As gaming has exploded as a medium over the last two decades or so, many publishers have decided to extend their gaming franchises with various multimedia spinoffs, both as a marketing tool for their games and a way to make some extra money on the side. These range from the good (the Halo: Fall of Reach novel) to the bad (that weird ass poem thing for the Dante?s Inferno game, what was that all about?) The idea behind the gamers' book club is to review some of these tie-ins in an attempt to see which franchises were worth the extension and which should have just stayed as video games.
Now, I'll freely admit that I'm a sucker for a well established universe, and so the Dead Space universe seemed like a good place to start. It's a veritable nirvana of novels, comics and even some anime films. This review will focus on the prequel novel Martyr, by B.K Evenson.
The story of Martyr is the story of Michael Altman who, as we know from the games, is the founder of the church of Unitology. Set approximately 300 years before the first game, it is about how scientists, led by Altman discover the first Marker in a crater in Chicxulub, Mexico. What follows is the story of how the Marker affects everyone in its general vicinity, leading to what should be obvious if you're at all familiar with the Dead Space games and their lore.
I really don't want to go too far into spoiler territory in terms of the actual plot, but there will be some minor spoilers in terms of the structure of the story itself. The book is split into seven parts of approximately equal length. What's interesting is that all the Necromorph action is saved for the last two parts, which works out at less than a quarter of the book. Everything up to that is character, plot and universe building. It's an odd change of pace from the games, which are very action heavy from the start.
So, how are the characters and plot? Being heavily invested in this universe, I certainly found them interesting for the most part. Altman himself is especially well written and sympathetic, and the villains are suitably ominous in terms of their intent. The actual founding of Unitology is treated with quite a heavy degree of cynicism, although this shouldn't be surprising given that the author was forced to leave the Mormon Church after controversy over his first novel.
Unfortunately, the actual action part of the novel fails to stand up. It's clear that Evenson either played or is very familiar with the game, because the accounts of dismembering Necromorphs with a Plasma Cutter are an almost perfect blow by blow of what happens during the games' frantic combat segments. Sadly, these parts are much more interesting to play than to read, and much of the tension built up within the book's first three quarters is lost to a string of constant action sequences that really only seem to serve to remind people that this is actually a Dead Space book.
Ultimately, if you're a fan of the games, Martyr is a good read. It fleshes out important parts of the universe, and reveals the actual events surrounding Altman and the church. Your enjoyment of the novel will depend on what you actually want from it. If you're after a slow paced character study set in this universe, you'll enjoy this book for the most part, but if you're after more of the action elements, I'd advise giving this a miss. While it's here, there's not enough of it to satisfy that craving, and what there is of it is just not as interesting as it should be.
Comments on either the novel or the review itself are, as always, welcome.
