Let me preface this by saying, I did not sign up for these feels.I play GW2, and I played GW1, and I started this book because I wanted to learn more about the charr. Well, I got what I wanted and what I didn't know I wanted, wrapped in a package of fun, interesting characters of every playable species in GW2. Ember Doomforge, Kranxx, Gullik Oddson, and Killeen are a pleasure to read about, and the humans Dougal and Riona hold their own as the story progresses and we learn more about their shared history. As they were imperiled, individually or as a whole, I worried over them and rooted for them and several times had my heart crushed by an actual or apparent death. And I am still in denial about a certain one. Cold, dead body and no pulse or it didn't happen.Anyway, the racial politics of Tyria are fascinating. The goal of their mission was to forge a truce between the charr and the humans, but the charr/human interactions were especially charged at first, and I wasn't sure how the mission could possibly succeed with such enmity apparent. But, I do think the book handles the developing accord between Ember and Dougal well, and even between Ember and Riona (however lopsided that one was).I also have to point out the lovely gender ratio of the main characters, 1:1, and the fact that the handful of side characters we meet mostly maintain that trend. It's something that's depressingly rare in adventure books and it made me very, very happy as I was reading.I'm not certain I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't a player and therefore familiar with the Guild Wars lore. I think they do a good job of introducing various species and locations, but I am still looking at it through player-tinted glasses. Overall, it's a great, fun, quick read, and I very much enjoyed it. I'm a huge lore nerd, so I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Guild Wars series, especially if you're playing GW2 because it gives a lot of background information as to what happened in the years between the two games. The coolest part, I think, is that some of the characters from the books can be found in the game and the aftermath of some of the events in this book can be found as well. Putting aside the lore aspect, this book was also a pretty good fantasy novel. If I didn't know anything about the Guild Wars series, I probably would have given it 3 stars.
What do You think about Die Geister Von Ascalon (2010)?
Not half-bad as a fantasy novel, but would only recommend to fans of the Guild Wars 2 game.
—Mariel
Definitely a good read for any Guild Wars fan!
—richardkapusta
