Book Review: Grace Given

I don’t think there’s a gamer anywhere who hasn’t heard of Elden Ring. The open world video game which captured the attention of the industry both leading up to and well-after release.  Made by the legendary developers at FromSoftware, the game featured their trademark Souls gameplay in the frame of an open world environment.  While alluring enough for their credit alone what really made an impression with this game was the collaborative efforts of George R.R. Martin himself on the game’s world and wider narrative.  Elden Ring broke tons of records and established itself with a legendary reputation on a lot of fronts but the world in itself and the narrative structure of the game sticks out as one of its biggest achievements.  The level of depth and complexity this world offered with its characters and history was beyond impressive.  In typical FromSoftware fashion the format in which the story and writing was deployed to the player was locked away behind obscure NPC dialogue and item descriptions. It helps in this case that we have YouTuber’s like SmoughTown who dedicate their entire channels to interpreting this world’s lore and covering it in a digestible collection of videos.  Taking his comprehensive understanding of the world, it only makes sense he’d take the time to cover this game’s lore in other formats too; which brings us to the hefty book titled Grace Given.

Serving as a comprehensive deep-dive into the world and mythology behind Elden Ring, Grace Given is a thorough 600-page analysis from the articulate mind of SmoughTown.  It starts out by looking at the mythology of the world the Lands Between inhabits and the governing deities which brought their influence into the very life-essence of the world.  Soon after SmoughTown dissects the timeline of the world and the many conflicts that served to define the strained political structure that left the Lands Between in never-ending turmoil. To conclude the book, the latter section is dedicated to recounting the personal stories of the larger-than-life characters that inhabit this world and the bitter relationships that lead to many of the tragedies that unfolded in the wake of the Shattering.  SmoughTown frames a lot of these sections by recounting their factual information but providing his own analytical commentary on top of it.

I remember when I last read a lore book from the folks at Tune and Fairweather I took notable issue with Lokey’s approach to transcribing the lore in Abyssal Archive.  While he clearly had an intimate understanding of the lore, his writing was never approachable from a general reader’s perspective.  SmoughTown is a much more approachable writer in comparison as he writes in a way which easily describes the lore in a digestible format but offers his own deep and complex insights to consider on top of it.  He understands the finer elements that define so much of this world and gives everything great consideration when he is framing intent and motivation behind the events and characters.  I love the structuring of the book too, rather than dropping the reader into the deep end by just starting out from the current timeline of the game, he tries to frame everything from the initial point of inception for the world and work his way forward. What also helps is each of these sections are accompanied with a plethora of beautifully exquisite illustrations which reflect key characters and enemies from the game.

On the whole, Grace Given is a phenomenal book which delivers on all facets of its design. It showcases a comprehensive understanding from SmoughTown on the very foundations of the world of Elden Ring. His ability to easily frame the deeper complexities of the history and events in an easy to understand reading experience is easily the best aspect of the story.  I had a thoroughly good time reading this book and while I already consider my Elden Ring knowledge fairly in depth, I’m happy to have my perspective and understanding reconfigured with SmoughTown’s interesting interpretations.