For example, many of the knights and some soldiers in the book wear, from descriptions supplied, plate armor, yet they wield sharpened swords which wouldn’t really have been the case. Plate armor would prevent almost any sword, sharp or otherwise, from penetrating it and generally the swords would have been dull and used more to crush the armor in ways that would inhibit movement and/or create problems for the person inside (broken bones, etc).
It’s OK though, most people assume swords are sharpened at all times. This is really more of a historical question that depends on the timeframe or technology level. During medieval times when plate armor was more common, swords would usually be blunt, used for smashing. Film and TV and sort of ruined the reality now and many believe that fencing was common throughout history meaning less armor and sharpened swords.
The Story in Betrayal at Falador
For those who haven’t played Runescape, it would seem that you are in the minority as Jagex claim it to be the most popular free online role-playing game. It has been around for quite some time so that’s possible. Here’s their description
Journey into the fantasy world of Gielinor, where wizards, monsters and magic await. Interact with millions of players, master your skills and embark upon the ultimate adventure.
The story in Betrayal of Falador is many things: broad in scope, long in the telling and generally, rather predictable and cliche in parts. There are entire scenes that draw on for some fifty pages which culminate in the revelation of what the author apparently thought would be a secret, but was the most obvious of conclusions to draw from the situation. The book itself is just shy of 500 pages and I think with further editing could have been a good fifty shorter and been better for the excision. There were many points where I thought the writing to be overly superfluous and would have personally cut broad swaths through in order to tell the story more concisely. Bigger is not always better in writing.
My Summation of Betrayal at Falador
I did actually read through the whole book and not with a "so I never do this" goal which I have done in order to finish some books from authors like Paolo Coelho who I find extremely heavy handed, but because I was interested in the story and characters. Sure, some of the characters play hard on stereotypes as does the entire story - one person with a shadowy past will unite the peoples to save them from evil armies who are on the march. There’s even a ring that plays a prominent role in the story, thankfully it’s not a ring of power to rule them all.
Overall, the book was fairly enjoyable. Even with those places where I groaned and closed it or where I ran into a section that I thought questionable, I still had enough interest to read the whole 500 pages which certainly speaks to some level of skill in the author. After all, this was his first book as well as the first for Runescape. I look forward to seeing another and watching him hone his craft, which I have learned, is an eternally ongoing activity which I too am engaged in.
Runescape: Betrayal at Falador
- ISBN: 9780857681539
- Author: T. S. Church
- Publisher: Titan Books
- Length: 497 pages
- Genre: Fantasy
- First Chapter Download
- Price: £7.99, $12,95 US, $14.95 CAN
Runescape: Return to Canifis, the second in the series, is set for February 2011.
