Will a master crook succeed in his plot to steel a priceless work of art? Not if Sly Cooper can help it! He has other plans for this legendary treasure.
There's just one problem for Sly -- his long time rival Inspector Carmelita Fox is on to his game. She's determined to capture the elusive raccoon once and for all. Can Inspector Fox succeed in her mission -- or will Sly Cooper escape her again?
Michael Anthony Steele is an author and screenwriter living in Dallas, Texas. He’s written for a wide variety of entertainment and educational properties from Barney & Friends to the novelization of the recent film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He’s written over 60 licensed books for such major properties as Shrek, Penguins of Madagascar, Wordgirl, The Batman, Garfield, Spider-man, Speed Racer, Winx Club, Sly Cooper, and many more. Anthony’s television experience begins with the award-winning PBS series Wishbone and carries him all the way to writing 25 episodes of Barney & Friends and 4 DVDs of Boz: The Green Bear Next Door.
Between writing projects, Anthony is thrilled to give presentations to schools and libraries across the country. Having been fortunate enough to write for so many famous brands, his appearances require very little preparation on the part of the instructors because, most likely, the kids are fans of one or more of the properties for which he’s written.
Anthony’s current presentation features multimedia elements and tells the story of how he became a writer—following an exciting path through a career in photography and special effects. His appearances have been described as the “rock-n-roll” author visits since he comes with an animated presentation, humor, audio/visual elements, loads of energy, and a guitar—that’s right, a guitar!
His life’s journey has given him unique experience and the ability to share behind-the-scenes knowledge, tell stories, and answer questions not only about writing but also about the film and television industry. More importantly, the main theme of his program is how, with hard work and determination, the students can achieve anything they wish. Anthony was in elementary school when he was first inspired to become a writer and they too can get inspired right now! It’s just that simple and exciting!
“Maybe, someday, she would actually catch Sly Cooper, the master thief of all thieves. Until then, she would have to settle for capturing the heart of a thief.”
I've always thought that Playstation has some great exclusive characters and stories that were being underutilized. Characters that should have movies, books, toys, a cartoon series... stuff like that. Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet And Clank, Spyro The Dragon, Jak And Daxter and yes Sly Cooper. So I was pleased when I found this book. The problem though is that you can't just slap the name on something poorly done and expect it to do well. For example the Ratchet And Clank movie was missing a lot of what made the characters and the video games so great. And in the same way this book was only mediocre when it could have been excellent.
For one thing I'm not sure where this story fits into the chronology. It takes place after the first video game, so if you are a kid new to Sly Cooper and did not play the video games then you will be a little lost. However it also does not happen after the video games so longtime fans looking to see a continuation of the story will also not get what they want. Instead it seems to take place between game 1 and 2. I also didn't like the way the story paused to go back in time and tell an old story not once but twice...while also glossing over and rushing through the actual heist that should have been the focus of the story. Part of what makes Sly Cooper interesting is the elaborate multipart heists that require the talents and cooperation of all members of the cooper gang. In this book they kind of just say hey look over there everyone leaves and then they make off with a statue. If the book had been a movie or a cutscene then the actual stealing of the statue would have happened off screen because the book doesn't really follow Sly Cooper during the actual theft.
I Also thought it was true to its video game roots to a fault. There are some things that are mechanics of a video game that don't work for a believable story. In the games the clue bottles make sense...it's something to collect that helps you unlock things. They magically float around making noise to make them a little easier to find. In a book... a magical clinking bottle with a clue sticking out of the top left lying around by someone that can reveal the combination to a safe they keep nearby...makes no sense. I did appreciate that the descriptions of Sly's movement and abilities did seem to match how they work in the games though.
All of that being said I love Sly Cooper and still liked the story. What I'd like to see is young reader novelizations of the stories from the video games that are true to the games with brand new stories in between and that continue on where the games left off.