Dishonored: The Return of Daud

Dishonored #2

by Adam Christopher

The official new novel set in the world of Dishonored 2, the award-winning video game.As Empress Emily Kaldwin flees Dunwall after the coup by Delilah Copperspoon and Duke Luca Abele of Serkonos, a lone figure watches, the Mark of the Outsider burning on his hand.Daud—legendary assassin—has returned to Dunwall, a city in turmoil. He is seeking a mythical weapon, said to have the power to kill the Outsider, and will go to any lengths to find it. But there are those who are watching his every move. Travelling the Isles to complete his mission, Daud will soon discover that old enemies have been waiting for him, and new enemies are easy to make…

Genres: Fantasy, Video Games, Fiction, Games, Steampunk, Science Fiction, Media Tie In

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 27, 2018

About the author

Adam Christopher is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith and Master of Evil,  Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. He has also written official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show Elementary and the award-winning Dishonored video game franchise.

Co-creator of the twenty-first-century incarnation of Archie Comics superhero The Shield, Adam has also written for the universes of Doctor Who and World of Warcraft, and is a contributor to the internationally bestselling Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View anniversary anthology series and the all-ages Star Wars Adventures comic.

Adam’s original novels include Made to Kill and The Burning Dark, among many others, and his debut novel Empire State was both a SciFi Now and Financial Times book of the year.

Reviews

[Atsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

[My brain is saying “4 stars” but my love for Daud is stronger
*throws 5 stars into the Void*]

Oh wow, I loved it.
If I sound surprised, it's because I never managed to finish The Corroded Man which (in my opinion) was a repetitive and tedious read, and there was always something making me go “tsk” at one point or another.
But The Return of Daud is honestly GREAT: good pacing, good writing, interesting secondary characters The Devlins are the best and nice little ties with the second game without being too on the nose, everything I could have asked for. It gave me some feels and answers, even though I'm still disappointed by Daud's whole “I've made terrible decisions and it's the Outsider's fault!” shtick, but now I... almost get it. I have a theory, at least.

If you need some chronology: The Return of Daud takes place during the events of Dishonored 2, but I'd advise you to read it after playing through Death of the Outsider, especially if you haven't read The Wyrmwood Deceit. However, I haven't read Peeress and the Price yet so I can't tell you about this one for now.

Wow, the Dishonored-verse sure is getting complicated. It's as if they had been building some wibbly wobbly timey wimey subplot for quite a while, maybe for, I don't know, the 3rd novel that has been announced? (pretty please?)

[Rose Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mind The Timing-
The main thing you need to know going into this book is that it is not set after Dishonored 2. It mentions what he does in the time skip between the first and second games. Glosses over the Daud DLC of D1, and gives us a story that more truly starts during Dishonored 2. If you don't realize this every time the author tries to connect this book to the rest of the series it's going to be really confusing. Or worse, feel haphazard.

With that said, I enjoyed the book. Daud's character is written believably, you have interesting new characters who also very much fit the style of Dishonored. To me, it has the same highs and lows the game has. If you love the game, you'll love this.

My complaint is this. The book came after DOTO, I believed it would fit snugly in between games, it does not fit neatly anywhere and if anything it makes me wonder if this novel sets up for someone else. I don't expect the book to give game announcements but I'm not fond of the book making the neat "for now" ending of DOTO messier. But maybe you are the sort who really wants a clue of what happens next and you'll find this a feature instead of a bug.

Overall, I like this book it's the first book out of five I was able to engage during a reading slump. And for the price that trade paperbacks are, it's absolutely worth it.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much like the first Dishonored book, I can't decide if this one suffers or is helped by being written by Adam Christopher. He has a style which is very action heavy and invokes memories of the video game very strongly. This seems like a good thing, but famously, video game tie-in novels and films tend to flop precisely because people try too hard to recreate the game in the fiction. Ultimately, a video game must be played, so it must be three parts action to one part plot. A book or a film, however, is a much more passive experience, so should really focus much more on plot than action. Adam Christopher seems to have forgotten this, and I feel his tactics for writing the Dishonored books is to take whatever major plot points the devs insist he must include and string them together with 50 page action scenes and not much else. On top of this, I have rated this one a bit lower than I might otherwise have done, because he has completely missed what the character of Daud is all about. He is an ingenious spy and assassin, using his wits and intelligence, backed up by raw skill and a cold heart (and magical powers) to make quick work of any situation before him. Christopher, on the other hand, has written a (poor) James Bond book, where our hero blunders into almost every fight he can like a blunt object, bashing his way out of it with all the finesse of an armoured hippo. The only chapters that stood out for me did so because they seemed to be hinting at more video game fun to come (no details because of spoilers!). Over all, I'd much rather be playing the game than reading Adam Christopher's blunt force trauma of a novel, but I am glad I know the whole story, and my love of the Dishonored series was enough to carry me through what is ultimately a very quick and easy read.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with Adam Christopher's previous Dishonored book, Dishonored: The Corroded Man, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the prose is for a video game tie-in novel. However, the characterization of a few characters (but mainly ones who didn't feature very hugely) felt a little off and the plot was a bit lackluster. Still, definitely worth the read if you're a Dishonored fan.

[Jakey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Similar to its predecessor in the trilogy, "The Return of Daud" promises to bridge gaps between Dishonored games, bringing back the favourite character Daud to explore his activities since his last appearance. While the promise of discovering Daud's story after the last games, and expecially before the Death of the Outsider, was intriguing, the book falls short of fulfilling its promises.

Rather than providing the anticipated answers to questions, the narrative takes a more simplistic approach, resembling a conventional RPG quest with the familiar formula of "run there and find this." While this structure isn't inherently bad, it this case it is just not enought to make book enjoyable. The narrative lacks the depth and engagement that characterized the first book in the trilogy.

In contrast to its predecessor's excellence, the second book falters in its storytelling. The plot feels uninspired, and a supposed "plot twist" in the end of the book feels out of place, and I had to take a pause to make myself sure that I read the same book I was reading just moments earlier. This unexpected turn detracts from the overall cohesiveness of the story, leaving the reader questioning its relevance and impact.

In summary, while "The Return of Daud" maintains the trilogy's goal of connecting game narratives (Small bonus point for the connection to the second game at the beginning of the book.), it struggles to live up to the standard set by the first book. The weakened story can not be saved by Daud, however much I like him as a character.

[Zack Kinslayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It manages to be slightly better than the first book only because it managed to actually have somewhat decent writing. Daud is written far better than Emily and Corvo in the first book and I actually felt like I wanted to learn his journey. However, the book couldn’t escape the feeling that it wants to be a video game despite knowing it’s a book.

[Atticus Payne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeaaaah...no. I went into this hoping it'd be at least a three star, and maybe even highlight the narrative parts of the games that I enjoyed the most. Instead, what I read was a very, very clunky transfer of mediums that took everything that would work fine in a game and butchered it in text. What I mean by that:
Daud's characterization is not great, imo. The book ignores any development towards pacifism from the games and instead has him butcher his way through every fight scene with little to no creativity. The renowned assassin, the Knife of Dunwall walks into traps for the sake of plot, kills pretty much everyone in his way with zero thought towards it (that I remember, at least), and then reminisces his backstory of deserving his titles for the sake of exposition towards readers who have no memory of his story in the games, for whatever reason. Great.
There doesn't seem to be much added backstory towards any of the characters I care about; there are nods to other characters without any real impact (the geniuses and the rich dude), the whole plot is a wild goose chase and we end more or less where we started but with a more battered Daud and more random characters popping up.
The one thing I did get slightly interested in was the effects of blinking without enough mana. It was a nice transfer over of an in game concept to a narrative device, though it was resolved and never referenced again within a couple chapters with one (1) drink of Addermire.

This book did nothing for me beyond spoil Daud, bait me on for no reason, give me a laugh at a couple of lines I simply could not imagine characters saying (or even just thinking, for that matter), and convince me of how not to do a video game-based novel.

[Brodie braun]

Brodie B
7th hr

Name: Brodie Braun

Book title: Dishonored: The Return of Duad

Personal Response
The book Dishonored The Return of Duadpiqued my interest because it was based on a game that is GREAT. The other reason was that I had nothing to do over this summer. The book has a great storyline just like the game.

Plot Summary
Dishonored was a good book as well as a good game, but I still think the game was better. The book was about Duad who has the mark of the outsider engraved on his hand. This mark allows him to tap into the power of the void which is pretty much hell. The void is where the outsider came from he is basically Duads enemy in this book. The mark allows Duad to use blink witch makes him teleport around 10/20 ft. The outsider wants to vanquish the world because he has sardonic godlike powers. The outsider was created with a twin-bladed double-sided knife buy sacrificing the human outsider they created the void outsider. Duad is set on a mission to find the double-bladed knife and kill the outsider.

Recommendation
In conclusion, the dishonored book is great and I will not stop until I get a second book. There is nothing wrong with the book, although, it disappointed me when there was no game/book crossover. In the book, it is great when you get to the witches part because there is a huge fight. I would recommend this book to anyone that played the game or has an interest in adventure action books

[Artylo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before even getting into my whole opinion on the book itself, I can't help but express my sincere ire at this book's title. As a series of words "The Return of Daud" is quite a lot in the given context. Let's say you liked the original Dishonored and you really liked Daud in particular because of The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches - knowing what you do, Daud coming back is quite a big event, considering everything else up to this point has been Daud's "Enough Coin to Disappear" Farewell Tour. Regardless if you're going into Dishonored 2 or getting into the books, naming one of them "The Coolest Guy in the Series is Coming Your Way" makes sense marketing-wise, but completely undermines everything before and after it. I usually hate suggesting things to authors who are apathetic of my existence, but "The Twin-bladed Knife" would have kept the mystique and the surprise until you at least crack the first page open, pay homage to "The Knife of Dunwall" and moreover make me happy, instead of just being a big bold-lettered spoiler.

The book itself is a fairly sizeable downgrade from The Corroded Man. The whole premise had blown its load just having Daud exist within the narrative (see above), so in practical terms, the also needed to give him a reason to be here at all. I will give it props for finding ways to tie it in with both The Corroded Man and presumably Dishonored 2, but it also feels that most of the interesting changes in both characters and events are happening somewhere off-screen. That observation is kind of moot, because in this case they literally are, just in other mediums. Meanwhile you just get to read about Daud going on this globetrotting tour of admittedly cool new places, chasing after a McGuffin with very little in terms of cool plot developments, save for what feels like a 'Hail Mary' at the very end.

While it is fun to read every single line of dialogue in Michael Madsen's voice, you get the distinct impression that you don't get to hear Daud speak a lot. A brooding silent type by nature - sure, but he's also displayed a sincere remorse, a deep regret and yearning for redemption. He was prone to introspection, which feels sorely missing from this whole narrative.

The first few chapters felt fairly on-point, but somewhere towards the middle of the book, it seemed like the side-characters were taking over, in terms of sheer pages devoted to ultimately irrelevant dialogue and moustache twirling. A lot of factions get their own plot-thread, but none of them ever get resolved in any meaningful way. All the surrealism an occultism is entirely contained to the very first chapter and the diegetic pre-chapter book excerpts.

If there ever was a book that both reader and writer wanted to be over, so that A) the author can satisfy their contract for X amount of tie-in novels that set up events in another medium, and B) the reader who just wants to get done so they can play their video game - this is it. A kind of empty, mostly meaningless filler episode in an otherwise entertaining series.

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Return of Daud is a reasonably entertaining read for Dishonored fans, but it suffers greatly from a delay in release that saps it of almost all its impact.

I would have loved to read The Return of Daud after finishing Dishonored 2 -- excited to see what was next for the series, and maybe even eagerly awaiting the release of the Death of the Outsider spinoff. There were some lose threads at the end of the game, and I would have been interested to see if this book picked any of them up.

Unfortunately, The Return of Daud -- while originally slated to release between those two games -- came out after the final game in the series (as of this review). I felt the Death of the Outsider was a solid ending for the series. If it was the end, it went out in a big way -- it's hard to imagine what a future story in the world would entail. As such, reading this book after the games are over almost cheapens the story. It's like an epilogue that adds nothing except prolonging a series that already met its natural conclusion.

The Return of Daud takes place concurrently with Dishonored 2, and sees titular assassin Daud undertaking his quest to kill the Outsider before the events of Death of the Outsider. It's at least passingly interesting to see Daud's take on events of the game, and what parts of it his story interacts with. But the dramatic irony that should make a prequel/side story so sweet requires that the journey be as interesting as the destination.

I read the book knowing that Daud's quest would have to end a certain way, but I didn't get any particularly interesting new context into that ending. Daud is pretty one-note, and his experiences here don't cast Death of the Outsider in an especially new light. A third-act cameo from another character feels more like bait for the third novel in the trilogy than anything important for this story. And the new side characters are mere caricatures as well.

There are two saving graces to The Return of Daud. First, the world of Dishonored remains fascinating. Daud ventures outside of where the games take place, and getting to experience those locations was one of the more interesting aspects of the book. Second, most media tie-in books are very poorly written. Adam Christopher has a knack for painting a picture in the mind's eye and writing with a more discernable style than many of his contemporaries.

Overall, I would recommend The Return of Daud to Dishonored fans with one important caveat: This one is much better experienced if you read it between Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider. If you read it later, it's not worth nearly as much.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 only due to Norcross, whom strangely is not mentioned in anyone's review. Preface this review by saying I'm going to gush over the sub plot of Norcross and his collection in the castle. Thinking on it now, I much rather would have dropped the search for the twin bladed knife storyline and went with this cat and mouse between Norcross and Daud. It is genuinely creepy once we step inside the fortress, disappointingly we do not get nearly enough time on page to delve into the " collection " and how it came about however we do get to know how long it took. The final chapter that deals with this sub plot and moreover the final paragraph is chilling and simultaneously deflating because we skim over the kill . To briefly mention everything else, the Devlins were so ingratiating I was thankful there pov's were few and far between. The protector's league is as laughable as it's name and the witches.....they had possibly three pov chapters at most and they felt like they were just there. I hear veiled terror is the worst of the bunch we will see, sadly this was the first read of the new year but I don't hold regret in a vast amount.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teraz neviem, že či je dobre, alebo zle, že som hrala Dishonored 2 a až potom čítala túto knihu. Mohlo to byť aj naopak, lebo spolu viac, či menej korešpondujú. Prelínajú sa mi oba príbehy, vidím trpiacu veľrybu, vidím Daudove skoky, jeho odvahu... Mám pocit, že len vďaka obom (knihe aj hre) mi príde Daud komplexnejší. Samozrejme, že kniha je napísaná štýlom hry, ukazuje, kde sa začína prerod špióna a neľútostného zabijaka ovládajúceho mágiu vďaka znameniu od Cudzinca, na človeka, ktorý má cieľ, a ktorý zisťuje, komu veriť, komu odpustiť, za čo bojovať. Táto časť mi príde akčnejšia, ako prvý diel, veľmi sa mi páčili časti súvisiace s Cudzincom (ruku hore, koho ten čiernooký bastard žijúci tisícky rokov v Prázdnote nefascinoval?!), ale aj návrat do štvrtí Dunwallu, či nazretie do zákulisia Dohliadateľov, čarodejníc, ale pár slov o starých známych postavách ako je Sokolov a podobne. Tak ako je svet Dishnored vizuálne fascinujúci, tak sa ho aj autor snažil preniesť na papier. Myslím, že sa mu to aj celkom podarilo.
Záver vraj mnohých sklamal, ale mňa nie, je to skvelé doplnenie hry.

[Amiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved video games, and Dishonored is one of them. I have this book since the day it was released and i've read it countless of times. So I am posting this review now, even if I'm new here.

Daud has been my favorite character since the first time I saw him . He's callous, ruthless and in a city like Downwall, it explains why people there would mostly be dicks almost 100% of the time.

I am glad Adam Christopher gaves us a chance to see how Daud has been since Corvo gave him a second chance and kick him out of Downwall. He's older but he's still deadly.
I loved the book had him the center of it all throughout the story. Billy Lurk, since she was always his trusthworthy second-in-comnad, even tho she betrayed him, she redemmed herself by looking for him. She indeed cared about Daud and went into great lenghts to help him.
I recomend reading this book. It is really worthy and it gives more insight of Daud's story.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to the first book in this trilogy, this is a good book if you are a fan of the series. It provides a lot of additional lore and character development. I also think Daud is one of the better Dishonored characters and it makes sense he's gotten so much love from this series. My only gripe with the story is a later plot development that seems like it was added in to write off a plot hole...that didn't exist? It was weird and kinda colors the last bit of the book sourly for me. It felt rushed. If you can get past that, the rest of the book is a fun fantasy/whalepunk adventure that should appeal to a fan and maybe draw in someone who is unsure on the series.

[Gastón Ledesma · Rating 3 out of 5]

El principal propósito de esta novela es explicar dónde estaba Daud durante todo el segundo juego. Si bien brinda respuestas a algunas preguntas pendientes de los juegos, y sirve para cimentar lo que sería la historia de la expansión de la muerte del forastero, cosa que agradezco y que creo que lo hace de buena manera, no destaca en absolutamente nada más.
Aparte de todo esto hay que sumar hay varias escenas totalmente inexplicables que solo sirven para evitar que la historia termine antes de tiempo.
Similar al libro anterior en calidad, con la excepción de que este si responde preguntas importantes para el desarrollo de los personajes y del mundo, a diferencia de su antecesor.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm very sad to give it such a low rating! Because I live Daud and I loved the first book bcs it was really good for a video game tie in.
But where vol 1 had a coherent fitting story the 2nd vol was a confusing mess.
Yes I played both games and the add on, and ofc I know what the knife is, Daud is searching for.
But still. It didn't fit into the game story. It was confusing and kind of... Pointless. There were not enough new information to anything of the world building. Only at the Ende was one interesting fact why Daud was in such a bad shape in the Addon. But that's it.
The rest was boring at best, and annoying at worst (the married mercenary couple).

I'm really really sad.

[Eric Leeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dishonored franchise is one of my favourite video game series; this is due to the rich storyline, the well developed characters and the plot twists. translating this into print is quite the undertaking, but they manage to bring the dark, violent, and beautiful world into this book series with enough attention to details that I truly enjoyed these books. Exploring the personalities of the antihero Daud and his apprentice, turned betrayer Billie Lurk is what makes this series worth playing/reading. I truly hope there is more to come from this world.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be biased bc Daud is my fav DH character, but I really enjoyed getting into his head in a way you couldn't in a video game. He felt very in character, and the story gives very entertaining context leading up to Death of The Outsider. The only complaint I have is Daud doesn't really have allies, therefore there's not another consistent character for him to bounce off of. Though him being a loner after the events of The Plauge makes a lot of sense, so that's a minor nitpick.

[Rustic Red Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the one I liked the least disliked in the trilogy of novels. This one is good and might be worth your while if you are interested in the dishonored universe . . . but the thing in the end wherein Billie Lurk could not change time (and more importantly could time travel) kinda confuses me. Maybe the events of DOTO is a fixed point in time?

[Dragoonfliy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! Liked it better than the first one, probably just because I'm a big fan of the particular brand of villains that appear. Spooky castle with a dark secret? Yeah I'm there.

Still just really not a fan of the constant Outsider past obsession, but I know that's a symptom of the later DOTO game writers and no fault of this author.

[Grant Gurney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book, with the character of Daud brought to life brilliantly. The locations were interesting too. However, I was totally confused by the ending? Just what the heck happened after Billie appeared???

[Rachel Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book read it

[Benny Sperling · Rating 5 out of 5]

not a video gamer, but i really like these books! Go Adam!

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book for people who hasn't played DIshonored 1 & 2

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Now I feel like I need to replay Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider.

[Laurens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as a compelling a read as The Corroded Man, but that's mainly because Daud isn't my favorite character. Also, the ending (unnecessarily?) convolutes the canon ending set forth in the video games.

[molls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love me some dishonored

[Deya van de Rijt]

On my TO READ list because I really need to finish this book sometime...

[Alice B · Rating 5 out of 5]

THEE asexual king of dunwall

[Cai Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

daud :)