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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
tense
This book filled some big holes from the story of season two; I’m excited to rewatch now understanding more about the Black Rose and Mel’s backstory. I didn’t find Ambessa to be particularly compelling in the show, but this book was really good—I can’t say it made Ambessa a sympathetic character, but gave her more depth than was evident in the show. A great start in fleshing out the world for someone who is probably just never going to touch the game but loves the story the show told.
Can’t believe I actually empathized with Ambessa lol (I hated her in the show)
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this story. Ambessa was a favorite from the show so it's great getting more of her and her backstory. You get some events a few years prior to meeting her in Arcane and what the weight of the Medarda name carries. She is a morally grey main character and her motivations, decision and actions are definitely not one to agree with but you get to at least see her pov and understand why she did/do what she does. I loved how CL Clark weaved her relationships allowing us to see more than the battle harden leader. Even if for brief moments, it's moments that reminds you that Ambessa is human. The bits with Mel was especially great as we see their differences and struggles and why their reunion in Arcane was that way. And we also understand why Mel was sent to Piltover initially and why, when Piltover went in the direction it did, Ambessa set her sights on them.
The story it self was pretty straightforward. In knowing Ambessa from the show, you already have an idea how the story would play out so no big surprises. And while we do get more of Ambessa, it still feels like they could've started her story earlier in her life and actually see how she develops into who she is rather than being told. The side characters were great but only surface level introductions/development.Rell has a very interesting plot so I was hoping we would get more of her before the end. I'm not sure if they plan more stories like this but I hope in some forms we get more of Rell.
Overall, if you enjoyed Arcane and want more of the world/lore like I did without having to play the LoL then it's definitely worth a read/listen (Ambessa's VA narrates the audio book!). It's more fantasy than the stream punk vibe we get in Arcane but it still has good politics, family dynamic and good battle scenes.
The story it self was pretty straightforward. In knowing Ambessa from the show, you already have an idea how the story would play out so no big surprises. And while we do get more of Ambessa, it still feels like they could've started her story earlier in her life and actually see how she develops into who she is rather than being told. The side characters were great but only surface level introductions/development.
Overall, if you enjoyed Arcane and want more of the world/lore like I did without having to play the LoL then it's definitely worth a read/listen (Ambessa's VA narrates the audio book!). It's more fantasy than the stream punk vibe we get in Arcane but it still has good politics, family dynamic and good battle scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Torture, Blood, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"'Because I think that is too often the trouble with parents. They see only what they want from us, and not what we are in front of them.'"
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I would've rated this book sm higher if there was less battle scenes and more scenes between Ambessa and Mel. And that pretty much sums up my entire problem with this book.
I love arcane and I love Ambessa and I love Mel, so I was pretty excited to read this, but I think I just had way too high of expectations for how good this would be and had a false idea of what the book would be about. So this kind of ended up disappointing me a decent bit.
I liked reading from ambessa and Mel's povs throughout this book, enjoyed learning more about their backstories, especially with all of the loose ends it tied in terms of explaining how they ended up where they did at the beginning of their appearances in arcane, as well as learning more about the other members of their family, since they're so rarely mentioned in the show. And I LOVED all the scenes between Ambessa and Mel, I feel like c.l. clark did a really good job of capturing just how complicated their relationship is.
At the end of the day, though, the parts I enjoyed in this probably made up about 20% of the book and the remaining 80% were just a bunch of battle scenes and fight scenes and scenes of ambessa killing people. And, honestly, those scenes were just really not that interesting, like it got VERY repetitive and was just overall pretty boring to read about. That's why I can't warrant rating this book too much higher: there just wasn't enough parts that I was fully interested in.
So, yeah, unfortunately kind of a disappointment. I hate rating this so low, but, like I just said, I just can't warrant rating it too much higher. I might raise it up a bit, but we'll see. 3.25⭐ is probably the most accurate rating, though.
-------------------------------------
Bonus quotes 🐺
"Mel came in and closed the door behind her, looking around the room as she did so, making her own assessments, just like Ambessa. Too late for Ambessa to notice all the ways her daughter was like her---she'd spent so long focused on the ways she was not."
-------------------------------------
I would've rated this book sm higher if there was less battle scenes and more scenes between Ambessa and Mel. And that pretty much sums up my entire problem with this book.
I love arcane and I love Ambessa and I love Mel, so I was pretty excited to read this, but I think I just had way too high of expectations for how good this would be and had a false idea of what the book would be about. So this kind of ended up disappointing me a decent bit.
I liked reading from ambessa and Mel's povs throughout this book, enjoyed learning more about their backstories, especially with all of the loose ends it tied in terms of explaining how they ended up where they did at the beginning of their appearances in arcane, as well as learning more about the other members of their family, since they're so rarely mentioned in the show. And I LOVED all the scenes between Ambessa and Mel, I feel like c.l. clark did a really good job of capturing just how complicated their relationship is.
At the end of the day, though, the parts I enjoyed in this probably made up about 20% of the book and the remaining 80% were just a bunch of battle scenes and fight scenes and scenes of ambessa killing people. And, honestly, those scenes were just really not that interesting, like it got VERY repetitive and was just overall pretty boring to read about. That's why I can't warrant rating this book too much higher: there just wasn't enough parts that I was fully interested in.
So, yeah, unfortunately kind of a disappointment. I hate rating this so low, but, like I just said, I just can't warrant rating it too much higher. I might raise it up a bit, but we'll see. 3.25⭐ is probably the most accurate rating, though.
-------------------------------------
Bonus quotes 🐺
"Mel came in and closed the door behind her, looking around the room as she did so, making her own assessments, just like Ambessa. Too late for Ambessa to notice all the ways her daughter was like her---she'd spent so long focused on the ways she was not."