fandom4ever 's review for:

The Corroded Man by Adam Christopher

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I discovered Dishonored had a couple books and comics near the end of playing the first game, but as these all take place about a year before the second game I decided to wait until I played through that game as well. I have now learned that you don’t need the second game at all as it contains no story and was clearly a cash-grab, creating a sequel for a game that never needed one. Instead you should just read this book after playing the first game. 

Dishonored: The Corroded Man suffers from the ‘don’t share important information with each other to extend the drama’ trope. Emily especially irritated me early on in this regard as the only reason she was hiding info was so no one would know she was sneaking out at night. You’re the freaking Empress try just going out in the daytime to visit the other cities and islands! Then perhaps you’d know what was going on in your Empire! I can understand Corvo’s withholding of information a little more with being the Royal Protector and Spymaster. However, I know he would have shared this same information with Jessamine if she were still alive, so it’s just him being overprotective. And really in fifteen years, he never told Emily that he received the Mark of the Outsider? Why not? I know that the Outsider is considered heresy but it’s his daughter! Instead of having two characters not sharing information amongst each other, why not have them work together to try and solve the mystery? Especially when they both have such different approaches and backgrounds that could play off each other. Indeed if Corvo had shared with Emily that he had been Marked by the Outsider they could have really gotten into good discussions and sleuthing as it was based in that realm. 

Despite this, I did enjoy this story. The author succeeded with establishing more character and world-building than the games. Here we learn that the canon playthrough of the first game is indeed the low chaos ending, which is never mentioned in the second game. In these pages we even have mentions of the secondary characters from the first game whereas the second game just pretended they didn’t exist. Hearing about these characters and familiar locations made me connect with the story on a far greater level. Like the fact that Corvo had to attend another Boyle Masquerade but this time as a guest, while remembering his previous visit, had me smiling. I loved the chapters with Corvo and seeing him use the Mark. They were excellently described and really helped elaborate more on the feeling of calling on the power of the Void. It was something that can’t come across in a game mechanic. I also thought the antagonist’s corrupted bone charms were an interesting addition, someone using them against the main characters. 

If you liked the first Dishonored game but wished the world had received more depth, then I would recommend you read The Corroded Man. You get to return to the city of Dunwall and the Isles and learn a bit more of that world. It was a fun read.