Puyssegur, Alain T.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

2 out of 5

(1 book)

Assassin's Creed: Fragments - The Highlands Children

1296 AD and Edward I of England invades Scotland.  Separated amid the sacking of Berwick-upon-Tweed are the twins Aileas and Fillan, one of whom is rescued by agents of the Brotherhood of Assassins whilst the other finds unlikely refuge among the English army.  However, both are relentlessly hunted by the Lann Fala, members of the Templar Order, and have to try to survive long enough to uncover their lost past and future destiny.

This book is either badly written or badly translated from the original French (or both, I suppose) because the prose here is stunted, awkward and full of terrible anachronisms that really pull you out of the story.  Thankfully the text isn't ponderous to read and you can get through it at a fair pace, but it's not a smooth ride by any measure.  I don't often comment on the quality of the actual prose when reviewing a book, but here it was so notably bad that I felt it warranted a mention.

The story, sadly, is also not great.  Everything here is either derivative or simply predictable.  You'll have figured out more or less how the whole book is going to unfold within the first hundred pages or so and it never bothers to try and surprise you.  On top of that, both of the protagonists give off strong Mary Sue vibes, with them both going from working in a tailor's shop to being unbeatable fighters in a very short span.  Luckily the author can just keep repeating the word 'destiny' to handwave away any questions you might have about the believability of the events in the book.

My final gripe is that the book largely fails to take advantage of its historical setting to any great degree.  The tumultuous years which saw Edward I's invasion of Scotland and the rise of folk heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce are ripe with stories to tell but the author does their best to steer the main characters well clear of any of that.  Sure, Wallace does make an appearance (and thank Christ it's not a Braveheart-inspired appearance) but he then disappears from the narrative altogether without ever having any influence on it or exploring his guerrilla war against the English at all.  This could have been set centuries before or after and it would make no significant difference to the story and that feels like a huge missed opportunity.

2 out of 5

Read more...

Assassin's Creed (here)