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[Lucky Thirteen]

I appreciate the fact that Bioware wasn't too restrictive on this guys creative process, but they should have kept better tabs on the lore and I think Dietz could have done more research.

Besides the lore, the writing style switches view points too much and there's one too many characters to follow. Every chapter had a different character/plot going on and even some of those were broken off into two character's view points. It all felt convoluted, distracting, confusing, and completely unnecessary.

Who exactly is the protagonist of this anyways? Because I was under the impression from the cover and the book summary that it was Gillian, but for some reason the majority of what I read of that 50 page sample was about Anderson, Kahlee, and Lang. Then there is this random supporting character, Hal McCann that appeared in really random spurts and added nothing but an unnecessary viewpoint.


I've got all the previous mass effect books, I haven't read them yet, but judging by Drew Karpshyn's writing style in Revan, it's a very similar situation of character swapping.

I'm not sure if this is just a popular thing to do with video game books, but personally, I think at the most, swap between two character viewpoints. One of them has to take priority over the other and take up the majority of the story.

Also Dietz tells more than he shows. Which leads to a boring read. I can understand wanting to explain the aliens and tech, for the sake of someone new to the series, but for as an existing fan I was skimming whole pages to get back to the story. It could be handled better. I've read books that had a dictionary in the back explaining everything and with pictures if the person doesn't know what things are.

[izmirtheastarach]

The response from Dietz is shocking, because it does nothing to explain why there are so many glaring errors in the book. So many concepts are misunderstood or presented completely differently from the way they are in both the games and Drew's three books.

I'm still baffled by this whole situation. I've definitely decided not to buy the book. I encourage everyone to do the same. It revives the story from the previous three books only to completely destroy it. The whole thing is an exercise in frustration.

Asasri-sytle air kisses to you all, though.

Modifié par izmirtheastarach, 26 janvier 2012 - 09:26 .

[ravene]

canceled my pre-order last night ill get it used if i get it at all now.

[legion999]

Well I know the ending and..

Nothing changes. What was the point?

Except Kai Leng is now the cereal killer.

Also what happened to the old thread?

Modifié par legion999, 26 janvier 2012 - 09:49 .

[izmirtheastarach]

legion999 wrote...

Well I know the ending and..

Nothing changes. What was the point?

Except Kai Leng is now the cereal killer.

Yep. Utterly pointless. All it's done is provide us with a few humorous memes. You know, literally if someone has posted a single paragraph from this before those excerpts were released, you would not have been able to convince anyone that it was actually from the book. They would have thought it was a hoax. It's that bad.

Modifié par izmirtheastarach, 26 janvier 2012 - 09:44 .

[AVPen]

izmirtheastarach wrote...

legion999 wrote...

Well I know the ending and..

Nothing changes. What was the point?

Except Kai Leng is now the cereal killer.

Yep. Utterly pointless. All it's done is provide us with a few humorous memes. You know, literally if someone has posted a single paragraph from this before those excerpts were released, you would not have been able to convince anyone that it was actually from the book. They would have thought it was a hoax. It's that bad. 

Well.... on the major plus side, at least there's nothing written in Deception that can f*** up anything that'll be in Mass Effect 3. 

(save for maybe Kai Leng, but from what little I've read of him in the leaks, he's definitely not the "Cereal Killer" OOC that he's shown to be in Deception)

Modifié par AVPen, 26 janvier 2012 - 09:48 .

[JeffZero]

Multiple perspective storytelling is actually far and away my favorite style, Lucky Thirteen. Tad Williams juggled over a dozen major angles across his lengthy "Otherland" series and he did so with grace and flair. But the difference is that perspective shifts take much longer to transpire. A character might have an entire chapter told through their eyes, or perhaps half a chapter, but back-and-forth confusion such as is seen with Dietz? No, almost never.

Going overboard on it is never a good thing, I agree.

Modifié par JeffZero, 26 janvier 2012 - 09:58 .

[Yuoaman]

So, I doubt in the last 25 pages any gems have been found in Deception?

Also, Tad Williams' Otherland series is one of the best for juggling multiple viewpoints - one of the few times I didn't have any problems with any of the major viewpoints.

[Maugrim]

Well I see this thread is still going relatively strong and that my letter to Dietz made it out (Thanks JoeLaTurkey!). It didn't really change my opinion of the book but it definitely makes me go 'WTF Bioware?' I wouldn't expect them to catch everything, especially the more nitpicky stuff but all of it together is just too much to forgive. I might check this out from the local library although considering that I could probably stash all of it's books in my house it'll probably have to be requested from and shipped in from another library in the county. Or maybe the few people still sticking by their purchase for the lulz could just ship it on to the next person when done!

[izmirtheastarach]

Yuoaman wrote...

So, I doubt in the last 25 pages any gems have been found in Deception?

I had finished trolling the excerpt before the previous thread was shut down. My favourites were the last few I found. Anderson making love to Kahlee and missing a border crossing. Nick dreaming about making love to some Asari. And of course Gillian indulging in Asari-style air kisses.

Modifié par izmirtheastarach, 26 janvier 2012 - 10:13 .

[Yuoaman]

izmirtheastarach wrote...

Yuoaman wrote...

So, I doubt in the last 25 pages any gems have been found in Deception?

I had finished trolling the excerpt before the previous thread was shut down. My favourites were the last few I found. Anderson making love to Kahlee and missing a border crossing. Nick dreaming about making love to some Asari. And of course Gillian indulging in Asari-style air kisses.

I remember that stuff, I was hoping that maybe we had found something salvageable.

But of course that would just be ridiculous - once you have asari air kisses there's nowhere to go but down.

[izmirtheastarach]

Just for kicks, from the free preview:

The "warp" tore the asari biotics asunder. One monent they were there, and the next they wern't, as chunks of raw meat flew in every direction. The resulting blood mist was still floating in the air...

Modifié par izmirtheastarach, 26 janvier 2012 - 10:22 .

[Gabey5]

Yeah there was an inconsistency wit the batarians having an embassy, i hope the full book is not filed with little things like that.

[izmirtheastarach]

Gabey5 wrote...

Yeah there was an inconsistency wit the batarians having an embassy, i hope the full book is not filed with little things like that.

From what we've been able to read in the first 50 pages and the sample chapters on the preview, I can pretty much guarantee that it is. There's one every couple of pages.

[Kalms]

It's a joy to read the comments on this thread. Please don't release this book, BioWare. Have some dignity! The story deserves better.

Seems like I'm not the only one prepared to act like this book never happened.

[Zhuinden]

izmirtheastarach wrote...

Just for kicks, from the free preview:

The "warp" tore the asari biotics asunder. One monent they were there,
and the next they wern't, as chunks of raw meat flew in every direction.
The resulting blood mist was still floating in the air...

...and would remain so for a few seconds as the half-executed
“pull,” which the asari had been creating at
the moment of their deaths, lost its coherency.

Yup, it's really there.

The minutes crawled by. People came and went.
There was a scuffle between two prostitutes. T’Loak’s
mercs chased them away. More time passed. Finally,
just as Leng was about to pee in the vase he had selected
for that purpose, something happened.

I'm not that much of an expert on this subject, but is this a usual element in novels? I mean, is that detail really necessary? I'm confused.

Modifié par Zhuinden, 26 janvier 2012 - 10:39 .

[Devil Mingy]

Kalms wrote...

It's a joy to read the comments on this thread. Please don't release this book, BioWare. Have some dignity! The story deserves better.

Seems like I'm not the only one prepared to act like this book never happened.

Ah yes, "Deception"

[izmirtheastarach]

Kalms wrote...

It's a joy to read the comments on this thread. Please don't release this book, BioWare. Have some dignity! The story deserves better.

Seems like I'm not the only one prepared to act like this book never happened.

Too late.

And to the second part, since Anderson is the only character from this book that we know is actually in ME3, knowing this story is not important at all.

[ZLurps]

Gabey5 wrote...

Yeah there was an inconsistency wit the
batarians having an embassy, i hope the full book is not filed with
little things like that.

Well, there was that thing about Tantalus drive core in hundred or so years old Batarian raid ship.
This Batarian ship had Turian slave captured from Palaven.
Quarians who aren't like wearing envirosuits because their immunity system isn't too good got all those slaves onboard their ship.
The most valuable possession for Quarians, a ship, well, they gave it to Gillian and co without blinking an eye.
Uh... believe me there is more.

I'm on thin ice with this one but for me it appears that Aria T'Loak somehow forgot that she is a biotic.

I wonder who the hell is going to write ME Wiki errata page for Deception.

Edit: Missing quote.

Modifié par ZLurps, 26 janvier 2012 - 10:41 .

[izmirtheastarach]

Hello Man wrote...

The way dietz portrayed may not be to accurate what you he really meant. The Batarians 'closed' their embassy. So In my opinion they office is still open to them if they ever wanted to come back. But theirs also they possibility he left out that the Batarians came back to the Citadel in between 2 and 3.

Thank goodness solving that one issue makes everything all right.