Hello! Welcome one and all to the first book of April! To start this month off, I present to you the undying love of a brother and sister (aww), bad guys who aren't actually all that bad but just misunderstood, and also a bear (aww). This charming book details an event in the early lives of two characters from Vox Machina, Vex'Ahlia and Vax'Ildan the half-elven ranger and rogue twins we all know and love.
Okay, first, yes I know this is Critical Role content. Get used to it. I'm obsessed. Moving on...
One thing I really loved about this book is how much these two just freaking love the heck out of each other. Honestly, it's refreshing to see such strong sibling love in a book. I admire that they are so obvious and serious about how willing they are to go to the ends of the Exandria for each other. A big part of that is how they grew up. Their father took them from their mother when they were 10 years old and brought them to his majority-elven home of Syngorn where they were made fun of and discriminated against by everyone including their father who treated them very harshly just for not being fully elvish. Which I don't need to tell you guys is super inappropriate and dumb. Also, while they were gone getting the best tutoring and training elven money could buy, their mom and their whole hometown of Byroden were being torn asunder by a dragon. So after they escaped Syngorn together and went back home they were brought even closer together from the loss of their mother and old stomping grounds.
So of course they didn't have a home after that so they would just kinda roam around, stealing things and living off the land. In one of the towns, they were visiting to stock up on supplies the duo fell into a bit of a pickle by the name of The Clasp. Which is a very well-known and prolific branch of the thieves guild. So clearly that spells trouble. As part of that trouble, the twins were sent to a town to steal a ring. They were camping just outside of the town when they were attacked by these crazy zombies called ashwalkers. Now here's where it gets hairy. Vex was saved and taken into town by the Shadewatch who guard the town against the ashwalkers. Vax was saved and taken underground by a group of miners. Now they are just peanut butter without their jelly and don't even really know if their jelly is alive or undead.
Well, I lied. Now it gets hairy. Because the miners are talking to Vax about their experience with being cast from the town and shunned by the woman who runs it all because of a misunderstanding. Meanwhile, back at the barnyard, Vex is being told how horrible those outlaws are for unleashing the ashwalkers and how much of a savior Derowen is for being able to wield the power of this ring that keeps the town safe from the ashwalkers. Do you see all this hair? No? Let me lay it out. The magical ring that keeps the town safe is the item the twins were sent to steal and now the twins are hearing opposite sides of the same story and forming bonds with the people who protected them and are forming opinions about the story based on what each group is telling each twin.
Eventually, Peanut Butter finds her Jelly during a raid of the miners' camp where they have a standoff because Vex was following orders from the people she thought were right and Vax was protecting the people he thought were right. It's a bit tense while our sandwich siblings try to piece together the real story and when they do it's a nice happy ending where absolutely no one died and everyone lived happily ever after. 🙃 Of course that did not happen this is dnd come on. It was almost a Shakespearean tragedy. But please don't let that stop you from reading this book. Don't forget about Trinket, Vex's pet bear! Yes, he is a full-sized bear and yes he is the sweetest cutest little teddy on the planet.
I do want to say however that you don't need to be familiar with Critical Role or Vox Machina or even Dungeons and Dragons to enjoy this tale as it works very well as a standalone novel. You only need to be a fan of well-written and compelling stories and cutie patootie beary babies.
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Ya Girl Ceraya
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