![]() Apart from that the writing is competent, but not inspiring: PoV changes make sense and add to the story by providing fore-shadowing or connecting various plot strands, and characters with very different world views read differently. Fewer adjectives might have been a wiser choice. The writing is not all bad, but rather to purply for a video game tie-in. I did not feel like this book provided either. To save a weak plot a novel needs fantastic writing and strong characters. You know, a game can always balance a weak plot with great gameplay and a stunning art design. Even the bits that the book added to the franchise's mythology weren't especially exciting (Oblivion? Seen it done before about a hundred times), and then there's the times that book apparently gets its canon mythology confused (someone draw me a timeline and explain to me how this novel can be taking place before the birth of Mankind, but after the destruction of Eden?). Nothing for me to get particular excited about then. It simply is not very imaginative despite the unique setting: We get doomsday devices and star-crossed lovers and all if it is played pretty much straight. Which is why I felt pretty bored with most of those in this book after a while. Long action scenes, generally, are simply more enjoyable in a visual medium than in a novel. Since this book invents its own plot and is not a retelling of one of the games, there was no need to include so many elements from the source medium. As if this were a write-up of a movie or, indeed a video game, instead of simply a book that was conceived as a book. The descriptions and especially the action scenes felt very much visually oriented. Unfortunately this books tells neither a particularly great story, nor does it take advatange of its own medium in any significant way. So, yes, I was curious about this book, because I am convinced that the Darksiders franchise lends itself to tell crazy awesome stories even in a non-visual medium. It's pretty fun, as it leads to such inventions as angels wielding big, fat laser cannons. The Darksiders universe is a mix-up of fantasy tropes as well as concepts and creatures from Abrahamic religions. And the third biggest reason would be the one integral to my insterest in reading this book, which is the lore. The number one reason admittedly are the horses (because I am a girly girl, and it does not matter to me whether my pony sparkles or farts hellfire as long as I get to pet its cuddly nose and mount up to trample my foes into bloody pulp). There are a couple of reasons I like these game so much. In this case, however, the answer is "not much. I should have known better, but I wanted to see for myself what a book might do with the rich lore of this franchise. Why did I read this one then? To be honest, I was simply curious. I read a lot more of them when I was tiny (say, about twelve), but I can count the number of good books I discovered that way on one hand, I guess, and you can often tell when an author's heart isn't invested in the story and characters. ![]()
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