Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny [Mass Market Paperback]

J. Robert King (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 28, 2010 | Series: Guild Wars

Destiny Called - They Answered

In the dark recesses of Tyria, elder dragons have awoken from millennial slumbers. First came Primordus, which stirred in the Depths forcing the asura to flee to the surface. Half a century later, Jormag awoke and drove the norn from the frozen climes of the Northern Shiverpeaks, corrupting sons and brothers along the way. A generation later, Zhaitan arose in a cataclysmic event that reshaped a continent and flooded the capital of the human nation of Kryta.

The races of Tyria stand on the edge of destiny. Heroes have battled against dragon minions, only to be corrupted into service of the enemy. Armies have marched on the dragons and been swep aside. The dwarves sacrificed their entire race to defeat a single dragon champion. The age of mortals may soon be over.  

This is a time for heroes. While the races of Tyria stand apart, six heroic individuals will come together to fight for their people: Eir, the norn huntress with the soul of an artist; Snaff, the asuran ge­nius, and his ambitious assistant Zojja; Rytlock, the ferocious charr warrior in exile; Caithe, a deadly sylvari with deep secrets; and Logan, the valiant human guardian dealing with divided loyalties. Together they become Destiny’s Edge. Together they answer the call. But will it be enough?

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star; Original edition (December 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416589600
• ISBN-13: 978-1416589600
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 1.1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I was split reading these reviews before the Book July 27, 2011

By S. Cropper

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Looking at the mixed reviews for this book before reading it,I was very speculative on how it would be. After reading Ghosts of Ascalon, I had very high expectations for this book to follow. Needless to say, I finished the book today in a little under a week, and was not as disappointed as a lot of the reviews led me to believe I would be. Although I do agree that the book isn't as good as Ghosts of Ascalon, I believe it is still a very well-written piece of work. The first half of the book especially, I actually liked it MORE than GoA, and towards the end I started seeing why people had some negative thoughts about it, this mainly stemmed from the plot moving very quickly, and the "epic battles" going a lot quicker than the first half. However, the ending of the book redeemed itself hugely for me. The last few parts of the book are very intense, well done, and extremely emotional.

I can understand the more negative (3 or less) reviews on the book because of how it was rushed in parts of it, but like said, I even liked parts of this more than GoA, and would only place the book a slight notch below it. While I do believe a lot more could have been done with this book, mainly the battles with the Dragon Champions, I can understand too that they may have had a limited amount of time/space to work with in the book, and I think they pulled it off to the best of their ability.

If you are a die-hard fan of Guild Wars like myself, I believe you will truly love the book as much as I did. For people who are not as intricated within the game or the lore, sure, I can understand why they may not have liked it. But to be the connecting novel for the game, it did a beautiful job in doing so, it completed what it was meant to do, not be one of the "best fantasy books of all time."

If you love Guild Wars, (myself going past 6 years now), and have nothing to do before Guild Wars 2, definitely give Edge of Destiny a go-round.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing December 29, 2010

By D. Roberts

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

After the first book (and the 1 chapter sneak preview of this novel), I was very excited to read the next installment, which tells the tale of how Destiny's Edge comes together. Unfortunately, this book is not as well written as the previous novel (Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon).

It imparts a great deal of information, but it's very structured, as if the author had a strict outline to follow, and was given a set number of pages to get things done. So, in one chapter, you get introduced to a character, in the next, the character meets another character, they bond, they adventure. The end result is that it feels very rushed, very contrived, and isn't as entertaining as it could have been.

It also feels as though certain sections or dialogue lines were thrown in by someone else, again, like part of an outline was included verbatim. The author attempted to fit them in, they simply don't appear to match the style of the surrounding writing.

There are also sections that seem written to provide game-play tips, which I didn't expect (or welcome). Things like a party of players providing different roles during a battle to ensure victory. Again, seems like something that was required to be placed in the book, but didn't really seem appropriate.

Overall, I'd recommend reading the book, simply for the lore (it IS a good story), but keep your expectations low on the actual quality. Hopefully the third book does a better job of telling the story.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A huge disappointment January 13, 2011

By Hannibal0020

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Edge of Destiny is a tale of "Destiny's Edge", a group of multiracial fighters who band together to fight evil. To be fair the book was definately good at first. Despite the terrible and formulaic plot that this story has, the characters are its one and only saving grace.

Logan Thackeray: A human mercenary.
Rytlock Brimstone: An exiled charr warrior.
Caithe: A sylvari first-born (My favorite)
Zojja: A young Asura genius and apprentice of Snaff.
Snaff: A well-renowned Asura genius and the mentor of Zojja.
Eir: Norn warrior

I found all the characters to be very interesting and well developed for the first half of the book. The tensious relationship between Logan and Rytlock was a highpoint, due to their races being mortal enemies. Eir, Snaff, and Zojja were decent but they couldn't hold the story together on their own. The best parts of the book are located in the first half, when the group is meeting and building a strong relationship with one another. They seem to meld together and you really get a good sense that they are a team.

Unfortunately, all of the good character development is accomplished way to early on the book, leaving the latter half a barren and sometimes annoyingly linear story. Reading this book is like watching your friend actually play Guild Wars (yeah I know it's a video game story, but it shouldn't actually feel like a video game). They defeat a horde of enemies together and kill the end-level boss and then proceed to the next level. Just as the team beats the level they're instantly fighting another boss and his minions. The problem with putting too much action in a story is that it starts to feel redundant and very little tension is built.

The final nail in the coffin is the ending of the story. I won't spoil it, but let me just say that it made the entire book feel pointless and even saddening. This book had so much potential, but unfortunately it didn't deliver for me.