It was roughly 12:43, according to my new watch. I was sitting in my traditional corner seat at my grandparents' then-packed house, observing everyone else open their first and second presents while pondering what mine could possibly be and debating throwing a wrapping paper ball at one of my sisters (either or; as long as my flimsy missile connected with a face, the "who" aspect was unimportant). Thankfully for me, I abandoned this stupid idea as soon as a wrapped, floppy package hit my empty lap, being thrown a fair distance by my grandfather. Eager, nimble fingers met paper and began to rend, revealing a glimpse of two faces, one male and one female…
Though my other spoils from this particular Christmas included a RC indoor helicopter and Mario Kart 7, the thing I focused my day on first was your book, and I have to say, it was quite a book to focus one's day on, even if I missed getting a signed copy. But oh well, your name in indelible pen did not affect the story, and so here are my unaffected opinions on said story:
Opinions (Click Here To Hide/Show Text)
The fight scenes REALLY took me back to Fire Emblem. Been a while since I played, but having a bunch of smaller units take out the troops while one or two heroes pulled amazing moves brought back definite memories of the good old Sacred Stones gang. The cavern fight scene, especially, was reminiscent of the last two levels of that game, leading up to the fight with Fomortiis. This was a little negative at first in the cavern scene as it was Lloyd and not Sigurd, Euwart, or Tristan (who I consider the main characters rather than anyone else), but it was fine because Euwart slaying the chimera didn't seem right, Tristan gets his moment, and Sigurd's going to have an even better moment eventually (being the MAIN main character, in my opinion... am I wrong for thinking so? Is it that they're all equally main?). The party did rely on Lloyd a bit too much in general, though.
Long story short, I loved it. When can we expect the sequel, Mr. Author? :3
Favorite Characters (Click Here To Hide/Show Text)
Sigurd, Euwart, and Tristan were probably my favorite characters, though I loved everyone's distinct personalities a lot, especially Adrian's more fun-loving side; that surprised me quite a bit, honestly. I like Sigurd because he's the sort of character who reacts well to leadership and doesn't go mad with power. Seems like he was born to lead, actually.
Tristan, on the other hand, fills our "bookish kid meets real world" role, and judging from his seeking training with Lloyd and eventually finishing the Black Knight, he met it pretty well. I ended up kind of liking Lloyd DUE to his cliche-ness, oddly enough, despite the fact that I usually dislike the excessively nonchalant, bored warrior sort of character. His removed sort of personality was also played pretty well into hilarity. Lastly, Euwart was also exceedingly funny most of the time, due partially to his personality and mainly to his swearing. I thought it was funny, anyway; one of the heroes destined to save the world just constantly spewing cusses in the least appropriate times. This would've degraded him to purely comic relief, but his serious moments, especially when discussing his poorness with Sig and how he apologizes to Rose for yelling at her redeem him and upgrade him to a kind of serious guy trying to act happy for everyone else's sake, which reminds me of myself sometimes. You get anyone identifying with your characters yet, or am I the first? Anyway, though I liked Sig, Euwart, and Tristan the most, you did a fine job fleshing out everyone's personality.
