God Of War's Worst Novel Was Written By One Of The Best Fantasy Writers

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The original God of War video game trilogy provided the grittiest, bloodiest depiction of the struggles of the Greek gods ever seen, and novelist Matthew Stover is among the very best fantasy authors, yet somehow this seemingly perfect matchup resulted in one of the worst recent video game novelizations. Stover is best known for the Acts of Caine series, which feature Hari Michaelson, an Actor, whose alter-ego Caine is an assassin that shares common traits with Kratos. Caine is a brutal killer who stands against seemingly insurmountable forces, including the gods themselves in later novels. It makes sense that given Stover’s fantasy pedigree, a God of War novel based on the first game could have been an ideal pairing, but the book took an overly literal approach to telling the game’s story, and ultimately came across as resentful of the medium of gaming.

With Heroes Die, the first book in the Acts of Caine, Stover created a world that could have inspired the Assassin’s Creed series. While Assassin’s Creed Infinity suggests a never-ending story for that franchise, the Acts of Caine has a far more focused plotline. In a future dystopia vision of earth, controlled by massive conglomerates, the corporations discover a parallel world they call Overworld where magic is real and humans live alongside demihuman races that would seem at home in the works of Tolkien or a Dungeons & Dragons game. Building on this unique cyberpunk meets fantasy premise, the corporations train Actors who take on roles in Overworld, and their adventures are sold as a combination of fantasy escapism and reality TV. Heroes Die was released in 1998, and nine years later the first Assassin’s Creed game covered similar ground with Abstergo Industries