Generally a good, informative read which doesn't cover every single facet in minute detail but approaches the subject matter in the same sort of way as a good medium-weight history book - there's detail but not an overwhelming amount, while the writing style is almost conversational.
In some ways it feels more like journalism. The sources are understandably mainly interviews, and some of the wording has a journalistic feel - a lot "[person] told me" and "[person] mentioned during our conversation". Although the relatively casual writing style does make the book far more accessible than it could have been (this is a subject which could easily be made quite dry), it also adds a slightly amateurish feel to proceedings which doesn't always work in the book's favour.
Adding to this hint of sub-professionalism are numerous spelling and grammatical errors, typos and other gaffs which should have been picked up by any half-competent proofreader. The first two or three slip by easily enough - even the most polished tomes have some errors - but they begin mounting up. These little errors occur frequently enough that the book begins to feel like it hasn't been proofread at all, which starts to give it the feel of a published blog rather than a professionally written volume.
In particular, Chapter 9 (on Ancient Domains of Mystery) reads like a first draft. Errant punctuation, misplaced words and, worst of all, a failure to spell the name of the game's world correctly even once, make this chapter a striking low point in a book which is otherwise flawed but respectable.
Having said that, the niggling goofs and slightly over-casual style don't completely ruin the book. The shambolic Chapter 9 comes close to being too much, but the sloppiness of that chapter aside, Craddock has clearly done his homework. He's gone to a lot of trouble to reach individuals who seldom speak about their roguelike involvement, and the insight granted by the wealth of information makes up for other deficiencies. I have to dock one star for that one ghastly chapter, but otherwise it's a solid effort.
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