this is a book for fans of the game. There is absolutely 0 reason for anyone else to pick it up. Its not well written –it’s not well translated (I’m thankful that the fans have taken it upon themselves to translate it but it is what it is. ) but I strongly suspect it wasn’t very well written either. So you know, from a non-ff13 fans perspective this is 0 out of 5 no literary or other merit and definitely not the right place to get started.

But if you already played and loved the game, and the characters. Well it’s more of the same...sort of. There are some fun interactions, some “oh so that’s what happened” moments, a bit of background info and simply more content. But what I said before still applies – it’s just not well written. But does it need to be well written – is it not enough to listen to lightning criticize peoples fashion for a whole chapter? Maybe. I don’t know. I wish there was more of lightning actually, whether shes criticizing people or not. This girl continues to elude the spotlight despite being the poster girl.

Basically, this isn’t essential info but if you love the game you’ll find it at least moderately interesting.

Would I recommend this book?



Don’t get me wrong, I love the game Final Fantasy 13 and the whole Final Fantasy universe. That’s why I bought this book - I wanted to know more about the characters, their background and their life before the events in the game.

But this book is just so boring and poorly written, I had to force myself over and over again to keep reading it. I thought about quitting several times. Maybe this book is better in it's original language or in English – I don’t know… I read the German version and it was really terrible. The book translator often repeated words and the dialogues seemed totally out of character.

Lightning is called “Hauptmann Haudegen” (which means something like captain swashbuckler) – seriously, when did somebody call her that in the game? The dialogues felt forced and awkward. I’m just happy that it’s over and hope the next one has a different translator and / or writer… I wouldn’t recommend this book, not even to a big Final Fantasy fan.

Much needed backstories for the seven main characters in FFXIII. All but two (Hope's and Snow's) greatly aided in my understanding of the complex world and plot of the game. This is both a good and a bad thing. I appreciated it because it made aspects of the game more clear to me, but it's unfortunate that the book was required for a complete experience. I also got annoyed by the constant description of Sazh's Afro as "hair a bird could nest in." Yes, we get that he has a chocobo chick living there. Moving on. Also 40 is not "middle-aged" in my book. but it was a teenager's POV, so I'll let it slide.

Final Fantasy XIII – Episode Zero – Promise – is actually a good introduction to Final Fantasy XIII. Even if I regret that the story does actually only narrate the thirteen first days of the heroes of the game, I had a blast. This book helps us to see characters from another perspective. My favorite chapter was the one about Sazh and Dajh, but also the one about Fang and Vanille’s awakening inside the Pulse Vestige. I didn’t like Vanille in the game but she was very interesting in the book at least. The book doesn’t drag along unnecessary details, it only explains important stuff and what’s the most interesting – and intriguing – thing here is that when you read the book you realize that the characters’ fates were actually tied from the very beginning. The game itself was just a continuation.

Anyway, it’s a good book, though I was curious about how Snow and Serah met, and I also wanted to know more about Hope and his two childhood friends but oh well, I guess we can’t have it all, now can we?

This is an interesting bit that gives us more details and insight to the details leading up to the first games main events. My favorite story was seeing how Serah became a l'cie, since we never got that in the game, but I enjoyed most of the others as well (like seeing how Fang and Vanille have to adapt to the world around them after first waking up from their crystal slumber). The translation might come off as a little rocky in some places ( for example, Serah makes a comment saying how she was "too young to appreciate death" when referring to her father's death. I feel the word should have been understand, not appreciate ). If you're expecting a whirlwind of action and fast pacing events, this probably isn't for you. It takes a calmer and slower approach with the characters and their individual stories. If nothing else, it also gives people who enjoyed the game and it's characters more information we don't get in any of the games. Overall, it isn't a bad read.

Honestly, I would have given this book four stars if it weren’t for two of the short stories. One of them more so than the other. The short story entitled “Friends” is long, boring, pointless, and it drags on forever. It seriously has no place in this book at all and I feel it was only written so that Hope could been the main character of at least one of the short stories. But seriously, it is complete garbage.

The short story that takes place directly after “Friends” entitled “Present” is also pretty dull. Thankfully, it is the shortest out of all of them so it can be read if you really want to read it. But in the flow of the book and the cohesiveness of the rest of the stories, it just feels a bit off.

Personally, this book to me felt like a Final Fantasy XIII miniseries that was seven episodes long. I mean, in a lot of ways that’s what it is just in book form. There were so many instances where I felt I was watching a miniseries on Netflix and binge-watching the episodes. In a lot of ways, I kinda wish this actually was a mini-series. I mean, Final Fantasy XV got an entire feature-length movie that played in theaters along with an anime and a book all to complement that game. But Final Fantasy XIII did not get any of that (at least to my knowledge).

This book would have worked a lot better as an anime or cgi miniseries.

But still would I recommend the book? Yes. Just not “Friends.”