EVE novel review

I didn't get a chance to log into EVE yesterday, but I was fully immersed in New Eden. I was enjoying Tony Gonzales' novel- Eve: The Empyrean Age.




I greatly enjoyed the read and would recommend the book to any Sci-Fi fan, regardless of whether they play EVE or not. As an EVE capsuleer, I feel like the book helped enrich the backstory and brought to life many areas that I have found myself roaming through. Overall, the plot and characters are engaging. There are perhaps too many concurrent plot lines, and while the complex plot provides excitement, the downside is that character development is severely constrained by the lack of focus.

The book succeeds in providing the story that leads to the current situation with the Factional Warfare system in game. I also enjoyed that the characters have turned up in later EVE chronicles to further develop the story. Perhaps it is a consequence of being part of a living, breathing universe, but the hardest part about the novel is that it leaves you hanging at the end. I am still not sure what happens on Caldari Prime, and I have been playing the game for months since the novel came out. We have also been given very little additional insight into the craziness within the Amarr Empress, or what becomes of the racist and bloodthirsty leader of the Caldari. While the recent freeing of slaves may have been forshadowed by the experiences of the Empress' right hand man in the book, we are left on our own to figure out how the story ends.

I am personally counting on Mr. Gonzales to publish a sequel soon to explore these hanging threads. I hope he can slow down enough to really develop his characters while retaining the gripping quality he created in The Empyrean Age.

Overall, a good read for any Sci-Fi fan; a great read for those interested in jumping into the EVE world, and a must read for current players!

Grab a copy today and let me know what YOU think.