I’ve enjoyed the creative premise of the AO series, but have not looked forward to the side-quest books and was losing interest. As a completionist, I am compelled to listen to the side character solo missions with little enthusiasm. The previous two side-quests in the series explored storylines that felt irrelevant to our main protagonist and overarching tale of the rise of the Twilight Throne, so I almost just skipped this one.

I’m so glad I didn’t!

Frank is a kindred spirit that I genuinely came to care about through this book, inside and outside of the game. The amount of in-game mechanics changes that were discovered and introduced by this story make it a must read in the series. I’ve yet to read the rest of the books, but this one has me reengaged and chomping at the bit for more.