A review by stonestrewn
The Veiled Terror by Adam Christopher

1.0

The Dishonored games are interesting, intricate and vibrant. The Dishonored novels are dull, formulaic and so, so boring. This, the last one, is the worst of the bunch. Some of my dislike comes from the flat characterization, with Billie a flimsy copy of the character she is in the games, and from a couple of retcons that, while minor, cheapen her in-game story without having any bearing on the one told in the book. Even if I wasn't a fan, though, and didn't come in with an already formed attachment or certain expectations on what I was going to get, I still wouldn't find much enjoyment on these pages. The plot is drab, moves slowly and hinges entirely on characters either not understanding things obvious to the reader, or making sudden leaps of logic because the author needs them to hurry up, move things along and start a new chapter. The prose grinds to tedious halts over and over, describing environments in minute detail that is rarely relevant. I like descriptive prose, but here it's done by way of listing items, one after the other, just naming all the objects and construction elements of a place before starting all over on the next page when the character goes somewhere else. The dialogue is 50% exposition, 50% caricature. Actually, most of the book is exposition, including the conclusion to the story which takes place mostly off the page. Spin-off novels based on videogames are rarely good, but this one is worse than most. Don't read it.