Publisher: Pocket Books
Author: Richard A. Knaak
Release Date: 5/1/2001
MSRP: $7.99 (Paperback, Digital)
For Fans Of: Diablo, Sentient Loot, Seductive Witches
Recommend Audience: Young Adult
The Good: Great characters, makes you feel like the powerful loot is the most important thing, well paced, satisfying ending
The Bad: Author loses focus some times during dialog, a few boring spots, only for Diablo fans
Legacy of Blood is a great tale about just how powerful items can be in Diablo. This sounds lame, but that’s why people play dungeon crawlers: for the loot. Legacy of Blood tells a tale of loot really than anything else and this will bring fans right into the story and keep them there. You follow several characters around chasing down this armor of Bartuc that has a mind of its own. A mercenary and war veteran just so happens to accidentally dawn this armor while looting a tomb. He loses friends, makes new enemies, and tries to rid of the armor that has taken control of him.
The story overall is well paced and has a perfect length. I did feel some attachment to the characters, especially the females ones, because of how innocent and treacherous they are. I also like how Knaak makes you shift feelings toward characters as the story goes on. You may like a character, hate them, then like them again. That is what makes you keep turning the pages and continue reading. The book of full of magic, treason, power, vengeance, death, and the undead which is all great stuff that Diablo fans love. The story also takes you across different known areas of the Diablo universe like Aranoch and mentions places like Tristram. The build up to the final pages is great because after following all these characters through absolute hell you feel a satisfying conclusion to what happens to every character.
My only complaint is that the book did get a little boring in some spots that made me become unfocused and space out. Some times Knaak will describe things too much or cut away from dialog for too long that you feel he side tracked himself and lost focus. Other than that the book is pretty good for video game standards, especially back when game novels were scarce. I highly recommend this to any Diablo fan, but everyone else probably won’t care.
