Heaven's Devils

Starcraft II #1

by William C. Dietz

For the poor, hardworking citizens of the Confederacy's fringe worlds, the Guild Wars have exacted a huge toll. Swayed by the promise of financial rewards, a new batch of recruits joins the fight alongside a slew of mysteriously docile criminals—and a few dubious military leaders. Eighteen-year-old Jim Raynor, full of testosterone and eager to make things right at home, ships off to boot camp and finds his footing on the battlefield, but he soon discovers that the official mission is not what he's really fighting for. For the first time ever, StarCraft enthusiasts will learn the ori­gins of the enduring friendship between the young upstart Jim Raynor and the streetwise soldier Tychus Findlay. Watch as they battle on the front lines of a fierce interplanetary war and bear witness to the Confederacy's rank corruption—corruption so reprehensible that it rains immeasurable death and destruction upon the government's own people.

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

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

New York Times bestselling author William C. Dietz has published more than fifty novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the Navy and Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Washington, and has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, and television news writer, director and producer. Before becoming a full-time writer Dietz was director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company. He and his wife live near Gig Harbor, Washington.

Reviews

[Giovanni Gelati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been trying to get into other genres to keep things fresh and exciting once in a while. I am a bit of a suspense/mystery type person. I enjoy the occasional romantic comedy to break things up, with a smattering of non-fiction on the side as books on interesting people and events come up on my radar. The Sci-Fi thing I enjoyed when I was younger, but have not really gotten back to it till now. William Deitz really intrigued me with his bio on the back page and the little blurb of dialogue on the front cover, I needed to give this a try.
Heaven’s Devils is an interesting futurist novel. Set in 2487, the Kel –Morian’s are fighting the Confederate forces for reasons that we are lead to believe are very cut and dried. As usual things are not always what they seem. The main character in all this is a young farm boy, Jim Raynor. Jim’s parents grapple over forcing him to stay and help on the farm or let him make a life changing decision and join the battle. Jim goes off to boot camp and finds his way through and proves himself on the battlefield only to find out that the mission he thought he was on is not the real one he is fighting. William Dietz could have gone a very predictable route with all this, but instead creates a novel that is swift moving and filled with action. I came to care and become invested in Jim Raynor and his cast of characters in the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion, Heaven’s Devils.
I had gone into this novel knowing nothing at all about Starcraft or what it is about. Not being a fan , I cannot say this is a plus or a minus. All I know is that I enjoyed the read and Dietz’s ability to keep me interested and invested. If you are like me and your ventures into Sci-Fi are few and far between, give this one a try. You can also do me a favor and drop me a line and suggest other novels in this genre for me to read or go to Goodreads , become our friend if you are not already, and suggest some there for me.
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[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never played Starcraft, but that's not why this book earned a bad rating. The prose is horrible. I've never complained about prose before, nor have I ever really cared. That is how bad it is. It's bloated, choppy and juvenile. Exclamation points are to be used sparingly!

The dialog was horrible. Ninety percent of it could never be uttered by a real character, and the rest would earn mockery if it was spoken aloud.

The story was okay, and is about the only thing that earned a star.


However, I guess one good thing that can be said about the book is my desire to play Starcraft. Not because this book made me enjoy the characters, but because I've heard Starcraft has an excellent story and good characters, and I hope it's not based off of books like this.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a big Starcraft fan as a kid, and had enjoyed reading earlier Starcraft novels, despite their mixed quality. Even owned a couple of them. Heaven's Devils was so, so poorly-written, so remarkably uninspired, that after reading it I took it and my other Starcraft books straight to the local library to donate them. That is not a joke.

Dietz fails to capture the feeling of the computer games the book is supposed to be a prequel to, which might not be an issue if it weren't an incredibly lackluster story as well, with a very childish presentation. I would never recommend this title to anyone, and I would probably avoid reading anything else by him (all tie-ins to established sci-fi franchises, presumably all mediocre.) Really bad writing.

[Filip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wait, why didn't I realize that this book is by the guy who wrote the infamous Mass Effect: Deception (you know, the book with a google doc created containing all the mistakes)?! That... explains a lot.

This book was bad. Boring, senseless, actively working against the reader trying to enjoy. For example the moment that it seems there is going to be some semblance of plot (at 40% mark) in the form of a mystery and conspiracy, the POV switches to the evil mastermind who reveals the whole plan in his internal monologue.

Also, I'm not entirely objective as I am not a fan of prequels in general, but this one was particularly bad. Not only the "tales from boot camp and Marine Corps" are hardly the most interesting thing in the StarCraft universe, the whole Confederacy/Guild Wars period hardly seems fascinating. Maybe it's the protoss player/fan in me talking, but to me the main appeal of StarCraft has always been the interactions (mainly hostile, true, but not only) between the various races.

The only saving grace of this book comes from the form of the audiobook. The voice actor for Tychus Finlay does great job and it was particularly fun to listen to his voice again. You know how bad this book was? I was never a Tychus Finlay fan and he's not great in this book either, but he's by far the best character - because everyone else is so damn bland. Oh, and the book basically has no ending.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

HEAVEN'S DEVILS is better than it has any right to be and that's despite the fact it makes use of a lot of military cliches before going in unexpected directions. It's a piece of tie-fiction, which means that it must be judged on two criteria: 1. Is it entertaining to fans? 2. Is it entertaining to people who would never normally pick up a Starcraft novel. Surprisingly, it fits the criteria of being enjoyable to both and even if you have no idea who Jim Raynor is then I suggest you pick up a copy of this book. It's also persuaded me to check out William C. Dietz's other works. Well, the ones which aren't Halo or Dark Forces which I already read (and enjoyed).

The premise is Jim Raynor is a 19 year old demolition derby racer and trucker who works a third job on his parent's farm. He's eager to do anything in his life other than be a farmer and gets perhaps a bit too excited about the offer from a military recruiter who visits him in a mecha suit. Signing up for the bonus, he ignores the fact the war against an organization called the Kel-Morian Combine is going badly for the Confederacy of Man.

Simultaneously, we get the perspective of Tychus Finnley (another character from Starcraft) who is a Sergeant in the Marine Core as well as professional criminal. Tychus is only in the military to make a buck and contrasts nicely with the idealistic Raynor. Rounding up the trio is Arik Bennet who is the rich son of a Confederacy family who gets himself drugged and sent off to war in one of those Vietnam urban legends brought to life in a star sector far far away.

This book is set before the games when there's a war between humans and aliens. Instead, it is entirely about its protagonists being caught up in a pointless war betwene two corrupt societies. The Confederacy is using its soldiers as cannon fodder while the Kel-Morian Combine are a depraved bunch of bandits masquerading as a military. Much of the book focuses on the growing sense of disillusionment from Raynor as he witnesses his side continually misuse the men serving them as well as how corrupt his immediate superiors are.

Later in the book, we get introduced to the sole bit of estrogen in the story with Cassidy a.k.a "Doc." She's a drug addict blackmailed into continual compliance by said corrupt superiors and ends up becoming a snitch on the team. I actually liked Cassidy as she was a character who was clearly caught between competing forces for her loyalty. The fact Raynor and the rest of the team aren't exactly a bunch of cub scouts as the war drags on is a matter which helps keep her loyalty suspect. As much as we like Tychus, he's not the kind of guy who inspires much loyalty or sense of love.

My favorite character turned out to be Bennet (going under the pseudonym Kydd for much of the book). He's a man who grew up in a rich family but finds himself ill-suited for the life and discovers that he actually is good as a military sniper. Unfortunately, Bennet sits on the fence on whether he wants to go back to his old life or not until events catch up to him. His choice is also one which is made on bad information and arguably didn't have to be made at all.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed Heaven's Devils and think it's not just a great Starcraft novel but a great piece of military science fiction in general. All the characters have interesting arcs and manage to develop in interesting but believable ways. The Kel-Morian Combine is treated as somewhat cartoonishly evil but the setting is a corrupt and decadent one. I recommend getting the audiobook version over the physical or ebook copies because Neil Kaplan (Tychus' voice in the games) does an amazing job.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ένα ελαφρύ πολεμικό μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας στον κόσμο του Starcraft. Πολλές μάχες, χιλιάδες πυροβολισμοί από 'δω και από 'κει, μπόλικες εκρήξεις, μπουνιές, κλωτσιές και άλλα ωραία. Ανάπτυξη χαρακτήρων μέτρια, εκτός κάποιων εκ των πρωταγωνιστών, περιγραφές μαχών μέτριες προς σχετικά καλές, η πλοκή υποτυπώδης αν και σε σημεία είχε ένα κάποιο ενδιαφέρον, τέλος συνηθισμένο σε τέτοιου είδους περιπετειώδη μυθιστορήματα, και διάλογοι ψιλομέτριοι, με μπόλικες κλισέ ατάκες, που ταιριάζουν βέβαια σε ένα μέτριο πολεμικό μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας. Σε σημεία οι περιγραφές των όπλων, των συστημάτων και όλων των τακτικών του στρατού, θύμιζαν κάποιο στρατιωτικό μάνουαλ γεμάτο αρχικά λέξεων, αλλά δεν ήταν κουραστικές. Πάντως, η όλη ατμόσφαιρα, με τις μάχες, την περιπέτεια, και όλα αυτά, μου άρεσε, ήταν σαν να έβλεπα μια περιπετειώδη ταινία επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με ποπ κορν και κόκα κόλα, όπου μετά από λίγες ώρες θα την ξεχνούσα. Μακάρι η γραφή να μην ήταν τόσο κλισέ, το βιβλίο θα μπορούσε να ήταν ανώτερο, γιατί ο κόσμος του Starcraft έχει πολύ ενδιαφέρον.

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of adventures, action, conspiracy, suspense and even comedy in all the drama, the story of the best militar platoon the Humans of Starcraft ever had! But also the story of how the innocent Jim Raynor learned what real life in the militar and war is, and how to deal with it.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a slow start for me, which led to me putting it aside for many months. However, the last third or so was rather redeeming. Unlike some other books of this sort, Heaven's Devils does not assume the reader is familiar with StarCraft lore, especially because it functions as a sort of a prequel. It was rewarding for me to see the gradual appearance of familiar tech from the games replacing the author-imagined precursors. The slow, ominous reveal of neural resocialization technology had an especially good payoff. Unfortunately, Heaven's Devils ended just as I was really starting to get invested in the characters. In my view the last act had enough tension for at least a few more chapters, and if more of the content had been distributed there, I would have had a much better time reading the book as a whole.

[Dennis Han · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect much before reading this book but it definitely surprised me. It was a great book and very entertaining. A bit of a slow start, but it gets quite good once the story starts ramping up. Would recommend.

The main protagonist is Jim Raynor, one of the most famous characters in the Terran campaign of the game. It starts off with details of his humble beginnings off one of the fringe worlds under the control of the vast empire of the Confederate. In addition to Jim Raynor, the book starts off slowly by introducing each member of the Heaven's Devil and how they came to be.

Although the book doesn't go too deep into character development of each and every member of the Heaven's Devil, it does a good job in developing the bonds between each member, eventually turning the Heaven's Devil into a very efficient, fighting unit. The author does a pretty good job in getting you attached to the characters by the end of the book, and the story does start to ramp up after the initial few chapters.

You won't see any fighting between races, except amongst humans, but it is still a very interesting and fun read for anyone that has loved and played the game since their childhood days.

[Bmah1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prequel to the sequel of the popular RTS (real-time-strategy) game for PC. This novel focuses on the origins of Jim Raynor, one of the main protagonist of the game. The world is set in a science fiction scenario where 3 different races are at war over scarce resources around the universe. The story explains the life of Raynor as he lived in his home world before he becomes a marshal. His experiences in boot camp, first team and his first battles against the other alien races are some of the highlights in this novel.

The back story of Raynor is quite intriguing since you are exposed to his past relations with some of the characters you encounter in the game. The book has lots of action and trash talk. I would only recommend it to those who are StarCraft fans and care about the lore.

[Sawada · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Although some of the characters were a little stereotypical, I felt for them and the ending felt like it set the foundation for Ryanor in Starcraft 1, as well as for Tychus in SC2.

I like to relate it to that movie "Jarhead". Raynor (18 year old of farmer parents) is lured into the military with the sign on bonus and promised excitement. Goes through boot camp, becomes best friends with those in his unit (some started as enemies), goes on a few missions taking tactical command of his unit... In Parallel until Raynor and Tychus finally meet, you'll learn what Tychus was doing and how he was spending his military career which was very entertaining to me. I really liked Tychus - very straight forward guy and his favorite saying is just classic - "That's a damned shame!"

[Kazia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written, engaging story that gives a very different perspective on Jim Raynor's character, and establishes the origins of Tychus Findlay and his connection to Jim when you play the Wings of Liberty campaign. I didnt like Findlay much before and this book made me really not like him. the other character that were members of the "Heaven's Devils" group were mostly not very memorable, except for the sniper who was a conscripted, kidnapped teen originating from a rich family, and the treacherous medic addicted to "crab". I would have liked a more well rounded ending, but the writing style was satisfactory. It kept me engaged and was very true to the Starcraft universe. I recommend it to any fan who is interested in the story and lore.

[Mike Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, plenty of action. Anticipate reading the entire series.

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

I’m not very familiar with Starcraft franchise, but, was surprised to learn about Starcraft: Heaven’s Devils by William C. Dietz. Intrigued, I picked up the book,

The plot follows young colonist Jim Raynor as he leaves his home planet of Shiloh and experiences life in the Confederate military and its war against the Kel-Morian Combine. As such, the book takes place some 16 years before the start of of the games. Raynor deals with bullies on Shiloh, the ordeals of leaving home, the trials of boot camp, and the confusion and terror of combat.

The gruff, confident protagonist from the Games campaign is nowhere to be found: Jimmy is green and childish at the start of the novel, and although he shows leadership potential throughout the story, he is never a heroic beacon of leadership. The growth of Raynor’s leadership is fine as a thread in the story, but what is most interesting is how his understanding of right and wrong (and shades of gray) evolves throughout the story, as he experiences combat, profiteering, and corruption.

Jim Raynor isn’t alone in the galaxy. He’s got Tychus Findlay to try to tempt him down the path of laziness and graft, the gifted sniper Ryk Kydd who joined the military involuntarily, and the excitable firebat Harnack, who thinks that his flamethrowers are “fekking awesome.” Apart from Raynor (and to some extent, Kydd), the characters are cardboard cutouts of action hero side kicks… which is fine. The characters accomplish what they are built to do: give the world a bit of humor as they show the Terran Confederacy as “Texans in space.”

Heaven’s Devils is not the best book I’ve ever read. However, I found it leaps and bounds more enjoyable than some video game Tiein like Mass Effect: Retribution when considered as a part of a larger universe. The reason is that it expands the universe just enough to satiate my inner lore nerd and keeps the characters consistent with the world the games created. Retribution told a story that was inconsistent with the characters in the game (the Illusive Man and Anderson in particular), whereas Heaven’s Devils tells a part of the story without corrupting the player’s prior understanding of the characters. It makes sense that Raynor wasn’t always a great hero. You won’t learn all of the secrets of the Confederacy, but you will learn how Tychus and Raynor became friends and better understand their relationship in Starcraft. If the book doesn’t inform anything in the game world, then really, what’s the point of the book, apart from cashing in on the brand?

Overall, I thought that Heaven’s Devils hit the nail on the head in terms of books based in game universes: it was a decent book that filled in some holes in the game’s story. I don’t think that someone unfamiliar with the game universe would love it, but it would be readable. Fans of Starcraft will like following their hero Jim Raynor and seeing him evolve. The book reads like a Military action movie, which makes it a perfect bit of light reading for the Starcraft fanatics or Military Sci-fi fans out there.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it! - 4 out of 5 star rating.

I've recently began to dabble a bit in StarCraft 2 (SC2), with my growing anticipation of Stormgate, an in-development Real Time Strategy (RTS) game by a lot of developers that left Blizzard and created Frost Giant studios. I've always been a big fan of this classic genre, from the original Command & Conquer games, to the original WarCraft's. This book was grabbed to supplement my in-game fun with hopefully a decent book, and it most certainly was.

This opens up with Space Marine bootcamp, with some serious Starship Trooper vibes going on - and I say that as a grand compliment. It slowly progresses to the brutalities of war, internal conflicts on green on green (aka blue on blue), and corruption within the ranks within leadership roles itself.

Less about space, aliens, and futuristic technologies ... more about military service in the space marine corps. Prior service military folks will be able to easily relate to challenges the main character faces, and provide for a super fun read that is very well written. Looking up the author, sure enough - he served as a combat medic. That explains why he delivers so strong in this book.

I wish there could have been some more Zerg/Protoss action in this, as the book is entirely a TvT (Terran vs Terran) match. But that is clearly not what this book is about or its focus in any way.

Damn good Mil-sci-fi book, even if you've never played a single game of SC.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to work my way through the Starcraft novels in order since I've overall enjoyed the WoW novels I've read. This was decent. Dietz as usual can write a breezy tale. We follow Jim Raynor from about 16 (?) through signing up to be part of the Confederate army, and his first year or two in boot camp / the Marines or whatever they're called. (You can tell I cared a lot.) The first half or so reminded me a lot of Smallville. I kept waiting for Jim to find out he could jump high. The second half was a bit odd. Suddenly the unlikable, unredeemable characters from the first half are meant to be characters we care about and who get along with Raynor. It was jarring.

Then there are a lot of "even worse" characters, and a lot of shaming for addiction and sex work, and it just ... ugh. I did not enjoy a lot of where the book went, and it felt like a lot of the characters were just unrepentant hypocrites.

But the one character I enjoyed who I thought had a decent amount of potential survived, and so I'm curious to check out the sequel by Christie Golden.

[Andries van Wyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with a lot of these books, its quite bland until near the end.
The ending redeemed it from 2 stars.
Characters are interesting and the action quite hard without being gory.
It was interesting to read some of the backstory, but I would have preferred this to be slightly shorter and as a part I; with part II being why Tycus ended up in prison when we see him coming out at the start of Wing of Liberty.
What made the story less credible for me is the shortness of Jim’s military career. I find it lessens his credentials.
Still, its an interesting read, but the others in the series is a lot better.

[MarcMiccia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raynor alla guida dei diavoli
Kydd esitò. Quella scelta avrebbe cambiato per sempre la sua vita. Dopo, non sarebbe stato più possibile tornare indietro. Com'è che diceva ogni tanto Raynor? Quella frase che gli aveva insegnato suo padre? "Sei chi scegli di essere" Si, ecco com'era. Kydd aveva sempre riso dei tentativi di Raynor di impartire quella sua saggezza sentimentale, perchè era un tipo di affetto a lui del tutto estraneo. Ma, in qualche modo, quella frase gli era rimasta impressa e se la ricordò proprio ora che la sua mente era colma d'ansia.

[Jonathan de Souza Araújo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Da preguiça de dizer o motivo pelo qual é terrível esse livro.
Os diálogos são bobos e fazem você questionar se você está lendo algo sobre soldados tendo que lidar com o dilema da guerra ou adoslecentes brincando de arminha e revolução.
Plot completamente preguiçoso e profundidade dos personagens péssima.
Serve apenas de fanservice(e olhe lá).

[Lars Panzerbjrn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a bad book that I couldn't finish it. So many of the characters go from being reasonably smart to being slack jawed morons. And to such a point it doesn't allow for suspension of disbelief.
No spoilers, but one plot point in particular could, and should, have been resolved with one phone call. Poor and lazy writing you'd expect from a high school er writing fan fiction.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read. I'm impressed that the game has morphed into the new chess and has survived for 20 years. Going back through this content has added the fluff that the single player story line needed. Kudos to Blizzard and Dietz for getting the feel of this book right.

[Corbyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favoirite books

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, awesome origin story! I was so immersed in this book i forgot i was even reading a Starcraft novel. It felt like just a great story. I cant wait to keep reading the series.

[KP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morally rending and action-packed. Fantastic

[Taylor Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good just like the games!

I enjoy this book a lot. It was very exciting to read more about the lore and characters I loved in the games.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Hirok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lu en Francais, l'univers est grand. Sympa mais n'ayant lu que celui ci je n'ai pas tout compris.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Not the best, but it was some quick fun. I did notice the use of exclamation marks outside of dialogue, never really seen that too much.

[Ethan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the part where the barracks lifted off

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was recommended this book and didn’t really think it would get into it. but it was my first book on the kindle and it was super fun to read. i loved all the characters and how it would show each characters side of the story. i did get a little lost sometimes (might just be me) but other than that its a great book!!