Book review: Aspho Fields (Gears of War)

Gears of War: Aspho Fields – Karen Traviss

(Note: I read this book in 2008, and this is a repost of a review I did then in Visual Bookshelf on my Facebook)

As a regular read this would get a 3-star as it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Being a game-based book that’s entertaining and gives more depth and background to the characters from the Gears of War games in a good way it gets an extra star. I would love to see the character Bernie (or “Boomer Lady” as Cole calls her) in the games. The book started by confusing me profoundly. It states clearly “prequal” on the cover page, yet the first chapters are about what happens between Gears of War 1 and 2. It starts alternating chapters a bit in, with one chapter about binding GOW 1-2 and then several years before GOW1 (and E-day for that matter). It’s interesting to find out more about Phoenix, and Dominic’s brother Carlos. Also some of the mystery of daddy Phoenix is poked into, maybe there’s more in GOW3 or the other book (Gears of War: Jacinto’s Remnant). I’ll be reading the next book soon though!

Conclusion: Read it If you’re a Gears of War fan and liked the story(!). Otherwise read something else.