Reviews

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein — The Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeleine Roux

ashesscattered's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I would say this book is competently written. 

It's hard to rate this book because I was really not interested in Lucien and really only read it to read about the Aeor arc through the Tomb Taker perspective as a whole (as well as the Mighty Nein). 

This book didn't really make me care any more or less about him as a whole. If you were already interested in him, then this book should be just fine for you. 

If anything, I'd say there was a missed opportunity to flesh out the Tomb Takers a bit more. This book is presented as snippets of Lucien's journey and he does seem to treat the Tomb Takers as a sort've found family as dnd parties are oft to do. The only problem was that we have one mission with them all together, then plot drives them apart and then its the aeor arc where Lucien has gone full cult leader. The evidence was there, just would've liked to have seen it more, especially with Cree. 

The character Brevyn was okay, I think her role in the story is a bit cliche though

Spoiler

(the whole lost Lenore thing for an antagonist is a bit overdone)

marroviperreader94's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

taylizart's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Before I get into my review - I would not recommend this book to anyone that has not completely finished Critical Role campaign 2. I feel like this book was only so powerful because I was familiar with and understood the role of Lucien and the ending of the campaign. That being said, what a fabulous book. I’ve been wanting to rewatch the mighty nein campaign and relive the magic I felt the first time watching it. But obviously, that’s quite a time commitment so I haven’t been able to. This book however, filled that void so well. It was enough to just refresh my memory, but also gave that brand new delicious lore I never could have imagined. It even included little bits of Mollymauk Tealeaf that I missed so much. I also listened to the audiobook which was not only narrated by Robbie Daymond (chefs kiss) but also included the main critical role cast as their characters as well! Audiobook added even more amazingness to the experience. Well done to everyone involved, and thank you for a wonderful little epilogue to the Mighty Nein story. Long May Mollymauk Tealeaf reign. 

joannaasantoss's review

3.0

3/5 ⭐️
It’s Review Time!!!
This book was good, like very good.

However, I did have some problems with it, first being.. I accidentally bought a d&d book.

Now I have no problem with reading books from other games & franchises but it was very difficult to understand without the understanding, hence why - I watched 7 YouTube videos on the game & series.

Overall I have a new attachment and love for Lucien & Cree, these characters were so lovable and ultimately great.

If you like D&D and understand it, 5/5 star read it’d be amazing, but for someone who jumped into this unknowingly? It was hard, I cried over this book because I hated not understanding.

Would recommend to D&D fans

the_evergrowing_library's review

3.0

If we’re ever gonna judge a book by its cover, this is a 5⭐️

karaconi12's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

bre_reads_and_reviews's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was by far one of the best books I've ever read. The writing was superb, and the character development of multiple characters was just *muah chefs kiss 🤌* I do have to say though the ending was trippy and confusing. So much was happening, that it got to the point where I lost focus, but other than that the book was fun to read. Also can we appreciate the cover of the book. Lucien is exactly how I pictured him throughout the book and he's also kind of... 😏. Anywaysss 😂 definitely recommend reading this!! The writing style and font is also super unique as well. I believe this book is about a DnD character that came from critical role. I'm not entirely sure though. Looks like I'm gonna be jumping down the rabbit hole for this. 

pseudohydra's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

endotheline's review against another edition

3.5

I liked this book, even though it took me so long to finish it. 

 

I did not think that it would take me six months to get through this book.  It's not necessarily because of the book itself; I'm just really bad at consistently listening to audiobooks, especially since I don't commute to work anymore.

 

Anyway, I've already said in a previous review that I'm a big fan of Critical Role, but what I didn’t mention is that I'm an even bigger fan of The Mighty Nein.  Ultimately I think I liked this book more than CR’s previous book, partially because I thought this book was more interesting, but mostly because I really like The Mighty Nein.

 

Honestly, I think I liked the second half of this book much more than the first half because The Mighty Nein show up in the second half.  The first half had some interesting elements, but it was also really grim and depressing and I wasn’t often in the mood to hear about all of the horrible ways the characters were treated.  Eventually, it got to the point where I was just waiting for the plot to reach the events that happened in the main campaign.

 

There were also a lot of character introductions (and deaths) that were kind of uninteresting or disappointing to me.  Most of the introductions were sudden and brief, especially when there were time skips.  And most of the deaths didn’t really affect me, probably because I already knew their fates. Also, one of the characters dies off-page, and even though I knew what was going to happen to this character, I still wish we learned more about them.

 

So like I said, I didn’t care much about the first half of this book, but by the second half, I was much more invested.  The dynamics and the dialogue between the characters were much more interesting.  The dialogue in the audiobook sounded more stilted than the dialogue in the regular campaign episodes, but it was still interesting.  It was also very interesting to hear about the most iconic moments from the campaign (like the dragon fight) from a different perspective.

 

Overall, I liked this book.  I lost interest every now and then, but I thought that Lucien was a very compelling character and I just really enjoyed hearing The Mighty Nein again.  One of the reasons why I decided to finally finish this book because there will be another Mighty Nein episodes coming out soon and this book has definitely gotten me excited for it.

 

Rating: 3.5/5

jailala's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Very well done!  Madeleine Roux did any amazing job crafting a story from a story.  She not only writes very well, she also was able to take an existing story that is beloved of many fans and tell it through another important lens.  We get to see the other side of things that were only hinted at in the game we all watched.  Such a good read!