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A review by depleti
Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade by Oliver Bowden, Andrew Holmes
3.0
This was fun, plain and simple. A good chunk of the story just retells the events that occurred in the first Assassin's Creed game, but there were just as many parts that were new to me. It's obvious they wrote this to fill in gaps for people who haven't played the first game but perhaps did play the later ones, and it saves the reader/wannabe-player the trouble of slogging through a mostly tedious game (also Altair's kinda horrible voice actor). I still liked the game a lot but only played it for the story. This book has the story without the game (although it does not address the present time aspects), and a better resolution.
I was kinda surprised to realize there were other books based on the games before this one, but they all focused on Ezio, the current protagonist of the games (or I think they do, judging by the covers). I don't have any strong desire to read those, not because the writing is terrible or the story is boring, but just because I have a much better grasp of Ezio's personality from playing the games. Altair was always much more distant and disconnected from the player/audience, not just because of the flat voice acting, but because his hood is never down, his face is never shown. Ezio becomes a friend of the player, Altair is always a stranger.
Which is why I was curious to read this book. It delves into Altair's past as well as what happens to him over the years after the first game ended. Altair will probably always have a bit of a mythical aspect to him because he was the first Assassin from the games and still has mysteries about him, but after reading this he's less a standoffish recluse and more an old friend.
Okay that was incredibly sappy. SORRY.
Edit: After looking at some other reviews and remembering stuff from the game, a lot of the latter stuff in the book might not be canon to the series. It's hard to say, I don't know how much freedom Bowden was given with the characters toward the end. There might be conflicts, and the writing is clunky at times, but I still enjoyed it overall.
I was kinda surprised to realize there were other books based on the games before this one, but they all focused on Ezio, the current protagonist of the games (or I think they do, judging by the covers). I don't have any strong desire to read those, not because the writing is terrible or the story is boring, but just because I have a much better grasp of Ezio's personality from playing the games. Altair was always much more distant and disconnected from the player/audience, not just because of the flat voice acting, but because his hood is never down, his face is never shown. Ezio becomes a friend of the player, Altair is always a stranger.
Which is why I was curious to read this book. It delves into Altair's past as well as what happens to him over the years after the first game ended. Altair will probably always have a bit of a mythical aspect to him because he was the first Assassin from the games and still has mysteries about him, but after reading this he's less a standoffish recluse and more an old friend.
Okay that was incredibly sappy. SORRY.
Edit: After looking at some other reviews and remembering stuff from the game, a lot of the latter stuff in the book might not be canon to the series. It's hard to say, I don't know how much freedom Bowden was given with the characters toward the end. There might be conflicts, and the writing is clunky at times, but I still enjoyed it overall.