Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon

Matt Forbeck · Jeff Grubb

Jul 2010 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

250 years ago, Ascalon burned . . .

Desperate to defend his land from advancing hordes of bestial charr, King Adelbern summoned the all-powerful Foefire to repel the invaders. But magic can be a double-edged sword—the Foefire burned both charr and human alike. While the charr corpses smoldered, the slain Ascalonians arose again, transformed by their king’s rage into ghostly protectors and charged with guarding the realm . . . forever. The once mighty kingdom became a haunted shadow of its former glory.

Centuries later, the descendants of Ascalon, exiled to the nation of Kryta, are besieged on all sides. To save humankind, Queen Jennah seeks to negotiate a treaty with the hated charr. But one obstacle remains. The charr legions won’t sign the truce until their most prized possession, the Claw of the Khan-Ur,is returned from the ruins of fallen Ascalon.

Now a mismatched band of adventurers, each plagued by ghosts of their own, sets forth into a haunted, war-torn land to retrieve the Claw. Without the artifact, there is no hope for peace between human and charr—but the undead king who rules Ascalon won’t give it up easily, and not everyone wants peace!

Ratings and reviews

I don't read books often at all, mostly magazines of things I'm interested in but I honestly couldn't put this book down. It had a very good flow with the story and kept you wanting to know what happens next. It is based on Guild Wars cannon but you don't need to know anything about the game or it's history because like the game it loosely ties everything together. Overall I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good story based in a fantasy land that has a D&D type feel. So it's not for everyone but for the few, at 8 bucks, you can't get better.

You'll probably need at least some interest in the Guild Wars universe to appreciate this book, but believe me when I say that this book took a mild interest in the setting (by virtue of it being only a part of the game) and turned it into a real love of the setting's lore and complexity. A must for Guild Wars 2 roleplayers who wish to get a closer look at the setting and the perspectives of its races and cultures.

This is a very good story which builds upon and flushes out the lore behind Guild Wars 2. However there are a few crucial points where the authors really try to make a point by repeating the same thing over and over again. There are also a couple points where the details kind of lack. I recommend this book as a must but and read, but it isn't perfect.

About the author

Matt Forbeck is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author and game designer. He has more than thirty novels and countless games published to date. His latest work includes Dungeonlogy, the Star Wars: Rogue One junior novel, the last two editions of The Marvel Encyclopedia, his Monster Academy YA fantasy novels, and the upcoming Shotguns & Sorcery roleplaying game based on his novels. He lives in Beloit, WI, with his wife and five children, including a set of quadruplets. For more about him and his work, visit Forbeck.com.