REVIEW: AMBESSA CHOSEN OF THE WOLF

The fox and the wolf...

After absolutely loving the ARCANE TV show and being decently entertained by the RUINATION novel (based on characters from LEAGUE OF LEGENDS who did not appear in the show), I was fairly curious to see what the second novel set in Runeterra would be like. 

HOW I RATED IT 

4/5 Though it never quite reaches the heights of the show it's based upon, there's a lot to be enjoyed by fans of ARCANE or even just LEAGUE OF LEGENDS players in general. 

CHARACTERS

As you might expect, this is Ambessa's story. The character was an original creation for ARCANE's cast, though both her and her daughter, Mel, have since made it into the game as well. In the show, Ambessa is not a particularly empathetic or heroic character, but there's a lot of subtlety and nuance surrounding her that make her a compelling antagonist. In this novel, we get to explore her back story in far more depth. We also get some insight into what shaped Mel into the character we know from the show thanks to her prominent presence within this story and chapters that follow her perspective. I think the most rewarding part of this novel is seeing how these two women interact with other members of the Medarda family and how they navigate the brutal politics of their region of Runeterra. Though only Ambessa and Mel serve as main characters, the cast of secondary personalities is numerous and well handled. In addition to members of the family, we meet a fierce young woman who Ambessa takes on as a protégé, members of some of the other royal houses, a couple agents of The Black Rose, and non human characters who help make this corner of the world feel a little more expansive. All in all, I'm not sure if there's much more that could be asked of this lineup. Fans of the games might be disappointed that more Champions from the game don't make appearances, but I appreciated that the story focused on what was relevant rather than shoehorning a bunch of random figures into the story. 

Ambessa herself is a rather complex and morally ambiguous character. On the one hand, she's a wife and a mother who wants nothing but the best for her family (even if her view on what's best is a bit narrow). On the other, she makes some absolutely despicable choices throughout the course of the story, yet her actions also make perfect sense when you consider that everything she does is a strategic maneuver in a larger war that never seems to end for her. In spite of this cutthroat hardness to her, she appears to be consistently drawn to softer, more gentle men. This attraction isn't something that's really discussed outright, but it's an extremely interesting facet to who she is and almost seems to speak to her wanting to fill in a piece of herself that she knows is missing, but refuses to acknowledge directly. She can be frustrating at times because you know she is capable of doing what's right, but will predictably choose to instead take whatever action is most strategically sound. The way that this perpetual state of warfare (both tangible and perceived) affects her relationships with those around her is rather tragic in some ways. I think what makes her so compelling is that she's not a heartless or outright monstrous character, she simply does not give her heart a say in the decisions she makes. At the end of the day, I wouldn't really class her as a hero, a villain, or an antihero. She's just Ambessa and I think that's a big part of what made following her journey so enthralling. 

PLOT/TONE

Tonally, I think this story managed to strike some very similar notes to the ARCANE show. It felt quite clear that C.L. Clarke is a fan of the series as well as this character. It's that respect for the material being represented that uplifted the reading experience for me even when certain aspects of the plot didn't hit me in quite the way I'd have liked them to. Some of this might be partly due to the scope of the story being much more narrow than the one told in ARCANE. We follow Ambessa directly for the majority of the story and mostly only shift perspective when we switch over to what Mel gets up to (though there are some short sections toward the end of the book where we follow a couple of other characters). While this makes perfect sense for the focus of this narrative, it also means that there are pieces moving around outside of our field of view. When those all ultimately click together for the story's bigger moments, it's all very interesting, but not quite as satisfying as if we had some deeper insights into events happening outside of Ambessa's vantage point. 

Because this is a prequel, I also think that some of the surprise of certain developments is entirely removed from the equation. While the fates of certain characters were open for the author to do anything they liked, those of Ambessa and her immediate family members were already known to me. I still think that this story is probably better read after having watched the show since it does a lot to enrich the context of Mel and Ambessa's involvement in the events of Piltover, but the story will certainly be a lot more intense if you don't know how certain arcs will end. The writing quality itself as well as the storytelling are both a nice step above what we got with RUINATION. I don't thing either quite reached the heights of either the show this story is based upon or the quality of some of the other books I've read this year, but I also have no specific complaints in this department. It's worth noting that there is a lot of action in this story both in terms of physical conflict and political machinations and all of it was handled in a satisfying and engaging manner. 

SETTING/WORLD

One of the things that may make this novel of particular interest to fans of both the show and the game is that it explores a portion of Runeterra that I don't believe has been visited in any affiliated media yet (outside of maybe some season trailers for the game). Noxas is an interesting region that made Piltover's vicious class wars look tame in comparison to the brutality that marks Ambessa's homeland. It was interesting to see how the violence that she was raised in shaped who Ambessa is as a person. It was also fascinating whenever the book gave us little glimpses into the way many of her immediate and extended family members have some vastly different worldviews from her. These juxtapositions in ideologies lead to some interesting questions over how much of Ambessa's personality was shaped by her upbringing versus how much speaks to her acquiescing to a more savage part of her human nature. Regardless of what other characters claim though, they too lean on violence as an answer to problems they don't otherwise know how to solve. This creates a sense of constant tension and unease between all the action since it's never quite clear which way the wind will blow as alliances are formed or broken and new enemies may emerge at any moment. 

Although the political landscape of this region was quite vivid to me, I had a much less solid picture of the physical geography. Where one city sat in relation to another or where characters were at any given moment never felt all that clear. This didn't really have any bearing on my enjoyment of the story being told, it just seems worth noting that the grand stage which the drama unfolds upon felt somewhat indistinct to me (I found myself just picturing stone-structure cities interspersed across a vast red rock terrain). This wasn't the biggest deal, but I feel like the background imagery that's generally associated with Runeterra is typically more interesting and creative. There are also some more mythological elements at play here which I enjoyed. While it wasn't entirely clear how much these were real vs. imagined, I still enjoyed the general sense of mysticism that these elements lent to this portion of the world. 

HARDCOVER

As far as standard hardcover editions go, this is a pretty solid one. The design on the dust jacket is quite striking and does a nice job with representing the main character, the world she lives in, and the overall feel of the story within. The slightly obscured depiction of Mel on the back cover is also very nice. Because I borrowed a copy from the library, I am not sure what the naked hardcover looks like since they always Mylar wrap the dust jacket onto the book. The formatting of the pages within is also handled well. There are some illustrations in the back and middle of the book featuring an illustration of one of the story's main locations as well as various depictions of Ambessa herself. Most of these images don't necessarily add a ton and I generally prefer when they are more spaced out throughout the book, but they serve as a nice bonus nonetheless. 

CONCLUSION

It may not be the perfect package, but I think a lot of fans of ARCANE as well as players of LEAGUE OF LEGENDS in general are going to enjoy this story which serves as a nice companion to the show, while still being worthwhile in it's own right. 

(+) Ambessa is as complicated as she is compelling.

(+) The interactions between different members of the Medarda family were fantastic.

(+) The cast is broad, but every side character serves a distinct purpose in the story.

(+) The action scenes are frequent and exciting. 

(+) The brutal politics of this region created a fun sense of uncertainty and unease. 

(+) A dramatic series of final moments that serve as a satisfying conclusion to this story and believable lead-in to ARCANE (as well as maybe some other projects to come later).

(+) A nicely made standard hardcover edition.

(-) The story and writing didn't hit me in quite the same ways as ARCANE did. 

(-) Noxus's actual geography wasn't as interesting or distinct as it's political landscape.