Gears of War: Aspho Fields

Aspho Fields is a book that was released in 2008, by british author Karen Traviss. The book details the events before Gears of War 1, mostly about the events leading up to the battle of Aspho Fields, and also talks about what happens between Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2.

Let me first say, that I'm not a big fan of books, and never have been. I just never got interested in them, and they generally bored me. However, as the owner of a Gears of War website, I thought it was my responsibility to learn as much as could about the characters and the story.

Aspho Fields is entirely engrossing. From the moment I started reading the book, I didn't want to stop reading. The book is pretty long, at least to someone who doesn't read books, at 385 pages. The book changes between the past and the present pretty much every chapter, which can be slightly confusing at first, but you quickly learn why Traviss does this, as it showcases why things are the way they are on the present because of what happened in the past. At the start of the book, I wanted to just read about the present timeline as I didn't care about the past, but by the end of the book, I wanted to know more about the past.

Unfortunately, this book doesn't take you to the events leading up to Gears of War 1, although it does talk about Marcus's trial and conviction and flirts with the idea of why Marcus left his teammates to go help his dad, but never really confirms the reason 100 percent. It also doesn't talk about Emergence Day which I was hoping it would. In the book you begin when Marcus is just 10 years old, and has to join a public school because he was on his own a lot of times since his parent's were so busy and were generally negligant towards Marcus. At this new school, Marcus quickly friends the Santiago brothers, who Marcus generally spends all his time with afterwards. When Marcus's mother goes missing, it leaves a lasting impact on Marcus for the rest of his life.

The book shows the characters in Gears of War in a different way that the original doesn't, except for Baird who is still an asshole. After reading the book, you'll look at Marcus, Dom, Hoffman, Cole, Anya, and others in an entirely new light. Instead of just big hulking warmachines, you'll see the characteristics and humanity in each of them. The events in Gears of War(especially) and Gears of War 2 will make much more sense after reading. If you're any kind of fan of Gears of War, and even if you hate reading like I do, then I recommend this book. You won't regret it. In fact, I'll probably read it again.