Nate Kenyon and "Diablo III: The Order"

Grokl

Grokl

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Anyone read anything by Nate Kenyon, is he good?

Just pondering if I should try to read "Diablo III: The Order" when it comes 15. May.
 
If I were feeling harsh I would suggest that any book written to coincide with the release of a game whose plot is thinner than airport toilet paper may suffer somewhat in the "Being any damned good" stakes.

However, I am an optimistic type, and would never stoop so low ;)

But really, it will be bloody awful
 
Grokl said:
Anyone read anything by Nate Kenyon, is he good?

Just pondering if I should try to read "Diablo III: The Order" when it comes 15. May.
Click to expand...

I consider myself a fantasy junkie, and read almost anything, ranging from LotR to Snorri and Gotrek's adventures.... But Diablo - the sin war - written by R. Knaak (what's in a name?) proved too much.

The thinness of the plot, the one dimensional characters, I could have sworn I heard a mouse clicking in the background when I turned a page. I didn't even sell the book when I got stuck halfway through, I threw it on the old paper stack, to be recycled, hopefully as toilet paper.
 
You know, I have The Dragon Crown by Knaak and I've always liked it, but I suspect these authors get paid a flat fee for cranking out these tie-ins and they don't necessarily care as much about quality and the corresponding sales.
 
The order

Hi all--I assure you I care very much about this novel, and I think you'll be surprised at both the depth of the story itself and its characters. I spent many months reading everything published, talking to fans, visiting with Blizzard, talking to their lore team and reading their internal docs. Blizzard and I worked very closely together during the writing process, and our intent was to do something different with this book--refresh the franchise, make it a fully realized novel on its own. My own particular focus was to give real depth to the characters and reasons for who they have become, and why they do what they do.

This was a labor of love for me, and maybe I'm biased, but I think it comes through in the final product. All I ask is that people give it a chance with an open mind--if you find it's complete s%$t after that, I guess I just didn't do enough and I'll take the full blame for that. :)
 
Hi Nate - welcome to the forum and my apologies for slagging off your work without even having the grace to read a single line of it :o

To construct a flimsy defence, most license tie-ins are pretty awful, so I made an assumption. The 'game of the film' is synonymous with rushed, buggy games so the 'book of the game' I tarred with the same brush.

As an avid gamer, I know Blizz's reputation for excellence only too well, and can imagine that they would want anything tied in to their IP to be of commensurate quality to their software.

I have to say too I am mighty jealous - I have seen Blizz's offices in a couple of online articles and they look an amazing place - as someone who has sunk entirely too many hours into WoW, I would love to take a look around.

Slating duly retracted, at least until I read it. If it is ****, I am gonna come in here swinging ;)
 
The Order

Hi Snowy--no problem at all, I definitely get the perspective people might have on tie ins. I just want readers to go in with enough of an open mind to the possibility that it MIGHT not suck. :)

For me, this was a major project, one I spent over a year of my life on, and one I think works really well. You're right about Blizzard--they are very intent on making their novels live up to their own high standards. This was most definitely not a toss off thrown together to tag onto the release of the game.

More than anything else, I respect the hardcore fans so much, and I really don't want to let them down. I want them to like this book and feel like it fills in a lot of pieces that are missing from the original story arc--that it fleshes out the characters and makes them more real, complex and interesting. That was the driving force behind my work, and I sure hope I pulled it off.

Oh, and yeah--Blizzard HQ is pretty freaking sweet. :)
 
Hi Nate

Thank you for posting.
Is it a standalone novel or are there plans for more?
 
The Order

Hi Groki--I know that we would all like to do more, and I believe we will, but there's nothing actively underway yet...

I should also say to everyone curious that you don't have to actually buy the book to find out whether you like it or not--S&S has put up a pretty hefty 7 chapter preview on their website. Check it out and decide for yourself whether it's worth your hard earned money! I'll tell you that a LOT of seriously heavy s$%t goes down pretty much right after this sample ends...:D

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Diablo-III-The-Order/Nate-Kenyon/9781442349865/browse_inside
 
kenyonn2000 said:
Hi Groki--I know that we would all like to do more, and I believe we will, but there's nothing actively underway yet...

I should also say to everyone curious that you don't have to actually buy the book to find out whether you like it or not--S&S has put up a pretty hefty 7 chapter preview on their website. Check it out and decide for yourself whether it's worth your hard earned money! I'll tell you that a LOT of seriously heavy s$%t goes down pretty much right after this sample ends...:D

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Diablo-III-The-Order/Nate-Kenyon/9781442349865/browse_inside
Click to expand...

Teasing of the most shameless order ;)
 
Hi Nate, I also apologize for jumping the gun on my guess at a book I haven't read. For example, I was very surprised to hear you worked on this for over a year. I would have guessed tie-ins are written in a couple of months. And to hear about all the research and meetings you used was impressive.

You've sold me - I'll be buying this book just to check it out. Hell, I already downloaded Diablo 3 so I guess I'm the target audience!
 
Thanks

Hi Phil--I'm glad you're willing to give it a shot. I think you'll have a blast with the novel and it might surprise you in a number of ways. It's a fun read, but there are also quite a few nods to hardcore fans, "easter eggs" that reference earlier games and have implications for D3 as well. Let me know how it goes...
 
Well, I have read Kenyon, specifically The Reach and it was excellent. I am not a gamer but based off of who the writer is, I would say go for it, I doubt you will be disappointed
 
Ordered the book. After playing the game through I want more lore :)
 
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