Review: The Telara Chronicles – Series Compilation
After playing Rift for about six months, I started getting more interested in the story and fluff behind the characters and events in the game. I thought surely there are some novels planned, since other popular games support their own novel lines (Starcraft, WoW, Warhammer, D&D, etc). After searching around for a bit, I found that a limited series of comics had indeed been published prior to the release of the game, as a prequel. And with a little more digging, I found that the entire limited series had been repackaged later as a single compilation, which made it easier for me to get the whole thing (I hate tracking down individual issues of comics). Here is my review.
Before we get to the style or substance, let's review the physical aspects: it's 128 glossy pages, full-color, 10 x 6.5 inches, with a soft cover. What's great about it being a compilation is that they've included the last 14 pages as appendices providing more background on Telara, Regulos, planar invasions, the Guardians and Defiant, as well as the video game itself. Overall, it's well made.
The main meat of the book is the story of a prominent NPC in the game, Asha Catari and her fate to lead an army of Ascended against the outer planes. The drawing and coloring is good, but not great. Some people may feel that it's better than just good, but once you've been spoiled by great art in the comic world, it's hard to be impressed. I did enjoy the layout quite a bit, though. They used appropriate panel shapes and sizes to help accentuate and control the flow of the action, instead of the rigid unimaginative layout you see in some mainstream titles. I was pleased with the style, for the most part.
I'll go ahead and tell you now that the story is only likely to appeal to someone who plays Rift, or is interested in potentially playing. There is plenty of unspoken/unwritten background about the various characters and the world that will only be gleaned by jumping into Rift and leveling a character to max and exploring the world, dungeons, raids and all. However, for the slice of history and universe that this book covers, the exposition is sufficient and I don't foresee the reader getting lost as long as they are paying attention. I was constantly putting things together and getting more involved in the game world, which was my goal.
Bottom line: high production quality, better than average art, cool concepts, possibly relevant only to fans of Rift. It's an excellent way to get more into the world and understand the big picture of Telara.
Product link: The Telara Chronicles
