After quickly finishing my read of this great book, I figured we should have a place to consolidate discussion.
I was impressed by the writing - Drayden set up some good hints that had satisfying payoffs, like the story about Bisi disappearing, 344X-Azucar, and “Anonymous088503” - a name that hardcore lore fans would recognize right away (I’m ashamed to say the name didn’t click until I got to the end of the story). I was also surprised by some of the worldbuilding - it’s interesting that the Junkers are known as far away as Numbani.
The story also gives us explanations for some more hero abilites, like supercharger and sound barrier (still no sign of Lucio doing any healing though).
Lastly, it seems to follow the established timeline pretty well - several months pass between Efi’s application and Doomfist’s attack, then a month or so more to Lucio’s concert.
Only bout a quarter of the way so far, but I did quite like to get the event where Doomfist got his gauntlet back actually in media, it was one thing I had kinda forgotten about since we never really saw it, just knew it happened and getting to see the whole event was honestly more awesome that I thought it would be.
Also my favorite bits: The fact that Gabrielle Adawe and Sojourn were Efi’s biggest heroes (sad to learn Adawe is dead though), Doomfist wears war paint that indicates he’s already going to win the battle, learning more about Lúcio as an activist and just how far his reach is, the Junkers have Tobelstein reactors (possibly a hint at what might be in Junker Queen’s kit, more CC yay), Bisi and Baptiste could be great friends some day if they ever met, and Efi and Orisa leaving to help Sojourn at the end
It’s very sad to learn Adawe is dead, but I was expecting that. Studies have shown that the average age of people in the UN is actually relatively high, with a large portion being around or abt to reach retirement age. If Adawe was ~65 30 years ago, she’d be 95 in the lore’s modern day.
I also always thought that the prison was in/close to Numbani!
I think one of my favourite things about the story was learning more about Doomfist’s character - he’s obviously a villain but never had any ill intentions towards Efi, he wouldn’t harm her or threaten her, he simply gave her a choice - he even nominated her for the grant which I thought was interesting, he is essentially partly responsible for the creation of Orisa who was made to take him down.
He will truly do anything to aid his own gains, even if there is only a slim chance of it being beneficial to him. I thought it was nice to see him not just written as a truly ‘evil’ character - there is a nice level of humanity in him!
Now finished, and definitely liked it, Orisa was adorable and Efi was quite interesting. Doomfist was a lot more involved in it than I was expecting. Him actually being behind grant that set up Orisa was quite a “Uh What the Bleep” moment.
I got a few laughs out of the incorporation of voicelines from the game… I could definitely hear them being said in Lucio, Orisa, and Doomfist’s voices.
And for extra bonus, there were strong hints at another character’s involvement, though they stayed to the shadows like one might expect. Heh.
