StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #3: Twilight

The Dark Templar Saga #3

by Christie Golden

As the release nears for Blizzard Entertainment's long-anticipated StarCraft II computer game, the epic Dark Templar trilogy reaches an explosive climax.

After the seeming defeat of the dark archon Ulrezaj on the protoss homeworld of Aiur, Jake and Rosemary become separated as they flee through the newly repaired warp gate. Rosemary finds herself with the other refugee protoss on Shakuras, while Jake is catapulted elsewhere. But Jake does not have long to live: their enemies are regrouping, and Zamara's essence must be separated from Jake's mind before time runs out.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Video Games, Fantasy, Gaming, Space, Science Fiction Fantasy

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.

2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.

In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.

2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book

Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.

Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.

Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .

The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .

Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.

Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.

Reviews

[Jared Delcamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosemary never disappoints. She is one of the best characters in StarCraft.

[Șerban Mazilu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It fit. I know it's too little to say, but it did. It was as fast, alert, exciting and touching as the other two books. The only thing that disappointed me somewhat was the way-too-peaceful ending. I was half-expecting Raynor showing up to save the day, but that was just me being a Raynor-groupie. In truth, Christie did drop his name more than often throughout the series, and that made me build up hope. Still, the writing is truly excellent and my quasi-disappointment came from a subjective desire to see that Blizzard hero show up. From a literary point of view, I have nothing to reproach, but after reading the trilogy there was one thing that puzzled me: the relationship between the two main characters; while I can understand the introverted, bookworm, socially-impaired mind of Jake, struggling with confessing his true feelings to Rosemary, I can't see how her mirrored behavior is plausible. A tough assassin, with a history of drug abuse and (putting it nicely) vast life experience doesn't seem very real while blushing, let alone dancing around the issue of her feelings towards him. It may be explained through the whole Khala-experience she went through at some point, but... not entirely. Or it could be just me poking holes without reason. Either way, The Dark Templar Saga was definitely worth reading. Kudos to the author!

[Kryptomite · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite engaging, bringing the story to a head while allowing many characters to progress, in addition to providing perspectives and inner thoughts from them all. During this book in particular, I was able to immerse myself in the world and truly began to care about the characters and their universe. I especially appreciated that none of them were set in the roles that they had either taken on or been pressed into, and everyone had an opportunity for redemption or failure. If there was a misstep in this book, it was that the ending did have certain aspects that blended into starcraft 2, namely a random infatuation with a couple of the new Terran in-game units, and a couple questions that did not get answered by the end, nor did there appear to be any other books that lined up perfectly after it. I ended up going to the wiki to learn the answers that I sought out, which is functional, And I ended up learning far more than I even expected to, but did somewhat break the hold that this book had on my imagination. Overall, this trilogy is well worth the time, and is certainly one of the best video game adaptations I've read.

[Dino · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, i'd question my objectivity on any book that's related to StarCraft, simply because i consider myself to be a HUGE fan of the series and the story. Bearing that in mind, this is my opinion on the book.

Now, despite it being written in 3 separate books, it's basically 1 story, and as such i will be giving my experience and impression of it as a whole, not book by book, simply because it'll make a lot more sense this way.

The story takes place in the year 2503, after Brood Wars (2500) and slightly before Wings of Liberty (2504), and it follows a human called Jacob "Jake" Ramsey and a protoss conscience within him, Zamara, and a lot of other characters who've had the (miss)fortune of living this epic adventure with them.

I will try to word this as best as i can, but i have to say right away that i was BLOWN AWAY at the sheer awesomeness that is the Dark Templar Saga and the way Christie Golden presented it. This is, hands down, the BEST and most enjoyable chunk of lore that i've learned. I shit you not, i've read all 3 books within 3 and half days, taking some downtime to charge my notepad and read more.

The story is so captivating, heartfelt, action packed, there are multiple stories and plot lines being told (phenomenally, i might add) simultaneously, plot twists (some predictable, but you would have wished for them to happen so you won't care!), solid pacing (never a dull moment), character depth (i bet you'll care and understand about the protss a whole lot after reading these. And don't even get me started on R.M Dhal <3). Reading these books have been the most enjoyable thing that i've done in recent memory, constantly wanting more, and finding myself quite sad after finishing them, simply because there's no more :(

I've read 9 novels/books so far from the StarCraft universe (all within the past...2 months i'd say), and i haven't disliked any of them so far, just different degrees of like. The Dark Templar Saga blew all of that away and has easily become my favorite, which i didn't think would happen because it's a Protoss based story, and i only really like humans (Terrans). I must admit, after reading these i have developed a HUGE amount of sympathy, respect, grief, liking and admiration for the Protoss. And just in time for the Protoss based expansion, Legacy of the Void (a coincidence, in truth). Now, you might find this a bit ridiculous because it's a fantasy setting, but i've grown quite fond of and attached to this franchise and i look at it from a different perspective, i feel for it.

This might seem more like me expressing my fanboy-ism, rather than a review, but i think that if i express how i felt while reading it, and being able to share that to future potential readers (who i assume are fans of the franchise) might enforce your will to purchase/rent this book and "live" it the way i have.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the series. This book included more characters from the game, like Zeratul, which was nice to see (though he's just as dark and broody here as he was in the game, if not moreso ... I miss Tassadar).

While Jake always felt a bit flat as a character to me--just along for the ride as it were--I really enjoyed seeing Rosemary's character development. She grew quite a bit since the first book, but she never felt like she became a different person. Also, even though it was obvious from book 2 or earlier that she and Jake were going to end up together, she never felt like she was defined by the love interest role.

By the end, even though the main story was over and Zamara was gone, I found myself still caring about Jake and Rosemary and wanting to know what they would do next. Overall, a very fun read and a good addition to the StarCraft universe.

[Sean McKenney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the Dark Templar Saga. I liked how it introduced us to some elements in SC2 and even drew upon the Enslavers Campaign (part one and two) from good old SC1. Following Ramsey, Dahl, and Zamara through all three novels was fun, entertaining, and very enjoyable. Christie Golden has written many books and this series was a definite favorite of mine.

[Aykut Elmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu kitap üçlemenin son kitabıydı. Bu güne kada okuduğun en iyi fantastik romanlardan birisiydi diyebilirim. Macera çok sürükleyiciyi. İlk iki kitaptaki flsahback kısımları biraz sıkıcı olsa da sonradan hikaye için gerekli oldukları anlaşılıyor. Kesinlikle 5 yıldız.

[DJNana · Rating 2 out of 5]

At least this was slightly better than the middle book - something happens here. Some war or something.

Rosemary is as dumb and implausible as she was in the last book.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I think this saga could've been shorter. Glad to have dipped my toes into the Starcraft novel world, though.

[Jonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was probably the weakest in the trilogy, it still was good! This is exactly what a tie-in trilogy should be- it expanded/explained starcraft lore, but that wasn't its objective. It told a compelling story with fun characters. I had a good time, and I think Golden is a talented author.

[Magyarvandor · Rating 5 out of 5]

At last, a bright scintilla in the ocean of fantasy/sci-fi crap. This is a book of high QUALITY
in its genre. I think the author provides the reader with everything what can be produced
from a computer-game world.
The story –which was warming up a bit slowly in the first book, then taking some momentum in the second one- reaches its peak. The main antagonists are already known, in this book the author sheds some light on their background, motives and their relationship with the other characters. In the meantime we obtain a lot of interesting information about the past of the Starcraft universe, the origins of the protoss and the zerg races, the reason for their incessant warfare and about the myterious xel’naga. So if you want a glipse „behind the scenes”, this book shold provide you with some insight to this topics as well. We won’t left bereft of the Queen of the Blades, whose role is secondary in the action-part of the book, all the same, she is an integral part of the background story.
The protagonists continue their mission for the saving of the invaluable knowledge of the protoss intelligence in Jake’s head, with everyone on their heels. Throughout every adventure and ordeal,
you can observe as Jake’s relationship with the former head-hunter woman and the alien mind almost imperceptibly changes. Honestly I felt the latter more genuine, as I could feel sorry for their departing.
There are some new characters, from which I would pick out Zeratul, the dark templar. I really liked the part when they try to persuade him to join their cause.
So there’s everything what you can except from such a book, mistery, humor, action, thrill, interesting story, loveable/hateable characters, self-sacrifice, etc.
I definitely recommend this book for those interested in this kind of sci-fi or the lovers of Star Craft universe.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the series. This book included more characters from the game, like Zeratul, which was nice to see (though he's just as dark and broody here as he was in the game, if not moreso ... I miss Tassadar).

While Jake always felt a bit flat as a character to me--just along for the ride as it were--I really enjoyed seeing Rosemary's character development. She grew quite a bit since the first book, but she never felt like she became a different person. Also, even though it was obvious from book 2 or earlier that she and Jake were going to end up together, she never felt like she was defined by the love interest role.

By the end, even though the main story was over and Zamara was gone, I found myself still caring about Jake and Rosemary and wanting to know what they would do next. Overall, a very fun read and a good addition to the StarCraft universe.

[Andries van Wyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

After an exciting first installment in the trilogy, a disappointing second book, the third was a bit of both - the first two thirds of the book carried on in the same trend as book two, but then after page 200, it got exciting again.
All in all, it is a good series, but like many other trilogies, this should have been one book. Christie Golden has written phenomenal books in the WarCraft universe, and it seems her single novels are really good. It would seem that many authors feel that every story should be a trilogy (wheter of their own accord, or by the publisher), but this sadly, only makes the story drawn out and tedious. if this was a single novel, i would have give the series a 5-star, where I give it a 3-star as is.

[Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the previous part - I'm almost surprised that I've enjoyed it so much. As a small complaint - the protoss are strangely described in this trilogy: either as perfect or as too-human, but still the description of their society we get was my favourite part of the book.

Zamara was great as always, so was Selendis and Valerian. Zeratul disappointed a little but it was good to see what finally brought him to act. The energy beings were a bit strange, but we'll see if this issue is further presented in Legacy of the Void.

All in all, I liked it.

[Alexandr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice conclusion to the trilogy connecting Brood War and The Wings of Liberty. It is full of fan-service, which is awesome, because the reader can meet characters like Zeratul and Rashzagal, Valerian and others. Just like other 2 books, it is not, of course, an example of complicated sci-fi book, still, it is interesting to read, easy to read and make a really good use of the lore of Starcraft, which is just what i wanted from it.

[Doug Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3s of this book are really great. Then Zamara reveals the secret, which is "eh" and then we have a good build up and then an abrupt end. Overall, the book is ok, still a little bit of a let down for a trilogy ender, but still a fun read.

[Alfonso Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro con una redacción envolvente y fácil de leer.
Realmente es muy interesante para los fanáticos de StarCraft sin embargo pienso que es una obra digna para cualquier amante de la ciencia ficción. De los tres libros del Dark Templar Saga, es el que más me mantuvo guindado.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, not as good as the first two in my opinion. At least, I found it harder to get through this one. The first two I breezed through in a day, this one took a couple of days largely because I was losing interest.

[Oganalp Canatan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid series if you are a Starcraft fan. The series rely heavily on your knowledge of the universe and ditches the world building part. This causes certain characters like Zeratul or Selendis to be portrayed in a rather shallow fashion. Well, it has to be expected from a side goodie.

[Viktor Osička · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zlatá střední třída ale fajn trilogie.

[Alexander Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent ending of the trilogy.

[Ivan Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The finale of the Saga. It is rather pro-longed tale could have summarize the saga in 1 book. Sometimes Christie Golden can get pretty repetitive. I gave it 4 star since Zeratul was involved.

[Mabz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rare books that I can't stop reading!

[Karen]

H loved this series. 5 out of 5

[Geof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressionnant ! Impressive !

[Ryan Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great saga and kudos to Christie Golden!