Bruce Von Stiers
Blizzard Entertainment came out with a computer game some time back called StarCraft. It was a best selling game and has a huge following. Now there is a novel that is based on the game. It appears to be the first in a series from Pocket Books. The title of the novel is StarCraft # 1: Liberty’s Crusade. The author of the book is Jeff Grubb.
The book is a science fiction novel. Going along with the theme of most of the genre, this novel starts out in the stars. There seems to have been some immense space travel over a period of centuries and now there is a Confederacy of Man that encompasses several planets.
Michael Daniel Liberty is a reporter. He works for an intergalactic news agency. He is base in the city of Tarsonis on the planet Tarsonis. Liberty has just run afoul of some of the leaders of Tarsonis for some investigative reporting he did. His boss, Handy Anderson, wants to get Liberty out of sight and off planet before the political forces on Tarsonis can harm him. Anderson has made a deal for Liberty to go hang out with the Confederate Marines and report on how they live their lives.
As you might guess, Liberty is not at all happy about hanging out with the Marines. And they don’t exactly like him either. He has a female officer, Lieutenant Swallow, assigned to watch out for him and to make sure what he reports on. Liberty is aboard the Norad II, a Behemoth class vessel with the Marine detachment. They are given an assignment to check out the planets Mar Sara and Chau Sara on the “butt end of nowhere” as Colonel Duke of the Marines puts it.
When they get to Mar Sara, all hell breaks loose. The planet appears to have been bombed. The attack is being blamed on the Protoss, an alien race that apparently wants to take over the universe. They warp into a sector, blow up planets to smithereens and take over. But is this what is really going on?
Liberty and Swallow get involved with things down on the planet of Mar Sara. Then Swallow gets killed and Liberty hooks up with a local lawman. Marshall Raynor is one tough customer. He and Liberty try to find out what is really going on without getting killed.
In this novel we meet the Zergs and the Protoss. Both races are nasty space travelers who want to take over worlds and are enemies of each other. It seems that the planets and people of the Confederacy of Man are right smack in the middle of this dispute.
If you are a fan of the StarCraft game, then this novel is a great companion piece. If not, then it is still a worthwhile science fiction novel to read. The writing is pretty solid and the plot is fluid. The spirit of the storyline from the game is shown here, even though some things were modified to make the transition from game to novel.
You will find StarCraft: Liberty’s Crusade wherever fine paperback novels are sold. You can also order it from Pocket Books at www.simonsays.com. For more information about StarCraft, visit the Blizzard Entertainment web site at www.blizzard.com.