The knights of Falador are the moral warriors who protest the Kingdom of Asarnia. When a young girl appears in their midst one stormy night it sets off a chain of events which will drag the young squire Theodore in a fight for his life against a werewolf and he and his new found companions play a decisive role in defending the Kingdom from the avaricious designs of Sulla...

Runescape: Betrayal at Falador is a novel based on the online game of Runescape, the book was written by novice author T.S. Church.

This isn’t the first and I’m sure that it will not be the last book based on a computer game. Of the ones that I have read; the good ones have used the virtual world to tell a story of their own. Looking at the cover of Betrayal, I wasn’t really expecting much as the illustration makes the novel look like a kid's book.

Given that it is based on a fantasy adventure the book follows the age old tradition, made famous by Tolkien, of spending the first section of the book creating a fellowship, though in this case the number of races is somewhat limited.

We follow Theodore North trying to discover the identity of the unconscious and mysterious young woman. In Taverley he meets an old friend who introduces him to an apparently eccentric scientist and his aid. Elsewhere, in the kingdom, a monster is abroad and the local human population are turning on non human creatures, as the chaos increases Theodore returns home, but is far from safe.

In truth, there is nothing deep here, but there often isn’t in fantasy books. That said, Church writes a pretty good adventure story which should appeal to fourteen year old males, its morals are uncomplicated and the characters are engaging enough for you to want to join them in their journey. Unfortunately, for older readers the characters seem almost archetypal and the plot somewhat derivative.

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Charles Packer