admit to having a strong bias being a long time Guild Wars fan. But when this book came out it was probably the first real book that I sat down and read cover to cover and I loved it. It painted such a beautiful stage for GW2 filled with vibrant characters that exemplified the good and bad traits for all the races with plenty of nods to GW1 lore. Recently Youruber WoodenPotatos uploaded an audio book (With ANet’s blessings of course) on his channel and I must say... story still holds up. I laughed, I cried, well worth the listen if you don’t feel like reading the physical book. :)
starlings's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bluekamille's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of those books one starts with some skepticism, and then when its good, you fall into the spell: low expectations mean big surprises when it delivers, and the start is great: lots of GW lore, some pretty well-known characters thrown in the mix, lots of funsies and a couple lovely characters. So, why did they have to write such a bad last third? Obviously, to put the rating back down. It's hard to review a book like this, where most of the bad points come from spoilers, so let's just leave it at that.
Tl,dr; great book, made me laugh, bad book, made me angry.
Tl,dr; great book, made me laugh, bad book, made me angry.
ellulin's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
A good read for people who want to learn more about the lore of Guild Wars