Review: Mass Effect: Deception SPOILERS!

The tie-in novel to the Mass Effect game series, Mass Effect: Deception by author William C. Dietz, has many screaming for blood. This is because of continuity errors that are spread about in Bill's novel. They are listed here.

Now, I've read and loved most of Bill's other media tie-ins, but this one takes the cake. He screws up continuity between characters, history, technology, and military that it forces one to take a step back from the novel. Even Star Trek has better continuity than this.

Now, don't get me wrong, the premise of this novel is great but sacrificed nearly everything established by author Drew Karpyshyn in the previous three novels. It's a fun read if you've played the games and read the books if only to see how many of the continuity errors you can spot. If you've done neither, read the book with the link above and below to get a clear idea of how things went.

That said, with a good premise, this novel could've taken place after Mass Effect: Invasion, but the lack of fact-checking and simple knowledge prevent it from working within the series as a whole.

Review: Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant SPOILERS!

The novel Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant is written by Karen Traviss as she continues to add more depth to the GOW cast. The book starts off with a letter from Colonel Victor Hoffman, asking future generations of humanity to forgive the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) for destroying Jacinto in Gears of War 2 as it was the only way to defeat the Locust Horde.

This part is mirrored with the chapters that take place in the past, as Prescott and Hoffman order the destruction of Sera via Professor Adam Fenix's Hammer of Dawn satellites. Citizens are moved in, but once the explosion goes off, those humans left outside Jacinto become the Stranded (those bums in all three games). These scenes run throughout the novel alongside the fight to save humanity after the evacuation of Jacinto as seen in Gears of War 2.

The novel starts where Gears of War 2 left off, with Cole Train, Anya, and the others in flight away from the watery grave that is Jacinto. Cole notices the tension rising between Hoffman and Chairman Richard Prescott over the Sires (a part of GOW2) and how late he was declassified and demands to be told everything. Prescott, for the rest of the novel, continues to hold everything, echoing his death in GOW3 where he reveals his final secret.

The COG are evacuated to Port Farrall in the middle of winter and people die as the COG struggles to stave off the remnants of the Locust who keep attacking. Hoffman, after a talk with COG Navy leader Quentin Michaelson, orders Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad to checkout Vectes naval base int he southern hemisphere of Sera for relocation. Upon arrival, they find that there are people living there who've been there since the Pendulum Wars.

The COG move in and end up facing a group of Stranded pirates, one of whom raped Bernadette "Bernie" Mataki. They hand them over to the Stranded leader who is blown apart by the remnant of the old Union of Independent Republic (UIR) members, the Republic of Gorasnaya and their leader Miran Trescu. The Gorasni want a treaty with the COG and it's made official.

Throughout the novel, we periodically meet up with Dom Santiago, still trying to get over from having to kill his wife Maria. I should mention that in GOW2, he finds her as an empty shell, withered and decaying. He doesn't know what to do and Marcus tells him "It's okay." Dom tearfully kills Maria to spare her the pain; he'd been searching for her for the last ten years and has now lost every member of his family except for his honorary brother, Marcus Fenix, the main hero of the series.

Everyone's giving Dom enough space to cope, but aren't sure how to help him along. This is a very powerful character driven story arc that Karen gave Dom and it was only natural because of how soon this book takes place after the second game and is a theme that is brought up again, loosely in Gears of War: Anvil Gate, Gears of War: Coalition's End and Gears of War 3, all of which (including the game) are written by Karen Traviss.

It's a very powerful addition to the series and comes with enough quips about the comic series that Joshua Ortega and later Karen Traviss wrote for the franchise.

Review: Gears of War: Aspho Fields. SPOILERS!

Gears of War: Aspho Fields, written by acclaimed author Karen Traviss, tackles the events of Aspho Fields during the Pendulum Wars and the events after the first Gears of War. Sure, this was written years ago, but it's still a fun read. Traviss starts out with a battle, like all good sci-fi novels do. The Locust Horde is still reeling from the attack by the Lightmass bomb (the ending to Gears of War). Delta Squad, particularly Sgt Marcus Fenix and Pvt Dom Santiago, along with Pvt Augustus "Cole Train" Cole and Corporal Damon Baird fight a wave of grubs when one of them is taken out by a sniper shot. They track the shot down to a mall and find former COG soldier Bernadette "Bernie" Mataki. They radio in for evac and head back to base, Dom asking her about the Battle of Aspho Fields.

The storyline then shifts to Carlos Santiago, Dom's older brother, in school, defending the new rich kid Marcus Fenix, son of Professor Adam Fenix. The scene shifts through time and shows Marcus growing up with the Santiago family. Dom and Carlos note how tightly Marcus keeps his emotions in check when he's told that his mother went missing exploring the underground caverns.

In the present, Colonel Victor Hoffman prepares to move one food supply base away from the Locust Horde's war path. This part of the plot is fairly simple and is short enough to get the gist that the COG is once more on the brink of being overrun by the grubs. The COG manages to reallocate the personnel and deliver them behind COG lines. Through the scenes, Hoffman refuses to apologize for leaving Marcus to die in Jacinto's prison known as The Slab during the events of Gears of War. Hoffman and Marcus eventually set aside old grudges and get over their angst.

Back in the past, the United Independent Republics (UIR) are building a major satellite network that will obliterate the COG from space. Hoffman leads the campaign with commandos, particularly Dom Santiago, while the rest of the soldiers, including Mataki, Marcus, and Carlos, stage a distraction to lure the UIR away from the base. It works. Hoffman and Dom retrieve the satellite data while several COG men and women die in the diversion. Carlos is wounded and sacrifices himself to save Marcus, an act that disturbs him to the end of Gears of War 3. Dom, after being told his wife's given birth to his second child, is ecstatic but sad that his brother was killed. Marcus and Mataki vow to never tell Dom what really happened.

In the present, Mataki tells him, coming clean a couple of decades late. Marcus says he wanted to spare him the grief, and now, what with Dom's kids dead and his wife Maria missing, Marcus didn't see a point in opening old wounds. The book closes with the threat that the COG is about to take the fight to the Locust.

All in all, a very well crafted novel that held suspense and keeps you wanting more. For those who've played the games, this novel is worth it and adds depth to the characters.