Having recently got off my winter break, I had quite some time to catch up on a lot of reading I've been meaning to get to, so if you don't like books, ya might as well stop reading right now. Chief among them Alamut by Vladimir Bartol, the book that happened to inspire Assassin's Creed, the latest DragonLance book, Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, and my personal favorite, Starcraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters

Alamut is quite the story. Written in 1938 as an allegory to the tense political climate of Europe on the eve of WWII, it tells the story of the world's first terrorist, Hasan ibn Sabbah, as he molds his plans to create undying loyalty in his fedayeen by making the promise of 72 virgins in Paradise written in the Koran...a reality. ibn Sabbah and his fortress, Alamut, is actually based on the historical figure, The Old Man of the Mountain, and his plans to overthrow the false caliph in Baghdad. When the fedayeen have been entranced by their one-night visit to Paradise, they are willing to become the fearless hashashins the world knows well today. Hashashin comes from the drug hashish, from the hemp plant, which is what is used to put to the fedayeen in such a high that they do not realize how they are being taken to "Paradise". If you read Angels & Demons you would know that hashashin became assassin. Fearless of death, the assassins were and still are willing to carry out their missions without fear of harm to themselves, all for the sake of joining the women awaiting them in Paradise. All in all, the book is an exquisite portrait into the mind of a madman, and you can easily see how this small group has become one of the most feared terrorist groups in the world, ...al-Qaeda. Alamut is a book worthy of anyone's attention

I'll try not to bore anyone with Dragons of the Highlord Skies since the DragonLance world can be very, very convoluted sometimes, especially for people new to the books, and the plethora of characters is appparently a turn-off to some (You know who you are, Sam!). Anyway, I'll keep it simple, Highlord Skies is the second book in the Lost Chronicles trilogy, which goes back to the original cast of characters (see blog picture) and fills in the pieces between the original three books. While DragonLance has always had a more mature theme than most fantasy series, but Highlord Skies is mostly about Tanis Half-Elven's two lovers, Kitiara and Laurana, and really focuses on the sexual ties between a lot of the characters. The story is mostly told from Kit's perspective, which is refreshing to say the least, since before, she really hasn't too much of the spotlight, mostly due to the fact she's the evil one. To keep it short, if you're familiar with the series, please keep reading them, if not, while then, this is not the place to start. For a rabid DL fan like me, it kept me happy.

And as for Shadow Hunters, well, I wasn't expecting it to be that good, but I was wrong, it was frickin' great! My personal belief (try not to take me too, too seriously) is that if you have not played StarCraft, you aren't a gamer. This is due to me owing the game for sucking me into gaming. But in the wait for StarCraft II, I've had no choice but to mull over the books every so often. Liberty's Crusade = Great, Shadow of the Xel'naga = C.lassic!, Speed of Darkness = Ugh!, Queen of Blades = Decent, The Dark Templar Saga: Firstborn = Woah! This is fantastic, and dunh Dunh DUNH!!!, The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters = OMG! Now THIS is StarCraft!!! In case you were wondering, that's my uber-short summary of all the SC books. Firstborn surprised me to be a really engaging re-emergence into the SC universe setting the stage for SC2. It followed the journey of Jacob Ramsey, an archaeologist hired to explore a Xel'naga temple by Valerian Mengsk, the son of the emperor of the Terran Dominion, Arcturus Mengsk. Inside he found the body of a dying protoss preserver (a protoss who holds the memories of their entire species, like a walking archive). To complete it's mission, the protoss, named Zamara, transferred her intelligence into that of Jake's brain. As it turns out, the marines who delivered them and who were expected to pick them up once the dig was over, turned out to be their captors. After already being double-crossed by their security detail, Jake learns one thing, everyone is after this protoss inside his head, and none of them can be allowed to exploit her. Jake and the woman who had previously betrayed him and was now also a captive, Rosemary "R.M." Dahl, make an escape from their captors, and succeed, but Jake's entire dig crew is killed in the process. The pair make a break for the town of Paradise on some planet I can't seem to recall (too lazy to go look...) to find R.M.'s former lover, Ethan Stewart, a merchant on the black market. In the end, it turns out, Ethan was working for Valerian as well, and the two make a mess of his compound, taking Ethan captive. They make it to the only way of escape, a system runner ship, but before they leave Rosemary gives Ethan his dues, four well-placed shots to the heart, at point blank. During the escape, they soon come to realize Valerian's ships are closing in on them. Here's where it gets hard for me to explain without you reading the book yourself. The protoss, though individuals, share their thoughts and feelings through the Khala. Basically, what Jake does is give his pursuers a taste of the bliss the Khala gives people, feeling what others do, if humans could do so, there would be no need for petty wars. This also renders their pursuers' ships disabled for some time, allowing them to escape. Thus ends Firstborn. See, I SUCK at summarizing... Anyway, Shadow Hunters picks up right after the last book. Jake and R.M. make repairs to the ship and travel to the protoss homeworld Aiur, where Zamara needs to go for her mission, whatever that may be... I'm gonna do my best to keep this short, as it's long enough already. Aiur was overrun 4 years prior by zerg, as you would know from the original StarCraft. Most protoss escaped through the warp gate, but many were left behind to ensure those that escaped did. Of course, let's not forget everyone's favorite guy, Jim Raynor, for creating the first alliance between humans and protoss in this battle. As Jake and Rosemary, soon find out there are both zerg and protoss left on Aiur. After being rescued by the protoss, they are taken to a refugee camp, where those left behind still try to survive. All throughout the books, Zamara is giving Jake the memories of past protoss, to make him understand them better than any non-protoss ever could, as he is to become the next preserver. But as we soon find out, the alien intelligence in his head puts such a strain on his brain that a tumor has developed and his slowly but surely killing him. Rushing to find out what Zamara needs for her mission, Jake, R.M., and the protoss explore these underground caverns, in search of the Xel'naga technology she needs. When they emerge, they are confronted by the most cla.ssic of StarCraft confrontations: Humans vs. Zerg. vs. Protoss. To escape the planet, Jake, R.M. and the Protoss refugees make a beeline for the warp gate (thus my topic title, making fun of the CoD4 line). This results in an epic battle between the three races as the protoss defend the warp gate until it's activated, the zerg making an onslaught against them, and the terran fleet putting the hurt on the zerg swarm. That is, until Ulrezaj arrives, Ulrezaj is a dark archon comprised of seven deadly dark templars, and is content with wiping EVERYTHING out. The three races cease their fighting to focus on this new threat, but nothing can stop it. Everything that even touches Ulrezaj is instantly eradicated. As the story in Shadow Hunters focuses on the rift between the normal protoss and the infamous dark templar, the templar learn the only way to defeat the dark archon is through the combined minds of both protoss, light and dark. While killing its creators in the process, the protess manifest a massive psionic storm that Ulrezaj is utterly eradicated. But just in time, Jake, R.M., and the protoss refugees flee to Shakuras.

I guess I should've mentioned that if you haven't played SC you'll be utterly clueless to all I said. My bad.

So I suppose the point of this blog ended up ranting on about book plots...Eh, oh well, I has A LOT of time to kill today, and this gave me something to do.