Since the final Heaven’s Devils excerpt was posted on StarCraft II’s official site, there’s been a lack of reading material to be found on the site. Luckily, there’s a fairly lengthy short story that’s been around for some time, and it’s actually really good. I just started reading the short story, and so far it’s been an enjoyable read. I’ve decided to whip up a review for you, the StarCraft Fan reader. Spanning 11 pages, I’ll be breaking up the review into three separate parts. So let’s get started with Part 1 of my review for the latest StarCraft short story, Collateral Damage.
Collateral Damage is certainly a very different story than most others posted on the StarCraft II site. For starters, it has a more abstract feel to it. The imagery, the wording, even the dialogue—all of these literary elements feel different than they have on other short stories based in the StarCraft universe, and I dare say everything certainly has a completely different feel than the awesome Heaven’s Devils.
But the abstract design of Collateral Damage is something I can really appreciate. It’s a different kind of story, told through a different point of view, starring a different, very unique character known as Pandora. Pandora is for all intents and purposes a very mysterious character. Her intentions aren’t 100% clear, but it appears she is willing to sacrifice life and limb to complete her mission. All she wants is to save humanity, even if it costs her everything, her very life included.
She has an advisor named Sage, and this character quickly becomes more of a rational thinker than Pandora. At times it appears as if he annoys her and even disturbs her when he doesn’t agree with her plans, but it is very apparent that these two characters need each other.
Having read the first handful of pages, I would recommend Collateral Damage to just about anyone who enjoys different kind of literature. People who like to ponder on what they are reading and like more complex storytelling will definitely get a kick out of Collateral Damage.
