Always felt that video game based books were a "hit-or-miss" that can either add a lot or very little to the narrative. Considering that I don't play this game or any of this kind, it was a double risk. But I heard so much good about the books that I bought Aspho Fields, was very suprised and bought this one for confirmation on wether I should keep going or not.

The answer is: Yes!

Jacinto's Remnant proved me that the story is not only rich but also very well written. The characters are very well done and apparentely much more in-depth than the games. Without playing them you still get a great idea of their psychological and behavioural profile.

Something is always happening and Traviss knows how to bring in the suspense before the action with her immersive language and descriptions.

The enemy is no longer (just) the Locust but also humans. Humans in the physical sense but also social and political sense. This book basically tell us how Fenix and the whole COG is dealing with this new enemy that can indeed be as dangerous as any grub.

I'm invested in this and I'll buy the next one: Anvil's Gate





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Stunning book, really captures the GOW universe and expands in stunning detail. True to the games ( )

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book for the same reasons I enjoyed the first Gears of War book -- the character building, background, dialogue, etc. However, I felt the main plot line dragged a little and the story was anti-climatic. ( )

Review from Badelynge
Jacinto's Remnant is the second book in the Gears of War series following on directly after the events portrayed in Gears of War 2 the popular Xbox 360 game. The humans of Sera have destroyed their last major stronghold Jacinto in a desperate attempt to flood the underground lair of the Locust. The survivors flee in search of a new refuge, hoping that the monsters from below have been all but wiped out. The book documents the Gears and the civilians of Jacinto scouting for a new island home - an old CoG Naval Base at Vectes. Like the first book it periodically looks back at an earlier historic moment in the conflict. This time it shines a light onto the dark days when Prescott authorises Hammer Strikes to obliterate all but one human enclave on the planet of Sera. The CoG government has come to the conclusion that they are doomed - unless they do the unthinkable. It still seems unthinkable to me, even knowing that saving a few is better than saving none, to press a button and wipe out 99% of your own people seems like the sort of scenario that sits more comfortably among the back story of a computer game, but in a book it has to pass closer scrutiny and even though I love Gears I tend to think ordered societies would be much more likely to go down fighting rather than resort , even in desperation, to such tactics. Mores and attitudes are very much to the fore within these books, with many of the characters, particularly Hoffman and Mataki, struggling to shift perspectives when society shifts to and from a war footing and to and from fighting a completely different and unfathomable monstrous species to fighting their own, sometimes hardly less monstrous and unfathomable.
I get the feeling Traviss really has a soft spot for Hoffman and that some of the careless characterisation from the game doesn't sit well with her. Hoffman's decision to leave Fenix, a decorated war hero, to die in an abandoned prison, overrun with Locust, being the standout bump in the road. Following on from Gears 2 the book also has to deal with the aftermath of Dom Santiago finding his long lost wife and the terrible choice he had to make. It's perhaps the key note emotional event from the sometimes quite thin plotting that the game achieved and Karen Traviss does well in painting a more detailed account of the consequences to Dom and those around him.
For a book standing squarely in the military sci-fi genre there's a severe shortage of actual action, no large Aspho Fields style battles, just some fairly routine skirmishes. It wasn't a problem for me, I enjoyed the post apocalyptic scenario focusing on rebooting society from a bare remnant. Despite the lack of action there's still plenty of drama, spot on characterisation, a sort of cosiness that come from spending time with well loved and time worn Gears and mystery lurking in the dark and the deeps. ( )

Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant is about the struggle to preserve the COG. The COG is the Coalition of Ordered Governments. This book is Science Fiction with gruesome details. The main characters are Marcus Feniz and Dominic Santiago. Both are veteran Gear's who earned the Ebony Star award that is given to soldiers who are brave and sacrifice themselves to help others. The COG forces want to destroy the locus monsters. The main characters take out a large protion of the grub forces. The soldiers flood the city of Jacinto and are forced to move twice to refugee camps then to an island that is called Vex. I recommend this book for gamers who like to play Gears of War I and II. The book gives readers background information about the characters and fills in the missing details of the game. ( )