God of War - The Official Novelization

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The simple story that turns into an epic journey spanning various realms and the fraught relationship between the father and son who have never really bonded is a testament to the power of storytelling in the video game medium with some amazing voice acting by Christopher Judge (Teal’c from Stargate SG1) as Kratos. A bummer, but that makes this novelization of God of War 4 even better for me to experience the story.

Kratos, Atreus, the head of Mimir, Brok and Sindri (the bickering dwarven brothers), Freya and Baldur and their actions, the dialogue between them and their personalities are all on point and Barlog has done a great job of transferring them to the book. Stripping everything away other than the narrative and characters, really allows you to feel the emtion and weight of every action. The most glaring example of this would be the pivotal moment in Alfheim where Kratos tells Atreus not to mistake his silence for lack of grief.

When Kratos gets angry at Atreus for saying that Laufey is more to him, he instantly hears the latter's voice reminding him that Atreus is just a boy and that he should remember that. As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.

But I do want to address some particular changes I noted while listening that can't be chalked up to varying interpretations and just do not make sense to me. When they encounter an injured Modi after Atreus learns he's a god, it's not Atreus who tells him to move or they'll pick up where Thor left out, but.

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. I started reading this book in the hopes that it will provide a more nuanced and detailed telling of the game's story, maybe expand it a little. This was probably for time constraints, but it does kind of remove the somber, contemplative game start that made the GoW opening so emotionally impactful (especially compared to the other games). God of War 2018 is a story of self-discovery and parenthood, combined with satisfying gameplay and challenges, and excellent acting. While at first I enjoyed hearing about these characters famous in Greek and Norse mythology, the changes to their storylines didn't gel with me.

Father’s disability and the inability of a simple and not so cunning mother gave the other family members an upper hand in colluding and snatching the wealth away. This in turn creates the feeling that Barlog had been given a small spec of freedom to decide how much time Kratos was gone, but it didn’t connect well at the end. If you’re a God of War fan, and especially a fan of the latest game, you’ll hate this book, like I did. As they travel across the Lake of Nine they encounter the World Serpent, Jörmungandr, which is still the best part. The manner of Dauði Kaupmaðr's death is completely different in the book as Kratos cleaved the troll's head with his axe instead of snapping the troll's neck.

Where the game used subtlety to express the characters' emotions and the gravitas of certain events, the book seems a little heavy-handed, delivering simple, matter-of-fact descriptions. Instead of stabbing the troll's hand and then get swatted away in the game, Atreus, in the book, will ask his father on what the creature is and Kratos will reveal it as a woodland troll before commanding his son to stay behind him. yeah, okay, he killed Baldur because if he didn't Freya would die and that'd make Atreus sad I guess? I have a feeling that I can easily sit here writing about my love for this game and this book, but I don't want to extend this review for that much longer.

I know it's a nitpick but it really struck me as contradictory that the author used "God of War" as an epithet or prononimal phrase to refer to Kratos in replacement of his name or pronouns or.It all boils down to one thing: where the game had the approach of "show, don't tell", the novel was simply about "just telling" everything.