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Starcraft II: Heaven's Devils (Starcraft II #1)
For the poor, hardworking citizens of the Confederacy's fringe worlds, the Guild Wars have exacted a huge toll. Swayed by the promise of financial rewards, a new batch of recruits joins the fight alongside a slew of mysteriously docile criminals—and a few dubious military leaders. Eighteen-year-old Jim Raynor, full of testosterone and eager to make things right at home, sh...more
ebook, 336 pages
Published
April 6th 2010
by Pocket Books
(first published December 1st 2009)
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I have been trying to get into other genres to keep things fresh and exciting once in a while. I am a bit of a suspense/mystery type person. I enjoy the occasional romantic comedy to break things up, with a smattering of non-fiction on the side as books on interesting people and events come up on my radar. The Sci-Fi thing I enjoyed when I was younger, but have not really gotten back to it till now. William Deitz really intrigued me with his bio on the back page and the little blurb of dialogue...more
A good read. Although some of the characters were a little stereotypical, I felt for them and the ending felt like it set the foundation for Ryanor in Starcraft 1, as well as for Tychus in SC2.
I like to relate it to that movie "Jarhead". Raynor (18 year old of farmer parents) is lured into the military with the sign on bonus and promised excitement. Goes through boot camp, becomes best friends with those in his unit (some started as enemies), goes on a few missions taking tactical command of hi...more
I like to relate it to that movie "Jarhead". Raynor (18 year old of farmer parents) is lured into the military with the sign on bonus and promised excitement. Goes through boot camp, becomes best friends with those in his unit (some started as enemies), goes on a few missions taking tactical command of hi...more
A well written, engaging story that gives a very different perspective on Jim Raynor's character, and establishes the origins of Tychus Findlay and his connection to Jim when you play the Wings of Liberty campaign. I didnt like Findlay much before and this book made me really not like him. the other character that were members of the "Heaven's Devils" group were mostly not very memorable, except for the sniper who was a conscripted, kidnapped teen originating from a rich family, and the treacher...more
I've been really into the game StarCraft II lately and thought I'd check this out for some backstory on Jim Raynor. Its been a while since I've read any science fiction, and I wasn't expecting much. The book wasn't bad, but wasn't really good either. It has an alright plot: Raynor leaves his farmer parents and decides to join the Marines, where he meets Tychus Findlay and eventually gets disillusioned with the whole thing.
If you're interested in StarCraft, its fun reading about Raynor. If you do...more
If you're interested in StarCraft, its fun reading about Raynor. If you do...more
As much as I love video games, and the story of Starcraft in particular, I've been really hesitant to read books based on games. If movies based on games is any indicator, the books must all kind of suck.
Heaven's Devils...well...kind of sucked. Profanity and drug use aside, the book is at about a 3rd grade reading level and it was very slow going for the first half of the book. Those problems aside, I think it might have just been that the subject matter for this particular novel just wasn't tha...more
Heaven's Devils...well...kind of sucked. Profanity and drug use aside, the book is at about a 3rd grade reading level and it was very slow going for the first half of the book. Those problems aside, I think it might have just been that the subject matter for this particular novel just wasn't tha...more
While I normally don't expect much from video-game inspired books, I was pleasantly surprised by Heaven's Devils. While there were obvious game references, Dietz used them to help establish the setting instead of just adding them in like many other authors. This would have definitely been a 4 star book, except for one fatal flaw: there was no climax. After graduation from boot camp, the protagonists travel from one battle and caper to another, with no definite high point. When the end DID come,...more
I've never played Starcraft, but that's not why this book earned a bad rating. The prose is horrible. I've never complained about prose before, nor have I ever really cared. That is how bad it is. It's bloated, choppy and juvenile. Exclamation points are to be used sparingly!
The dialog was horrible. Ninety percent of it could never be uttered by a real character, and the rest would earn mockery if it was spoken aloud.
The story was okay, and is about the only thing that earned a star.
However, I g...more
The dialog was horrible. Ninety percent of it could never be uttered by a real character, and the rest would earn mockery if it was spoken aloud.
The story was okay, and is about the only thing that earned a star.
However, I g...more
I haven't read a Starcraft book in probably two years and I almost forgot how awesome they were - until I borrowed this book from my brother. It was absolutely AMAZING. I loved it. I love how Starcraft is such technical, wide-scope scifi and yet I follow it easily and with enthusiasm. Loved it. Only part that tore me up, as my brother predicted, was the ending 3
The back-story of Jim Raynor joining the terrain army, prior to the first Starcraft game. I suppose it explains what led Raynor to be an outlaw, and establishes his relationship with Tychus in Starcraft II, but it needlessly complicated things. After playing the games, I never felt this story needed to be explained, but here it is.
Great character development for the character of James Raynor within this book. This may just be my biased opinion as a die-hard Starcraft Fan, but I seriously believe this book could be adapted to a movie and not lose too much. Not as slow paced as other video game novels (such as Halo). Excellent read. Must buy for Starcraft fans.
May 03, 2010
Katie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
StarCraft fans, Jim Raynor fans
This is one of the good books about the StarCraft universe. It's fast-paced and really entertaining, and the art in the front is AMAZING!
BIG let-down in the end, though; it was so abrupt, it felt like a chapter or two had been cut off at the end. Not so bad as to make it three stars, though I would have given it three and a half if I could. I rounded up because of how worth it it is to read this book.
BIG let-down in the end, though; it was so abrupt, it felt like a chapter or two had been cut off at the end. Not so bad as to make it three stars, though I would have given it three and a half if I could. I rounded up because of how worth it it is to read this book.
Jul 02, 2010
Michael Minutillo
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
A good read for fans of the Starcraft universe and good backstory for Starcraft II. No spoilers for Starcraft II as this book is set prior to the first game.
I found that the sexual content in this book was highly wrong. It really took away from the book's story and I ended up throwing it away because I really wasn't looking forward to continuing it after the various scenes containing prostitutes. I really don't mind the mention of a prostitute or a sexual abuser, but the amount of detail Dietz put into it is absolutely disgusting.
unfortunately I read devils due before heavens devils and this book fills in a lot of the questions you would have at the beginning of devils due. however this book did a great job of setting in the story of james raynor and his so called "band of misfits" if you are new to starcraft universe I don't know where to start to read, I would recommend this book as the starting point
Great story to how Jim Reynor And Tychus Findly met up... and how they became Heaven's Devils.
I'm gonna have to relisten to this one again.. just a good book, and read by Neil Kaplan (the voice of Tychus) which just sweeten the pie for me.
I'm gonna have to relisten to this one again.. just a good book, and read by Neil Kaplan (the voice of Tychus) which just sweeten the pie for me.
It was a very slow start, but after getting through a third of the book it started to pick up. Enjoyable, but nothing to really celebrate over, having interest in the SC universe is enough to keep you in this.
Sep 30, 2011
Debbie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
its a prequel to the famous video game
Recommended to Debbie by:
Jake
Shelves:
books-read-with-my-kids
Exciting and entertaining. But not enough love ,(none, actually)
Meh. I might have graded it lower it I didn't like the game so much.
A decent story, the downside to this book is the cliched writing. If you like Starcraft and it's colorful universe, you will tolerate this book. That being said, you don't get much out of the investment.
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William C. Dietz grew up in the Seattle area, spent time with the Navy and Marine Corps as a corpsman, graduated from the University of Washington and worked as a surgical technician, college instructor, and news writer. Later he worked for US West in a number of different marketing communications and public relations related positions, before leaving to accept a job as Director of Public Relation...more
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Jun 08, 2011 08:32am
Jun 08, 2011 09:06am