I think it was a really interesting companion to the game. As someone who has never played but has looked up a decent amount of somewhat confusing information on it, this really helped explain a lot of the details of the AC world. I liked reading about it and I was rewarded by actually knowing what people were talking about when I watched a friend play "AC 2: Revelations".

This is Al'tair's story, pretty much from the beginning (when his father is an assassin and he has not yet been inducted into the order) to when he says goodbye to the Polos in "Revelations". Desmond is not in this book - the story focuses purely on his ancestor.

The events in the book are not always the same as those in the game, but I think that some artistic license is allowable, and there was a mix of "I like the book version better," and "I like the game version better", so really neither has the upper hand. If you love the AC world, I would suggest reading this. If you want to get into the AC world but are a poor college student who cannot afford the games, then go and see if your library has this book, because this is where things started. ( )

Nicolás Polo, padre de Marco, por fin revelará la historia que ha mantenido en secreto toda su vida: la historia de Altaïr, uno de los Asesinos más extraordinarios de la Hermandad. Altaïr se embarca en una formidable misión que le lleva por Tierra Santa y le muestra el verdadero significado del Credo de los Asesinos. Para demostrar su compromiso, Altaïr debe derrotar a nueve enemigos mortales, incluido el líder templario, Robert de Sablé. Por primera vez, se cuenta la vida de Altaïr: un viaje que cambiará el curso de la historia; su batalla continua con la conspiración templaria; una vida familiar tan trágica como reveladora; y la máxima traición de un viejo amigo. Basado en el juego superventas de Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed.

Por primera vez, quedan a la luz todas los detalles le vida del valiente Altair y del viaje que cambiara el curso de la historia así como su batalla continua contra la conspiracion de los Templarios y la traicion de su viejo amigo poderoso líder de sus enemigos ( )

Was very interested to read this, as the original novelisation was cancelled after the Aga Khan expressed displeasure at the depiction of his Ismaili order:
http://darkush.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/why-even-care.html
Still tempted to get Barnes' collection of short stories, which I think includes a rewritten version of his Invisible Imam.

For a videogame adaptation, it started out really well. The retelling of the first game was surprisingly well-written, which made the rest of the novel, from the novelisation of the PSP game onwards, that much more disappointing. Bizarrely, this was released after Revelations (the game) came out, and yet the depiction of the events of an old Altair often contradicts the story in the game. I can only imagine he wrote his novel before the game's story was firmed up, but it then begs the question: why bother with the novel? ( )

This book was quite vanilla for me. The plot, based on the first main Assassin’s Creed game and the spin-off PSP game, stays true to the story, with dialogue copied word-for-word from the game scripts. The sequence of events differ, but only slightly, and it does not affect the overall delivery of the story.

Oliver Bowden’s writing is, at best, mediocre. It was an easy read, words seeming to flow very well, and sentences were never too complicated. However, Bowden never seems to elaborate too much on anything. Oftentimes, it was hard to picture places or scenes due to lack of detail.

One can safely assume that the book is written primarily for fans of the franchise. With additional background story on Altair’s childhood, it nicely fills in the gaps for pondering fans. While Bowden is not the most technical of writers, but I did find it a fun read, and would label it a decent adaptation of the first of Ubisoft’s famed series. ( )