Every advanced society in the galaxy relies on the technology of the Protheans, an ancient species that vanished fifty thousand years ago. After discovering a cache of Prothean technology on Mars in 2148, humanity is spreading to the stars; the newest interstellar species, struggling to carve out its place in the greater galactic community.

On the edge of colonized space, ship commander and Alliance war hero David Anderson investigates the remains of a top secret military research station; smoking ruins littered with bodies and unanswered questions. Who attacked this post and for what purpose? And where is Kahlee Sanders, the young scientist who mysteriously vanished from the base–hours before her colleagues were slaughtered?

Sanders is now the prime suspect, but finding her creates more problems for Anderson than it solves. Partnered with a rogue alien agent he can’t trust and pursued by an assassin he can’t escape, Anderson battles impossible odds on uncharted worlds to uncover a sinister conspiracy . . . one he won’t live to tell about. Or so the enemy thinks.

This is a guest review by Marco

This book by Drew Karpyshyn serves as a prequel to the Mass Effect videogame trilogy (PC and XBOX 360), of which two games have been released so far. Drew Karpyshyn is the main storywriter for these games. The Mass Effect games are the best I’ve ever played since I first touched a videogame. The storyline is incredibly deep and the characters are amazing. I actually found myself feel bad when anything happened to them which is an amazing accomplishment. I’d call Mass Effect ‘The Avatar of videogames’, but with a much better story.

Obviously this is not a videogame review but I had to mention this to set the context for this book. Playing Mass Effect 1 and 2 left me wanting more so this book had to be read. The big question is, did the book deliver? The answer: Yes and no. Let me explain.

First of all, I really enjoyed reading this book. That however doesn’t at all mean it’s a really good book. Unfortunately it really isn’t. I’ve read a whole lot of great science fiction and this book can’t even stand in the shadows of the works by my ‘hero authors’ such as Greg Bear, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card and many more. Character development is really shallow and the writing style is not very mature to say the least. The story is incredibly linear as well. Don’t expect any twists here.

Then there’s the aliens. Several alien races (that also appear in the games) are described in the book but none of them seem very alien. It’s like they’re all having the same human motives rather than their own alien ones. I feel the games have more depth in this department while one would really expect a book to win here. Kind of a bummer really.

Despite all this I did like reading this book. But … only because I played the games. This book provides a lot of background to things that are briefly mentioned in the games but not really discussed. How did the antagonist of the Mass Effect 1 game turn evil? This book will tell explain this, and a lot more!

So here it is. Even though I really enjoyed reading this book I can only give it two stars (barely) because it just isn’t very good science fiction. The games are MUCH better in every way. They’re like a fully interactive space opera with YOU playing the main part.

If you enjoyed the Mass Effect games as much as I did you’ll want to read this book, if only to get the extra background information. If you don’t plan to play the games you probably best skip this book.

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