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gigireadswithkiki 's review for:
Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf
by C.L. Clark
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
This is my first foray in C.L. Clark and this book guarantees it will not be my last.
For those looking to read this book, I highly recommend the "Blood Sweat and Tears" music video sung by the lovely Sheryl Lee Ralph, as the first chapter of this book fully summarizes the happenings in that video and it's very helpful to have a visual for the chaos.
With that out of the way, this book is MADE for fans of Arcane who first saw a glimpse of Ambessa in S1 and waited with bated breath for her rise as an antagonist in S2 and still wanted so much more. Clark was the perfect author to tell her story, and I apologize in advance for any misspellings of any character names, as I read this book on audiobook.
The world building in this story was absolutely exquisite. It felt like the author knew and fully trusted that readers would have a firm understanding of the world of Piltover and a vague understanding of the greater depths of Noxus, choosing to expand into an exploration of intricate little facets of Noxian power structures. The slow build-up of the Order of the Black Rose, the Medarda family political struggle, the pit fighting rings, the myriad of minute warring factions, each element was woven through so many different twists and reveals of the story, adding layers upon layers of depth into a world that fans of Arcane are so familiar with.
I loved having both Ambessa, Mel, and Relle (spelling?) as perspective characters, each character came from such a vastly different background and possessed widely varying motivations and it was intriguing to see the ways in which their choices and internal dialogue played out throughout the story. With Ambessa and Mel in particular, its sometimes difficult to write on characters that already have such established characterizations in other forms of media, but it felt like Clark had fully dissected both these characters apart and understood the path to direct them upon in this prequel story, in order to seamlessly allow a transition from this story to Arcane.
Arcane created BIG shoes with fill with it's masterful world building, and with "Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf", Clark rises to the bait and sets a new bar for storytelling. I hope we see more of their work set in the League of Legends universe, especially with the alluring and tense cliffhangers this story ended upon! Either way, I fully plan on (finally) picking up The Unbroken this year; I'm highly looking forward to reading the series and any other work of writing Clark has written.
For those looking to read this book, I highly recommend the "Blood Sweat and Tears" music video sung by the lovely Sheryl Lee Ralph, as the first chapter of this book fully summarizes the happenings in that video and it's very helpful to have a visual for the chaos.
With that out of the way, this book is MADE for fans of Arcane who first saw a glimpse of Ambessa in S1 and waited with bated breath for her rise as an antagonist in S2 and still wanted so much more. Clark was the perfect author to tell her story, and I apologize in advance for any misspellings of any character names, as I read this book on audiobook.
The world building in this story was absolutely exquisite. It felt like the author knew and fully trusted that readers would have a firm understanding of the world of Piltover and a vague understanding of the greater depths of Noxus, choosing to expand into an exploration of intricate little facets of Noxian power structures. The slow build-up of the Order of the Black Rose, the Medarda family political struggle, the pit fighting rings, the myriad of minute warring factions, each element was woven through so many different twists and reveals of the story, adding layers upon layers of depth into a world that fans of Arcane are so familiar with.
I loved having both Ambessa, Mel, and Relle (spelling?) as perspective characters, each character came from such a vastly different background and possessed widely varying motivations and it was intriguing to see the ways in which their choices and internal dialogue played out throughout the story. With Ambessa and Mel in particular, its sometimes difficult to write on characters that already have such established characterizations in other forms of media, but it felt like Clark had fully dissected both these characters apart and understood the path to direct them upon in this prequel story, in order to seamlessly allow a transition from this story to Arcane.
Arcane created BIG shoes with fill with it's masterful world building, and with "Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf", Clark rises to the bait and sets a new bar for storytelling. I hope we see more of their work set in the League of Legends universe, especially with the alluring and tense cliffhangers this story ended upon! Either way, I fully plan on (finally) picking up The Unbroken this year; I'm highly looking forward to reading the series and any other work of writing Clark has written.