Assassin's Creed: The Resurrection Plot Paperback – July 4, 2023

The second book by Kate Heartfield. If you prefer the Assassins vs Templar battle over the Isu lore, this is for you. Little focus on the Isu or the Pieces of Eden. Instead this story focusing on the secret war between these two groups as history unfolds around it. The book coverage s decades in European history so if even you didn't pick this up to learn about history, you will.

4/5. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book in advance of its release. I really did enjoy this book! I have not read other Assassins Creed books but I have played some of the games so I was really excited to give this book a try and I am glad that I did.This story feels like a small snippet from a larger story which gives the feeling that there is always more to come—like the games. This adventure follows the main characters of Simeon and Pierrette who are assassins within the Brotherhood and the Brotherhood is trying to stop/thwart the Templars. The Templars appear to have a plot to wreak havoc globally and take down the Brotherhood with the help of ancient artifacts.I enjoyed Simeon and Pierrette’s characters. They are together in some scenes but for the most part, they each have their own missions to carry out. The book moves throughout various areas such as Egypt, London, Paris, Russia, and others. The story also carries over a long time period and there are historical figures and events involved. So while the Brotherhood are trying to stop the Templars they also are fighting in an actual war in France.I felt the pacing was good. I was never bored reading it as it moved quickly and all aspects of it were interesting. I enjoyed getting to see all the various cities and the politics going on in those areas. I liked all the characters in the book and their interactions. Simeon was a really interesting character and I loved getting his point-of-views. Spider and Konstanze were side character favorites of mine. I enjoyed the depth and tension they added to the story.Would I recommend this book? Yes! Especially if you have familiarity with the Assassins Creed world—or even if you don’t but you like assassin/mission and political maneuvering books. I had a lot of fun reading this and I definitely want to pick up other Assassin Creed novels.My only main complaints were the large time jumps, for example something drastic would happen (someone would die or a revelation would happen) and then the next paragraph would say “4 months later” or “___ years later.” It made it feel a little anticlimactic. My other complaint would be the unresolved storylines. The start of the book felt like the story was going to be about a certain artifact but then the artifact felt irrelevant later on and the problem with it never seemed to be resolved or addressed.Other than those two areas, I really did enjoy this book and I would recommend checking it out!

I like to start my reviews for these sorts of books with the disclaimer that I am a fan of the Assassin's Creed games and universe. I am used to the many missions and open world of the newer games, but I do prefer the tighter stories of the older games... and this book is more like the new games. Another disclaimer to add is that if you are wholly unfamiliar with Assassin's Creed then this is not the novel tie-in to start with, as it kicks off right away under the assumption you understand this world, its history, and its factions.Heartfield's AC story is meant to be an epic, sweeping narrative emcompassing 20+ years and numerous Templar plots and Assassin foils... and when I sweeping, I mean meandering. There are as many plot points as years in which the story takes place and few (almost none) are concluded by the end of the story. I'm confused if this is meant to be the start of a series? Pieces of Eden, characters, motives, historical events - all are mentioned, some even highlighted and then all are dropped or never mentioned again?The characters suffer most under the weight of all these potential plot points, as I feel like we barely get to know them, even though we spend, again, 20+ years following them. There are so many names and characters that it's hard to keep them all straight, and so we really only get to know the superficial. It's a lot of telling and very little showing, basically, and it really frustrated me. This is especially disappointing after the wonderful character work and tight pacing of the last AC book I read, Jaleigh Johnson's The Golden City.I also found myself disappointed with the setting of this one. I was so looking forward to the Egypt storyline and it's... literally just the very beginning? The bulk of the novel takes place in France, with a little in England, Germany, and Switzerland. We get mentions of the Fry twins (and just a little cameo from Evie) and their work in London, as this is set during the same time period as Syndicate, but nothing of Bayek and Aya. They're two of my faves so when I saw this took place partially in Egypt, I got my hopes up.Sadly, I don't think this story would have even made a good AC game... but I do love this world and the whole Assassins vs Templar conflict. Three stars for that, I suppose.

I cry over this book on the regular