Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Realms of Runeterra: a brief book review

rollz3·11/5/2019, 6:59:51 AM·6 votes·4,011 views

Disappointing to say the least, the book itself does feature new art that we haven't see before and if that's all you wanted then you got what you wanted but also liberally reuses art that we have seen in the past so for every new picture you see there's probably about three others you already have. The most egregious however is the blatant copy and pasting from online lore sources and again what is new is far and few in between if someone has even a passing familiarity with the lore and for me there was literally nothing in it that I didn't already know about besides the new short stories which i'll get to shortly after I address the main selling points.

  • An expedition through eleven regions, chronicling conflicts, entrenched rivalries, and covert alliances

The book does go through each of the currently known nations within the lore but as for the last few three parts of that besides the obvious rivalries (Noxus and Demacia, Piltover and Zaun, etc) there is nothing expanded upon and I'd tentatively call it a 'filler point'

  • Hundreds of illustrations, including never-before-seen maps and artwork

Well yes but actually no, It reuses a lot of old artwork the has already been leaked or used and what is new is as always well drawn but I was expecting a lot more and the so called 'hundreds' probably amounts to maybe a 100-200 at best with 80% being reused pics.

  • Insights into the heroes, flora, fauna, architecture, politics, and technologies from all corners of this world

Technically true but only a small blurb that is directly copy and pasted from wiki sources and the interactive map that have the information already, insights are insubstantial and don't add to their respective heros into any meaningful capacity and the other bits you'd think would have more info revealed but nope sentence or two here and there and nothing more

  • Original narratives that bring the cultures of Runeterra to life

This is probably the main selling point but out of the 11 nations 4 don't get a short story. Targon, Bandle City, The Void and Ixtal in case you were wondering and they are alright, nothing particularly bad and are in my opinion the best part of the book as a whole but hardly worth getting alone.

So my final thoughts on the matter, the book looks nice but it lacks substance and I'm not entirely sure who it's meant for. Collectors will get it for the sake of collecting but those who weren't already invested in the lore probably weren't interested in buying it in the first place and those, like me, who were hoping to learn something new about the world will be met with disappointment.

To anyone who's interested in learning more about the lore, skip the book and just go use the free interactive map and browse the league wiki. Both have more content and insight then anything the book has to offer and if you really want to read the new stories wait a week or so, probably even less, for someone to post them somewhere and save yourself the 15-30 dollars.

11 Comments

KestrelGirl11/5/2019, 7:26:46 AM7 votes

Smells like bullshit considering the book hasn't arrived in NA except for League Partners yet. Mine's arriving tomorrow (11/5) - on release day.

Lewanor11/5/2019, 7:40:07 AM6 votes

Even if you got it early when did you read it? Did you just look at the pictures? Seems fishy man, reaaally fishy

FISHY FISHY FISH!

Yordle Gunner11/5/2019, 7:49:13 PM4 votes

I didn't expect much from it, but I am just really sad Riot doesn't do a lot with Bandle City and the Yordles, it's one of the most unique things they created and so many people love them. In game they need model and voice updates, and lore wise there isn't much there. We haven't seen any progression with Trist Teemo and Rumble, or Corki, and now we have Legends of Runeterra that shows Yordles are definitely doing things in Ionia.

Jesi Oni11/5/2019, 7:29:54 AM4 votes

Its like saying: dont buy a book in store because you can torrent e-book 😅

Whyte Lyon11/5/2019, 11:08:30 AM2 votes

Couldn't say whether the entire contents of this post comes from an admissible review or if it's bogged down in some layers of hogwash.

But I can say this post does share in similar hesitation I had initially with announcement of the book. Particularly the notion that it won't teach me enough fresh/new things that I wouldn't have understood or surmised about Runeterra's world-building in advance.

Part of me was worried that too much of the book will be aimed at newcomers to League's lore, which this post seems to suggest and that I wouldn't find too many convincing reasons to sink the money into it. Which is completely fine, I don't have to buy it.

I also feel that the book's new content will make it's way onto the freely accessible Universe site anyway, if not the wiki is as convenient. Which was the concern I shared on the day of the book's announcement and the best/only counter-response was that having a physical copy "feels good". Like I needed to grasp League's lore in order to enjoy it. Schm.

Aweshumness11/6/2019, 9:55:02 PM2 votes

I bought it today. I felt like it was kinda ugly to look at. The art didn't have that unified League of Legends style. It's especially clear when you get to Shurima and their outfit if Azir looks like a fan made picture.

I could probably get all of this and more via necrit and the wiki.

zounet11/5/2019, 4:46:09 PM1 votes

and about the chronology?