Starcraft II: Flashpoint

What an excellent book for Starcraft fans! For fans of Christie's character driven stories in the Blizzard universes, this is an absolute MUST HAVE! It's got a bit of everything in it: tons of action, adventure, great dialogue, mystery, suspense and heart touching romance!The story transitions well from the immediate aftermath of Wings of Liberty to set the stage properly for the upcoming Heart of the Swarm expansion set. Many characters, both major and minor, have their motivations and personalities shown in spotlight to create a much more personal journey than has been explored in the previous games. Of course the main characters you would expect make appearances: Jim Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan, Matt Horner, Valerian and Arcturus Mengsk. More importantly, many of the series minor characters are also explored, including Mira Han, Rory Swann, Egon Stettman, and previously unknown members of Raynor's Raiders. The character driven plot gives a much greater sense of a "universe" than Wings of Liberty could on its own, giving the games setting more depth in hindsight.In my opinion, though, the highlight of the book was not its wonderful, character driven plot to set up Heart of the Swarm, but the tantalizing looks that it gave to the past, concerning the relationship of Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan. The book goes into detail about just what Jim thought upon meeting Kerrigan for the first time (the famous "You pig!" and "Yeah but you were thinkin' it" line), their first date, Jim's deepening feelings for Sarah as she expresses her true emotions and motives.While I have mentioned many of the character driven elements of the book, that is not to say that it isn't still set in the Starcraft universe! There are still fantastic action scenes in the book: plenty of gunfighting, battles in outer space, chase scenes and the like! The difficulty is that I caught myself having to re-read many of these scenes because the spoken dialogue between the main characters are just too captivating! Readers, I know it's difficult when the story is just so ridiculously engrossing, but slow down and take your time to read through the actions scenes as well! They really help to set the scene for just how much trouble Jim, Sarah and crew are in than the dialogue alone can convey!To round out my review, I would like to add that I have touched very lightly on the plot elements, and I neglected to mention some of the more important things at all because I do not want to spoil the book for you. I have not mentioned the most tender moment of the franchise so far, the suspense involving the reveal of Raynor's true allies and enemies, or the sinister plot underlying the franchise expanded upon ever so slightly in these pages.I have been a fan of literature since I was young, and a great fan of Christie Golden's work for Blizzard since I discovered her. This book, in my opinion, will rival her novel about Arthas Menethil as the masterstroke of her career so far. Going into the novel I had many idolized ideas about who the characters and their feelings towards each other. I was pleasantly surprised, at the end of my reading, to find that my ideas about the characters were not only correct, but enhanced by the backstory presented to us. To me, the mark of a great book is one which can not only present a beautiful overall scene, but also colors in the small details to create a full picture. In this book, the Starcraft universe is our canvas, and the complex characters fill in all of the wonderful details.

Let me start by saying this is the first book I've read, both by Golden and within Starcraft lore. It really does a good job bridging the gap between Wings and Heart, and also fills in some gaps in the original games' plots by refreshingly beefing up the relationship between Raynor and Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades.There are spoilers here if you haven't played the first part of the Starcraft II trilogy, but why would you read a book set in the time line if you weren't at least partially up to speed?The characters seem legit, the situations are well written, and the tension is real. There are surprises, twists, and some solid questions asked. Having not played Heart of the Swarm yet I can say I am both amped to give it a go and interested in seeing how the cliff hangers are handled.If you like Starcraft and want more, this is as good a place to look as any.

This book covers the sequence of events immediately following the end of Wings of Liberty, and ends off where Heart of the Swarm begins. It follows the experiences of the newly human Sarah Kerrigan, Jim Raynor, Matt Horner and Valerian Mensk. The book is pleasant and engaging reading, alternating between present-time events and backstory from the past. You learn a little more about Raynor's and Kerrigan's history. But the real dark horse in this story is the character development of Mira Han, Matt Horner's "wife". She is such an amazing an entertaining character, and you learn more about her. While ultimately the storyline in this book doesn't greatly affect the Starcraft in-game storyline, nevertheless I found it fun and entertaining reading.

This was a fun book, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Goes more into depth about the starcraft universe and the story of Raynor and Kerrigan.Kerrigan is by far the coolest character in the Starcraft universe (personal opinion). She is complex with her emotions and she is powerful. Her relationship with Raynor is quite messed up. For Raynor, it's not that easy being in love with the Queen of Blades, but they have a strong bond, and that's what makes their relationship so interesting.Spoilers*For those who played the game, knows that kerrigan becomes the Queen of Blades again, I would definitely like to see more books about her as the new primal Queen of Blades and how her relationship with Raynor will develop.

Flashpoint takes place between SC2: WoL and HoTS, be warned it does contain major spoilers if you havent finished WoL.-----Spoilers---------Sarah Kerrigan is no longer the Queen of Blades, Jim Raynor has succesfully brought back the Ghost we all know and love from the first game but all is not well. While looking mostly human, Sarah definitely has some residual Zerg DNA left in her and has been left in a very vulnerable and weakened state. Jim has to decide what's best for her but who can he trust, hounded by all Arcturus Mengsk's fleet he is running out of options and out of time.The book is a quick, fun read and we get to revisit some of the supporting cast members from the WoL. Valerian Mengsk, Dr. Narud, Mira Han, Matt Horner and the crew of The Hyperion all show up again to help or hender the reformed Queen of Blades.

This goes between the first SC2 game and the next... or that's what it says. As the second game isn't out yet, then I can't be sure yet.It's a good story that expands the happy ending from the game. It tells you that not all the good guys where that good and that even if Raynor seemed like he had no doubts at the ending cutscene, he actually regrets doing what he had to do. It's a nice exploration on the motivations of the characters of a very epic game.Nothing too fancy. But it's a good book. If you're a SC2 player that actually cares for the story then this is a recommended read.

A+

Great book!

Fast paced and capture the very essence of Starcraft Universe. Highly recommended!!

Flashpoint continues where the Wings of Liberty campaign left off, Raynor carrying the partly humanized Sarah Kerrigan out of a cave on Char. Initially I wanted to read this before Heart of the Swarm.What this book turned out to be was a part of the story no less amazing than what we get in the actual games. The characters feel real and you can almost watch them grow as the plot advances. The dialogue is well written and the action sequences paint out events before your eyes vivid enough that you can almost see them happen. Christie has a unique writing style, and as an aspiring writer my self, there were plenty of things I would have put to different wording my self, only the book wouldn't have turned out as well as it did. All in all, this book blew me away and I'm now more than ever looking forward for the next SC2 games, but also the countless other StarCraft books I've missed out on so far.

Well, what have we got here?At first, todays Price (10 EUR) for this book with it's few pages, seems quiet a lot. Anyway, if you are into the Story revolving around Starcraft, this is definately a must-have. The reason for it is pretty simple: you start reading, and instantly get put into the Action. By turning page after page, you meet many known characters, may remember many old references if you as well have read the other novels, and furthermore you get to know all those characters in a way you have not had the Chance yet. I personally liked the style of writing, and it took me only a few hours without some real breaks to get through this book; could not put it aside before i had finished it.Sorry if the writing may seem a Little unprofessional by the way, my browser is correcting my writing based on the german language.Für alle etwaigen Leser die die deutsche Sprache bevorzugen:Abgesehen von dem doch recht hohen Preis, der jetzt, da ich diese Rezension verfasse mit 10EUR für eine Kindle-Edition in meinen Augen doch recht hoch angesetzt ist, haben wir hier ein Buch, welches einmal in die Hand genommen, kaum mehr weggelegt werden kann.Der Grund dafür ist recht simpel: kaum das man beginnt zu lesen, wird man bereits in die Handlung gezogen, trifft dabei gut ausgearbeitete, bekannte Charaktere wieder, die man im Buch auch in Facetten kennen lernt, welche man so vorher vielleicht nicht wahrnehmen konnte. Ebenfalls erfährt man wirklich einiges interessantes zur Vergangenheit zwischen James Raynor und Sarah Kerrigan - was ich hier jedoch nicht zu spoilern beabsichtige.Alles in allem eine Empfehlung, zu fünf Sternchen fehlt derzeit nur ein "angemessenerer" Preis, der aber mit Sicherheit in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft noch realisiert werden wird.