Tom Clancy's the Division: Broken Dawn by Alexander C. Irvine

Tom Clancy's the Division: Broken Dawn Reviews

• 
  Chris The Lizard from Planet X

  Tom Clancy’s The Division: Broken Dawn By Alex Irvine, is video game tie-in novel based on the Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy game The Division.
  
  The Division: Broken Dawn, tells the story of 4 characters set in the post apocalyptic world of The Division game. First is April Kelleher who's looking into the mystery of her husband's death and how it’s linked to the virus outbreak. Second is Violet who is child refugee struggling to survive in the ruins of former nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. Third is Aurelio Diaz who is a Division Agent who is struggling between two opposing duties the first is to his duty as a Division Agent and second his duties as a father. Fourth is Ike Robson another Division Agent who is secretly working for a shadowy organization. All these lives are about to crash together as news that could begin the rebuilding of the ruined United States comes to light and a country full of people, good and bad, can see the ramifications.
  
  Tom Clancy’s the Division: Broken Dawn is the perfect companion to the Division games. It’s interesting, exciting, and fast-paced – three things that make any book an enjoyable read. I honestly think you’d like this book if you haven’t even played the games if you love dystopian stories. You might struggle a little if you have zero knowledge of the games but I can guarantee you it’s worth it. (And it will definitely make you want to play it)
  
  The book is very well written, the plot is intriguing and I particularly loved the fact that it is focused on multiple characters (which is something I usually look forward to in a story). It’s also a lovely treat to anyone who’s played the first Division game because it mentions characters from the first instalment and you get to know what’s happened to them! Basically, if you want to know what happens after the end of the Division (1), this is exactly what you’re going to get in Broken Dawn, as well as an exciting set up for the Division 2.
  
  Overall, this is a quick, fun read which either introduces you to or brings you back to The Division world. I also would like to thank the author for respecting the game lore and characters without changing anything major (which is exactly what I was worried about before I started reading it). Alex Irvine clearly did his research and managed to give what any Division fan what they were looking for.
  
• 
  C.T. Phipps

  THE DIVISION: BROKEN DAWN by Alexander C. Irving is a volume in the Ubisoft post-apocalypse action series, THE DIVISION. It is an intequel set between the events of the first two games. The premise of The Division games are that the world has been ravaged by a virus called the Dollar Flu. The exact number of people that have died is unknown but it is enough that cities are now largely abandoned as well as filled with roving bands of humans fighting for survival. Pretty much like The Walking Dead but without zombies. It is also under the Tom Clancy label, which means that it is vaguely spy themed and makes a very bare bones pretense at realism.
  
  The premise for Broken Dawn is that we follow the perspectives of four survivors as they deal with an interlocked story, Quentin Tarantino style. The primary star is April Kelleher, a widow whose husband was a biologist that may have created the cure for the Dollar Flu. Violet is a child who lives in the Smithsonian Castle that has been turned into a colony for survivors of Washington D.C. Aurelio Diaz is a Division agent who has begun pursuing another agent, Ike Ronson, for abandoning his duty. Ike is the final perspective as he's betrayed his oaths as a Division agent to work for a mysterious new employer.
  
  Unlike HEARTS OF FIRE, Broken Dawn decides to tell a much more continuity-heavy story that doesn't deal with the personal elements of being trapped in a post-apocalyptic world. There, the story was about a pair of sisters finding themselves on opposing sides while the world fell apart around them. Here, we have lots of allusions to the quest for the broad spectrum anti-virus, the Black Tusk conspiracy, and the rogue agent network.
  
  This isn't necessarily a bad thing as the kind of people who are going to pick up this book are the kind of people who, presumably, are ones who are fans of the Division world. Unfortunately, it does make this a poor entry for people who are first getting into the Division and want to try to do so with the novels rather than the games. The story still holds up without the knowledge of the games but you lose a lot of the context with April Kelleher from the first game's side quests as well as who Ike's mysterious employer is.
  
  The biggest boon of the novel is definitely the fact that it actually takes us outside of New York and Washington D.C. for a time. We get to see what's happening in other states like Pittsburgh, Michigan, and rural America. While this is the basis for the upcoming The Division: Heartand, this is right now the biggest indication of how the rest of the world is dealing with the Dollar Flu. The rest of America is actually doing a bit better than the two major cities but not without their own problems. Much of America is returning to 19th century levels of technology to deal with the disruption to supply lines.
  
  Unfortunately, the book does have a few flaws. Violet and the other children just aren't that interesting as they are fairly normal adolescents in the apocalypse. Which means useless. They also don't have much of a major effect on the plot as well. The book also just sort of ends with very little resolution of the major plots. This wouldn't be a problem if we were going to have a sequel planned or this was part one of a trilogy but Broken Dawn feels very much like the author was telling us to buy The Division 2. Still, I overall enjoyed it as a Division fan.
• 
  Dawid

  Pretty decent book. If you like a little bit of action, few heroes and political intrigue you can check this. If you're the real fan of The Division - you have to red this. It's still a light caliber, but you can meet old friend (from prev book), know something about fall of one of the settlements and it a pretty nice introduction to the main story from TD2. Comparing it to the other similar book that I read in the near past (Metro 2033, 2034 and 2035) i felt good during reading. I never was bored or tried to give up this book.
• 
  Dan

  A good read in the midst of a real pandemic
  
  This is the first book I've finished since the shelter in place order was issued. It was a solid action tale which continued the story of April Kelleher from the original Division game and tie in book. This functions as a "mid-quel" between the two games and does enough to keep me coming back.
• 
  James McIntosh Jr.

  The book was slow and overall not what I was expecting (I think I was expecting more action). But it was good and I liked it, and the ending was exciting. It left some loose ends, but maybe those are picked up in the 2nd video game, which I have only played a little bit of.
  
  Also of note: At the time of writing this review, I have not read
  Tom Clancy's The Division: New York Collapse: or played the 1st video game yet, so my perspective may be a bit different. There may be a few things I missed or didn't get, but overall I didn't feel like it hindered my reading of the book too much.
  
  Just FYI, the chapters are not titled. Each chapter focuses on the perspective of one of four different main characters.
• 
  Michael Hunter

  Good semi post-apocolyptic story but doesn't exactly evoke the feel of the game it's based on.
• 
  Darren

  I am a gamer as well as a reader. One of the games I am deeply into is Tom Clancy’s The Division 1 & 2. Now, to be totally honest, I have been sitting on this book for a long time. My to-be-read pile is insane, but I did get to it. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
  
  A superflu is released through money on Black Friday, with ground zero being New York City. Millions are killed and the country is soon crippled, as well as the rest of the world. The President of the United States puts Directive 51 into effect, basically putting Division agents in play to help maintain law and order.
  
  Tom Clancy’s The Division: Broken Dawn bridges the gap between The Division and The Division 2 video games. It follows the story of several characters, among them, are children, a Division agent, a rogue Division agent, and a civilian who wants to find out the truth about what her husband was working on. A rumor about a possible cure for the superflu is out there and a good thread to follow in the book.
  
  Alex Irvine does a good job getting the world and lore of the video games into a novel. The characters are engaging and I actually cared about what happened to them. The world is gritty and dark with little hope, but there is just a spark of hope and that is played out throughout the book. The action is fast and furious and the pace is consistent.
  
  The only ding I have for this book is the constant reminders of how dismal the world is. The state of the world is established within the first fifty pages, the overly constant reminders were not necessary.
  
  All in all I give this 4 out of 5 bookmarks!
• 
  Enrique Paz

  Glad To See A Division Book, Could’ve been better.
  
  I’m usually pretty encouraging and positive when art is concerned but this isn’t a matter of taste. I read Alex Irvine’s first Division book New York Collapse and really liked it. Thoughtful, planned, good character development, fit with the story in the video game, lots to love. Those elements are what, in my opinion, are missing in this book. The whole book felt like a first chapter, character distinction is minimal and spoken directly not implied by actions. Being written from an omniscient narrator perspective only further irritates the rash as it hampers character depth further. The amount of action in the story could easily equal a 1200 page novel if developed fully. The deepest cut came at the ending though, where I can only assume the writers wife suggested they go to a nice steak dinner out and he cellophane taped a closed sign on the shop door, mashed the throttle on the story pace and turned off the creativity spigot synchronously. Hoping to finish typing and catch an auto-save before Windows shut down completely is the feeling I was left with. ***[Spoilers, Here be dragons, Spoilers!!!], The main character is left bleeding out, the co-protagonist is left MIA, status unconfirmed and the children almost vanish in to thin air. Now, there may be constrictions placed by the game creative department but that doesn’t excuse the shallow characters and lack of ambience. I’d love to love this book like I did the first it just didn’t come close to earning it.
• 
  Stephen

  As a fan of the Division 1 and 2 games, I enjoyed a closer look into the world of the game.
  
  The book follows just a few characters, keeping the plot moving in a simple fashion while mostly exploring the world outside Washington and New York. While some memorable names from the game series are mentioned, the story is mainly about a new character: April, and the Division agents in charge of completing a mission centered around April.
  
  There is a side story involving the Castle settlement in Washington; a settlement I thought was chemical attacked in Div 2 (maybe I’m wrong), but there is no mention of that attack in these books.
  
  I would have enjoyed a book centered around the DZ in New York, but maybe that’s forthcoming.
• 
  Kevin

  I absolutely loved NY Collapse and thought Alex Irvine did a great job with that book, so of course I had to pick this one up for the release of The Division 2. Sadly Broken Dawn doesn't hold a candle to NY Collapse. The story bounces around different characters and locations and while the story of April is intriguing, it doesn't save the story from being overly forced and a feeling shallow.
  
  Overall the second half of the book is much better than the first half, but it still feels like there is a lot of forced text just to tie it into the game. I finished the book and don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't want to read it again.
• 
  Glen Richardson

  This book does a wonderful job of describing the world in The Division as well as how different people from different forms of life live in it. It has a really interesting story that builds more as the book goes on. I'd love to see a follow on from this in another book about Diaz and Ronson and the kids from the Castle. Some cool little mentions of people from the first Division game that made me smile and currently loving the second installment, it was a great read along side playing. Would recommend to any division player!
• 
  Erik Dreiling

  There was not really anything wrong with the story, but it was kind of just there. The writing was good and Irvine did a great job at exploring the world of The Division. The issue I had was that it hardly seemed like anything was happening in the chapters that did not follow April or Aurelio, a Division agent. If all the other chapters were removed, the reader still would not miss much from the story.
  
  Like I said, it was not bad or great. It was just there...
• 
  Luca Cresta

  Amo visceralmente tutto ciò che è marchiato Tom Clancy, ma questo romanzo che sfrutta il gioco "the division" di Ubisoft è nato un po' "monco", dato che non mette il lettore nelle condizioni di capire il mondo alla base della narrazione. Alex Irvine, invece, si rivela un ottimo narratore e la storia che ic propone è avvincente quanto basta. Buoni i personaggi e lo svolgimento della trama, ma a mio parere personale la mancanza del background non ha giovato alla lettura.
• 
  Stephen Collins

  As the second of the tie-ins to Ubisoft's world of The Division, this is a perfectly serviceable and enjoyable read for fans of the series (I count myself in that group). I enjoyed the previous "found material" form of New York Collapse more in terms of creativity, but this continuation of April Kelleher's story, first exposed to us in The Division is nicely realised.
• 
  Kate Sedgbeer

  I enjoyed reading this. It started out a bit slow but the characters were engaging and I liked the way it was written. Each chapter changed perspective between the 4 main characters, who seemed quite separate to begin with, but as the story progressed, it was exciting to see how everything connected together. I would recommend this.
• 
  Tearing

  As a fan of both games, i think this book is super important to put together some vital parts of The Division lore. At parts it felt like a DLC tying together the 2 games. Recommended if you like the games and/or The Division stories.
  
  Probably a half entertaining, light lecture, otherwise about a very actual subject. It can be seen as a casual prophecy about how pandemics can go utterly wrong.
• 
  Dave Purkis

  Not bad at all
  
  I thought the book was pretty good as a link between the 2 games, however I personally thought it was disjointed and jumped around to much.
  I appreciate some people will disagree and can see why but as they its each to their own.
  I would recommend this to anyone that's played the games as it links the 2 but as a stand alone book I was slightly disappointed.
• 
  Dan

  If you're a fan of the video game, then this book is great for continuing the storyline. It's essentially a side story during Division 1, a bridge between 1 & 2 and a opening/side story to Division 2.
  
  I wish there was more details and information regarding the back story, the Division itself and other characters. It was great none the less in my opinion.
• 
  Susan Grayson

  Insanely good. Told from POVs ranging from a child living in a settlement in DC, to a civilian trekking across the country chasing rumors of a vaccine against the virus, to two Division agents, one looking to forward his own goals and the other following in the wake of it all. Great balance between thrilling action and daily tension of survival.
• 
  Victor Gonzalez

  I do think you need some knowledge of the game or at least the lore in the game to make more sense of parts of the book. If you like the game I do think you should read it.
  
  The main plot is ok and when I got to the last part I couldn't stop.
• 
  Justin Eck

  What a ride! I loved every moment of this book. Alex Irving does an amazing job connecting to the world created by the games. I love April Kelleher's character and story and I want more!
  
  I definitely recommend this if you're a fan of the games.
• 
  Steven

  More like 3.5 stars.
  This was an enjoyable companion to the game. It expanded on the backstory and gave some insight into what was happening in other places. If you like the games you will find it entertaining. I wouldn't recommend it to people unfamiliar with the fame series.