Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

This book makes it really easy to lose yourself in the story. Also this book reads fairly fast. If you played the second game you will find yourself thinking constantly about the game and how you played the game and its story versus the story in the book.

I just finished the entire book and thoroughly enjoyed it. At first, my opinion was a little mixed because of how close the novel followed the game: sometimes down to exact quotations. But ultimately I enjoyed the rendering. The author also included the "bonus chapters" of the game with nearly stunning accuracy. My only real complaint is that the author specifically left out the "modern day" portion of the story of the game. It made the novel as a whole easier to understand, and appreciate Ezio`s story, but I was dissappointed. However, I was overall pleased, and would recommend picking it up.

The reason I gave this book five stars is because of its simplicity and readability. If you are going to read this book expecting the same experience from playing then game disappointment awaits you. I would imagine converting a game into a book would be a very difficult and strenuous task but at the same time I appreciate it, for non gamers can now enjoy the game in their own preferred medium, a book! Much like converting a book into a movie! Bravo to Bowden! I look foreward to reading other creed books which I have no doubt, will be better! On a final note, which guy doesnt enjoy reading about a hidden man of stealth, on a mission to change history?

Ezio auditore has millions of fans, and Bowden and Ubisoft took a huge gamble turning Assassin’s Creed II into a fantasy-history novel.

Let’s face it. Gaming and reading are significantly different activities. The immersion while gaming leads to an active role and the gamer needs to be the focus, the central point, the reason for the story. This leads to situations that the player is solving issue after issue, saving everyone from crisis each dozen pages and so on. Although that is perfectly fine in gaming, in a novel this leads to the sensation that there is only one active assassin in the entire world…Ezio.

The way the skills were developed, the leaps of faith, the unlocking of weapons and allies, all this are very well adapted to the novel, which shows skill and extreme knowledge not only of the franchise but also of the target groups.

But there are some situations that could be improved. This franchise is known for several characteristics, some slightly negative, such as the liberties they take with known historical characters and events, others fabulously positive such as the amazing details in the architecture and clothing (except for the assassin’s hoodies, of course). This should be translated to the novel in very good scenario descriptions, but the author preferred to keep the action fast and furious through the main events of a couple of decades of the life of Ezio Auditore. Also, the last duel and revelation should have been more epic though, it seems rushed…the author leads the characters to “never seen before” entities and locales in just a few pages and with very sketchy details.

This book is essential for fans of the franchise and to everyone who loves the character Ezio; it is also interesting for video gamers to see how a game can be competently adapted to other art forms. As a historical fantasy is truly better than most, although with more 50 pages, the author could have done a true masterpiece – he had the character, the setting…but he should have adapted the plot in my opinion.

I will keep reading the novelizations of the Assassin’s Creed saga. Bowden have done quite a good job, but I believe he can do much better.

The Good: Sticks close to the script, you really feel like you're in the game

The Bad: Takes a lot of the game out, relies too much on the script, secondary characters aren't developed enough, rushed in spots

Assassin's Creed is one of those games that is really tricky to put into book form and it didn't quite get pulled off right here in Oliver Bowden's adaptation of the second game. Assassin's Creed has two parts: One is a science fiction story where a man named Desmond Miles is captured by a secret government organization and stuck in an Animus machine to unlock the DNA of his ancestors and find the Pieces of Eden. The second part is whatever time period Desmond is throw in and in this case he is Ezio Auditore de' Firenze in 1476 Italy.

The book completely cuts out the science fiction part of the game and just concentrates on what's going on in the Animus, but dismisses this as well. This may be great for people who don't like the science fiction side of Assassin's Creed, but fans will miss this. Bowden also relies to heavily on the script of the game to drive the book, and rarely do you get to be inside the minds of the characters as much as you'd like to be. He rarely delves further than the games do and this is disappointing.

A lot of the secondary characters are built upon very well and you never feel for them except for Ezio. You always feel the other characters are just add-ons and not really important in the story. All of this is just more evidence that Bowden relied to heavily on the script. The book does include the story pieces from the DLC Bonfire of the Vanities and Battle for Forli, so you get some of that included that wasn't in the original game.

The bits of Italian are nice, but most readers who didn't play the game won't realize that this was because the Animus 2.0 had bugs in it that couldn't translate all of it into English for Desmond. There is, however, a nice dictionary at the back of the book that translates all the Italian phrases for you.

All in all the book is great for fans and non fans, but fans will be more disappointed than non fans will be. The book just takes too much away from the game and doesn't add anything back. It's a decent read, and feels rushed in spots, but there are better video game novels out there for sure.

I really wanted to like this book because after seeing the amazing graphics of the videogame and then reading the book, you already have images in your mind of the locale, the cities, the main characters.

But the writing quality is so leaden......so dull.......Venice, Florence, dull, dark and dreary. How is that possible???
here was very little attempt (or perhaps only an indecernible one) to distinguish the cities, make them come alive, make you feel like you were there.

And the "action" scene descriptions weren't much better. There was no effective build up, it just felt like paragraph after paragraph of droning description.

Someone could have done so much better than this. Sad. I won't read any of the other books which have since come out because I see they are all by Oliver Bowden.

Ezio Auditore has lost everything he cared about to a family of Templars, and has sworn vengeance on them. Using the skills he has garnered from war mongers, theivies, prostitutes, and artist inventors like Leonardo Da Vinci he sets out to get payback and soon learns revenge is not a straight line but a forest. Making him meet other Assasins along the way and realize that when it comes to revenge the old saying of dig two graves is more then a little right, since he finds that for each one he slays it doesn't bring his brothers and father back. And that on the vengeance trail it costs plenty for you and those around you.

I only consider this Nostalgic because I'm a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed games, and remember the story line from when I first started playing, after beating the first AC and moving to 2. There are parts in this book that go into more detail than the game did for the story of Ezio, which I love. I haven't finished the book, but I know it will be great!

This was an amazing read. It really brings to life the emotional side of Ezio that is absent in the game when he is taking down his targets. Gamers be warned, however, this book is an exact replica of the video game on paper. I read this book after playing the first game and decided to purchase Assasins Creed 2 based on this. As soon as I entered the Animus 2.0, I was on page one of the book. Anyone who decides to read this should realize that this will spoil the plot of the game, but that the game can still be fun if you know the story and are just in it for the gameplay. Anyone who has played the game but ignored the plot and wants to move on to the sequel games, this is a great resource for you.

The reviews already here capture the book pretty well. Poorly chosen dialogue, it literally felt like a video game walkthrough. The main character has to revisit Da Vinci every so often with a new page to get a weapon upgrade. Seriously? LAME. Why not throw in some paragraphs saying that Ezio has leveled up and can now learn new abilities? Ugh.

I bought it at an airport before a long flight. To top it off, I pushed myself to finish this book only to be able to say I finished it.

Skip this book.

Oliver Bowden is a very poor writer. Uninspired and awkward prose makes for a frustrating and boring read. It's very unfortunate that such a rich game world and story was reduced to a book that reads like an unofficial knockoff rather than a licensed novelization.

This is definitely something you should check out in a library before making the decision to buy.

After playing through the Ezio missions in the video games, this book really compliments the experience and makes your fall in love with Renaissance Firenze, Venice and the charming Ezio on his adventures.

After playing through the Ezio missions in the video games, this book really compliments the experience and makes your fall in love with Renaissance Firenze, Venice and the charming Ezio on his adventures.

Books based on video games usually fall into two categories, great and awful. Books that're basically a verbatim screenplay of otherwise great video games instead fall into awful and preferably burnable. Assassins Creed: Renaissance is taken almost word for word from the fantastic game that its based off of, with a rather glaring exception, that Desmond and Abstergo are not part of the actual story. While I can appreciate the attempt to not have to worry about juggling the two storylines and the Animus, its like having a heart and no lungs. Also injected is this sense of "past lives", which is so glossed on as to be easily laughable. Add in ridiculous plot points and attempts to work the games tutorial into the story only serve to further poison what is already an awful book.

I could not even get past the first chapter without rolling my eyes. If i knew i would be reading the video game I would have spent my time reading something more thought provoking. Save your money and buy a better book.

Synopsis: Assassin's Creed: Renaissance is a novel based on the Assassin's Creed II computer game, however unlike in the game, the present day is not included, it is set only in the 15th century.

I often find myself watching the introductions to computer games and thinking 'wow that looks like such a great story!' only to then totally loose interest once the actual game starts. I thought that a book version of a game would be my kind of thing. I expected it to be quite trashy but still good. Sadly, I was mistaken. I almost always finish books, even if I'm not really enjoying them I usually still push through, but this one i had to let go. I forced myself through the first 150 pages or so (complaining loudly all the way through on my facebook updates) and then skipped ahead to the final chapter. After finishing I thought thank god I didn't force myself through the rest, that was one awful ending.

It's got a great idea, alot of adventure and a mystery which seems as though it should be enthralling, however this book is just written really poorly. It is basically one gigantic synopsis, one event after another. If I had to sum it up I would explain it like this (without giving away the plot) :

'First, he went to his house and blah blah blah. Then, he went to the river and saw a guy and said 'blah blah blah'. Then, he met his girlfriend. Then, he went back to his house. Then......' I'm sure you get my drift. The dialogue is really stilted, alot like the dialogue in computer games. I'm thinking that this book is supposed to be written for an upper primary school audience, but some of the language is very crude so that can't be right. I think that if you were a 15 year old boy who hates reading, this would be the book for you. I'm reminded of Derek Zoolander: 'It's a book for kids who can't read good (really really good looking male model pout).'

I can't believe I've actually given a book one star, but there you go, I hated it.