A review by ladyahsoka
Assassin's Creed Vol. 1: Trial by Fire by Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery
5.0
“My ancestor’s a white dude? Weird. Mom’s gonna have to do some explaining.”
I have been playing the Assassin’s Creed games since Ubisoft’s fifth installment (Assassin’s Creed III) giving me a fair understanding of the universe. For those of you who saw the film adaptation of this franchise let me inform you that what as depicted there is not what is shown in the games or comics. In the unadapted version tapping into your ancestor’s past is a lot different. Regardless of the film, my review’s focus is the first volume (issues 1-5) of the comic Assassin’s Creed: Assassins.
First of all, the name of the comic does not do it justice.
They could have been a bit more creative with it, but I digress. The story given is far more appealing. Now, I have not read comics in quite some time. Therefore, getting back into the reading style was a bit rocky for me which may have lead to me misinterpreting the plot in the beginning. After rereading it I was able to catch on.
The story follows, 23-year-old latina, Charlotte De la Cruz who is in search of a job. After college, she was thrown into debt and needed a place to work. However, in her spare time, she plays a virtual reality video game made by Abstergo Entertainment that features Assassins and Templars. She believes the game to be built on pure fiction until Assassins show up at her doorstep.
Through the first volume, Charlotte is thrown into the past by using the genetic memory technology known as Animus. The adventure mostly depicts De la Cruz’s ancestor in Salem, but it does not fail to give her commentary and show her undergo the process of accessing the memories. The comic does not fail to build on her character and even praises her for stamina and ability to learn quickly.
As for the story, it was never lacking. It kept me engaged and allowed me to really see more to the modern Assassin world. It also depicted a bit of the Salem witch trials which was interesting. I’m a bit of a sucker for history so seeing this period in time flow into the Assassin storyline got me excited.
The only thing I’m hoping to gain as the series continues is more information about the other Creed members. They were only introduced in this volume which could mean there could more development to come.
Overall, I cannot wait to see where Charlotte’s story goes and what new information we receive about the Assassins and Templars. Not just the past, but also the present and maybe the future.