Book Review: The Starcraft Archive
Book: The Starcraft Archive
Author: Jeff Grubb, Kevin Anderson, Tracy Hickman,
Micky Nielson.
Pages: 722
Hard Core Scale: 2.25
Normal Scale: 7.25
Publish Date: 2007 (2000-2002)
About: Four collected stories written
for Starcraft by different authors.
Review:
Jeff Grub: Liberty’s Crusade: A news reporter witnesses the end of the
Confederacy and the beginning of the Dominion.
¾ 9/10
Jeff Grub is amongst my favorite writers. This was weaker for him. Some of it I
blame for this thing not seemingly having an editor. He frames through this
Liberty character who serves as a foil between Starcraft’s cast. However, this
was not his invention and was a character in lore all along. So I can’t blame
him for it. Great description, nice life reflection in the fantastical and
great action. It’s what we wanted out of this.
Kevin Anderson and maybe his wife? (Aka Gabriel Mesta): Shadow of the Xel’Naga:
The three factions descend upon a human colony to fight over a artifact while
the colonists try to survive while everyone acts like five year olds.
¼ 5/10
What is the point by writing under a pen name then revealing you wrote it in
the about the author. Not sure how he got this gig. He mainly writes for “youth.”
Guy can’t write for adults. Terrible repeat sentence structure. This is StarCraft,
but everyone acts like they have half a brain cell. Everything is in lists or is flat out told. Nearly every dialogue tag is inverted. Again a
terrible waste of anthology space. Don’t write like this people.
Tracy Hickman: Speed of Darkness: A
marine haunted by his memories is shipped to Mar Sara to retrieve a box from a
Zerg Hive. Can he save his soul on top of his own skin?
4/4 10/10.
I always wondered between Tracy and Margit which of the power couple held each
other back and now after reading a novel by Hickman it is obvious it is not
him. The guy can sing. I might try to hunt down some independent books by him.
Fantastic philosophy in StarCraft. A
good look at civilian life and the intrinsic layers of what being a marine is
and a person in this sector and all the debates of warfare and government. Also
good handling of life is not a cheap. What a treat. What we want out of StarCraft.
Mickey Nielson: Uprising: The Story of
Mengsk coming to power and his rescue of the ghost named Sarah Kerrigan.
¼ 5/10
Ok he admits that he is not a writer. He was the lead voice director for
Blizzard at the time. He was invited by the lead story writer for Starcraft to
write a story for this anthology. I guess there is slight of mercy for trying. Remember,
publishing is often not you, but who you know. Lots of repeat sentence
structure and telling. But not like Mr. Anderson. he tried, I wonder if he has
improved his craft unlike certain other members of this anthology. There is
some jarring logic issues as if he does not understand certain aspects of
StarCrafts’ plot and details. Terran ships have shields like its Star Trek?
Kerrigan falls in love with another man and instantly forgives Mengsk for using
her and acts like dunce instead of a ghost. This hurts the mercy I can give because
they worked on the game and had Metzen’s ears to bend when he was asked to
write this. So yeah, the sins are both in mechanics along with story on this
one.
With the exception of Anderson’s story these all are very human centric. Even Anderson uses the colonists as a foil. We don't get lots of perspective of Zerg (would be hard to write) or Protoss. Most of the conflict is human versus human. One follows the plot closely. Two are independent. Hickman and Grubb’s work are worth the read and luckily can be bought independently.
