Assassin's Creed: the Secret Crusade Paperback – June 28, 2011

I don't understand the few negative reviews this book got because I think this author did the best he could with the complex storyline of Assassin's Creed - especially this one since some people might not have bothered with the other two video games in the franchise that were for the DS (Altair's Chronicles) and the psp (Bloodline). Mr. Bowden combined the two stories very efficiently, in my opinion. I've heard other people call this story 'unimaginative', but I didn't find it to be at all. Altair's personality is very understated in the original Assassin's Creed and I think the author did a good job giving us a look into his mind. We got to see where his arrogance actually came from. Besides that, we learned a bit more about his upbringing and learned the origins of the bad blood shared between him and Abbas. It was only repetitive in the fashion that the game itself was. I didn't see fault with Mr. Bowden's direct approach to the events he was recounting in the story. It seems some people might have expected a little bit more of a diversion or a side story in between missions, but given the complexity of the story, it would have been a bit much. Still, the attempt was made with the scenes about Altair's childhood not to mention the narration of the story in the first place. This was the first book in the series I bought because I wanted to read these chronologically. I'm still currently playing the games, still not having made it to the latest that just came out this past October, Assassin's Creed 3. Presently, I'm only on Brotherhood. With that said, I'm only wondering about the ending of this book. I know we learn a little bit more about what happened to Altair in Revelations and I noticed that Mr. Bowden has written a book of that account as well. I'm wondering if the end of the book came from some of the information from that game. If so, that's a bit of a spoiler since I haven't even made it to that game yet. Either way, I found it very entertaining to learn what became of Altair's legacy, more or less. I loved the original Assassin's Creed and I loved Altair's character. So reading this made me really nostalgic. I could see everything Mr. Bowden described with such clarity - everything from the fight scenes to the humorous scenes between him and Maria. Speaking of which, the author did a good job giving voice to Altair's budding attraction to her. It was something implied in the video game (Bloodline), but it was interesting for someone to take a crack at interpreting it into something realistic to Altair's character. In the end, I was impressed with the story. Taking on something like this would have been daunting to me and I think Mr. Bowden did an exceptional job. Whatever hang ups some people might have with it, I think any true fan of Assassin's Creed would find it an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading Renaissance.

As others have said this book chronicles the first game in the Assassin's Creed series and the PSP game Bloodlines, taking events and dialog from the games verbatim. There is however so much more here. Where in the game Altaïr is an undefined vessel for the player to fill, this work fleshes out the person. There is a grand story here, but the telling of it is very compressed. Events are described quickly and perfunctorily, and the scene is not set in a detailed manner. This is I think due to the "reading a journal" style of writing combined with an arbitrary page count limitation. Given total freedom, a scholar of Bowden's training could have written a 1500 page epic, the kind one reads over a whole winter of chilly evenings. I believe the Masters of the Creed franchise decreed that such an attempt would take too long and would be too long for the intended audience. A pity, as I think the actual audience is people like me who want to wring every possible scrap of information from this amazing story. That said, I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very satisfied in how storyline set in the games but never resolved were completed. Like the games, you feel "close" to actual history, while at the same time are given the sense of being privy to something hidden, something very, very important. A must read for fans of the Creed franchise, and an enjoyable quick read for those who wonder what this whole Assassin's Creed thing is about but cannot or will not play the games for whatever reason.

I was very surprised to learn books had been written from the franchise of these games. As I am a fan like many others of the series, I had to get my hands on it!Of course there were the splices in sentences and an occasional word repeated in a sentence, but it wasn't enough to repel me. That being said, I disregard the complaints other people have reviewed mainly because these books are not supposed to be a masterpiece or epic, but a written form of a franchise.Perhaps my rating is generous but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found it was a fun experience to relive a videogame with further detail (of course not the detail I'm used to from what I call "proper books.")Over all, if you are a hardcore fan of the games and have at least glanced at these books, you won't be disappointed.

I HAVE NOT PLAYED ASSASSINS CREED!!I keep hearing how great this series is so I decided to read about it instead of playing it. Now I have NO IDEA what the lore of the first game even is besides the whole Assassins vs Templars war, I don't even know how accurate this book is BUT for someone that does not know much I find this book REALLY interesting.It is a little hard to read at first because of all the different foreign names the author throws at you, that it's hard to keep track of who is who and what their title is. But, once you get past that the lore is amazingly interesting. I have yet to finish the book ( I'm on chapter 29) but I am enjoying the world of assassins creed, the missions and the stealth and Altair is one awesome dude!! I find him to be a very interesting main! Can't wait to finish it!So all in all I think this book is great (so far) 10/10

A really good read, follows the original game story line early with a few extra pieces, then after about 2/5ths of the way through goes into some really interesting storyline from the rest of his lifeTo Clarify: The games storyline is what is followed, it does not follow game play other than almost at one point relatively early on which is why it is so goodthe only thing I would've preferred is that at one point the narrator/author skips out 20 years in order to continue one part of Altairs story line, though the continuity is appreciated, it would've been nice to have a little bit more filler to cover over those 20 years of his life

Produto em ótimo estado, sem páginas rasgadas ou faltando, pouquíssimas marcas e sem anotações, como se nunca tivesse sido usado. Páginas antigas, mas muito bem conservadas. História muito interessante para quem já jogou Assassin's Creed e gostaria de entender melhor a história.

Perfect

Those who had played the Assassin's creed 1 sure knows who was altair. But if u read this book without knowing who was altair then also u will acknowledge this worrier. And even if u have played, you should read it anyway. Coz he was the real Assassin Master

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Recently finished it and it was everything I expected and more! I decided to pick this up because I wanted to start reading again and I couldn't put it down. The book ties in well with the game and all the extra information (which wasn't seen in the game) was written brilliantly aswell. Highly recommended if you enjoyed the game and/or looking for a new book series to start.