Blizzard Entertainment, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-956916-14-0
Media Tie-In, 2023
Book of Lorath, the tie-in to the Diablo 4, sees Matthew J Kirby dutifully adopting the persona of Lorath Nahr, whose glorified cameo in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls somehow translates to a bigger role in the next game.
Each of the the tie-in to the Diablo video game franchise tends to have a specific focus, and this one is a catalog of the special items and major artifacts that are not covered in previous entries in this line.
Many of these items are tied to the latest game, however, and as par for the course for this series, the descriptions are on the superficial side. However, this time around, Mr Kirby provides just enough details to make the entries feel like disposable words crammed in just to pad the empty spaces in the center area of the page. Hence, reading this thing is like browsing through a summary of a more detailed splatbook, written in a descriptive, personal style that is a step up from the previous entry in this series.
The real reason for this existence of this thing, the design and the artwork, is still top notch, making this a gorgeous entry into what is essentially a coffee table series.
Unfortunately, this thing is penned from Lorath’s point of view, and he’s… well, he’s no Deckard Cain, let’s just say. Sure, Cain was pretty useless aside from his ability to identify the player character’s items, but there is some charisma to his voice acting. The fellow was a complete idiot that never seemed to learn from past mistakes, but he still came off as earnest and sincere.
Lorath, on the other hand, came off as a bland and whiny git in the game and in this thing as well. His asides are bland and add little to the original descriptions of the special items, unlike the annotations in previous entries in this series, making the poor fellow come off like a scroll vandal that just likes to scribble on paper for the sake of scribbling.
Also, he keeps yammering about that Neyrelle character like she’s his sweetheart or something, and really, who the hell cares. Neyrelle is the worst character in the entire game: a snotty, rude, and useless POS that acts like she knows everything better than experienced sages and warriors because she is an idiot.
The game labors under the delusion that she is the star of the show when this wretch is as useful as a three thumb when it comes to wiping one’s arse after doing a number two. How I hope there is a slow-motion HD cutscene of her body slowly and gruesomely tear apart as she is possessed by Mephisto in the inevitable expansion down the road, because yes, she deserves that and more for being the distilled embodiment of the horrible writing that permeates the story of Diablo 4.
So yes, each time Lorath talks about how important and daring that wretch is, how he hopes that she will be alright, I find myself wanting to scribble over his nonsense that I hope she dies a painful death for being an idiot that deserves what she has coming to her. Then I remember that I may want to resell this thing one day for a lot of money, so I have to sit on my hand, ugh.
So yes, on one hand, this one is a way a more readable improvement over the last entry in this series, but I wish it had been portrayed from the perspective of a more interesting character such as… uh… okay, I may need to think this one over because the cast of characters in the game is on the whole super forgettable.
Ah well, at least it is still pretty to look at.
