Assassin's Creed: Forsaken

As someone who completely adored the Ezio Trilogy, I don't understand the dislike for AC3's story; the game isn't without its major flaws, but I thought the protagonist was the least caricature-like, the story was intense, and the difficult-to-swallow message very powerful. After I had finished the game, I was very thirsty for more material that would help me better understand yet another side of this incredible story. This book fulfilled that need in spades.

Granted, Haytham was a wonderful character to begin with, but this novel only made things richer than they already were. It's more than a simple typically-bland-Bowden transcription of what you already saw in-game: it's a colorful and surprisingly intimate account of Haytham Kenway's entire life (yes, entire-- covering early childhood all the way up until the end of AC3), written in his journal style.

The story is rich with interesting characters and locations, and is DENSE with great insight into Haytham's character and principles. There's a surprising lack of pretention and pomp, and his development is great. If you held any dislike for the man, you'll have a very hard time disliking him after reading this novel.

I would read it AFTER finishing AC3 (obviously), but BEFORE ACRogue. Shay's another great character with a great story, and Haytham only shows up toward the end of that game; but I can't even begin to tell you how much better the dialogue and cutscenes were when you had a greater understanding Haytham's personal grievances about himself and the Templars, at that point in his life. Not that his time with Shay is covered in the book, but man, this guy is heavy on the introspection and doubt. The ending of AC4 (at the theater) was also way more bittersweet.

I guess what I'm saying is you can't really go wrong with buying this thing, whether you like Haytham or not. It's the best Bowden AC book by far, and there's a TON of things covered that you don't already know. Plus, it's fun. All in all, this book only increased my respect and love for the Kenway family. My only wish is that ALL of Bowden's books were written with this level of authenticity and sincerity.

Also: The castration part made me cringe so hard.

Assassin's Creed: Forsaken - Oliver Bowden

Haytham Kenway is the son of an Assassin. He is being reared just like his father until tragedy happens the life he knew all gone in a split second. His father is murdered, his mother alive but emotionally distressed and his sister kidnapped. Haytham is reared by his father's property manager who has a secret and starts to tutor Haytham as a disciple of the Templar Knights. Haytham becomes a killing machine ready to do business the Templar way. His exploits brings him to America during the time of the French & Indian War and the American Revolution. Along the way he learns of the whereabouts of his sister and the man who he thought was a friend.

The novel is based off the popular game Assassin's Creed and was a fast pace novel that kept your interest.

Wow - I was very impressed. This is a great story even you've never touched or heard of the game series before. Makes me want to go back and finish AC III for sure now.

I'm definitely checking out his other AC titles after this - very well done.

This book finally delivers the depth and context I had expected from its predecessors. Told from the perspective of Haytham Kenway starting in his childhood. If you are a fan of Assassin's Creed 3, you must read this book.

This book was the worst assassins creed book out of all, I thought it would be about Connor (the Indian,assassins) but no, just from connors dad Haytham. Don't waisted you money on this book but I do recommend you getting all the other ones. Specifically the reason why I didn't like it was it was about a Templar, very little action scenes, and the characters were plain cruel. Ex. Haytham holds a sword to a little boy's throat to get very little information. I think he handled that wrong.

I was anticipating this book mostly because it focused on Haytham since he is now among my favorite fictional characters. Obviously, I read this after beating the game.

The book starts out well enough. We learn about his childhood and the ordeals he went through, complete with a few plot twists (all in first person POV). Many of the events in the book are rehashes of events in the game, often combining two events into one scene. What I really enjoyed was that while reading it, it sounded like the character I had gotten to know from the game. However, around page 300, it starts to fall apart.

For example, Haytham and a comrade are fighting guards and the fight gets intense. His comrade urges him to leave to which Haytham responds, "No way." (page 317) Even if I had not played the game before reading the book, I cannot imagine Haytham saying this line, it is just too out of character.

After this point, the rest of the book reads like a summary of the game which is understandable. After all, it says on the cover that it's based on the game. Yet, I was surprised to see how drastically altered Haytham's character was compared to the game. In the game and beginning of the book, we meet a dedicated individual that beleives in mercy and uses force only when necessary. Later in the game, his tactics change and he becomes ruthless because he so desperately wants to see his cause succeed. But, in the book, he just does not care anymore and has serious doubts about what it is he is doing. It (or I should say He) clearly states this point. The reason why I bring this up is because when taking this into account, his conversations/interactions with Connor make no sense. What business has he to criticize Connor's view of the Templars when Haytham himself does not care anymore?

So, long story short, fans of the game should not be expecting this book to add anything worthwhile to AC3 and be prepared to see a heavily altered version of Haytham.