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duwuke's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
havendear's review
3.0
Honestly, I would have given this book four stars if it weren’t for two of the short stories. One of them more so than the other. The short story entitled “Friends” is long, boring, pointless, and it drags on forever. It seriously has no place in this book at all and I feel it was only written so that Hope could been the main character of at least one of the short stories. But seriously, it is complete garbage.
The short story that takes place directly after “Friends” entitled “Present” is also pretty dull. Thankfully, it is the shortest out of all of them so it can be read if you really want to read it. But in the flow of the book and the cohesiveness of the rest of the stories, it just feels a bit off.
Personally, this book to me felt like a Final Fantasy XIII miniseries that was seven episodes long. I mean, in a lot of ways that’s what it is just in book form. There were so many instances where I felt I was watching a miniseries on Netflix and binge-watching the episodes. In a lot of ways, I kinda wish this actually was a mini-series. I mean, Final Fantasy XV got an entire feature-length movie that played in theaters along with an anime and a book all to complement that game. But Final Fantasy XIII did not get any of that (at least to my knowledge).
This book would have worked a lot better as an anime or cgi miniseries.
But still would I recommend the book? Yes. Just not “Friends.”
The short story that takes place directly after “Friends” entitled “Present” is also pretty dull. Thankfully, it is the shortest out of all of them so it can be read if you really want to read it. But in the flow of the book and the cohesiveness of the rest of the stories, it just feels a bit off.
Personally, this book to me felt like a Final Fantasy XIII miniseries that was seven episodes long. I mean, in a lot of ways that’s what it is just in book form. There were so many instances where I felt I was watching a miniseries on Netflix and binge-watching the episodes. In a lot of ways, I kinda wish this actually was a mini-series. I mean, Final Fantasy XV got an entire feature-length movie that played in theaters along with an anime and a book all to complement that game. But Final Fantasy XIII did not get any of that (at least to my knowledge).
This book would have worked a lot better as an anime or cgi miniseries.
But still would I recommend the book? Yes. Just not “Friends.”
norcani's review against another edition
3.0
this is a book for fans of the game. There is absolutely 0 reason for anyone else to pick it up. Its not well written –it’s not well translated (I’m thankful that the fans have taken it upon themselves to translate it but it is what it is. ) but I strongly suspect it wasn’t very well written either. So you know, from a non-ff13 fans perspective this is 0 out of 5 no literary or other merit and definitely not the right place to get started.
But if you already played and loved the game, and the characters. Well it’s more of the same...sort of. There are some fun interactions, some “oh so that’s what happened” moments, a bit of background info and simply more content. But what I said before still applies – it’s just not well written. But does it need to be well written – is it not enough to listen to lightning criticize peoples fashion for a whole chapter? Maybe. I don’t know. I wish there was more of lightning actually, whether shes criticizing people or not. This girl continues to elude the spotlight despite being the poster girl.
Basically, this isn’t essential info but if you love the game you’ll find it at least moderately interesting.
But if you already played and loved the game, and the characters. Well it’s more of the same...sort of. There are some fun interactions, some “oh so that’s what happened” moments, a bit of background info and simply more content. But what I said before still applies – it’s just not well written. But does it need to be well written – is it not enough to listen to lightning criticize peoples fashion for a whole chapter? Maybe. I don’t know. I wish there was more of lightning actually, whether shes criticizing people or not. This girl continues to elude the spotlight despite being the poster girl.
Basically, this isn’t essential info but if you love the game you’ll find it at least moderately interesting.
geonox's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
toloveisdestroy's review against another edition
3.0
I debated for a while on what I wanted to rate this novel, but I settled on a honest 3 star. The novel is enjoyable, but it does not provide any new information to the story of Final Fantasy XIII. It honestly is just the first videogame verbatim. Nonetheless, it was a good refresher as I prepare to delve back into the world.
icki07's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
melniksuzuki's review against another edition
4.0
Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero: Promise is a short story collection detailing what the main characters of Final Fantasy XIII were up to during the days of leading up to the Purge.
Split into seven short stories, they are as follow:
"Encounter" follows Lightning and Serah, showing Lightning's first meeting with Snow and how Serah became a l'Cie.
"Strangers" follows Fang and Vanille's awakening from their crystal sleep and their first steps on Cocoon.
"Treasure" follows Sazh and Dajh. Some parts are told in first-person as Sazh talks to the Chocobo chick as he prepares to go find a way to save Dajh before switching to third-person to show how Sazh first met the chick, how Dajh became a l'Cie and their time in PSICOM's custody.
"Search" shows how Fang met Cid and Rygdea and allied with the Cavalry while trying to find Vanille after being separated following their mission to Euride Gorge.
"Friends" is framed with Hope and his mother's trip to Bodhum with the majority of the story being a flashback to a school trip Hope took years before. I found it to be the weakest story of the bunch.
"Present" follows Snow and Serah as they shop for a birthday present for Lightning, Snow also using the trip to buy an engagement present for Serah.
The final story, "Tomorrow", begins in a style similar to the Analects from the game, detailing how Fang and Vanille became l'Cie. After that, the narrative switches back to third-person as it reveals how and why Vanille was on the Purge train at the beginning of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed Episode 0. Besides expanding details and scenes shown in the game, it also goes into details only alluded to or left out altogether. When I read the dialogue, I could hear the characters' voices.
The only fault I had with it was Hope's story, due to it focusing more on a flashback than the present-day events happening in Bodhum and a mention of how Hope almost met Sazh years before the events of the game but Hope just happened to get sick beforehand. Now, throughout the stories, we see bits of the main characters crossing paths (even if it was just being in the same area at the time) but most of those had to due to that being the case in the game and ties into the game's theme of destiny vs. free will, but this passing of Hope and Sazh just feels forced and unneeded.
Split into seven short stories, they are as follow:
"Encounter" follows Lightning and Serah, showing Lightning's first meeting with Snow and how Serah became a l'Cie.
"Strangers" follows Fang and Vanille's awakening from their crystal sleep and their first steps on Cocoon.
"Treasure" follows Sazh and Dajh. Some parts are told in first-person as Sazh talks to the Chocobo chick as he prepares to go find a way to save Dajh before switching to third-person to show how Sazh first met the chick, how Dajh became a l'Cie and their time in PSICOM's custody.
"Search" shows how Fang met Cid and Rygdea and allied with the Cavalry while trying to find Vanille after being separated following their mission to Euride Gorge.
"Friends" is framed with Hope and his mother's trip to Bodhum with the majority of the story being a flashback to a school trip Hope took years before. I found it to be the weakest story of the bunch.
"Present" follows Snow and Serah as they shop for a birthday present for Lightning, Snow also using the trip to buy an engagement present for Serah.
The final story, "Tomorrow", begins in a style similar to the Analects from the game, detailing how Fang and Vanille became l'Cie. After that, the narrative switches back to third-person as it reveals how and why Vanille was on the Purge train at the beginning of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed Episode 0. Besides expanding details and scenes shown in the game, it also goes into details only alluded to or left out altogether. When I read the dialogue, I could hear the characters' voices.
The only fault I had with it was Hope's story, due to it focusing more on a flashback than the present-day events happening in Bodhum and a mention of how Hope almost met Sazh years before the events of the game but Hope just happened to get sick beforehand. Now, throughout the stories, we see bits of the main characters crossing paths (even if it was just being in the same area at the time) but most of those had to due to that being the case in the game and ties into the game's theme of destiny vs. free will, but this passing of Hope and Sazh just feels forced and unneeded.
marimermaid's review
4.0
I really love Final Fantasy 13 and 13-2 so it was obviouse to read the book. =D
I really liked the book. I especially enjoyed the story of Vanille and Fang because you don't know much about their lifes from Grand Pulse and in the book you get to know a lot more about them: How they ended up on Coocon and how they were made L'Cie, how Fang ended up with Cid Raines and Rygdea =)
But also the story of Sazh(and Dajih), Hope, Snow, Serah and my favorite Charactere Lightning where pretty amazing!!!
I really liked the book. I especially enjoyed the story of Vanille and Fang because you don't know much about their lifes from Grand Pulse and in the book you get to know a lot more about them: How they ended up on Coocon and how they were made L'Cie, how Fang ended up with Cid Raines and Rygdea =)
But also the story of Sazh(and Dajih), Hope, Snow, Serah and my favorite Charactere Lightning where pretty amazing!!!
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