Book of Tyrael Review

by Whitney "Neinball" Fairchild - 11 years ago     show comments

Incase you missed it, the Book of Tyrael is on sale now.  The book itself is a collaborative effort from many talented artists both within and outside of Blizzard. Like the Book of Cain it is published by Insight Editions and they have done a phenomenal job yet again.  I’ve finally gotten the book in my hands and have had the time to sit down with it and I’m now ready to give my review of this most recent entry in Diablo lore.

Premise

Like the Book of Cain, the Book of Tyrael is written as an in-game reference manual. Unlike the BoC, which was a loose collection of notes and journals from Deckard Cain to be given to Leah, the BoT has a better defined purpose. This book is akin to a training manual for the new Horadric Order and the challenges they may face in the aftermath of the events of Diablo III. It goes back and forth between notes from Tyrael himself to additional writings of Cain to journal entries and notes from Leah.

The book is divided into sections on the most important things a new Horadrim will need know about the challenges he or she will face in the coming days. I’ll go into detail on each of these sections later in the review.

Materials and Construction

The Book of Tyrael is another amazing example of the craftsmanship of the team at Insight Editions. Like the Book of Cain, images just don’t do the cover justice. The front and back covers are embossed, making it not only appealing to the eye but to the touch as well. Where the BoC was designed as a worn and weathered journal with a cover that had very grainy texture, the BoT is something you’d expect from a being of the High Heavens. It has a smoother finisher and the filigree adorning it’s surface give it a far more intricate texture.

The book is printed on a slightly heavier paper stock to support the dyeing and the quality of the images that are found on almost every page. The edges of the pages themselves are dyed gold adding to the heavenly aesthetic.

Art Design and Production

As I read through the pages I noticed a few themes that play throughout the entirety of the book. There are two very distinct styles found within; the writings of Tyrael and those of Leah and Cain.

Leah and Cain’s writings make up the vast majority of the book and go back and forth between clean typeface for Cain’s encyclopedic like notes and Leah’s hand written journals. Their pages are all stained brown and given a well worn aesthetic. The images of these pages are all very detailed and well shaded since these images that are designed to be guides for the reader to visualize what’s being written about it.

Tyrael’s sections are quite the opposite. Every page is crisp and clean. There are accents bordering most of the pages and almost all of the artwork adorning his sections are done by Joseph Lacroix, the artist who drew the Diablo III comics. Joseph’s very angular line art style gives all of Tyrael’s sections a very orderly appearance in keeping with the general themes of angels and the High Heavens.  The stark differences in the art styles and page designs make for very interesting contrast throughout the book.

One of the bigger changes in the Book of Tyrael and the Book of Cain is the cohesiveness of the writing itself. Whereas the BoC was a loose collection of notes, the BoT has a clear purpose and is well organized in its flow from cover to cover.  There is some overlap between the BoT and the BoC but most of these occurrences are simple introductions with a note that Cain wrote more in-depth about those topics in the BoC.

Saving the Best for Last, The Lore

As I touched on earlier, the premise behind the BoT is that it is a manual being given to the members of the new Horadric Order. The book is divided into three main parts; Adria, The Fate of the Black Soulstone and an appendix of miscellaneous information. I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum.

In part one Tyrael relates notes that Cain had accumulated on Adria in addition to some of his own warnings for the Horadrim to be vigilant, because Adria is still a threat lurking in the shadows. While it doesn’t go to in-depth into Adria’s history it does touch on her obsession with the Black Soulstone. One of the more interesting parts of this section has little to do with Adria at all. It talks about Zoltun Kulle while he was a member of the original Horadrim and a more detailed description about the construction of the Black Soulstone itself.  We get to know a lot more about the origins of Kulle and how Adria used his groundwork to capture the souls of the Lords of Hell.

Part two talks about the aftermath of the devastation of Heaven and how the angels are rebuilding. What happens when you keep the most unholiest of artifacts in the center of Heaven? Let’s just say bad things. Tyrael, now mortal, is the only person seeing the change taking place in the Angiris Council and this motivates him to action and sets the stage for upcoming book Storm of Light.  We also see a foreshadowing to Malthael’s change into Death when Tyrael visits the Pools of Wisdom in Malthael’s long abandoned realm.

Part two also goes onto to talk about the History of Westmarch and gives clues as to why Tyrael later chooses this place to hide the Black Soulstone. It seems there were some ulterior motives in play when Rakkis chose the location of his capital. We also get a small teaser on the formation of the Crusaders. While the Crusader’s were originally described as a break away of the paladin order it seems this isn’t exactly the case and they were founded separately and in secret.

The final section of the book is, to me, the most interesting. It has the most current revision of the timeline of Sanctuary and chronicles everything from the battles of Anu and Tathamet to the creation of the Prime Evil. I have to say Blizzard did a good job in balancing the retcons between previous timelines and the descriptions of events within the games and novels. We also have an appendix of important people found throughout Sanctuary’s history. Ever wonder what the name of the Rogue who fought beside Adian was in Diablo I? She and the sorcerer have been given identities. This collection of information takes up almost half the book and touches on the obvious characters like Nihlathak and Charsi but it even gives background on mobs like Pindleskin. Every page is literally packed to the brim with history and background on a very vast swath of characters from the games and books.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved the Book of Cain, but the Book of Tyrael blows it out of the water in every catergory. Everything from the structure and layout to the artwork and narrative have been streamlined and given a sense of cohesiveness that the BoC was missing. If you liked the BoC, enjoy the lore of the series or even just a fan of the game you will love the BoT.  I may be reading a bit to much into some of the people referenced in the BoT, but I find the selection of many of characters listed in the appendix a little to random to be coincidental.  Why mention Norrec Vizharan but not Kara Nightshade?  Why was no one from the Black Road mentioned?  I wonder if these may be subtle clues to some of the supporting cast we may find in the Reaper of Souls.

Lore fan yourself?  Have more in-depth questions on the Book of Tyrael?  Stop by the forums, drop me an e-mail at neinball [at] blizzpro.com or hit me up on twitter @Neinballgamer