hamletsskull's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Edward Kenway is a fascinating Asssassin, and his story from dead end sheep farmer to Assassin is fascinating as it is fun. He's not under the belief that he's a good man, but he's doing his best... most of the time. I would recommend this to someone who's never played the games simply because that since Edward is also coming in as an outsider you reliably know as much as he does. Also Oliver Bowden has his voice down pat. There were several instances where I found myself thinking to myself that "yes, I can hear Matt Ryan saying that in character"
"You should've killed me when you had the chance, I'll have it on my grave stone."
"You should've killed me when you had the chance, I'll have it on my grave stone."
nik_hybrid's review against another edition
5.0
Should have killed me when you had the chance…
Love it! Absolutely loved it! It was very interesting to have an insight into Kenway’s mind, to understand him better and know how he saw himself throughout his life.
10/10 recommend to anyone who’s loved the game (or even to those who just want to discover his story)
Love it! Absolutely loved it! It was very interesting to have an insight into Kenway’s mind, to understand him better and know how he saw himself throughout his life.
10/10 recommend to anyone who’s loved the game (or even to those who just want to discover his story)
bazwilkinson85's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
It's a fine book, but not great. I was quite invested in the beginning, but the story quickly turns south and nothing really happens for about 400 pages. The ending seems rather rushed, with Edward, our main character, tying up all his loose ends in about 4 chapters which are about 15 pages all together. Edward also isn't one of the best protagonists the series has had - you don't particularly want to root for him as you did Altair or Ezio. I would probably recommend this book to fans of the video game it's based on, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, but would not recommend further.
Spoiler
He isn't even an Assassin for most of the book which kind of defeats the point of Assassin's Creed in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Miscarriage, War, and Racism
demy_kass's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
1.25
Σε έναν κόσμο χωρίς χρυσό, μπορεί να ήμασταν Ήρωες
mpetruce's review against another edition
3.0
I read this because my son said to, so I did. I have no problem with video game novelizations, especially now that really strong writers are doing them, though some still are little better than some of the lamer fan fiction out there.
Not a lot happens for large portions of this book, but it was very readable. I wanted to hear more about Edward's story as it unfolded.
As a protagonist, Edward is really dense sometimes. Especially as the book nears its end, he even has people he respects and cares about, not to mention is using as his primary motivation, spell out everything wrong about what he is doing and who he is, yet he still goes and does it. Even when he professes to have learned and is a changed man and all that, he still acts like a cement head, which takes away from the revelation of character he should be having as the book goes on. I put some of this down to required fan service for the gamers who read this, though. Near the end particularly, the book, especially the action sequences, starts to read like closed captioning for gameplay or a let's play video.
But all in all this book is just so darn readable, I enjoyed my time with it.
Not a lot happens for large portions of this book, but it was very readable. I wanted to hear more about Edward's story as it unfolded.
As a protagonist, Edward is really dense sometimes. Especially as the book nears its end, he even has people he respects and cares about, not to mention is using as his primary motivation, spell out everything wrong about what he is doing and who he is, yet he still goes and does it. Even when he professes to have learned and is a changed man and all that, he still acts like a cement head, which takes away from the revelation of character he should be having as the book goes on. I put some of this down to required fan service for the gamers who read this, though. Near the end particularly, the book, especially the action sequences, starts to read like closed captioning for gameplay or a let's play video.
But all in all this book is just so darn readable, I enjoyed my time with it.
richardpapenapologist's review against another edition
2.0
Black Flag is one of my favourite games ever, maybe even my favourite, and Edward Kenway is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. I can’t help but compare this book to its game counterpart and I was fully aware it wouldn’t measure up to the game. However, some of the changes made in this book compared to the game were bizarre.
Initially I enjoyed learning more about Edward’s life before the events of the game for the first hundred or so pages of this book. I thought it was written well too — this is why this was a two star read for me and not a one star.
Unfortunately things then started to go south for me with the weird and unnecessary introduction of a revenge plot, with Edward finding out that the people who burned his and his parents’ house down were associated with the Templars, who he would later go to fight against. He was beat unconscious and thrown onto a ship to become a privateer — yes, he’d already made this decision, but in the game the fact that it was his decision alone was important in conveying his initial greed, a very important part of his character. At this point I started to enjoy reading this book less and less.
From there on, the book relies on the reader knowing the plot of the original game. Obviously a fifteen-ish hour game can’t be crammed into a book in its entirety without being much longer than this one, which already was over 450 pages but in all fairness felt shorter. What we end up getting, though, is a very shortened version of the game’s events. I’ve always loved Edward for the journey he takes — from a cocky, naive pirate to the wiser assassin we know by the end, who has learnt his lessons the hard way. We don’t reach this point by the end of the book, because while many of the more emotional and introspective moments of the game are included, we’re pretty much only given their dialogue, without much reflection from Edward. How much did his conversations with Mary Read and Anne Bonny mean to him here? In Edward’s letters to his daughter he writes of his admiration for Mary, but we don’t really see why.
The writing itself also gets lazy. How many times does Edward “engage” his blade? More times than we’re told how a character says any particular sentence, at least, as we’re usually just given lines of dialogue on its own.
Something I really hated about this book was how it handled its female characters. The nature of Edward’s relationship with Caroline is pretty reflective of the era in which the book is set, but there was absolutely no reason for Edward to notice Mary’s breasts on multiple occasions, nor for him to have any romantic feelings for Anne (which were mentioned once and then immediately forgotten about — was that added in the day before publishing or something?). His relationships with Mary and with Anne were purely platonic in the game and were still very important, with him sharing meaningful moments with both characters. It was insulting to the two women to have Edward see them in such a light, especially when he didn’t in the original game.
Another thing I was disappointed by was the almost complete lack of Adéwalé, a favourite of many including myself in the game. He’s a great character, already there for the author to use, and he was wasted! Again, Edward notes his admiration for Adé, but the reader hasn’t earned that sentiment as we aren’t actually privy to many of Edward and Adé’s conversations or what Adé does to be such a good companion to Edward, at least not without already being familiar with the game.
And don’t get me started on that ending. Edward Kenway, the man who lost so many of his friends due to the Templars’ plight, the man who goes on to become a legendary pirate and master assassin, takes a deal from a Templar? Okay, I could see him accepting a pardon on behalf of his crew, as he would have genuinely wanted the best for them by this point, but I don’t believe he would’ve given in that easily at least for his own sake. To top it off, this occurred in the last two pages of the book. It felt like the author felt the need to extent Edward’s story beyond the last cutscene, and again tacked this on at the last minute.
Despite a strong start, this book managed to undermine Edward’s character development as well as his relationships with several important and interesting characters. The game has such a strong plot and cast of characters, and somehow this book manages to both waste and ruin them. I’ll be pretending I never read this.
Initially I enjoyed learning more about Edward’s life before the events of the game for the first hundred or so pages of this book. I thought it was written well too — this is why this was a two star read for me and not a one star.
Unfortunately things then started to go south for me with the weird and unnecessary introduction of a revenge plot, with Edward finding out that the people who burned his and his parents’ house down were associated with the Templars, who he would later go to fight against. He was beat unconscious and thrown onto a ship to become a privateer — yes, he’d already made this decision, but in the game the fact that it was his decision alone was important in conveying his initial greed, a very important part of his character. At this point I started to enjoy reading this book less and less.
From there on, the book relies on the reader knowing the plot of the original game. Obviously a fifteen-ish hour game can’t be crammed into a book in its entirety without being much longer than this one, which already was over 450 pages but in all fairness felt shorter. What we end up getting, though, is a very shortened version of the game’s events. I’ve always loved Edward for the journey he takes — from a cocky, naive pirate to the wiser assassin we know by the end, who has learnt his lessons the hard way. We don’t reach this point by the end of the book, because while many of the more emotional and introspective moments of the game are included, we’re pretty much only given their dialogue, without much reflection from Edward. How much did his conversations with Mary Read and Anne Bonny mean to him here? In Edward’s letters to his daughter he writes of his admiration for Mary, but we don’t really see why.
The writing itself also gets lazy. How many times does Edward “engage” his blade? More times than we’re told how a character says any particular sentence, at least, as we’re usually just given lines of dialogue on its own.
Something I really hated about this book was how it handled its female characters. The nature of Edward’s relationship with Caroline is pretty reflective of the era in which the book is set, but there was absolutely no reason for Edward to notice Mary’s breasts on multiple occasions, nor for him to have any romantic feelings for Anne (which were mentioned once and then immediately forgotten about — was that added in the day before publishing or something?). His relationships with Mary and with Anne were purely platonic in the game and were still very important, with him sharing meaningful moments with both characters. It was insulting to the two women to have Edward see them in such a light, especially when he didn’t in the original game.
Another thing I was disappointed by was the almost complete lack of Adéwalé, a favourite of many including myself in the game. He’s a great character, already there for the author to use, and he was wasted! Again, Edward notes his admiration for Adé, but the reader hasn’t earned that sentiment as we aren’t actually privy to many of Edward and Adé’s conversations or what Adé does to be such a good companion to Edward, at least not without already being familiar with the game.
And don’t get me started on that ending. Edward Kenway, the man who lost so many of his friends due to the Templars’ plight, the man who goes on to become a legendary pirate and master assassin, takes a deal from a Templar? Okay, I could see him accepting a pardon on behalf of his crew, as he would have genuinely wanted the best for them by this point, but I don’t believe he would’ve given in that easily at least for his own sake. To top it off, this occurred in the last two pages of the book. It felt like the author felt the need to extent Edward’s story beyond the last cutscene, and again tacked this on at the last minute.
Despite a strong start, this book managed to undermine Edward’s character development as well as his relationships with several important and interesting characters. The game has such a strong plot and cast of characters, and somehow this book manages to both waste and ruin them. I’ll be pretending I never read this.
carlottacauthon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Very enjoyable. A good book to get you out of a reading slump. Although not a lot of info about the Assassin’s Creed as much as I would have liked, the plot being about piracy and life as a pirate was really awesome. I found Kenway a really likeable character