Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade

Here we go then. This was, as I thought from the start, a preface, shall we say, to the new game and book coming out in November: Assassins Creed Revelations. It reads as the recounting of Altair's story by Niccolo Polo told to Maffeo Polo, his brother. It goes from Altair's experiences as a young child born into the order, his missions against the Templars (and the betrayal he faces in the wake of this), his return to the Order and his ascent as the Assassin Master. It also brings to light how the Piece of Eden, The Apple, was brought to the knowledge of the Assassins, how Altair learned its secrets and wrote the Assassin Codex, how the Codex was lost and how the Creed was brought to the east.

Another Assassin's Creed book knocked back show more and I am left feel at once satisfied and hungry for more. This books was a brilliant insight into the life of the greatest of Master Assassins. Released as a bit of a pre-buffer to Revelations, hinting at items called "keys" that, I can only assume, with feature as the main quest driver for the new game. The body of the book is, as I said, Niccolo Polo recording telling Altair's story to his brother Maffeo in his journals. In the prologue and the epilogue the reader is shown that these journals are being read by a Master assassin, later reveled to be Ezio Auditore whom is on his way to Constantinople in search of these scattered and hidden "keys", whatever they may be for.

It was exciting; each chapter left me wanting to turn to the next and learn more. Altair's story was woven so well, throwing up new twists when you felt sure that the bulk of his story was drawing to a close. As the final climax of the story built up I could not put it down: I had to finish it.
And not only was the storytelling engrossing, but the quality was much improved on Bowden's previous work. As always, some klunky writing was present, however the story felt like a whole. It felt like it had a solid beginning, a solid middle and a solid end, whereas Renaissance and Brotherhood did feel kind of like the end was rushed and tacked on as an after-thought. Not with Crusade; it was solid, steady, exciting, engrossing and satisfying while teasing you with enough information and tips about what might come, enticing you as to what the next instalment of AC might bring. I can't wait for Revelations now.

Very good read, if you're willing to overlook some slightly less-polished moments. show less

I think it was a really interesting companion to the game. As someone who has never played but has looked up a decent amount of somewhat confusing information on it, this really helped explain a lot of the details of the AC world. I liked reading about it and I was rewarded by actually knowing what people were talking about when I watched a friend play "AC 2: Revelations".

This is Al'tair's story, pretty much from the beginning (when his father is an assassin and he has not yet been inducted into the order) to when he says goodbye to the Polos in "Revelations". Desmond is not in this book - the story focuses purely on his ancestor.

The events in the book are not always the same as those in the game, but I think that some artistic license show more is allowable, and there was a mix of "I like the book version better," and "I like the game version better", so really neither has the upper hand. If you love the AC world, I would suggest reading this. If you want to get into the AC world but are a poor college student who cannot afford the games, then go and see if your library has this book, because this is where things started. show less

Finally something that doesn't center around Ezio Auditore. Though I do love reading about Ezio's exploits, by the end of Brotherhood, I had tired of him somewhat. Being able to learn about Altaïr through Niccolo Polo's journal was exciting. It was refreshing to deal with new characters and plots. Many questions are answered about how the Codex came to be, why the Apple came into the possession of the assassin's, the Creed being brought eastward, and so on. Now I can finish the last installment centered around Ezio with renewed enthusiasm. It will be interesting to see how his last bout with the Templars plays out compared to that of his predecessor, Altaïr.

I won’t lie I haven’t finished the game bc I have been spoiled badly by unity/syndicate parkour and I actually can’t get over the janky combat in ac1 (also tbt a year ago when I spent like an hour trying to figure out the fricken leap of faith tutorial bit and subjected philip to it too because I was losing my mind) yeah man well someday I’ll get through it. so no star rating
unfortunately I’m deeply intrigued by the altaïr lore and felt bonkers insane enough to read this today instead of writing applications due soon (I’m stressed chat classes start tomorrow and my schedule isn’t working out at all and tryouts and internship applications and and and— therefore I read a novelization of a game I only half played) and show more I’m still beefing with ubisoft about syndicate lore and ac in general and I’m not yet out of this obsession period with this stupid franchise LMFAOO
thus this is a warning that I’m about to have TAKES on this book/game story. I’m also notably like… silly about the lore. heck yeah give me the romance idc if assassins are supposed to be not driven by emotions grabby hands I DOOOO think the way altair is characterized is wrong in places. I don’t think it’s the same developmental linearity as in the game and I don’t entirely like it. I also know people have TH O U G H T S ab the idea of family + the Brotherhood and al mualim’s whole crazy deal but I’ll be honest once again girl idk lmaoosjdkalsjd no critical thinking skills in MY head rn
yes this is impressively hypocritical of me given my usual disdain for interacting with media when I don’t honestly know the full picture but sometimes. Sometimes I just have to do something dumb idk man

uhm yeah what was I going to say. oh yeah ik this is basically a play by play of the assassinations but not much to say ab the actual game content novelization bc I like the ac1 story… working up from demotion is a banger premise and I don’t feel very strongly ab the way the assassinations were novelized either way. the combat was sometimes well written other times it was just like o yea he killed a bunch of guys show less

This book was quite vanilla for me. The plot, based on the first main Assassin’s Creed game and the spin-off PSP game, stays true to the story, with dialogue copied word-for-word from the game scripts. The sequence of events differ, but only slightly, and it does not affect the overall delivery of the story.

Oliver Bowden’s writing is, at best, mediocre. It was an easy read, words seeming to flow very well, and sentences were never too complicated. However, Bowden never seems to elaborate too much on anything. Oftentimes, it was hard to picture places or scenes due to lack of detail.

One can safely assume that the book is written primarily for fans of the franchise. With additional background story on Altair’s childhood, it nicely show more fills in the gaps for pondering fans. While Bowden is not the most technical of writers, but I did find it a fun read, and would label it a decent adaptation of the first of Ubisoft’s famed series. show less

The third crusade! twelve centuries after the birth of christ. A holy war between Crusader Armies and Saracen Armies arises, as Altair’s legendary tale begins! Trouble arises with a threat to the assassin brotherhood which Altair was born into was plotted to end to the assassins. Altair is assigned to kill nine men who are involved in this plot, to regain honor and to end the threat. What Altair discovers leaves him questioning his mentor and the ways of the creed. What does every killing prove? Does it bring peace or more conflict, what do the collaborators want, and who should Altair trust in this mix of chaos and war.

Assassin’s Creed The Secret Crusade by Oliver Bowden was a great book, it is full of adventure, suspense, and show more history. I would recommend this book to 7th graders and up due to the graphic detail and somewhat difficult parts to comprehend, but if you like this kind of book this is a one for you. I really loved the mystery and suspense part of it. For information of readers this is based on a video game. I gave this book 5/5 stars for great writing, graphic detail, and an adventure that instills mystery and action in one book. This book is awesome! show less

Was very interested to read this, as the original novelisation was cancelled after the Aga Khan expressed displeasure at the depiction of his Ismaili order:
http://darkush.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/why-even-care.html
Still tempted to get Barnes' collection of short stories, which I think includes a rewritten version of his Invisible Imam.

For a videogame adaptation, it started out really well. The retelling of the first game was surprisingly well-written, which made the rest of the novel, from the novelisation of the PSP game onwards, that much more disappointing. Bizarrely, this was released after Revelations (the game) came out, and yet the depiction of the events of an old Altair often contradicts the story in the game. I can only imagine show more he wrote his novel before the game's story was firmed up, but it then begs the question: why bother with the novel? show less