StarCraft #2: Shadow of the Xel'Naga

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: The newest book relised about a game made by Blizzard. I have read the 1st star craft book and it is good but can get confusing. but over all this should be a good book.

Rating:
Summary: This book is an abomination
Review: The plugs in the reviews must be plants. This book is a disgrace to the power and prestige of the StarCraft canon.

Rating:
Summary: the review that disagrees
Review: the shadow of the Xel'Naga, along with liberty's crusade were well done. The books followed the story from the game quite well. The only problem with (both) of these books is that they are both gory, along with the game(s), and that there is some use of "choice words". If these books were to be made into a movie though, I'd say they'd be rated R. (A good storyline would come out of it though.) The books are meant for those who don't cringe at reading of blood. I hope you enjoy the book. Keep the legend of Starcraft alive!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Sequel
Review: The Starcraft series is now two books old, and I'm beginning to lose some faith in the saga. This isn't a good sign, especially since I am a huge fan of the game. The first book, Liberty's Crusade, followed the Terran campaign from the game, but this next entry, by Gabriel Mesta, branches off, creating a new storyline. Liberty's Crusade's somewhat flawed style at least had an established story to fall back on. Legend of the Xel'Naga, alas, does not. Gabriel Mesta, a pseudonym for the writing pair of Kevin J. Anderson and his wife, Rebecca Moesta, certainly brings in strong aspects from some of Anderson's prior work, including the Star Wars Galaxy. A huge problem that I have with Anderson's writing is that vehicles (and whatever the Zerg have) seem to be held together with masking tape. This problem helped bring down works such as Darksaber and the Jedi Academy Trilogy. Here, huge numbers of Zerg die to seemingly small numbers of untrained, underequipped Terrans in one scene that does little to recall the excellant cut-scenes from the game. Also, the ending has an interesting climax, but bizzare and disappointing conclusion, a "lets not have to connect this to Brood War" cop-out in my opinion. This is not to say that the book totally was lacking in virtue, as the masking tape fleets did engage in a couple interesting engagements, a definite improvement over the last book. However, I tend to believe that this was sadly overshadowed by the numerous negatives of novel. I can only hope that the series improves whenever the next book comes out. Maybe they can get Timothy Zahn to write one...hmm...

Rating:
Summary: Shadow of the Xel' Naga, a wonderful book!
Review: This book follows Starcraft. It doesn't follow the single player mode in the actual game, but still an excellent read. For readers who are in love with Starcraft, or for people who just wanna know what Starcraft is, this book is your answer. Starcraft is about three civilizations who are in war with one another, far in the future, 60,000 light-years from earth. These three civilizations are the humans called Terrans with advanced military power, the Protoss who are a strong offensieve robotic people, and the Zerg (my favorite), who resemble various earth animals only with more power, mutation and intelligence. The book tells you about many of the civilizations' type of aliens, what they look like, and what they do. The story is based around a colony on the forgotten wasteland world of Bheaker Ro, who farm, and live lives consisting of much sadness. A storm hits and uncovers an ancient artifact left by a superior race. The three races race to uncover the mysteries of the artifact. The race becomes a series of battles fought to uncover the mysteries. As the mysteries are solved, the races decide whether the artifact means destuction, or whether it becomes their greatest gift...

Rating:
Summary: Horrible book
Review: This book is as dumb as they come. If they're not going to write something catered to Starcraft fans, why write a Starcraft book? Especially one that has nothing to do with the game. And don't be fooled by the title - there's not Xel'Naga or explanation of the Xel'naga here.

Rating:
Summary: Starcraft Fans rejoice
Review: This book rocks! It is great. It has a great story line and a cool plot. I would definatly recommend it to eveybody who loves Starcraft. I love the great mass murders (probablaly cause I like wierd stuff like that). It has a kind of inside the Starcraft Universe to it. It makes you feel right on the battlefield seeng these monstors destroy themselves. It was a little preditable but that's what makes you want to read on to see if your are right. So to sum it up, get this book (and the first) it's worth it!

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This book was a Huge disapointment mainly because It didn't incorperate any of the overall story elements that fans of the starcraft series desire. The book focuses mainly on a baddly enhanced version of in game combat which is nothing like how real combat is like. The Colonists seem too invincible and I really didn't care which of them died. This book isn't even worth handing over 5$ and I am sorry I wasted my time reading it and my money buying it. My advice is if Gabriel Mesta writes another book based in the starcraft universe is for him to put more into the world and less into game acuracy.

Rating:
Summary: Straight out of the StarCraft manual
Review: This book was a huge disappointment. Most of the descriptions of the various military units and weapons come word for word right out of the StarCraft user's manual. Various inconsistencies with the game appear (Zealots fall dead rather than vanish, Reavers are somehow able to transport units, etc) and the battles read more like a StarCraft battle report than a description of what is relevant to the story. It reads as though it was written quickly without much in the way of creative input. The author's spin on several of the characters is not true to the game designers' design, and the ending destroys the impact of most of the battles. The co-authors of this book state in their bio that they have worked in many universes...Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, etc. It shows in this book, because it feels that they have neither played StarCraft or done much research into it. It feels that this book was written to profit on the StarCraft franchise, rather than to entertain the people who enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Not recommended at all
Review: This book was a very irregular one, that is to say good in some parts and awful in others. The battle scenes were quite good, as were the descriptions of settings. You get a clear picture of how hostile and difficult Bhekar Ro is. However, all the characters were simply awful. The new characters were boring and not believable, and the existing characters from the game were not the same. General Duke, for example, talks too much in the book, and he is portrayed as joyfully jumping around and acting like a kid in one scene, which Duke would NOT do.
The new characters' dialogue is terrible. Seriously, does ANYONE talk like this? "These passages are studded with more crystals and other strange objects, treasures, resources!" That sounds like a Discovery Channel narrator, not an eighteen-year-old. That's by no means all, either.
Any time weapons or technology from the game is mentioned, Mesta quotes from the manual, it seems. When he describes Stim Packs on page 188, that seems to be the worst example. This really got annoying for me. Most of the readers of this book have probably had some experience with the game, they don't really care what a Marine's rifle is called.
As far as the storyline itself goes, it's quite interesting, and it would make a good book if the rest of the book supported the plot. You've probably noticed that it doesn't.
Don't buy this book, really. It isn't fun to read.