Publisher: Pocket Books

Author: Richard A. Knaak

Release Date: 5/1/2001

MSRP: $7.99 (Paperback, Digital)

Recommend Audience: Young Adult

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 more 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 himself 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 female 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, and then like them again. That is what makes you keep turning the pages and continue reading. The book is 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, which made me unfocused and spaced out. Sometimes Knaak will describe things too much or cut away from dialog for so long that you feel he sidetracked 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.