Okay, I am hyped for this. Thoughts:

- FINALLY we’re seeing a novel. FINALLY. THIS is the format that Overwatch’s story needs to exist in, with comics and cinematics. Better late than never, but almost TOO late because folks are moving away from the game very quickly. Not the best timing, but I will take it.

- Seen a lot of “this kind of lore should be in THE GAME!!!” No, it shouldn’t. The game is a terrible format for lore. Wait for Overwatch 2 for that.

- Um, Nicky Drayden as the author? A woc in STEM who writes Afrofuturist prose? AMAZING CHOICE HELLO??

- Not only does the book feature Efi and Orisa, we’ll get a good heaping serving of Lucio and Doomfist too. Yaaaas!

- Seeing Efi as a legitimate character in the story and enhancing her presence is so important. Efi has always been considered a missed opportunity and part of Blizzard’s bungling of incorporating a black woman into the game. I’ve always felt that it’s a lack of balance between gameplay and story (for instance, Zenyatta essentially has less lore than Efi and Orisa, but since he is a playable character he is legitimized in that sense), but the issue is undeniable. I am 96% sure we’ll be getting Sojourn in the future, so the one two punch of Efi being a primary character of the story and Sojourn being a playable character will be awesome.

- Blizzard could have played it safe with another Tracer or Genji Thing, but they went with Efi. Respect.

- Even if youre burnt out on OVW, give this one a go. It’ll say a lot to The Money People Of Blizzard if a young adult novel about a young african engineer saving the world written by an awesome woc writer does really well.