Return to Canifis

Return to Canifis is the sequel to Betrayal at Falador, set within the Runescape Universe and written by T S Church.

Varrock is considered to be one of the greatest cities in the known world, but even here danger lurks - people have been dissapearing, or their bodies discovered ripped apart. Some are thought to have been taken to the Vampire ruled land of Morytania and it may be up up to Kara-Meir and the Heroes of the Battle for Falador to uncover the truth.

The small band of adventurers we traveled with in Betrayal at Falador have now become heroes, known throughout the land and respected wherever they go. It feels very much like being re-united with old friends, with the same style and grace of the first volume. We get to see old villians along with some new ones, new scenery and more world building.

Here the characters are in unfamiliar territory without the support of Falador which heightens the drama and helps to bring out the individual character traits, and it's great to see them grow and for some of the characters like Gar’rth to get a greater role this time around. The city of Varrock lies near the evil Empire of Morytania and this helps to create a darker edge to the story. The pace feels a little slow at times - in part due to the sheer size of the book, but the author's use of tense drama and effective characterisation do offset this.

Return to Canifis and it's predecessor remind me very much of the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels I read when growing up, there is the same magical wonder and immersive quality, that comfortable feeling of being completely wrapped within a fantasy universe.

Some people have said that these novels are aimed just at the players of Runescape and while I can see that they obviously do cater for those fans it doesn't preclude anyone else enjoying the novels. Far from it in fact, I have never played Runescape in my life but have loved reading both these novels. In my opinion these novels should appeal to any fan of high fantasy, with a richly detailed world and excellent. The way the novel is written I would also imagine that

Return to Canifis is a powerful sequel and improves on it's already impressive predecessor in almost every way, pure high fantasy at it's finest.