The first is the tone -- I'm unsure as to whether the novella takes itself seriously or sets out to be tongue-in-cheek. The commentaries by the gods are... cute, but I feel they detract rather than add. I couldn't take the mortal characters -- Lucian, Damian, Anlokam -- seriously, since all they are doing is being chesspieces in a show to amuse divine beings. It lessens the impact of their emotions, their characters, and their struggles. I couldn't empathize with any of them. Perhaps it's the novella's length and the need to fit the plot in under certain page count limits (not to mention deadlines), but I find the character development rather lacking. When the story can't make me care about the characters, for me, all bets are off.
The prose strikes me as... bland. I'd quote specific bits, but that'd violate the copyrights stated in the inside of the front cover. Suffice to say that the words didn't draw me in, and when I came across cliches, they jumped out at me. The frequent explanations in parentheses likewise grated. This is personal preference, but for me, if something's in brackets (as far as narrative is concerned), it shouldn't be there at all. It reminds me of in-text author's notes so often seen in a beginner's fanfiction.
I've read the novel and I must say I like it, so I just have to disagree. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I know that it seems obvious why someone of Larian Studios should defend the novel but I'll try to leave the official opinion aside and just comment from a point of a fantasy game fan (who also read many fantasy series in the past twenty years) and of course hinting at some <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> background information (there goes the nonofficial thingy again <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> ).
If you have played <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> you might have noticed that Rianna actually imho managed to hit the tone of exxaguerated clichès and our special kind of humor perfectly. The way we wanted it. Thats not such an easy thing to archieve. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />
After all is it a supporting novel for a game where the characters, the gods and even the rough storyline had to be the way it is written now. It was probably not easy to struggle with the rest of the storyteam to get everything right and smooth. Any fanfic is way more free to write whatever they like as long they stick to some common background so i think its a little bit unfair to compare it. Given the limitations Rhianna had to start with she did a very good job. I really enjoyed reading the novel and -important as well- it fit's very well to <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />.
