I've been noticing that the game series novels in the science fiction and fantasy sections at book stores to be growing with great rapidity. I know a few have had great and long standing success, while others folded early. Mine is the Halo novel series. I could honestly talk about the novels for days, and dont care too much for even playing the games anymore. They even started to get some pretty decent authors. Greg Bear came in for a trilogy in the middle of it that was definitely excellent. I'm always up to discuss this series with anyone else, but I'm also wondering if anyone else has tried out any other game series novels, and to what end or success. I'm about 18 novels into the Halo series, and still happy with it. Anybody else having the same results with another?
I'm still looking to get into the Halo book series, but I have a backlog that I'm not making much of a dent in ATM. As a kid I read S.D Perry's Resident Evil novels. I enjoyed her perspective on things that didn't occur in the game. She infused characters with personality, where in the game they had very little. But once she started to write about the events the game dives into, it became dull. It became more of a game guide then a novel.
Mine is Dead Space. I loved the first book and I'm looking for others. I also really loved Rapture, the book about life before the underwater city in BioShock, which is my favorite game of all time.
Started from TTRPGS, not video games, but there are a lot of good stories in the Warhammer / Warhammer 40K universes.
Bioshock is one of my favorite series ever for numerous reasons, but I was always afraid the book series might ruin it. Worth the time you say? What route do they take for expanding on the corrupted city under the sea? Also, I never knew Dead Space had a book series. Is it slower paced and creepier like the first game, or action packed like the others? I prefer the first game.
I always wondered if the 40k books were worthwhile. I heard they got a bit reliant on gore rather than story, so I haven't tried the series. Is this the case?
It depends on the author, in my view. The Felix and Gotrek books don't rely on it (at least not the William King and Nathan Long books). The Nathan Long Blackhearts stories are also fun. Dan Abnett is probably the best of them all. He writes mostly in the 40K realm--good stories and characters, and also not reliant on the gore though of course they maintain the Warhammer universe bleakness. A relatively short one of his I quite enjoyed was Double Eagle. A lot of his others are part of a series.
Okay I'll try to take a look at those when I get the time. Thanks for the help. I don't mind gore at all, but when it clouds the story too much in gratuity it gets boring and annoying. The Halo series is the same way with its authors in quality. Some of them like Matt Forbeck I completely avoid, while Greg Bear and Eric Nylund produce some of the best work there. Thanks for the new fun reading material.
I like Greg Bear. I haven't read Nylund. I tried one D&D novel by Forbeck but it wasn't very good (nor are most D&D novels as far as I can tell). I'll check out Nylund!
It's more like a prequel. So people are getting there and there's still building being done. There's no splicers yet. It's kind of the beginning of the madness. It's really well written and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to. I've only read the first book, and yes, to me it is more like the first game. Again, it felt more like a prequel to it, which I'm fine with if they're done well, and it was. It's called Catalyst, which makes sense considering what happens after events in the book. It flows so nicely into the game.
That honestly sounds preferable to a novel amidst the madness. I like it. Definitely going to at least give it a go and expand my knowledge of already engaging universe there. Does it go more into Andrew Ryan and Atlas' backstories at all?
I honestly think Atlas is more explored in the game, which is fine. He's kind of the main focus in the game anyway, to me, and Ryan's just accepted his fate in it. The book is more about the realization that Ryan isn't achieving what he set out to do. So in a sense, yes, it is about Ryan's rise and eventual tumble.
I was looking into the Dragon Quest novels awhile back but they are apparently hard to aquire in the states. I'm not sure if there are English translations.
RE: Bioshock. At least one of the Bioshock novels was written by John Shirley, who is an excellent writer who was winning awards long before he ever started doing game tie-ins. I haven't read it, but I would expect it to be well done.
Theres manga for Dragon Quest but these were novels. A large series actually. Choose your own adventure, which I'm not too keen on but its Dragon Quest.
I'll second @Steerpike's recommendation of Warhammer/Warhammer 40K books. As well as Abnett, I'm a fan of Aaron Dembski-Bowden. His novel Helsreach was terrific. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6949471-helsreach Aaron does a great job of highlighting the stark social/cultural differences between humans of the Imperium and Astartes (space marines) in that story. He even touches on the different warrior philosophies between space marine chapters (Black Templars and Salamanders in this case) and allows the reader to decide which—if any—is better. Not to mention the protagonists, pacing, and emotionally-charged action scenes are all commendable.
