"Ghosts of Ascalon" Book Review

"Don't adventure with people you'd hate to see die." -Dougal Keane

"Ghosts of Ascalon", written by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb, is a pleasure for any long time Guild Wars player or lore-lover to dig their eyes into. Encompassing the traits of deceit, vengeance, and hatred...as well as friendship, loyalty, and compassion, "Ghosts of Ascalon" carries the reader from the safety and glory of Divinity's Reach to the ruined, haunted wasteland that is Ascalon.

Bouncing two-hundred and fifty years into the future from current time in Guild Wars, Forbeck and Grubb envelop the reader into the tale of Dougal Keane. Keane is a human and a former member of the Ebon Vanguard. After being arrested for illegally trespassing in the crypts beneath Divinity's Reach, he is summoned by the Vigil to do a specific mission. His mission is to retrieve the "Claw of the Khan-Ur" with the aid of a sylvari necromancer named Killeen, a stout-hearted norn named Gullik, a ferocious charr warrior named Ember Doomforge, an intelligent asura named Kranxx, and an old "friend" and comrade named Riona. The Claw is a symbol of unity for the Charr legions and is desired by the Queen of Kryta as a bargaining device in hopes of ending the battles between Charr and the other races of the world. Ending conflicts between eachother would allow for all the races in Tyria to focus on the true enemy, The Elder Dragons.

Forbeck and Grubb reveal many pieces of lore and possible in-game mechanics through "Ghosts of Ascalon". At one point, Gullik states that an epic norn warrior removed a talon from the Elder Dragon Jormag. He also said that this claw is located in the center of the norn city of Hoelbrak. It can be assumed by readers that this claw will be visible in Hoelbrak.

The authors also describe The Dragonbrand, a scar which runs from what we know as Dalada Uplands to the Crystal Desert. "Ghosts of Ascalon" describes this as an area covered in crystal and under constant bombardment by lightning storms. We can expect to see lightning strikes everywhere and see crystal similar to the crystal found in "Glint's Challenge".

Many more bits of lore and possible in-game content can be discovered in this novel. All-in-all, Forbeck and Grubb did an excellent job of capturing the actual occurrences in Guild Wars and transforming them into a story with a great plot. I highly suggest reading this novel and hope there are many more to come!

Thank you for reading,
Brandon

damnit I already know too much.. trying to avoid these threads but click them anyway.. mine doesn't come in for week =]

Where is it on sale, or can be ordered? (Im in Canada)

thanks in advance

you can order it on amazon. there is a direct link in guildwars2.com just click shop in upper left corner if i remember correctly

Hardly a review...

More like 'things what we can expect in GW2 according to the novel'. Interesting though.

To OP, I am glad you enjoyed the book, I will probably pick it up for vacation reading in September.

It's a good read. The only things in it I didn't like was that there was too much exposition on the events in the era of Guild Wars 1. I would have rather had just a story set in the Guild Wars universe. The fact that I didn't find it appealing is trivial stuff though. It is very well written. There were also some interesting things in it from the time of "Guild Wars Beyond" that we haven't seen in game yet. I can not wait for that stuff. The characters are likable enough and their flaws are fleshed out well. The action is great and very tense at times. I am more than halfway through the book and I am really hoping that the main story arc gets finished in this book. I don't mind cliffhangers endings as long as the main storyline gets resolved. My favorite books that are parts of a series always have an "ending" that leaves me satisfied before setting up a new conflict to leave me wanting more. I just hope that this book can deliver on that without just going the lazy route and not resolving anything. Through 200 pages of reading, I can say it has been totally worth reading thus far.

Side note: The fact that Jeff and Rich signed it for me at ComiCon is icing on the cake! My bro got it for me at the convention and it was free!

If you read ebooks Barnes and Noble has it. Or you can download the sample for free. The map in the beginning of the book is interesting, but the web download (as opposed to using the Windows B&N reader) is in the eReader format which makes it harder to read.