The sequel to the last Starcraft novel I read. This volume is written by Nate Kenyon. (2011, Pocket Star Books, 392 pages) And oh boy, Spectres is great. It's really what I was hoping the first book would be like. So much exciting action!
The book came out five years after the first, and led up to the release of the second game. Some characters from Ghost: Nova reprise, and events of the first novel are mentioned often. There are also references to events I have no idea about. It turns out these are things that happened in the Ghost Academy comic series. I haven't read it, so I think there were some missing pieces, but regardless, it was still easy to follow the story.
The book follows Nova along with a few other characters, mostly ghosts or psionically gifted people. Nova has been helping the Dominion look for missing Ghosts. Gabriel Tosh is a man who has been kidnapping the Ghosts and giving them a drug called Terrazine, which restores their memory and gives hallucinations. He wishes to recreate Team Blue, which was a group in the Ghost Academy. Ghosts have their memory wiped after every mission, and are dedicated soldiers for the Dominion. But Tosh tries to set them free, to open their eyes to the horrible deeds of the Dominion's Ghost training and experiments. Many of the Ghosts of Team Blue are convinced by Tosh, and on Terrazine they become Spectres. Spectres are like Ghosts but they have their memories, and are more powerful due to the chemical. To boot, the Spectre suits have more capability than Ghost suits.
Tosh has a vendetta against Emperor Mengsk, and at one point the Spectres move in to kill him. They are stopped by Nova, who is loyal to a fault to the Dominion. Not long after, Nova herself is captured by Tosh and given the Terrazine.
The Terrazine gives her flashbacks of her life prior to the Ghost Academy (these are the references from the first book) including Mal Kelerchian, the wrangler who took Nova into the Ghost program in the first place. They kind of have a little fling going on, Nova certainly has feelings for him. He is held and his wrists are cut, as he is used as a hostage, and Nova goes to rescue him rather than complete her duty.
As Nova's memories resurface, she remembers more of Team Blue. Lio is one of them, and he is an interesting character. His mind has been transferred into the computer systems as an AI, and he can access nearly anything he wishes, including video feed in the Emperor's palace itself. He only speaks to the characters through text, and they have to respond through text as well. He is essentially the greatest hacker known to man, and helps out the Spectres at first, then helps out Kath Toom, and finally shows his loyalty to Nova. His humanity gradually slips away, and he becomes more artificial; Nova finally says goodbye to Lio near the end of the book, where Lio decides to disperse himself as data, removing his personality. This nearly brings a tear to Nova's eye.
It's interesting because as Ghosts none of them are supposed to show emotion, yet there is so much emotion going on in this novel, including the two love stories (Nova and Mal, and Tosh and Kath Toom). It was very satisfying. All throughout I was questioning whether in the end Nova would choose to keep her memories, and thus her emotions, or would she return to the Dominion's Ghost program and get her memory wiped again. In the end she does the latter, displaying her undying loyalty to not only the Dominion, but also the idea of forgetting her past.
Tosh and the Spectres all work from a station called Gehenna. It is built from a giant asteroid the size of a small moon, which was integrated with a space platform, and moves through space like a ship. It's a cool science fiction concept, as they are inside the halls of a ship, yet there are rock walls, and it feels underground.
After the attempt on Mengsk's life, Nova seeks out Gehenna to confront Tosh. There's a lot of fun action here, as she fights and sneaks her way through Gehenna, saves Mal, and manages to make it out of Gehenna before the Dominion nukes the station. All the while, the characters are mostly communicating psionically.
Just before her escape, she witnesses Tosh lost in his madness, and sees many stasis chambers with people inside. These are Ghosts Tosh has captured, yet he was not so kind to them as he was to the members of Team Blue. It looked forced upon these Ghosts. This is what finally cements Nova's loyalty to the Dominion, over the Spectres and keeping her memories (it doesn't explicitly say Nova's memory was wiped, but I'm assuming it was).
All said, this was one of the best tie-in novels I've ever read. It helps that I love the game so much, but man, Ghost: Spectres really delivered.
The Terrazine gives her flashbacks of her life prior to the Ghost Academy (these are the references from the first book) including Mal Kelerchian, the wrangler who took Nova into the Ghost program in the first place. They kind of have a little fling going on, Nova certainly has feelings for him. He is held and his wrists are cut, as he is used as a hostage, and Nova goes to rescue him rather than complete her duty.
As Nova's memories resurface, she remembers more of Team Blue. Lio is one of them, and he is an interesting character. His mind has been transferred into the computer systems as an AI, and he can access nearly anything he wishes, including video feed in the Emperor's palace itself. He only speaks to the characters through text, and they have to respond through text as well. He is essentially the greatest hacker known to man, and helps out the Spectres at first, then helps out Kath Toom, and finally shows his loyalty to Nova. His humanity gradually slips away, and he becomes more artificial; Nova finally says goodbye to Lio near the end of the book, where Lio decides to disperse himself as data, removing his personality. This nearly brings a tear to Nova's eye.
It's interesting because as Ghosts none of them are supposed to show emotion, yet there is so much emotion going on in this novel, including the two love stories (Nova and Mal, and Tosh and Kath Toom). It was very satisfying. All throughout I was questioning whether in the end Nova would choose to keep her memories, and thus her emotions, or would she return to the Dominion's Ghost program and get her memory wiped again. In the end she does the latter, displaying her undying loyalty to not only the Dominion, but also the idea of forgetting her past.
Tosh and the Spectres all work from a station called Gehenna. It is built from a giant asteroid the size of a small moon, which was integrated with a space platform, and moves through space like a ship. It's a cool science fiction concept, as they are inside the halls of a ship, yet there are rock walls, and it feels underground.
After the attempt on Mengsk's life, Nova seeks out Gehenna to confront Tosh. There's a lot of fun action here, as she fights and sneaks her way through Gehenna, saves Mal, and manages to make it out of Gehenna before the Dominion nukes the station. All the while, the characters are mostly communicating psionically.
Just before her escape, she witnesses Tosh lost in his madness, and sees many stasis chambers with people inside. These are Ghosts Tosh has captured, yet he was not so kind to them as he was to the members of Team Blue. It looked forced upon these Ghosts. This is what finally cements Nova's loyalty to the Dominion, over the Spectres and keeping her memories (it doesn't explicitly say Nova's memory was wiped, but I'm assuming it was).
All said, this was one of the best tie-in novels I've ever read. It helps that I love the game so much, but man, Ghost: Spectres really delivered.
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