The Sword and Laser discussion

its a strange one but for all the Halo, Mass Effect and Bioshock related novels out there, are they worth picking up and do they have a place in the future as time and time again games prove that they maturing as an art form. of course I already know the answer but I would love to hear everyone's opinion.

I really like the third Myst book, though I never played the game. I didn't even know it was associated with a game (or that it was the third of three) until I was trying to find it years after having first read it. Plan on reading the first two as well.

I started the first Gears of War novel Aspho Fields and didnt like it, even lemming it. Then I went back and picked it up and really enjoyed the second half.

I have the Assassins Creed and Mass Effect and Rapture (bioshock) novels my favorite games and am a little nervous to actually read them so thoughts on them I'd like to hear

I read the first 3 Mass Effect novels (the 4th one had so many continuity and canon errors that I refused to buy it) and loved all 3 of them. They're great supplemental stories to the games. Clearly I am a *huge* ME fan.

I read a few of the "Magic the Gathering" books and actually found the magic system to be kind of interesting, and the books entertaining.

And of course the Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis and Hickman... they were amazing.

I liked oneof the Wing Commander Novels, I think it was The Price of Freedom. If they count, a lot of the shadowrun novels are nice, but there is a lot of crap out there as well - now that there are computer games as well, it may be valid.

The two Gabriel Knight noveliztions were really good - Sins of the Fathersand The Beast Within - and it was really great to revisit all the great places and character of the game.

Eric Nylunds Halo novels and S.D. Perry's Resident Evil novels are genuinely good reads.

Nekroskop wrote: "The two Gabriel Knight noveliztions were really good - Sins of the Fathersand The Beast Within - and it was really great to revisit all the great places and character of the game.
"

I got both of those from the Pinkerton Road kickstarter, but haven't read them yet. I loved both of those games though. That's good to know.

I thought the first Dragon Age novel was pretty decent. The second was okay.
I have a couple of the Mass Effect books, but haven't read them yet.

I've read a couple Neverwinter novels and enjoyed them.

The first two Forgotten Realms SSI "Gold Box" tie in novels were quite good, for their time. (That would be "Pools of Radiance", and "Curse of the Azure Bonds")
And technically, you can consider the entire "Guardians of the Flame" series by Joel Rosenberg and "Wildcards" series as edited by GRRM to be game tie-ins. And those don't suck by a long country mile.

The Neverwinter novels are on my to-read list as well. I've read all 4 Mass Effect novels and the comics, but while the first 3 novels were good, the last one was really bad. The comics were...wel, idk. I like the one about Liara and Cerberus which was kind of the prologue to the Shadowbroker DLC but the other comics I didn't like too much.

I read all Dragon Age novels and liked them. And I read the SWTOR tie-in novels that Drew Karpyshyn wrote and liked them a lot too.

I read the first Halo novel about two years ago, and it blow my mind away. It is a really amazing novel, but all the other novels not so much.

The Doom and Doom 3 books are pretty good.
Bioshock: Rapture and Bioshock Infinite: Mind in Revolt are great as prequels to both the original Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite.
The Assassin's Creed books are a toss up, but there are some good moves the books make.
The Alan Wake book actually does more with the area and narrative than the game does, which is saying a lot. A lot more character building.
To go off of the references to the Neverwinter games and novels, the entire Drizzt saga is pretty damned good.

These are just what are coming to my mind right now. I might have more to throw out there soon.

There are three Guild Wars 2 novels, the last one currently out now is the best of them. The first two definitely had that "roll of the dice" feel to them, like you were leveling through the book to get to the end boss.

There was a trilogy of novels from Palladium Books based on the Rifts pen and paper RPG. The story was good but the editing was horrendous. I wish there was an ongoing series set in that world (with better editing - no, let me rephrase that: with editing).

Can't recall any others at the moment...

I've tried to read Assassin's Creed book, but comparing to game it's simply boring. I have to say it couldn't be easy to make book based on this game so uninteresting. I heard that one of the next parts is better, maybe I'll try them one day.

In the Blizzard (StarCraft and Warcraft) universe, I've found anything by Chris Metzen or Christie Golden great, even if you aren't into the games.

I started reading one of the Warcraft novels once (I can't remember which one) and it was probably one of the worst-written things I have ever read. I didn't get very far before gave up.

I enjoyed most of the Shadowrun novels and thought them a lot of fun. The later ones not so much.

Mostly, though, the MechWarrior novels rock! Something about reading about battlemechs hammering it out on the battlefield really appealed to me. Right now I'm rereading the Warrior Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole.

Jonathan wrote: "The Doom and Doom 3 books are pretty good."

One of the first adult books I had as a kid was a Doom novel. I never read it.

Crissy wrote: "I read a few of the "Magic the Gathering" books and actually found the magic system to be kind of interesting, and the books entertaining."

I've read a couple of MtG novels too.
They held me all the way through and I enjoyed them but I can't remember the titles or stories.
That was a long time ago!

William wrote: "I enjoyed most of the Shadowrun novels and thought them a lot of fun. The later ones not so much."

PnP RPG & Tabletop:
I was going to mention the Shadowrun books as they stood out for me as a good blend of cyberpunk and urban fantasy (Elfpunk I guess is the new hybrid genre according to wikipedia).

Technically the Forgotten Realms books (Shout out to the recent R. A. Salvatore interview) and Dragonlance books were all based on classic AD&D, so I can definitely say I've enjoyed some novels based on a game :)

Also, as far as tabletop goes, the Black Library from Games Workshop publishes a ton of books based on the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K games. Many of these are hit and miss, but if you're a fan of the games and the worlds they're set in, some of them can be quite good. Try Eisenhorn for a 40K sci fi detective story, or something from the Horus Heresy series if you're into character driven military sci fi.

Video Games:
I read the Deus Ex novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect as a tie-in to the Deus Ex: Human Revolution game. Not bad, probably a 3.5 star book that sets up some of the characters who appear in the game.

EVE Online MMO has a couple novels; EVE: The Empyrean Age and EVE: The Burning Life which again weren't bad, but I got the distinct feeling that the focus in the Empyrian Age was more marketing than storytelling.

I liked the Splinter Cell books.

If you are fan of the Witcher, you might enjoy The Last Wish..

I really enjoyed Mass Effect.

Competine wrote: "If you are fan of the Witcher, you might enjoy The Last Wish.."

Just want to point out that in this case the game is based on the books, and not the other way around. :)

KevinB wrote: "Competine wrote: "If you are fan of the Witcher, you might enjoy The Last Wish.."

Just want to point out that in this case the game is based on the books, and not the other way around. :)"

and books are awesome :D
games too ;)

The Witcher books were awesome.

The ME books are good if you are a fan and used them as companion material during the play through. Once you've completed the play through of ME3 im not sure how entertaining they'd be. I imagine alot of books that are based on specific game titles might be the same. - M.