James Fadeley

A tie-in novel that doesn't suck! Banner Saga is one of my favorite indy games, and one of its major strengths is its writing, so I was uncharacteristically hopeful when I started reading the Gift of Hadrborg, a novel set just before the events of the first game. The plot revolves around the theft of the titular relic, and a mission taken on to recover it. The plot styles itself as something of a mystery thriller. There is a criminal conspiracy afoot, and some conflicting motivations that lead to a little suspense, but there are not very many serious twists and turns. The small collection of protagonists are all lovable and have a diverse personality set, so I wanted to see them succeed, and the villains weren't entirely one note and did seem threatening enough that the stakes seemed high enough. One character from the games plays a prominent role in the novel, and as much as he's one of my favorites in the game, I found that a twist in his story (one that was obvious from the very beginning) was a disappointment and added a level of cliche to his character that was not necessary. But other than that blemish I enjoyed myself while reading this book, and felt that expanded some of the lore of the game, gave us a good mix of new faces and familiar companions, all while being competently written and interesting as a standalone piece of work.… (meer)