God of War - The Official Novelization

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To overcome every obstacle in the path you must transform into the god of war, or else, life would be all about cursing destiny. What is the Billionaire God of War about?

When he had almost given up on life, a little girl ‘Emma’ finds him and offers him a sweet. She prays, as long as he ate this sweet candy, his life would get sweeter and sweeter with each passing moment.

Obviously, the book tells the same story as in the game. Kratos and Atreus journey forth from their home to scatter Faye’s (the wife of Kratos and the mother of Atreus) ashes from the highest mountaintop in all the realms. He has authored numerous novels across many genres. Windows to the Soul, his debut novel, won the Readers' Choice award for suspense at an Illinois 'Love Is Murder' Mystery Conference. I used this as a story refresher before playing God of War: Ragnarok, and for that, I think it did it's job. I would not use this as a replacement for playing the game. The videogame is subtle, mature, creates world building without spitting words at the player, makes use of ellipsis and expressions on character’s faces to tell what they’re really going through. It’s a perfect example of what Hemingway wished for with his ice-berg theory. Kratos and Atreus' encounter with Brok is nearly to how it occurs in God of War (2018), though some dialogue when they exchange words were changed a little while others were added.

This title tells us a story of achievement in the face of criticism and opposition, especially from the people who should otherwise be standing on your shoulders supporting you. The world is always going to put up opposition in your life goals, but when the blood relations take the side of the enemy, your success becomes even more daunting. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus started of problematic. Kratos wanted to show Atreus that he cared and that he could be a good father to him, one that he deserves, but he didn't know to. The God of War was scared. Kratos wants to make up for all of the time that he has lost with Atreus when he had been absent during his son's life.And regarding world-building, there’s nothing. No one explains anything. I’m not ignoring Mimir’s trivia, I’m talking about that the game creates world-building with everything it has at its disposal: sounds, ambiance, environment, music, little bits of lore found by Atreus, monuments that you come across, runes, gameplay included, and a little more through dialogue and character interaction. The author decided that the only viable way to convey world-building in a book was through dialogue, forgetting that he has at the tip of his fingers the ability to also translate all those things I enumerated and integrate them gracefully in the narration and actions of the characters. Well, I was wrong. Kratos and Atreus encountering Brok a second time is much shorter than in the game; the duo never entered the dwarf's new shop right after reencountering him and Kratos was never introduced to the mystic gateway. When Atreus first has a visceral reaction to hearing voices in Alfheim, Kratos's response is characterized as being irritated, only becoming concerned when Atreus mentions he's screaming in pain because he's hearing voices. Compare to the game, where Kratos's immediate concerned reaction is a) notably soft for a guy who curb stomps draugr and b) one of many small signs that he truly cares for his son, he's just bad at expressing it. Kratos asks Atreus on how much he knows about Jörmungandr and the boy would tell his father that the World Serpent is so big he is able to warp himself around the world and bite his own tail. With this, the novel version of Jörmungandr is fully connected with his traditional mythology counterpart while the game version only spans Midgard's waters and the Lake of Nine, rather than the entire world itself.

Kratos and Atreus first encountered Draugr after they had begun their journey to Midgard's mountain rather than during their hunt for deer at the beginning. In my Lore and Legends review, I said the best part of the book were the parts that contained information not in the game, because everything else got a bit repetitive. The novelization has a similar problem, but different outcome. The best parts of the book are by and large the parts that contain information not in the game--Faye's pet hawk, more translations for what the World Serpent (whose name I cannot spell, sorry, big guy) says, better descriptions of the wall murals, finding out what Atreus was doing while Kratos was in the light of Alfheim, that kind of thing. Some of the "getting inside the head of the character" bits were also good (like the extra heartbreaking detail that Atreus latched onto Freya because he missed his mother...ouch...). Sometimes it felt as though the author didn’t know the map of the game. The characters were in the Bridge of Yggdrasil, then crossed “a forest” and reached the horn to call for the World Serpent – all those who played the game know that both the World Tree and said horn are within meters away above Tyr’s vault. With. No. Forest. Whatsoever. It’s unprecedented since it’s obvious that the writer had access to the game and to in-depth information about the game, so… what?One thing that also stood out to me was how the author made a stylistic choice to have everyone speak the same way - which is to say, the Kratos way, without abbreviations. If you listen closely to the game (ignoring the fact Mimir obviously has a Scottish accent), every character you encounter speaks in a way that flows, very naturally, very compact, using the I've, you're, we're, etc. Of them all, only Kratos stands out because he notably uses I have, you are, we are, and so forth. This sets him apart from others in this Nordic world, highlighting his own heritage and showing us that he's an outsider, far from home. This is jarring in the book because EVERYONE SPEAKS LIKE KRATOS DOES, and it ruins his uniqueness, and makes him the same as the rest. A similar thing happens in a few other important scenes, and the emotional punch of them spreading Faye's ashes in Jotunheim loses the strength it had in the game because the giants are mentioned ... briefly. As in, the book literally says 'they look out over the giant graveyard, turn around, and go home'. Uhm, excuse me, but they literally enter a DEAD world, which they learn is ATREUS' world, FAYE'S world, the giants are basically enemies number one for Odin that they kept hearing about ... and all they get is a footnote. Humans don't leap buildings. Stuntmen with harnesses do. And won't my crashing eight stories to the ground be detrimental to the mission? The dark elves will swarm me and take me hostage instantly." Kratos and Atreus never encountered Brenna Dauði as they hunt for boar, as the fire troll was omitted from the book all together. But what chance does a mere mortal have against a god? Armed with the deadly chained Blades of Chaos, guided by the goddess Athena, and driven by his own insatiable thirst for vengeance, Kratos seeks the only relic powerful enough to slay Ares . . . a quest that will take him deep into the mysterious temple borne by the Titan Cronos!

Kratos, a warrior merely seeking redemption for his horrible misdeeds, is enslaved by the Gods to do their bidding, in the hopes that they would free him from his past, were they satisfied enough by him.

Once the mighty warrior Kratos was a slave to the gods, bound to do their savage bidding. After destroying Ares, the God of War, Kratos was granted his freedom by Zeus—and even given the ousted god’s throne on Olympus. Sindri never mentioned the usage of the echoing screams of twenty frost trolls in the creation of the Leviathan Axe unlike in the game. His vengeance against the Gods of Olympus years behind him, Kratos now lives as a man in the realm of Norse gods and monsters. It is in this harsh, unforgiving world that he must fight to survive... and teach his son to do the same. This startling reimagining of God of War deconstructs the core elements that defined the series-- satisfying combat; breathtaking scale; and a powerful narrative--and fuses them anew.