Underworld
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So I've read all seven Assassin's Creed novels so far. The Secret Crusade, Renaissance, etc. You name it, I've read it. And YES, while they all had their flaws, they still made up for it with the characters, the secrets and artefacts of the first civilization, and the historical background. And I can say, that this volume had none of these redeeming factors. So here we go: I'm gonna start with the things I liked first. I liked that the author tried to write in a more thriller-like kind of style. Sometimes I thought "Is this Assassin's Creed? Or am I reading a historical fiction crime story?". It had a lot of strange british slang words which made the setting all the more realistic. And even the description of how London's subway stations were built was kind of intriguing. It was really off to a good start. But here come the things I don't like. Which is the majority. First off, the main part of the book, about Henry, his secret mission, about Cavanagh and Abberline, started off good. So I was surprised that all these things basically... didn't matter at all in the end. They might as well haven't happened and the story with the twins would be the same. Apart from that, the last part with the twins felt poorly written, without heart of plan. Just a retelling of the things you've been through in the game. The Metropolitan Railway artefact that they're all after shows up once, leaves chaos behind and boom, it's gone. You get thrown from this whole background story into the actual story of the game and feel like all these 300 pages you've just read don't matter in the slightest. The only thing that connects them is Henry ( and is lame love story ), and that's the second point of criticism. I was intrigued by him at first. An assassin that was raised and groomed to kill - but doesn't have the heart for it. After Haytham and his endeavours to unite Templars and Assassins, I thought that this would amount to something. Except, it didn't do that at all, lol. What the Assassins are doing to him is unfair, but Henry still fights for them. Because of faith? Not really. Because he doesn't have a choice? Kind of, but also not really. After he fails the mission, he says he won't fight for them anymore, which is the most reasonable thing. And yet he goes back to them, works for them, like his ties to the assassins didn't ruin his life more than once. Yet we are supposed to relate to him or like him, because oh, yeah, he's handsome and very skilled. Boring. I don't wanna hear it. Third point : The forced portrayal of the Assassins being the good guys. I mean, I get it, you are supposed to emphasize with them. The Templars stand for dictature, tyranny, the Assassins for freedom. So Assassins = Good guys. But all they really were, were f***ing annoying. Grooming a child to kill, forcing him to kill against his will, sentencing him to death, because he can't kill, and then still not letting him go, going after him, saying "You can't leave us, we're the GOOD CAUSE". I straight up started hating them, because if you preach free will and freedom for all of humanity, then not acting like that is highkey problematic. The Assassins weren't glorious warriors fighting for justice in this book. Just a bunch of lame old guys that drool over artefacts and blaming a teenager whom they tried to force to kill. Aka, just a bunch of a**holes with double-standards. Fourth point : The author might've realized that the story he was writing sucked. So what did he do? Ah, include a lame love-story. My biggest pet-peeve ever since the game came out. Henry and Evie getting together. It's totally not of ANY interest to the reader. A lame love-story can't make the reader go "aww this book is so cute :))". Especially not this one. Like the creators didn't know what to do with a female protagonist because OH GOD A WOMAN, AAAH, QUICK, MAKE HER FALL FOR THE GUY WITH A TRAGIC BACKSTORY. But okay, maybe it fits a little, and I'm just not feeling it. Maybe others like it, I don't know. They can marry and drool for each other as much as they want for all I care, but then WHY include it into the story. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the story! The epilogue to the historical thriller? The epilogue to this story of hunting artefacts so mighty they could change the entirety of London? Consisted of them acting like silly teenagers, shy and awkward, asking each other out ( for "matrimony" ). What a totally worthy ending for this. And lastly, yes, maybe it's not really criticism but a personal pet-peeve, but I was actually eager to see a strong female protagonist. A strong female assassin that would kick ass. She looked cool enough to be what I hoped for, and I liked that she wasn't just muscles and no brain. I liked that she wasn't Miss Perfect, but obsessed with the artefacts, so much that it resulted in her getting into a lot of disagreements with her brother. I thought that she was a realistic character with flaws : her obsession with the artefacts that made her ignore her fellow assassins and friends. I was excited for her storyline, if not for anything else. And god I was bitterly disappointed. I got a strong, realistic, female protagonist and they really made her give her entire character up for a guy. I hated it so much, you can't possibly imagine. I wasted my time reading these useless passages of her making heart-eyes at Henry and then when it got serious, she dropped the search for the artefact that she was after to go save Henry. Apart from the fact that I don't like this "Woman needs man uwu" idea, ofc it's realistic enough that she falls in love with him. I don't like it but I can accept it. Or COULD accept it because this move - going to save Henry instead of finding the artefact that was so close - is completely out of character for her. Evie , obsessed with these artefacts since her childhood, wouldn't have done that. It's poor writing, poor character developement, all for the sake of making her love-story that no one cares about progress. And people could say "Well, she's an Assassin! And Assassins value empathy!" well that's odd, considering that the Assassins sucked a** in this volume. And also, like I said, I didn't want Miss Perfect, I wanted a realistic character. The fact that maybe Henry would've died due to her being obsessed with the artefact could've made her feel guilty, given her some more character depth, and made the reader relate to her and her decisions, but with the way the story turned out, it all just looks shallow, poorly written and irrelevant. A real waste of time.
Book Information
Posts
So I've read all seven Assassin's Creed novels so far. The Secret Crusade, Renaissance, etc. You name it, I've read it. And YES, while they all had their flaws, they still made up for it with the characters, the secrets and artefacts of the first civilization, and the historical background. And I can say, that this volume had none of these redeeming factors. So here we go: I'm gonna start with the things I liked first. I liked that the author tried to write in a more thriller-like kind of style. Sometimes I thought "Is this Assassin's Creed? Or am I reading a historical fiction crime story?". It had a lot of strange british slang words which made the setting all the more realistic. And even the description of how London's subway stations were built was kind of intriguing. It was really off to a good start. But here come the things I don't like. Which is the majority. First off, the main part of the book, about Henry, his secret mission, about Cavanagh and Abberline, started off good. So I was surprised that all these things basically... didn't matter at all in the end. They might as well haven't happened and the story with the twins would be the same. Apart from that, the last part with the twins felt poorly written, without heart of plan. Just a retelling of the things you've been through in the game. The Metropolitan Railway artefact that they're all after shows up once, leaves chaos behind and boom, it's gone. You get thrown from this whole background story into the actual story of the game and feel like all these 300 pages you've just read don't matter in the slightest. The only thing that connects them is Henry ( and is lame love story ), and that's the second point of criticism. I was intrigued by him at first. An assassin that was raised and groomed to kill - but doesn't have the heart for it. After Haytham and his endeavours to unite Templars and Assassins, I thought that this would amount to something. Except, it didn't do that at all, lol. What the Assassins are doing to him is unfair, but Henry still fights for them. Because of faith? Not really. Because he doesn't have a choice? Kind of, but also not really. After he fails the mission, he says he won't fight for them anymore, which is the most reasonable thing. And yet he goes back to them, works for them, like his ties to the assassins didn't ruin his life more than once. Yet we are supposed to relate to him or like him, because oh, yeah, he's handsome and very skilled. Boring. I don't wanna hear it. Third point : The forced portrayal of the Assassins being the good guys. I mean, I get it, you are supposed to emphasize with them. The Templars stand for dictature, tyranny, the Assassins for freedom. So Assassins = Good guys. But all they really were, were f***ing annoying. Grooming a child to kill, forcing him to kill against his will, sentencing him to death, because he can't kill, and then still not letting him go, going after him, saying "You can't leave us, we're the GOOD CAUSE". I straight up started hating them, because if you preach free will and freedom for all of humanity, then not acting like that is highkey problematic. The Assassins weren't glorious warriors fighting for justice in this book. Just a bunch of lame old guys that drool over artefacts and blaming a teenager whom they tried to force to kill. Aka, just a bunch of a**holes with double-standards. Fourth point : The author might've realized that the story he was writing sucked. So what did he do? Ah, include a lame love-story. My biggest pet-peeve ever since the game came out. Henry and Evie getting together. It's totally not of ANY interest to the reader. A lame love-story can't make the reader go "aww this book is so cute :))". Especially not this one. Like the creators didn't know what to do with a female protagonist because OH GOD A WOMAN, AAAH, QUICK, MAKE HER FALL FOR THE GUY WITH A TRAGIC BACKSTORY. But okay, maybe it fits a little, and I'm just not feeling it. Maybe others like it, I don't know. They can marry and drool for each other as much as they want for all I care, but then WHY include it into the story. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the story! The epilogue to the historical thriller? The epilogue to this story of hunting artefacts so mighty they could change the entirety of London? Consisted of them acting like silly teenagers, shy and awkward, asking each other out ( for "matrimony" ). What a totally worthy ending for this. And lastly, yes, maybe it's not really criticism but a personal pet-peeve, but I was actually eager to see a strong female protagonist. A strong female assassin that would kick ass. She looked cool enough to be what I hoped for, and I liked that she wasn't just muscles and no brain. I liked that she wasn't Miss Perfect, but obsessed with the artefacts, so much that it resulted in her getting into a lot of disagreements with her brother. I thought that she was a realistic character with flaws : her obsession with the artefacts that made her ignore her fellow assassins and friends. I was excited for her storyline, if not for anything else. And god I was bitterly disappointed. I got a strong, realistic, female protagonist and they really made her give her entire character up for a guy. I hated it so much, you can't possibly imagine. I wasted my time reading these useless passages of her making heart-eyes at Henry and then when it got serious, she dropped the search for the artefact that she was after to go save Henry. Apart from the fact that I don't like this "Woman needs man uwu" idea, ofc it's realistic enough that she falls in love with him. I don't like it but I can accept it. Or COULD accept it because this move - going to save Henry instead of finding the artefact that was so close - is completely out of character for her. Evie , obsessed with these artefacts since her childhood, wouldn't have done that. It's poor writing, poor character developement, all for the sake of making her love-story that no one cares about progress. And people could say "Well, she's an Assassin! And Assassins value empathy!" well that's odd, considering that the Assassins sucked a** in this volume. And also, like I said, I didn't want Miss Perfect, I wanted a realistic character. The fact that maybe Henry would've died due to her being obsessed with the artefact could've made her feel guilty, given her some more character depth, and made the reader relate to her and her decisions, but with the way the story turned out, it all just looks shallow, poorly written and irrelevant. A real waste of time.