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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Based on the games, but I constantly felt the game is based on this book. It is not as exciting as the game, but the details, the feelings and the immersion into the corrupt world of Italian leaders are delivered and the fights between them and the Assassins are shown here geniously. Bowden had a hard job with writing this story but he managed excellently, even though it is a really fast paced story with shallow (in the means of portraying them) but loveable characters. Bowden hid many historical insights and clues, making tasteful jokes about Leonardo and Machiavelli, and leaders of the era, meanwhile the reader can feel the seemingly invincible loneliness of Ezio, the cruelity of corruption and the constant thirst for power. I am glad I could read this book in English which is not my native language, because Bowden used a great variety of words of the era, describing the beauty of the cities or realistically showing fightings. I recommend this book for all who wants to read "something else", as this story is more like a written movie, which you indeed need to imagine and be in it wholly.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Blood
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Renaissance, Oliver Bowden's first novel based on the infamous Assassin's Creed series of video games was his first take on adapting the world of the Assassins to novel format.
This book is really engaging to read, but being an adaptation of the second installment of the video game series, is not without the flaws Bowden did well to grow out of later in 'The Secret Crusade' - a book i read recently and thoroughly enjoyed.
Renaissance's exploration of Ezio Auditore, a young Florentine in the 1400s, who finds out his ancestry lies within a lineage of the Assassin's Order when his family are framed and hung for treason. We join Ezio on his journey to uncover those behind it and discover his much bigger place in the ongoing Assassin and Templar war.
Bowden did a great job capturing the majority of the elements Ubisoft Montreal set out with the Assassins Creed 2 video game, but I can't help feel that he wasn't granted much creative freedom for this installment. Each plot point is given little embellishment and breathing space before we jump to the next point, often leaving the pace of the book feeling a break-neck speed.
Perhaps this is simply bias in that if I hadn't played the video game numerous times I wouldn't be so blind to the finer details, and this book covers such a large narrative that it'd take a second read to fully experience.
This book is really engaging to read, but being an adaptation of the second installment of the video game series, is not without the flaws Bowden did well to grow out of later in 'The Secret Crusade' - a book i read recently and thoroughly enjoyed.
Renaissance's exploration of Ezio Auditore, a young Florentine in the 1400s, who finds out his ancestry lies within a lineage of the Assassin's Order when his family are framed and hung for treason. We join Ezio on his journey to uncover those behind it and discover his much bigger place in the ongoing Assassin and Templar war.
Bowden did a great job capturing the majority of the elements Ubisoft Montreal set out with the Assassins Creed 2 video game, but I can't help feel that he wasn't granted much creative freedom for this installment. Each plot point is given little embellishment and breathing space before we jump to the next point, often leaving the pace of the book feeling a break-neck speed.
Perhaps this is simply bias in that if I hadn't played the video game numerous times I wouldn't be so blind to the finer details, and this book covers such a large narrative that it'd take a second read to fully experience.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My fav book so far out of the series. It shows how Ezio starts his journey and becomes an Assassin.
adventurous
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
I’ve played this series since childhood and was pleased to find out that AC, like so many other games from growing up, were also books! I quickly picked up the whole series and am not disappointed.
Whether you played the games, or didn’t, this is a fantastic story. It’s great to have backstory on many beloved protagonist from the game series.
Whether you played the games, or didn’t, this is a fantastic story. It’s great to have backstory on many beloved protagonist from the game series.
4/5 Stars
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the game or the books. I was gifted the first book by a friend when she was moving across the country and she had just given me a random box of books. I just was not expecting to enjoy this.
However, I was invested in what was going on and Ezio's character development. I really enjoyed the audiobook and seeing characters that are real people in real life like Da Vinci and Machiavelli. I really enjoyed the background and just the plot that happened.
I will say, there were so many characters and quite a few places they went to that it was hard to keep up at times. However, when I did kind of catch up and know where we were, it was fun and intriguing.
So yeah, I will continue with this series because I'm interested to see how this continues. Also, I will probably never play the game. Interesting story, but just not for me.
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the game or the books. I was gifted the first book by a friend when she was moving across the country and she had just given me a random box of books. I just was not expecting to enjoy this.
However, I was invested in what was going on and Ezio's character development. I really enjoyed the audiobook and seeing characters that are real people in real life like Da Vinci and Machiavelli. I really enjoyed the background and just the plot that happened.
I will say, there were so many characters and quite a few places they went to that it was hard to keep up at times. However, when I did kind of catch up and know where we were, it was fun and intriguing.
So yeah, I will continue with this series because I'm interested to see how this continues. Also, I will probably never play the game. Interesting story, but just not for me.