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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-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
As a fan of the game series this was a nice read and I'll be sure to read all these books but I'd much rather recommend playing the game over reading this book.
adventurous
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:
No
Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember.
Nothing is true.
Where other men are limited by morality and law, remember
Everything is permitted.
We work in the dark, to serve the light.
We are Assassins.
Although I enjoyed this read, being a huge Assassin's Creed fan doesn't mean I have to throw honesty aside and automatically give this book 5 stars... I only give this book 4 of 5 stars mainly due to clunky sentence structure. The plot was fantastic. The size and spacing of the chapters worked perfectly and the host of characters were interesting and well rounded.
This is a riveting tale of famous Assassin Ezio Auditore, told over the book's nearly 24 year period.
We get to see how he became part of the Order. His ups and downs as a young man, his reasons for joining. This wasn't just a tale of blind vengeance. Ezio's tale was about improving the lives of those less fortunate, cleverly liberating cities, reuniting with old friends, family and romantic flames, and even working with some of the most famous characters of the Dark Ages. (Eg. Leonardo da Vinci and a few Popes.)
The author's writing style was concise and descriptive, but the writing suffered throughout by using too many cliches and jargon when less words would do. As a reader I found myself distracted, rolling my eyes sometimes at the predictable choice of words and sifting through huge sentences of cheesy lines.
However, this was still a highly entertaining read. The author was talented in the way he used the timeline, hinting at real life events and taking liberties with certain key characters. I also appreciated the way he would gently and effectively show a block of time passing, like a year without bogging the speed of the book down too much.
Most importantly, this book has an overwhelming sense of comradery, daring adventure, peril and special effects that fans experienced jumping off rooftops or chasing pickpockets like the Ubisoft videos games provided.
Nothing is true.
Where other men are limited by morality and law, remember
Everything is permitted.
We work in the dark, to serve the light.
We are Assassins.
Although I enjoyed this read, being a huge Assassin's Creed fan doesn't mean I have to throw honesty aside and automatically give this book 5 stars... I only give this book 4 of 5 stars mainly due to clunky sentence structure. The plot was fantastic. The size and spacing of the chapters worked perfectly and the host of characters were interesting and well rounded.
This is a riveting tale of famous Assassin Ezio Auditore, told over the book's nearly 24 year period.
We get to see how he became part of the Order. His ups and downs as a young man, his reasons for joining. This wasn't just a tale of blind vengeance. Ezio's tale was about improving the lives of those less fortunate, cleverly liberating cities, reuniting with old friends, family and romantic flames, and even working with some of the most famous characters of the Dark Ages. (Eg. Leonardo da Vinci and a few Popes.)
The author's writing style was concise and descriptive, but the writing suffered throughout by using too many cliches and jargon when less words would do. As a reader I found myself distracted, rolling my eyes sometimes at the predictable choice of words and sifting through huge sentences of cheesy lines.
However, this was still a highly entertaining read. The author was talented in the way he used the timeline, hinting at real life events and taking liberties with certain key characters. I also appreciated the way he would gently and effectively show a block of time passing, like a year without bogging the speed of the book down too much.
Most importantly, this book has an overwhelming sense of comradery, daring adventure, peril and special effects that fans experienced jumping off rooftops or chasing pickpockets like the Ubisoft videos games provided.
3.5 stars.
I played Assassin's Creed 2 a long time ago and I loved it. This book reads like the game -- almost exactly like the game, but not quite; the parts about Desmond weren't included.
It wasn't the best reading experience as I already knew what was going to happen and there was just too much happening anyway, but it brought back good memories and that was worth it.
I played Assassin's Creed 2 a long time ago and I loved it. This book reads like the game -- almost exactly like the game, but not quite; the parts about Desmond weren't included.
It wasn't the best reading experience as I already knew what was going to happen and there was just too much happening anyway, but it brought back good memories and that was worth it.
I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked this book. I bought it mostly because I am somewhat obsessed with the game, and I wanted more Ezio, now please! I expected that at best it would be bearable to read because I don't tend to think too highly of novelizations of either movies or video games. But this was really good and fun.
Most of the story in the book is in the game as well, so the plot wasn't particularly surprising. But there were a few additional details - like, say, Leonardo's homosexuality, which wasn't even alluded to in the game (or if it was, I missed it) - that were fun to read about. Overall it's solidly written, and I have to say that considering the amount of both climbing and fight scenes he had to cover, the author did a really good job with this, and apparently had fun with it too (the Machiavelli jokes are a bit silly, but *I* loved them!).
I can imagine parts of the story are a bit harder to follow for people who haven't played the game, and I wish the book had covered the parts involving the present tense as well, but as it is I really enjoyed it. Especially because Ezio spends a ridiculous amount of time thinking about Leonardo ;)
Most of the story in the book is in the game as well, so the plot wasn't particularly surprising. But there were a few additional details - like, say, Leonardo's homosexuality, which wasn't even alluded to in the game (or if it was, I missed it) - that were fun to read about. Overall it's solidly written, and I have to say that considering the amount of both climbing and fight scenes he had to cover, the author did a really good job with this, and apparently had fun with it too (the Machiavelli jokes are a bit silly, but *I* loved them!).
I can imagine parts of the story are a bit harder to follow for people who haven't played the game, and I wish the book had covered the parts involving the present tense as well, but as it is I really enjoyed it. Especially because Ezio spends a ridiculous amount of time thinking about Leonardo ;)
The best video game adaptations add to the world--Bioshock by John Shirley comes to mind, which successfully expanded the story of the rise and fall of Rapture, told in game via audio diaries, but expanded greatly by John Shirley in his adaptation.
This book, rather than asking "If Assassin's Creed 2 were based on a book, what might that book look like?" seems to ask "What if this video game were in book form?" which is a less interesting question.
There is no additional lore or world-building to be gained by this read--it is a bizarrely direct translation of the game to text, in a nearly mission by mission way. As in the game, Ezio even gets a tutorial teaching him the "climbing leap" around the half-way point. There are at least some unintentional moments of humor from this. The modern day/Desmond storyline is left out entirely--understandable due to the level of complexity it's conclusion would add to the narrative, however it also makes the climactic events feel less impactful.
Looking at the descriptions of future books, I have some hope that Bowden's later AC titles are not just direct adaptations of the games, but rather give added depth to off-screen events and characters from them. This one however offers almost nothing but the game's missions in narrative text form.
This book, rather than asking "If Assassin's Creed 2 were based on a book, what might that book look like?" seems to ask "What if this video game were in book form?" which is a less interesting question.
There is no additional lore or world-building to be gained by this read--it is a bizarrely direct translation of the game to text, in a nearly mission by mission way. As in the game, Ezio even gets a tutorial teaching him the "climbing leap" around the half-way point. There are at least some unintentional moments of humor from this. The modern day/Desmond storyline is left out entirely--understandable due to the level of complexity it's conclusion would add to the narrative, however it also makes the climactic events feel less impactful.
Looking at the descriptions of future books, I have some hope that Bowden's later AC titles are not just direct adaptations of the games, but rather give added depth to off-screen events and characters from them. This one however offers almost nothing but the game's missions in narrative text form.
Pensé que me iba a gustar mucho, pero no lo hizo. La historia no está mal, pero el libro pasa muuuyy acelerado porque quieren abarcar demasiado en el mismo, aparte de eso considero que el libro está muy mal escrito y se hace muy largo, como será que estaba desesperado por terminarlo rápido!!