Assassin's Creed

Back when I was a kid, we didn't go to the movies all that often (and we only had to walk uphill one way)...not that that's changed much since I became not a kid. But in those days, if there was a movie I really wanted to see, I'd often pickup the novelization, since I couldn't just go and download a copy off the internet. Sometimes, as I'd find out later after finally seeing the movie on DVD or TV, the book was a pretty straight conversion from the film. But, there were a few cases where the book was slightly different, often including little tidbits that had been in the script, but either never made it into the movie, or ended up on the editing room floor. This was back in the day before special features really took off, so it was kind of neat to get to experience something that people who just watched the movie didn't get to see. I had recently stumbled upon a set of books based on Assassin's Creed, the Ubisoft video game franchise. Being a big fan, I picked up the four books currently out...

Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade

Based on the first game, but actually published third, Assasin's Creed: The Secret Crusade is presented as Niccolò Polo relating the tale to his brother Maffeo. The tale follows Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad as he re-learns what it means to be an assassin after his hubris leads to the death of one of his fellow assassins and the maiming of another. As he works his way back up through the ranks by eliminating targets for his master, Al Mualim, Altaïr begins to question the beliefs of his victims, as well as his own. This ultimately leads to a confrontation that changes Altaïr's life, as well as the future of the Assassin Order. It also introduces us to the Pieces of Eden, artifacts from an earlier civilization with amazing powers to control others, project hallucinations, and seemingly show the future.

The book also includes the events immediately following Assassin's Creed the game, as well as Altaïr's later years in Masyaf, which didn't appear in game form until Assassin's Creed: Revelations. 

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Based on the second game (Assassin's Creed II) and the first book of the series, Assassin's Creed: Renaissance introduces us to Ezio Auditore da Firenze. A brash young man from Florence, Italy, Ezio lives a carefree life until the day his family is betrayed and Ezio is left as the only surviving male member of his family and the heir to his father's association with the Assassins. With the assistance of the Auditore housemaid, Ezio begins learning the ways of the Assassin Order and extracts his revenge upon his father's betrayer. No longer safe in Florence, Ezio finds his way to Monteriggioni and his uncle Mario. Learning more of the ways of the Creed, Ezio uncovers a Templar plot against the Medici family, another well off family in Florence who were close with the Auditores. The Pazzi family, working with Rodrigo Borgia, seek to take control of Florence from the Medici. Following this, Ezio travels to Forli to continue his quest to stop the Templars, where he meets Caterina Sforza. There he learns of another conspiracy, this time to remove the Doge of Venice (doge is the senior-most elected official). It is here Ezio meets Bartolomeo d'Alviano, leader of a band of mercenaries who aides Ezio in his future endeavors against the Templars. 

After finding out the Doge assassination was just a distraction while the Templars fled, Ezio spends the next few years waiting for a new lead. When word comes, it turns out that a Piece of Eden has found its way into Templar hands. Ezio liberates what turns out the be The Apple. Ezio is then formally inducted into the Assassin Order. After a visit to Caterina in Forli, The Apple falls into the hands of the Orsi brothers. After failing to retrieve The Apple, it finds its way into the hands of a monk who uses it in what would become known as the Bonfire of the Vanities. Finally retrieving the piece of Eden, Ezio sets off to confront Rodrigo Borgia once more, now known as Pope Alexander VI. What Ezio finds introduces us to Those Who Came Before and sets the stage for the great revelation in the coming history of Ezio.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood continues the story of Ezio and his expansion of the Assassin Order. After  Monteriggioni is sacked by Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo's son; Mario is murdered; and The Apple is stolen, Ezio heads to Rome. There he sets up a base of operations and begins rebuilding the Order with disgruntled citizens who are willing to fight the Borgias. During this period of recruitment, Ezio deals with several members of the Borgia group to loosen their grip on Rome, eliminating Cesare's lackeys and sources of income. Eventually, Ezio tracks down Cesare and retrieves The Apple. Although Cesare escapes, he is recaptured by Ezio and kept in a secret location by the new Pope Julius II, for whom Ezio becomes a councilor. 

Seeking to deal with the remaining Borgia holdouts and find the secret location of Cesare, Ezio and the other Assassins continue their operations in Rome. Ultimately using The Apple to locate Cesare, Ezio is told by The Apple that its usefulness has been exhausted and Ezio must give it up. Traveling to Spain with Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci after seeing visions of a Spanish castle in The Apple's projections, they follow the path of Cesare's right-hand man, Micheletto. That trail turns cold at the Castello where Cesare was being held. Having escaped, Ezio, Machiavelli, and da Vinci return to Valencia in time to see Cesare murder Micheletto and flee to Viana after wounding Machiavelli. Ezio continues to pursue Cesare to put an end to his mad ambitions.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

AC: Revelations is the final installment in the tale of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. It is also the most recent game to be released as of this writing. Ezio has discovered a letter from his father regarding the Assassin Library at Masyaf left by Altaïr. Ezio sets out on the long journey to Masyaf, first on horseback, then by sea.   After fending off a pirate attack, he arrives in Cyprus and investigates the remains of the Templar archive there. After hitting several roadblocks in his attempts to travel on from Cyprus, Ezio finds a vessel, but is attacked by one of the pirates he'd routed earlier. Stabbed, an unconscious Ezio is taken to Acre by his pirate assailant. From Acre, Ezio continues to Masyaf, where he encounters Leandros, a Templar captain. Captured, Ezio is to be hanged, but narrowly escapes after a mysterious vision of another assassin. Ezio eventually kills Leandros and retrieves the journal of Niccolò Polo which contains clues to the locations of the five keys needed to enter the library at Masyaf. To track down these keys, Ezio heads to Constantinople (now Istanbul, though why they changed it, I can't say, probably just liked it better that way).

In Istanbul, Ezio meets Yusuf, the leader of the Assassin Order, acquires a hookblade to replace his damaged second hidden blade, and meets Sofia Sartor, a book dealer who catches Ezio's eye. With the Polo journal and Sofia's help, Ezio tracks down the missing keys to the Masyaf library, which each contain a memory from the life of Altaïr. During his searches, he recruits new assassins to the cause, and ends up getting involved in the politics surrounding the succession of the Sultan. After uncovering a plot to equip the Sultan's enemies with weapons, Ezio travels to the underground city of Cappadocia to stop the uprising. Fleeing Cappadocia, Ezio has the Masyaf key he had just retrieved stolen from him by Ahmet, the heir-apparent to the Ottoman throne. Returning to Constantinople, Ezio finds Sofia taken, Yusuf murdered, and Ahmet behind it all. After retrieving the lost keys, Ezio returns to Masyaf to finally claim the knowledge kept in the library.

» The ending of the book, spoiler unless you've seen Embers «

Ezio decides to give up the life of the Assassin Mentor and settle down. Marrying Sofia, they have two children and a vineyard. As Ezio attempts to put down on paper the story of his life and teaching for future assassins, he is visited by an assassin from China named Shao Jun. She has come on behalf of her murdered mentor to seek the teachings necessary to revive the order in her country and defend it. At first Ezio is hesitant, but eventually relents. Having passed on his secrets, he is finally able to finish his memoirs and, while accompanying his wife and children to the market in Florence, passes away peacefully.

So I was hoping for some interesting tidbits from these books that either weren't in the game or that I might of overlooked. Yeah, not so much. There's nothing wrong with the books themselves, although I've seen some complaints in other reviews of poor sentence structure and stuff like that. I don't recall any specific instances where I had trouble either reading or figuring out what was going on. Oliver Bowden is a pseudonym for Anton Gill, who appears to primarily deal in European historical fiction and non-fiction. So if you have an interest in European historical tales, he might be an author to look into further.

I guess the overall problem with the books is if you've played the games (which I have played all of them, several times, thanks to those accursed achievements), the books are pretty much a total waste of time. There's little deviation from the storyline in the game, with the exception of Desmond isn't mentioned anywhere. I believe some of the earlier DLC made it into the books, such as the Battle of Forli and the Bonfire of the Vanities. But none of the later DLC shows up, including the DaVinci Disappearance or the Lost Archives events. So it appears the author probably wasn't working off of any kind of scripted story, but was going based solely on what was offered in the games at the time the book was written. Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (on the PSP) appears to be the only non-console/PC game that made its way into written form, which doesn't help much because frankly that game wasn't very good and the bits added to the story regarding the Templar Archives so far haven't had much impact on the rest of the story.

Although it seems kind of weird, I'm guessing the reason the books were presented out of order of the games was to try and follow Ezio as the primary character. It is feasible that Altaïr's life would be presented as Ezio reading it in Niccolò Polo's journals on the trip to Masyaf. One of the odd results of this seems to be Altaïr's later life. The events after Altaïr's battle with Al Mualim in the games are presented as memories in the Masyaf keys found by Ezio. The Last Crusade presents an slightly expanded version of this history, and the Revelations re-visits the same events as part of Ezio's quest for the keys. Again, I guess it makes sense so The Last Crusade can stand alone as its own book, but it ends up being noticeably redundant.

So basically if you really liked the concept behind Assassin's Creed, minus the present day battles against the Templars, but don't own a 360 or PS3 and only use your computer for porn and eBay, then these books are for you. Otherwise, you'll just be rehashing the story you've already played your way through, but without all those pesky side quests (which might not be such a bad thing for the first game). And if you've only ever played the first Assassin's Creed, I'd recommend at least picking up Assassin's Creed II the game before resorting to the books. If you really liked the story and what to see how it ends but can't stomach the idea of playing another game, then read the books...quitter...

In honor of the recent passing of the great author Ray Bradbury, I'm giving this series two burning books. Had there at least been something more than a direct translation of the games, it might have garnered a better rating.

 

Might have to reconsider, perhaps a book on fire isn't the best way to rate other books. Plus, I suppose fire's already been used as a way to rate books...

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