WARNING: The following review contains several spoilers for the novel in question.
Introduction:
StarCraft: Queen of Blades is a book by Aaron Rosenburg set in the StarCraft universe. This book novelizes the StarCraft Zerg Campaign by following Jim Raynor. It highlights Kerrigan's rebirth into the swarm and Tassadar's involvement with the Dark Templar on Char.
Synopsis:
The novel begins with a description of the Battle of New Gettysburg. The swarm makes its exit from Tarsonis, while inside the Chrysalis Sarah Kerrigan’s body and very cell structure are being twisted and rearranged. Meanwhile, aboard the Hyperion, James Raynor, our favorite Marshall-turned-rebel, views a broadcast by Michael Liberty who is attempting to inform the general public of Mengsk’s treachery. To Raynor’s amusement, Liberty also refers to Jim Raynor as “The Hero of Antiga Prime”. However, Jim Raynor is in a slump. Since breaking off from the Dominion and hijacking a fleet from the Dylarian Shipyards, Raynor has been branded as a criminal by Mengsk, who wants Raynor captured in order for him to be made an example of those who defy his authority. Jim has a fleet and many loyal people at his disposal who are waiting for orders. Unfortunately he has none to give.
Sarah Kerrigan, back on Char, sends a telepathic cry for help to both Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. Jim receives frequent dreams from Kerrigan, detailing all the various things that are happening to her. Jim decides to send his crew on a rescue mission. He tells his younger and more optimistic second-in-command Matt Horner to set a course for Char. Upon arrival, some of Duke’s ships are sighted and Raynor exchanges banter with the old general himself before heading down to the planet’s surface and setting up base. Raynor and his team make their way to an underground cavern in search of Kerrigan. After fighting his way towards the main cavern, Raynor sees Kerrigan make her escape from the Chrysalis:
This figure was not human. Yet its face, its features-they were Kerrigan. Or at least they still bore traces of the woman she had been. It was Kerrigan if she had been twisted, remade as a parody of herself. Kerrigan, transformed. Into Zerg. “By your will, father,” the figure in the Chrysalis remains said proudly, head raised high. Her voice was deeper, more resonant, and it echoed in his ears and in his head as if each word carried layers of meaning and emotion, too much for him to catch all at once. The words rolled across and through him, sending shivers down his spine. “I live to serve.”
Kerrigan let Raynor escape with his life and return to base. He continued receiving dreams and visions from Kerrigan, detailing her involvement with the Overmind and its Cerebrates. Raynor also witnessed Kerrigan’s raid on the Science Vessel Amerigo. The Zerg boarded Raynor’s ships, which were then destroyed by the Protoss, inciting rage from Raynor. However, Raynor ordered Matt Horner,who was aboard the Hyperion, to make an emergency warp-jump so that the Hyperion could be saved. Unfortunately, the Hyperion would take a long time to return, and Raynor and his men were stranded on Char. Later on, Raynor made his way towards the location where the Protoss landed their ships, to ask for passage off-planet. The Protoss Executor Tassadar stepped out of a ship and apologized to Raynor for destroying his ships, claiming that they were already lost. Tassadar then mobilized his warriors and went searching for Kerrigan in order to ascertain her strength.
When Tassadar found Kerrigan, they each introduced themselves, and traded off threats. Tassadar then did something unexpected: he fled, sending Kerrigan on a chase across the barren dunes of Char. Raynor returned to his base and was assaulted by more dreams of Kerrigan showing Raynor how their lives could have been different if she wasn’t infested. After watching the Protoss fend off another Zerg attack, Raynor saw new Protoss ships land. These ships however, were Dark Templar ships. He saw their leader, Zeratul, emerge and lead his brethren down into the caverns.
Raynor followed close-by until he got to the cavern that housed the Cerebrate Zasz. Zeratul introduced himself to Zasz, and obtained permission to come close to the Cerebrate. Zeratul then jammed his Warp Blade into the Cerebrate, and Raynor watched as the Garm Brood rampaged across the caverns. Raynor then ran back to base where he was subjected to another dream stemming from Kerrigan's psionic link to him. In this dream Daggoth, the Overmind’s right hand, explained to Kerrigan the death of Zasz. Daggoth ordered the nameless Cerebrate to exterminate the Garm Brood. Kerrigan however, refused because of her penchant for hunting Protoss, and the Tiamat Brood ended up having to perform the extermination. Kerrigan also ordered Daggoth to destroy the Protoss’ craft so that the Protoss could not escape.
After waking up from his dream, Raynor went to track the Protoss again. He saw a fight between Tassadar and Kerrigan, where Kerrigan got the best of the Executor. While Tassadar was trapped in Kerrigan’s blades, Raynor shot at the nearest Overlord which ran into a Scourge, creating a powerful plasma explosion that freed the Executor. Kerrigan continued chasing Tassadar until she ran into Zeratul. Zeratul fared better than Tassadar, but was unable to beat Kerrigan in combat and ended up escaping Kerrigan’s grasp using shadows.
After a day of chasing around Protoss, Raynor returned to base to recuperate. He set out the next day to find the Protoss again. This time, he saw Tassadar marshaling his troops not to fight Zerg, but other Protoss - the Dark Templar that had landed on Char. Though Zeratul came in peace, Tassadar was far too fearful and disgusted of Zeratul and attacked him. The two Protoss forces began sparring until the Zerg arrived. Zeratul then saved Tassadar’s life by jumping in front of him and taking the blow from a Mutalisk’s tail. Kerrigan, who was close by, told Tassadar that the extended Zerg Swarm had gone to Aiur, and that the blame was Zeratul’s to bear. Though Tassadar was enraged at this, necessity forced him to flee once again.
Both of the Protoss leaders, now seeing Raynor as an ally, decided to help Jim Raynor and his men. The subsequent days were spent running from the Zerg. Tassadar slowly overcame his prejudices against the Dark Templar, as his regard for Zeratul only increased. The Protoss and the Terrans made a great team. Day by day they became more efficient at killing Zerg, and the Protoss would also help the Terrans pack up supplies during relocation. Raynor sat with Tassadar and Zeratul learning many things about Protoss culture. Eventually, Tassadar asked Zeratul to teach him the secrets of the void, which was a big step for Tassadar personally. As a gesture of friendship, Tassadar let Jim Raynor stay to watch him learn.
Tassadar was then ready for the Shadow Walk, which included traveling in the darkness under a plateau while being attacked from the shadows by Dark Templar. Tassadar overcame Zeratul and the rest of the Dark Templar, but unfortunately the onlookers all let down their guard while being mesmerized by the Shadow Walk, and the Zerg ambushed them. However, the Protoss and the Terrans managed to evade Kerrigan’s grasp yet again using Raynor’s psionic link to Kerrigan to intercept the Cerebrate's orders.
The next two days were spent devising a plan to destroy Kerrigan and her broods. Raynor once again used the telepathic link to trick Kerrigan and her broods into bringing their full force to the bottom of a canyon. Meanwhile, Tassadar assailed the nameless Cerebrate, and destroyed it using his newly-learned void powers. The brood then went into disarray at the bottom of the canyon. The Zerg were easily killed by Raynor’s men, who were firing their Gauss Rifles from the top of the canyon as the Zealots tore the raging Zerg apart. Kerrigan however, managed to regain control of a few Zerg and went to face Tassadar and Zeratul. Once again, she got the best of both of them, until a new Protoss ship fired its weapons and freed them. The Protoss barely escaped Kerrigan’s wrath yet again.
Zeratul informed Tassadar that he and his brethren were not ready to return to Aiur, so Zeratul returned to his hidden ship, The Void Seeker, which prompted a surprised response from Raynor because Zeratul could have gotten off-planet anytime he wanted. Raynor also received a transmission from Matt Horner, who reappeared in Char's space with the Hyperion. Tassadar and Raynor went over to the newly arrived Protoss ship and saw the Judicator Aldaris and the new Executor Artanis step out from the ramp. They came there under the purpose of arresting Tassadar for consorting with the Dark Templar. Artanis however, linked with Tassadar, learned that Tassadar's intent was only pure and refused to arrest him. Aldaris was enraged at this blasphemy, but Artanis held his ground.
Tassadar then decided that the only way to defeat the Zerg was to retrieve the Dark Templar and bring them to Aiur. The story ends with Artanis, Tassadar and Raynor going off to find Zeratul and the Dark Templar.
Accuracy and Canon
The plot of StarCraft: Queen of Blades is a significant departure from the events as they were depicted in the StarCraft campaign. The events surrounding Zasz’s death are different. The final battle itself turned out differently, where the Protoss and Terrans won instead of the Zerg. The events of StarCraft: Queen of Blades do not correspond with the events of StarCraft. Some dialog is dispersed throughout the book in a different order than in the game, while other parts of dialog are taken out, and others are added.
Nonetheless, this book is fully endorsed by Blizzard and should ,for all intents and purposes, be treated as part of StarCraft canon.
Chris Metzen:
These books specifically are kind of the definitive take in my mind, which means we got a chance in Queen of Blades to show you a lot of scenes we could not show in the game. When does Raynor actually meet these guys? When does Tassadar and Zeratul actually hook up and meet? That's a huge part of the game that we never show. How does Tassadar, this Executor of the Protoss, this really talented, driven guy, get jumped into this whacked cult that his bosses hate and by the end of it become this Twilight Messiah and take down the monster alien of the galaxy. How did that all happen? We never actually touch any of it in the game. I don't even know if it occurred to me that we didn't when we published it... talk about a galaxy-sized hole..
There are a few things that this book ended up predicting correctly however.
- Zeratul’s eye color
- Artanis’s role as the new Executor
- The character of Matt Horner
- The "bulky" armor of Dark Templar
Metzen most likely sees this book as an opportunity to fix up the story with retcons. From that point of view, certain discrepancies should be seen as an asset, rather than a problem. For example, in StarCraft, it made no sense for Tassadar to be on a space platform during the game if he was trapped on Char. But in this novel Artanis and Aldaris rescued Tassadar on the planet’s surface instead of a space platform. Presumably there was a feedback loop between Metzen and Rosenburg as Metzen developed the StarCraft II storyline and Rosenburg authored this novel. More than likely, more things from this book will make an appearance in StarCraft II.
Conclusion
I felt that Zeratul and Tassadar, two of the most highly regarded and powerful characters in the StarCraft universe, were both given poor treatment in this novel. Tassadar was depicted as somewhat rash and inexperienced, which contrasted with his regal image from StarCraft. Both Zeratul and Tassadar each got beat by Kerrigan and were later beaten again 2 on 1; It seems as if this was done only to improve Kerrigan’s image at the cost of Zeratul's and Tassadar's. However, it is important to keep in mind that both Protoss seemingly did not wear armor or have any shields in this book; in fact Tassadar was forced to create psionic blades without the aid of bracers. Tassadar also did not use his signature Psionic Storm ability, which was perhaps his most powerful skill.
The scene where Tassadar taught Kerrigan a lesson by employing illusions was badly handled. Tassadar escaped Kerrigan's grasp using illusions, but they ended up fighting anyway. In the original game, Tassadar only used illusions because he was distracting Kerrigan so that Zeratul could destroy the Cerebrate Zasz.
It would also have been better to avoid destroying Jim Raynor's ships i.e. having all of the ships initiate an emergency warp jump instead of just the Hyperion. Raynor hijacking all the ships from the Dylarian shipyards made sense, because this would have put him in a much better position to aid the Protoss on Aiur. Whereas now he only has a few men and it's difficult to imagine him making a difference.
The book's ending seemed somewhat contrived as well, with Tassadar leaving Zeratul to return to Aiur and suddenly changing his mind in order to go find him again. StarCraft: Queen of Blades took many liberties with rearranging the events and dialog, seemingly for the purpose of facilitating the book’s writing.
With all that being said, this book was still an enjoyable read, and stands above many of the other StarCraft-licensed books. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it back down. The main attraction of this novel is that it is not about some obscure event that might/might not have happened. Rather, it is about some of the most important events in StarCraft, the events of Episode II. Also, this book has already made some correct predictions regarding StarCraft II, as mentioned earlier. Not only does Rosenburg skillfully capture the gritty feel of the StarCraft universe, but he also excels in his characterizations of Raynor and Zeratul. Anybody who calls themself a StarCraft fan should buy this book. We highly recommend it.
