Customer Reviews

Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Got my copy this morning, finished it by this afternoon. It was an engaging read. I think appreciation of it benefits from being an ArenaNet/Guild Wars fan, especially with the lore touches. If you've been following ArenaNet's gradual release of information about the upcoming Guild Wars 2, I think you'll really get the most out of this novel. I loved seeing this new and updated world of Tyria, along with just the right amount of touches and callbacks to the amazing lore and history of the original. The characters were well-realized and the various new races quite intriguing. I think this will mostly appeal to existing fans or those that are interested in the new game...

I've read through most of it and it is indeed an excellent book. It has an engaging story line yet sticks to the places you know and love from the original Guild Wars game (oh, Lion's Arch) Definitely a good read for any Guild wars fan!

This book was a great adventure into the mysterious territory of not-yet-released Guild Wars 2 online game. I enjoyed reading it. I am a Guild Wars 1 game fan. The story helped acquaint the reader to the situation of the future Guild Wars (particularly Ascalon, but also other areas) in a engaging and enlightening way.

The writing was fun to read, but mediocre in places. There were a couple plot inconsistencies, possibly from re-writes in one part that left a related part skewed. Twice there were references later in the story remembering how the party had teleported via Asura gate from Destiny's Reach to EbonHawke, when actually they teleported from Lion's Arch to EbonHawke.

About Guild Wars 2 vs. this book: One of the main characters in the party was a blatant Necromancer, a profession only recently revealed (after I read the book) as a profession that will be available for Guild Wars 2 players. There were obvious elementalists and warriors. They never did tell what the profession of the main character was. He was like a theif, but I don't think that is a GW2 profession. He was good at getting past locks and traps. He favored a sword as a weapon but was only mediocre with it. It makes me wonder if he represents a new profession in GW2 that we don't know about yet. The books also had me wondering how much this matched what would be in the game. Would I be able to climb ropes, pick locks, travel sewers, summon rats, use flame throwers, etc like in the story?

I play the video game and could not wait tell the book came out. You do not need to play the game to read the book. I enjoyed reading the book but I only gave it 4 stars because it is not award winning writing. I liked how the author was able to fill in the back history leading up to the book.

I liked the character development and would read sequel to the book.

It's not often that I get hooked on a story, wanting to know what happens next. Matt Forbeck's "Ghosts of Ascalon" is one of those stories. Many chapters end in a cliff-hanger, making it difficult not to go on to the next. The characters seem to be portrayed as somewhat stereotypical of their respective races, but that's one of the things that makes the book entertaining. In the beginning there were a few characters I found a bit annoying, but grew to like by the book's end. Forbeck does an excellent job of character development, making the reader actually care about what happens to them. Add to that the surprises tossed in here and there and you have a good story. After finishing the book, I thought it'd even make a good movie.

"Ghosts of Ascalon" takes place a year before the Guild Wars 2 MMO begins (GW2 takes place 250 years after the original GW, I believe) and serves as an excellent primer on the GW2 world and its current events. So if you have any interest in GW2, whether a current GW player or having just heard of it, this book is especially recommended.

This book is very engaging. You don't want to put the book down. You don't have to play Guild Wars to understand the book, but it does give you a better feel if you've played the game. The book takes place between Guild Wars 1 and GW 2. There will be 2 more books to follow, and I hope they are just as good, if not better than this one.

I recommend this book to any Lord of the Rings fan, Sword of Truth, Stormbreaker, sci-fi, fantasy, action fan. This book will keep you reading until the end. I couldn't put the book down.

I recommend this book.

I'm wary of fantasy novels written to promote game products, but I couldn't help pick this one up while waiting for the release of Guild Wars 2. Having just finished it, I'm glad I did.

The book is fast-paced, concise and efficient. It puts the reader right in the middle of the action, slowing down only for the necessary exposition of the background of world of Guild Wars. I wonder how someone new to the world of Tyria will take all the backstory, but as an old GW player I enjoyed the retelling of the game's history.

Not only is the story gripping, but the plot was woven by the authors very skillfully. Details are not wasted, whether as far as updating people already familiar with the setting or as objects within the story itself. Little to nothing is spent by the authors on anything unnecessary to the plot- that means that what you find in the book has a substantial part to play in the tale while being sleek and streamlined.

The ending of the book is not drawn out, cut down to the bare minimum- this book knows when to quit and it ends well. Speaking of endings, certain twists are revealed masterfully at the end that are guaranteed to make the reader chuckle and smile.

My only critique is that certain elements should have perhaps been emphasized more, such as the main character's relationship to the female lead. The action goes by so fast that you barely notice any romance being built up. Action is fast paced, but romance requires a slow dance. The speed of the book put those two elements at odds, but it's ultimately felt and not completely wasted.

Ultimately, Ghosts of Ascalon is a good book. Fans of both Guild Wars and mainstream fantasy adventure will indeed enjoy this well-crafted, detailed story. It is worth all the money and time a reader spends on it. I am glad to have read this book and glad to have it on my shelves.

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.

The book was very well written. It contains mostly back story to account for the ~2 centuries between the original guildwars and guildwars 2. The authors, who also wrote most of the lore for the games did a very good job of intigrating a lot of history prior to GW1, GW1 and beyond into the story line. Only complaint is that there was not as much magic as there is in the game. I was hoping to read many of the spells, shouts, chants, etc. that are used in the game. But overall, it was very good. I can't wait for the next.

Awesome Book! If you love Guild Wars & can't wait for Guild Wars 2 this is a "must read."