Renaissance

Assassin's Creed, Book 1

By: Oliver Bowden

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Betrayed by the ruling families of Italy, Ezio Auditore embarks upon an epic quest for vengeance. To eradicate corruption and restore his family's honor, he will learn the art of the Assassins.

Along the way, Ezio will call upon the wisdom of such great minds as Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli, knowing that survival is bound to the skills by which he must live. To his allies, he will become a force for change in his fight for freedom and justice. To his enemies, he will become a threat dedicated to the destruction of the tyrants abusing the people of Italy. So begins an epic story of power, revenge, and conspiracy.

©2010 Ubisoft Entertainment (P)2012 Tantor

Port?

Any additional comments?

I was hoping for a story that was meant to shine more light on the Assassins Creed universe, whether it was to focus more on the Brotherhood as it exists today compared to the Renaissance or to cover parts of Ezio's story that we didn't get in the games. Instead, we get a literary port of the game, with subtle tweaking. The narrator does a pretty good job, the accent is acceptable and the voices range enough to tell the difference between most characters. The story is still good, as great as it was in the game but it just wasn't what I really wanted. I have to give it a 4 star overall though, because I did buy and enjoy its sequels, complaints aside.

Awesome!

Well read! Loved the fact that Gildart knew the language! Such an awesome story and I can't wait to get started on the others.

Reading

Great story. Just starting to read the AC books. I will continue to do so

Play the Game Instead

This book isn’t written well, but it is an interesting listen. Having played Assassin’s Creed several times through, I can admit to losing focus on the narrative in favor of the game elements. It’s easy to do in such a vast open world. This book allows you to focus solely on the story. To that end, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for the game. Call this a Prima Guide to the narrative. Poorly written, but nice to have.

The narration was fine. Not great, but easy enough to listen to without too much cringe or weird mouth noises.

A lot left on the table

This is a story that left a lot on the table. It's a really cool story that unfortunately reads to much like the lines you get if you were reading the lines in the game. So much wasn't covered that could have made the story so much richer and so much better. Granted you would have had a much larger book, but I think the author missed an opportunity to take a good story and make it into a great story. So if you're a fan of the game and don't mind reading the same basic lines from the game in this book, I think you'll enjoy it. If, however, you like books with a richer content, I think you'll be a little disappointed.

For Fans of the Game

Would you listen to Renaissance again? Why?

I would probably listen to Renaissance again. I am a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed games so I am definitely biased.

What does Gildart Jackson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have to say I was very impressed with Gildart Jackson's narration of the book. The narration was a big concern of mine as I already had many of the character's voices in my head from the game. While he obviously does not try to mimic those voices he does an excellent job of keeping each character's voice unique and truly brings it all together.

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of the games you will likely enjoy this book. I recalled most of it from when I played the game and it was a fun refresher of the storyline without having to sit down in front and play through the game again.

Recommended

Great world building and characters. I enjoyed the story and reference to historical figures. The narration was fantastic.

Good but as good as the game

The story isn’t focused because it’s based on the game and is to be expected. However the problem lies in the bits where it’s not based on the games. Ezio-Cristina’s love story? The modern day story? This book doesn’t add to the game as much as it takes from it. The game is a lot better.

Historical creativity

Well balanced character development with a dramatic storyline that makes you want more reading time to get through it.

Makes me want to play the games again

The game captured my imagination nearly a decade ago and it was nice to be transported back to it. I just wish I had the time to play the series all over again but this is a close substitute I can listen to on my commute.