Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon (GuildWars)

Ghosts of Ascalon had everything I've ever wanted in a book. Powerful, memorable, but flawed characters who develop as the story goes on. Action and adventure. Exciting: never boring. Solid, page-turning plot. Fantastic... and I mean FANTASTIC writing. Even humorous at times. I laughed out loud nearly every chapter. Every character had his or her own personality that just springs out of the pages. The ending blew my mind and made me order the second book immediately. I don't know how the second book is going to hold a flame to this one, but I have high hopes. This is easily one of the best books I've ever read -- I was starting to doubt that I could read another book that lives up to my expectations because it had been so long since I'd found one that does, but this one EXCEEDED my expectations.

By now, most of us should be well acquainted with the framework of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey or monomyth theory or whatever it was called (because I really don't remember right now, and I probably wasn't paying too much attention in class). You know, hero gets called; hero refuses call; hero winds up going anyway; hero enters into innermost cave; stuff happens; hero dies; hero resurrects; hero returns... Wait a second...And therein lies the major part of my beef with this book. It seems like the deadline came about or something, and the author got to a certain point and decided not to write any more of the story FOR NO GOOD REASON AT ALL. Maybe he thought he was being artistic? Whatever the reason, all I know is that when I was finished, I turned the book over, and said aloud, "where the heck is the rest of my story?" Forbeck? Grubb? What happened, guys? Where's the rest of my story, man?Anyway, about the story itself. We find ourselves following a brief portion of the life of one Dougal Keane as he's sent into an inhospitable situation to recover a McGuffin alongside a ragtag group of weirdos. And, thank heavens Keane is likable, because so many of the folks he's saddled with are not. I can safely say that throughout the entire book, there were only two other characters I WASN'T hoping would get killed in some horrible manner -- and imagine my dismay when one of them actually was. I'm just gonna throw this out there, but the love interest (if it's even safe to call it that) was an insufferable she-wolf for the entire book! That glacier doesn't melt, fellows.There's enough action to keep you riveted, and I found the scene setups to be particularly well-done with vivid descriptions of areas and their inhabitants that were short, sweet, but not lacking in depth. Some of the mechanics shone through, but it's based on a game -- what would you expect? I found it interesting that part of the Guild Wars mythology was turned on its ear -- as someone we previously thought was level-headed actually proved to be quite insane... Scratch that, thinking about it now, he was already nuts, but the chronicle of his descent into further madness proved interesting anyway.For all the problems I seem to have with the book, It's still a great read. It's like Indiana Jones... Except, imagine that Indy's at that ancient pedestal and about ready to swap the statues. He makes the swap -- and the movie ends right there! It's just like that.

So I finished the book and was pleasantly surprised with the end. The book seemed to drag on at times, but moved VERY quickly toward the end. It helps tremendously to have played GW1, especially Eye of the North, to understand and visualize what the objects/characters are, although I'm sure if you're buying this book it is because you have played GW1.As for connecting GW1 to GW2, this book is not necessary! You will not miss out on information occurring between the two games, although the lore may be referenced as an easter egg in GW2. If you wanted to know what happens in between, you could easily find the information on the wiki page or just googling. I know there are 2 more books coming out (3 total for series), but only 1 elder dragon was referenced (Crystal Dragon). Other than that, the vast majority of the book was simply completing their quest. Maybe more info will be held in the coming books, but more info is available now on the internet than in this book.HOWEVER, do not hesitate to read this book!!! It is a GREAT read and will totally keep you hooked with all the GW references. There is a twist at the end that may make you upset, but it honestly makes for a great ending. Having played GW from day 1 (and even open beta months before!), I can truly say this was an enjoyable read. I haven't read for pleasure EVER and haven't completed a full book since I was in 4th grade (mind you I'm now a senior in college, no one ever fully reads the book in HS and college...) but knew I had to give this a try because of my passion for GW. I'm sure glad I did because I will definitely continue the entire series and hope for a TRUE connection between GW1 and GW2!

GREAT READ, just like all of the other GW books.

Como dito anteriormente, livros indispensáveis para fâs do MMORPG. Livro veio muito bem embalado. Uma coisa que não mencionei foi em relação ao tamanho dos livros, que são bem práticos para se levar para qualquer lugar. São praticamente pockets.

We love all the lore of Guild Wars 2, an excellent book.

Pour ma part, j'avais joué pas mal d'heure à GW1 (et ses extensions) et GW2 (sans extensions). Ce livre est une manière pour moi de replonger dans cette univers que j'aime énormément, sans retoucher au jeu (ayant fait une petit addiction sur ce MMO, ça m'a fait complétement arrêter les jeux vidéos...).En tant que fan, j'ai retrouvé beaucoup de lieux des deux jeux que je connaissais, ainsi que beaucoup de références dans l'environnement. Et surtout, beaucoup de souvenirs personnels !Par contre, je ne sais pas ce qu'en penseront ce qui n'ont pas joué à GW1... Et pire, pour des néophytes qui n'ont joué à aucun des deux jeux... Je ne sais vraiment pas !Après, ça reste un livre adapté de jeu-vidéo, et il suit les clichés du genre. C'est-à-dire que le scénario est plutôt prévisible et très linéaire (même si la fin est plutôt belle je trouve). Il n'y a pas non plus de grandes envolées lyriques, ça reste simple comme usage de la langue.Petit bémol : dans le livre, on montre à quel point il est difficile d'aller à Ascalon, qu'il y a plein de trésors etc... En comparant, c'est une des zones de débutant dans le jeu. Ca parait pas cohérent.

La historia empieza lentamente, presentando los personajes poco a poco y con alguna que otra sorpresa. Tiene bastantes momentos con giros interesantes e inesperados, y describe muy en detalle las regiones por las que trascurre la aventura, dándoles un toque vivo y misterioso mucho mayor del que se aprecia en el videojuego. Los personajes, de lo mejor, muy diversos y con carisma, y con comentos tanto cómicos como trágicos.