Assassin's Creed Renaissance by Oliver Bowden

I picked this book up used at the local Goodwill for seventy-five cents.  Part of me was not sure about it.  I had picked up a Target special comic on their sale rack and that is all I knew about it other than it is a video game.  So what could I expect?  It is a good read with only two major problems.

Telling the bad first is something I have found a good way to do things.  End on a positive note instead of the negative thoughts.  I was really enjoying the book and thought the inclusion of the foul language in Italian quite quaint.  I didn't always know what the word was, but I could tell it was a "bad" word.  Then in the last third of the book the author starts dropping the F-Bomb and other cuss words.  It just felt inconsistent.  Why all of a sudden pepper the chapters with foul language?  The action and violence in the beginning were similar to the end parts.  So it just didn't make sense and also took this from a book appropriate for many ages to a more mature audience.

The other problem is the ending.  No spoilers here, just an acknowledgment.  The ending made the entire story fall apart.  After a great tale and build up, it was just an odd ending that made no sense to me.  Maybe if I knew more of the video game story I would at least see some reason for it.  I just felt it could have ended better.

It is an amazing story of a young man becoming what he is destined to be set in a real world history.  We have Leonardo Da Vinci and others included.  The plots and betrayals are excellent.  The emotions conveyed jump off the pages.  This is a great and exciting read.  I am more a Women with Swords character reader, but the guy here was so good and fleshed out it made me really care for him.  I found myself hoping that at the end of his journey he might go back and find love with one of the women who could have been.  

So if you can stomach a confusing end, this book is a great read.

BDS