User blog comment:Hawki/Ranking the StarCraft Novels/@comment-250398-20161019154255/@comment-58609-20161020020914

Per the above points:

-Liberty's Crusade: Funnily enough, I thought that the novel actually added to the "grittiness" of the setting, sort of. I mean, the novel itself, not so much, but it does do a good job of conveying how badly the war was going for the Confederacy. Likewise, I was fine with Duke. Duke being a sort of doofus is how I've always seen him to be honest. Shadow of the Xel'naga takes it to the extreme, but think about it, in SC1/BW, what does Duke actually accomplish? Aside from "The Hammer Falls," where you're controlling him, he's beaten at every turn. I've always seen Duke as the character who gets to be where he is because of his ambition rather than inherent skill. Not that he's lacking said skill - Mengsk wants him for it, Kerrigan killed him for it, but, yeah. Also, the mind control drugs, it's mentioned that it's likely a case of Anderson self-sabotaging the propaganda - enough to placate the Confederates, not enough to placate people who are really paying attention.

That aside, we're on the same page with Liberty - good character, but feels shoehorned in.

Spectres: While I'm not that fond of the novel (I can't recall if Nova was genuinely romantically interested in Kelerchian, or whether it was seeing him as a father figure...if so, um, age difference?), I do feel that Hauler is well done. He's not that deep of a character, but he does serve to highlight a point. Mengsk isn't a nice person, but he's a better alternative to other options facing the terrans. Hauler, for all his bravado, is after self-gain. Arguably Mengsk is as well (i.e. Mengsk is an example of a character who's a better conqueror than a ruler), but he's better at the seat of power than Hauler would be.

Devils' Due: Raynor is a bit close to how he is in SC2, but I'd argue that it feels natural, because if it's less prevalent, it's how he is in SC1 as well. Raynor is the type of person who wants to fight for something. He fights for the Confederacy out of belief it'll help his family, he joins the Sons of Korhal in hope of bringing a better tomorrow, he then leads a rebellion against Mengsk upon realizing that Mengsk is little better than the Confederates, then joins the protoss in the knowledge that maybe this is a fight that he can do some good in, then fights against Mengsk in the knowledge that he can't do much against the zerg, then helps the Dominion once neutralizing/saving Kerrigan is presented as an option, then helps her topple Mengsk, then joins the Dominion for the fight ahead. It's one of the things I've always found likable about his character, that he'll follow a cause, sometimes impetuously, but always in the belief that it's the right course of action.

So, come Devils' Due, when he executes Vanderspool, I quite liked that scene. First because I liked Vanderspool as a villain - his motivations are basically revenge, but there's something inherently 'beautiful' (in a twisted way) that a crippled man can still cause so much misery, hence why Raynor killing him does feel like justice, and feels like we're seeing the person Raynor will be in the future (whole pistol motif in WoL and HotS for instance).

I, Mengsk: I haven't read that many 40K novels. 40K is an example where the appeal is the setting rather than an overall plot per se, so my exposure to its lore was more through codecies rather than individual novels. I've read two of McNeil's Ultramarines series and quite liked them - they're honourable to a fault, but in a setting like 40K, it's kind of refreshing. Afraid I didn't read much of Abnett, though I've seen his name tossed around a lot.

That aside, I, Mengsk does feel a bit rushed at times - the first section covers events that last for about a year, the sections after that jump around a bit, and part 3 is really skimming events at times. I think Valerian is conveyed well here, but it's piggybacking off what Firstborn established for his character. Not that that's a bad thing - I've always liked Valerian as a character, and Golden set him up well, but I, Mengsk doesn't have to do as much legwork.

On the other hand, I do like the idea of "Dominion Section" (a little "heh, I know where that'll head") and meeting Duke. I like seeing them play off each other, how Mengsk is actually a competent commander, and will be so great a commander that he'll topple the Confederacy, while Duke is indicative of how apathic the Confederacy could be in regards to its armed forces. Plus, even in SC1, I could infer that they'd met each other before (Mengsk addresses Duke by his forename at Norad II). And since we're on the subject...well, Star Trek: Enterprise is actually my least favorite Star Trek TV series I've seen (the others being TOS and TNG), but it's more due to gripes I have with the show itself. Then again, only seen the first two seasons - I heard it got better afterwards).