Speed of Darkness

I enjoyed Hickman's books as a teenager and thought I would try reading some of his books again. I have not read any of the other StarCraft books, so I cannot compare it against those, but I thought it was a wonderfully well written sci-fi/game book. It reads fast, has enough twists to keep it interesting, and personally, I loved the build up and the ending. It even made me want to play StarCraft again.

Set in the STARCRAFT galaxy where human race battles the Protoss and the Zerg for survival, this novel takes place on the Zerg-infested planet Mar Sara. Ardo Melnikov, a newly recruited marine steps into the dropship heading for Mar Sara to seek revenge for what the Zerg did to his love ones, at least that's what he thought he is doing... For Ardo, this is more than a path to revenge, it is also a journey to reveal his true identity. As Ardo battles through the planet with his squad members, fragments of unknown memories start to surface in his mind. In no time, he can no longer distinguish his real memories apart from the "unnatural" ones. Without anyone to support him in the war-tore planet, Ardo suffers from his memories, he tries to forget them yet they always return as if they're reoccurring nightmares. Ardo's self struggle will soon face a turning point however, when he meets a woman named Merdith, a member of the rebeling organization, the Sons of Korhal. Tracy Hickman did a brilliant job in portraying the environment of STARCRAFT universe with clear descriptions the buildings' interior, such as the barracks, command center, and refinery..,etc. The specific languages use by the marines and the routine of the army are accurately stated, which effectively grabs the attention of hardcore STARCRAFT fans. This novel is a definitely considered a good stand alone sci-fi instead of another story in the STARCRAFT universe for people who played the game. By excluding the famous STARCRAFT characters such as Kerrigan and Jim Reynor from the novel. Hickman assures that readers who never played the game can still read the novel and get the feel of the universe and environment without being puzzled by characters relating to the original storyline.I strongly advice this book to any readers, both players and non-players of the game STARCRAFT. As long as you are a sci-fi fan, you will enjoy the intensity and actions between the warfare of human and Zerg.

Hesitate of buying this book, from #2's failure to live up with the first, i wasn't sure. But being the Starcraft fan i am, decided to check it out. Let me tell you, it was NO MISTAKE! This book is so great! It is so filled with action and suspence. Tracy Hickman did a wonderful job with it, and I plan to read more of her books for sure! It is definately the best of the series. The story is about a man named Ardo, who is in love with this girl, when th "zerg" kill her and the terran forces rescue him and others from the area. After much fighiting, and much work on his brain, everything his mind can think of is wrong. when he rescues a civilian everything changes. She has the Psi emitter. A box that can call all the Zerg to an area. After the woman does some work on his brain Ardo cant think straight. When the time comes, he will remember the truth, and will hate all humanity for it... There you go. Thats about the sum of it, without giving away too much. goodguys die, Zergs die, people back stab, etc. Its really a great epic. i truly bieleve this can be a great movie. There was only one flaw that i found in this book. One marine can kill tons of Zerg units. whats up with that? They have a small force, and somehow manage to kill BILLIONS of Zerg when they only have about 8 to 16 men. Something is a little wrong here am I right? Anyhoo, i reccomend this book to anyone who loves Star Craft and any one who loves Sci-Fi, and any one who loves mystery and any one who loves... Why am I wasting my time! I RECCOMEND IT TO EVERYONE!-i edited this just now i fixed up grammar ect. :)

This may sound odd, but the way I see it is this: Stracraft novels are based around a video game. Obviously, this leads to pretty low expectations. The first two novels in the series were essentially kid's books, more or less. They were meant to be fun little light-hearted romps throught the StarCraft world, where we could meet our favorite charectors and what-not. This third novel, however, is legitimate fiction. It has new charectors. Charectors with emotional trauma who go off to war and experience post-traumitc-stress-disorder and doubt their involvment in the army. Essentially, it's a "REAL" book. This book could be appreciated and considered by this who don't even know what StarCraft is, and that says alot. I hope people understand what I'm trying to say here.

The two previous starcraft books were ok, but could have been a lot better. Speed of Darkness far surpasses them. This book does not include any characters from the computer series, but familiar factions like the Confederacy and the Sons of Korhal show up. The setting is on Mar Sara (a confederate frontiers planet, for all who did not play the game), and the main character is Ardo Melkinov, a "resoc" whose family and friends were killed by the zerg. Or so he thought. I just read the book, and I cannot find a problem with it, besides the fact that it is too short. This is an excellent book, and does justice to the universe of starcraft.