Awakening

This is almost close to 4.5 stars. It was very short and enjoyable.

Sirus and Essa (?) were really good characters. Their interactions were funny. The whole mystery surrounding the deathless was so well written.

The God King and the Infinity Blade kept reminding me of Warbreaker and Nightblood (same vibes).

The ending was typical Brandon, completely woah. I know nothing about the actual video game but this short story was amazing.

I definitely wasn't expecting much out of this, considering the game that inspired it. I'm now intrigued by the world that the game creators envisioned and how Sanderson managed to bring it to life. It managed to turn my preconceptions regarding the back story and setting around in a happily unexpected way.

The book sort of continues from where the Infinity Blade game logically concluded (the game itself is designed to go on indefinitely). The author injected life into an otherwise unknown protagonist, providing believeable motivations and a nice plot.

The finale wasn't particulalrly exciting but it did sort of provide a satisfying conclusion to the story arc presented in this story. The twist at the end wasn't wholly unexpected but it does nicely set things up for future possibilities. Overall it was a really good and satisfying read.

I have not played the game, but this was written by Brandon Sanderson... I don't think I need to explain more.

I highly enjoyed this audiobook. It made me want to play the game (even though I don't play games). But the one thing that bothers me is that I won't have a closure with the plot. Still, it was a very entertaining novella.