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45 reviews for:
Death Stranding - Death Stranding: The Official Novelization - Volume 2
Hitori Nojima
3.55 AVERAGE
45 reviews for:
Death Stranding - Death Stranding: The Official Novelization - Volume 2
Hitori Nojima
3.55 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I got this book in the hopes that it would expand on the parts of the setting that remain unexplained in-game. Like, what does DOOMS actually stand for, and what does having it entail? But no. Instead we get a terribly written, poorly translated book where the only real setting expansion is shallow character studies. I am not a fan of character studies.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I only rate this book so high because of my hyperfixation.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sam gripped the dreamcatcher hanging around his neck. Why had this thing never disappeared in all the years he had it since he was a kid? He was never without it. Even when he left Bridges. No matter what danger he faced. He never consciously took good care of it, but whenever it broke, it did seem to repair itself. It was like a part of his body now. As he grew up and his old cells were replaced by the new, it was the only thing that had remained constant. His oldest body part.
See my review for the first novelisation for more detailed thoughts in general. But where I tore through that book in about a day, this one took me much longer. The main problem is that it covers a portion of the game where things get very slow and monologuey: sitting through those meandering cutscenes is one thing in a game, where you at least have some lovely visuals and an actor’s performance to watch, but it’s just mindnumbing in book form. The big, bombastic action scenes which spiced up the back half of the game are also pretty much missing in this version, so you don’t even really have the action set pieces to liven things up either.
Things I do like, though: some of that ponderous philosophical rumination on the nature of ~connection~ did strike a chord with me. The bits with Cliff made me verklempt in the book, just as they made me cry in the game. Bridges’ shadiness is underscored a little further in the text, which I deeply appreciate. The NPC additions are nice as always (particularly the prepper who delivers to the evo-devo biologist, and how you see him driven insane by his DOOMS nightmares, which is an important worldbuilding detail imo).
And then, of course, this bit: Sam couldn’t defeat what he couldn’t see. He couldn’t hit what he couldn’t touch. He couldn’t kill what was already dead. And he couldn’t revive what hadn’t been born.
And the ending itself is still lovely; still so utterly earnest, still touching, but that might also be because I spent fully 100 hours with this character while playing the game itself.
tl;dr: I still don’t recommend the novellas as the way to experience this story or canon afresh, but they’re good if you loved the game and want more.
Merged review:
Sam gripped the dreamcatcher hanging around his neck. Why had this thing never disappeared in all the years he had it since he was a kid? He was never without it. Even when he left Bridges. No matter what danger he faced. He never consciously took good care of it, but whenever it broke, it did seem to repair itself. It was like a part of his body now. As he grew up and his old cells were replaced by the new, it was the only thing that had remained constant. His oldest body part.
See my review for the first novelisation for more detailed thoughts in general. But where I tore through that book in about a day, this one took me much longer. The main problem is that it covers a portion of the game where things get very slow and monologuey: sitting through those meandering cutscenes is one thing in a game, where you at least have some lovely visuals and an actor’s performance to watch, but it’s just mindnumbing in book form. The big, bombastic action scenes which spiced up the back half of the game are also pretty much missing in this version, so you don’t even really have the action set pieces to liven things up either.
Things I do like, though: some of that ponderous philosophical rumination on the nature of ~connection~ did strike a chord with me. The bits with Cliff made me verklempt in the book, just as they made me cry in the game. Bridges’ shadiness is underscored a little further in the text, which I deeply appreciate. The NPC additions are nice as always (particularly the prepper who delivers to the evo-devo biologist, and how you see him driven insane by his DOOMS nightmares, which is an important worldbuilding detail imo).
And then, of course, this bit: Sam couldn’t defeat what he couldn’t see. He couldn’t hit what he couldn’t touch. He couldn’t kill what was already dead. And he couldn’t revive what hadn’t been born.
And the ending itself is still lovely; still so utterly earnest, still touching, but that might also be because I spent fully 100 hours with this character while playing the game itself.
tl;dr: I still don’t recommend the novellas as the way to experience this story or canon afresh, but they’re good if you loved the game and want more.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced