Sunday June 4th, 2017 Video Game Novels

Years ago, I remember laughing at the thought of a novelization of my then-favourite video game, Starcraft. The book was Jeff Grubb’s Liberty’s Crusade, which novelized the first third of Starcraft.  I’ve played the game many times, and know the story like the back of my hand.  Why would I want to read about it, too?  Flash forward a few years and I ended up reading Liberty’s Crusade as part of a collection of the first three Starcraft novels.  Thanks to Grubb’s excellent writing, Liberty’s Crusade was actually a fantastic read!  I no longer snub my nose at video game novels (although I know they can be hit or miss, much like any other genre of book - it depends on whether or not you like the author’s writing style).  This is just as well, since nowadays video games are often part of vast transmedia empires, with many books and movies to enjoy along with the games.  And while we may not have Liberty’s Crusade, many others are available here at the Thunder Bay Public Library.

One book that I particularly enjoyed was Fable: the Balverine Order by Peter David.  The premise of the book is that two guys go on a quest to find the rare balverine.  I thought this was hilarious because within the Fable games, balverines are not remotely rare. But David is an excellent writer; he turns this premise into a fantastic read about proving to the world (and yourself) that the impossible truly is possible.

If you’re a fan of the Halo franchise, we have many books and graphic novels available both in our libraries and online on Hoopla. I thought Eric S. Nylund’s Halo: the Fall of Reach was interesting; it tells the story of how the Master Chief became a Spartan.  It has a bit of overlap with the game Halo: Reach, but the story differs; the book details more of the space battles rather than the ground ones that contributed to the planet’s fall.  I love how the books in the Halo franchise take place during different time periods. Books like Greg Bear’s Halo: Cryptum take place in the distant past before humanity existed; others, like Karen Traviss’s Kilo-Five books (Glasslands and The Thursday War) take place after the original Halo trilogy.

While I’m talking about Halo, I should also mention that Red vs. Blue is available to stream on Hoopla.  Red vs. Blue is a comedy series created using the Halo video games and has very little to do with the Halo story.  I find it quite hilarious and very much recommend it.

While many television series based off of video games have been popular, the movies have a long history of being rather bad.  But last year, Warcraft, the highest grossing video game adaptation to date, was released.  The movie is based off of the first game (made in 1994); you may be familiar with the franchise thanks to the very popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.  The movie follows both the horde of invading orcs and the humans who are fighting against them.

I’ve mentioned a lot of books and movies for adults; we of course have things for kids, too.  We’ve got plenty of Pokemon books, graphic novels and movies, including the latest games adapted as graphic novels (Pokemon XY, and Pokemon Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire - there are no adaptations of Pokemon Sun and Moon yet).  We’ve also got lots of Minecraft and Angry Birds books, which are also quite popular.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the books or movies I have mentioned here (and many more!) be sure to head to your local library!

Shauna Kosoris