Book Review #1: Betrayal At Falador
2 January 2026
First post of 2026! First book review!
I am very pleased to have crossed off the first book from my 10 book challenge for 2026. Okay yes I gave myself a head start, but still. One down, nine to go. With each book complete I'll post a brief review of my thoughts, so without further adieu...
Title: RuneScape: Betrayal at Falador
Author: T.S. Church
Publication Date: 21 July, 2008
Official Length: 416 pages
Score: ★★★☆☆
Giving this book three stars is really tough, I want to say it's on the high side of a three.
As a long-time fan of RuneScape I am so pleased to see this book gets so much of its lore right. It nails the people and the locations, it's got the magic system correct. It scales up the world (or should I say the game scales it down?) so that travelling between locations is measured in days, whereas in the game it'd take 20 seconds or so. It makes the world feel really vast and alive, without having to contradict the game in any way. There are so many moments where game knowledge will give you a little "aha!" moment that, if you aren't familiar with the lore, won't detract from the story.
It is slow to get started, though. The book focuses on six people in particular, and it has to introduce you to each one individually first while they come together as a group. It isn't until around the half-way point that you feel like the plot actually starts to move. The dialogue can also be clunky, it doesn't feel like two people are having a natural conversation, it feels like two people are reading a script. It's a shame, because the characters are very loveable, and their growth is a big part of the book.
Although you could read this book without any knowledge of RuneScape, I wouldn't recommend it. It's hard for me to know because I do have a lot of background knowledge, but I think you benefit from knowing more about the world. Particularly the story largely takes place in the city of Falador, and the White Knights that guard it. Their enemies, the Black Knights (or Kinshra) are also heavily involved. There is a free-to-play quest in the game that introduces you to both factions, and this quest alone would give you a good understanding of both sides, although there are many more members-only quests that enrich it even further. Without that extra knowledge you could follow the plot, but it'd be like eating a ramen packet without adding the seasoning.
I really enjoy the characters. Some exist in the game and the book does well not to change their personality. Some of them exist but aren't fleshed out very much in the game so the book is an excellent way of adding more back story to them. Of the six main characters I mentioned earlier, five of them are brand new for the book so the author has been totally free to develop their personality. And they do have personality. Yes the dialogue can be clunky, but they're well written characters, each with a diverse set of opinions and ideas that sometimes aligns, and sometimes conflicts. You do get the sense that this is a group of six people, not one person writing six people.
Another problem I found is the flow of the book. It's broken up into very small chapters, which I actually appreciate since I mostly read before bed. You're given lots of natural stopping points. However, despite having over 70 chapters (in a 400 page book) within a chapter you'll still dart between characters who are far away, with no warning. In some instances the first paragraph will talk about a character, e.g. Theo, and the next will begin with "he", but it'll make no sense because it's not Theo anymore. We're a few days away talking about a totally different character. Sometimes you've got no idea who this new "he" is until you get to the next page. It wouldn't hurt to either not do that in the middle of a chapter, or at least begin the new paragraph with a name so you don't get reader's whiplash.
To summarise, if you enjoy RuneScape and fantasy books, do give this a read. I'm really excited to read the sequel (although I don't know when!) and think it does an excellent job translating RuneScape's world into a book. If you aren't familiar with the game, I'd say give it a miss. Its charm is very much in being a new light on a familiar universe, so if you're not familiar with it, I just don't think the love will be there.