Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

I gave the book this rating because I am a big fan of the Ezio Auditore trilogy and I know it takes a lot of effort to write a book. I read it in one sitting, but I found myself just browsing or skipping through some parts of the book. I loved ACB and I hoped that the book would go into the story more deeply than the game has. I can say that it has and hasn't, at the same time, and I will elaborate below.I don't know much about the author, but I was not incredibly fond of the writing style from the book. In some parts it was pretty good and I really enjoyed myself reading, the action and dialogue were entertaining, and also having played ACB also helped a lot to imagine the scenery and characters. Other times, I felt that the story was unnecessarily detailed, especially towards the end, where minor parts from the game were dragged on on many pages. Also, in this part characters that we do not meet in the game come in, such as various mistresses of Rodrigo Borgia, or the wife of Cezare, as Ezio investigates the whereabouts of Cezare, to find out where he is imprisoned, instead of using the bloody Apple, which, in the book, he uses way less than in the game. Many pages are towards the end of the book about Ezio going from person to person to ask where Cezare was. I felt the author should have kept them short, as we meet new characters with whom we do not have time to bond in any way. Also, I think the story sometimes could have been better expressed by narration, than excessive dialogue, which can happen often. One example is being when several characters are in a scene, and the author mentions as a dialogue each ''goodbye'' from each and every character, to a point where it made me wonder whether the author had a certain number of words to reach for the book and just filled that in by the above manner, in multiple scenes. A smooth transition or short narration would have sufficed.I expected character development, but there were just extended dialogues and detailed battle scenes. I think the book could have been a huge opportunity to know the characters intimately, which is how you actually bond with them. He also wrote a bit of introspection for the characters, but it was minimal and only coming from Ezio.The focus on the book was hugely on Ezio. He's a character I absolutely love, but at the same time, at least personally, I love many of the other characters, such as Machiavelli, La Volpe, Claudia etc. I wish the author had created depth within them. Machiavelli occupies more space in the book, probably second after Ezio. It bothers me that as the book progresses he becomes from the confident, independent and secretive man with a mind of his own, more like a satellite for Ezio, or a mirror to show how awesome Ezio really is, taking notes to the wise words (literally, he is presented in the book having a little notebook to write down what Ezio says; this is not realistic anyway, as at the time there were no fountain pens and pencils, and they could not pull up a notebook and start writing while riding a horse; people used feathers to write and the pencil was invented after Machiavelli's death; a variation before that was rod of soft lead, used mainly by artists).Also, La Volpe is another of my favourite characters. He plays a minor role in the book, as the suspicious guy about Machiavelli, and he is almost made to look like an incompetent, although he is older than Ezio and in AC2, he guided Ezio in his development as an Assassin, along with the others.The book is called ''Brotherhood'', which essentially refers to the recruits picked up from the populace and trained to be assassins. However, this is the least developed aspect in the book. This is also a part that I was expecting to be developed, but instead, we are told nothing at all about the recruits. They don't have a name, or a face, or any individual stories. There is not one dialogue between a recruit and Ezio, not one single line. Not even the minimal dialogue from the game, where Ezio says ''The liberation of Roma has begun....'' etc. No mention of any training. They are an amorphous mass, called recruits.There is almost no mention of using them anywhere, except the play of Pietro at the Colosseum, and some fight with Cesare, but again, minimal. The book might as well have been named ''Adventures of Ezio Auditore in Roma''.We also learn that in 1503 Caterina Sforza broke Ezio's heart and had only intended to use him to gain military power and that she rides back to Forli, leaving a middle aged sad Ezio behind, who actually wanted to go with her. What I do find funny, though, is that 4 years later, when he's in Spain and meets some prostitute, he still reminisces about Caterina. Connaisseurs of the AC game know what a womanizer Ezio was and supposing he had changed somewhat, due to age and whatnot, it just seemed a unrealistic for him to sigh about Caterina 4 years later, especially since in AC2 Caterina seemed to be the one that was more interested in him and whatever they had looked, even in ACB the game, more like an affair rather than Ezio falling head over heels.Also, all characters that are in league with the Assassins or one themselves, seem to only get injured in the arm, which I thought it was hilarious. (But then again, I skipped through some pages of long combat descriptions).

Replaying the game right now. Feel this is a well written story to supplement the game but still holds true to authors vision.

I almost didn't buy the book because of a few poor reviews, but as a huge fan of the games I decided to take a chance, and I am so glad I did. While the book follows the game it does not adhere strictly to the game style, so expect some deviations in "play", as well as scenes that you will wish were in the game. The book goes in-depth into the people and their motivations, esp. Ezio. If you have the additional game sequence with Catarina Sforza in AC2 you will have no trouble following the story with her, for those unfamiliar with it, it is clearly indicated that Catarina and Ezio become rather familiar with one another in AC2, this book works from that, and shows where it went and why. I found the book to be well written and found myself caught up in the story right away. For all AC2 fans, and those who adore Ezio's story as much as I do, this series is a must read.

After having been a fan of the video game series since its inception, I am quickly drawn to this world. Reading the story I have come to love, rather than playing it, has been an experience. The detail and additional content (i.e., private thoughts of the characters and details related to battle sequences) made the story very real, and enhanced an already great story. Anyone who is already a fan of the game series should take a bite of this book, as it is an experience like no other.

Great story! Follows the game perfectly except for no mention of the present time aka Desmond. Love all the extra story that's not have related.

Good series I like the history thrown in with the fiction. My kids loved the series.

Great read. Nothing will compare to when I read the first Assassin's Creed book as I remember my eyes were glued to the words as I kept reading on to find out what would happen with Altair. Ezio was never a real favorite of mine, but the books definitely match up with the games unfortunately, making it hard to want to read if you've already played the games before reading the book series. Worth a buy if you love the Assassins Creed story though.

If you have enjoyed the games or the movie over the years you will enjoy the books as well. Plenty of action to keep you interested start to finish

Perfect for my collection. Great Condition. Arrived as Expected.Great read for Assassins Creed fans. Really helps fill out the timeline and answer a few questions from the games.

I bought the book as I am a huge Assassins Creed fan. I found this to be a good read. It is just like the game but filling in the blanks. The only draw backs I had, was I felt it was written for the younger generation. The writing was basic and not very thought provoking. I felt it was worth a read but, I call it a travel book because its the sort of book you would buy for a long journey. 7/10

My son is an assassins creed addict, thought the book might be a good bed for spare xmas presents for relatives to give him.... He loves them and is already onto the next. He says they are a good compliment to the game and give more info and background. If you are fed up of your teenager sitting in front of the games, get them the book ... Even the school approves of this one

Stunning characterisation and brilliantly plotted and paced - this one is even better than Renaissance, with an older, more assured, more complicated Ezio confronting even deadlier villains than before. One looks forward impatiently to the next Ezio adventure, which, by the looks of things, promises to be an even better adventure than this one - if such a thing is possible!

This was an excellent sequel to the original, it brought a great deal to the table without too many drawbacks. I like the way it's chaptered (average 7 pages per chapter), as opposed to Renaissance (average 23 pages per chapter), as it means even if you've only got 5/10 minutes to read you can still finish on a chapters end.The only draw back i thought was the whole orgy scene, it didn't advance the story in any sense and seemed to me to be completely unnecessary.But still, a five star review for a 5 star book.