I've been impressed with the Ubisoft tie-in novels lately, between Assassin's Creed and WatchDogs, they've been knocking it out of the park. I don't love this as much as I loved Jaleigh Johnson's Assassin's Creed: The Golden City but still enjoyed my time in the past with Maria Lewis's Mirage: Daughter of No One.

Roshan is a woman in a difficult time, the 9th century. This is her origin story, with the assassins and templars conflict playing out more in the background, as we get to know her and the ones with her on her mission. Intrigue and action galore, this story reminded me AC games like Rogue and AC: 1, in that it's a more personal story of an individual. We get moments of Roshan's history and how she got where she is, but we're mostly in her present while she's on her mission and learning the truth of the world, bringing her own version of justice to those around her.

Lewis does great with the character work and with the descriptions but I wish we'd learned more of what's going on in the world around them at the time. The history is one of my favorite aspects of Assassin's Creed and it didn't feel like we got a lot of that - I actually forgot when this was set at one time and couldn't decipher it based on what I was listening to and had to actually look it up online.

As always though, I'd happily read another adventure with these characters in this world! The world of Assassin's Creed remains one of my favorite action adventure story worlds. I feel good recommending this to people unfamiliar with the series as well, because you don't need any of the game history to understand this story.

A DNF for me. I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but perhaps the book versions are not my cup of tea. I enjoyed bits of the story, but it wasn’t enough to keep me engaged and ultimately I have too many other books to read to justify sticking it out.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
3.5 stars.

This was a really solid historical action adventure story! Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of assassin's or the Creed, but I imagine it does work well as a prequel to the game (I haven't played it yet, so I can't be sure). My point being that I think the story could stand pretty well on its own.
The writing is definitely the strongest thing about this one. Lewis is fantastic at crafting a vivid setting and strong characters. And this story either rises or falls by your belief in Roshan as a character. And Lewis delivers. Roshan is the main character in both of the concurrently told timelines. If you don't want to know about her, or care if she succeeds, then there is no point to the story. Her journey is so well detailed, with many often confronting or horrible layers.
I think my only issue with how the story was told was that I sometimes found it hard to remember which timeline we were in. It didn't ruin anything for me, but just having which year it was in the timeline apparently wasn't always enough for my brain.
The little Assassin's Creed easter eggs were fine, but I'm only a very casual fan of the franchise so I actually found that they annoyed me more than excited me. The glowing item thing? Not a fan.
Overall, a character study masquerading as an adventure set in numerous interesting historical places in the late 1st Century AD. If you've read other Assassin's Creed books, definitely give it a go. If you just like the games or like historical fantasy, also give it a go.

Daughter of No One, the latest novel in the Assassin's Creed transmedia collection, is amazing! Maria Lewis tells a fantastic and captivating story shedding light on the history of Roshan from AC Mirage. The world-building is so detailed, and the characters - both established and returning - are well thought out.

I am a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed (AC) but I have yet to play Mirage due to personal life getting a bit hectic this year! Thankfully this book has motivated me to get right on that. From the first page I was dragged into the world of AC in the best possible way. Roshan was a brilliant character and I enjoyed finding out more about her and what she has done and sacrificed to get where she is.


Lewis’ writing really brings the world to life with a good mix of action and intrigue. The story does read a little bit like an Oceans 11 but with in medieval times and in the Middle East. Which, by the way, I loved. We get a ragtag group of heroes and villains teaming up to try and stop a group from unleashing a powerful weapon. It created some really fun dynamics. I think the tension of this is built by the chapters which aren’t overly short but aren’t very long either but I think it works well. It also allows you to fall into the dangerous one more chapter trap!


While this might not focus so much on the assassins themselves it was a really enjoyable read and one I managed to get through in a couple of sittings. I really enjoyed learning about Roshan and thought her character was brought to life and I am excited to see her in game.

This was interesting. I like Roshan and I really enjoyed the antics and adventures. It very much read like a videogame novelization, but I wasn't mad about it. The world-building was great and I enjoyed the flashback chapters, too. I will definitely be looking into more work by Maria Lewis.

An ordinary girl who rejected her previous life only for her new life to lead her to do what she had never imagined, and when she meets the mysterious man inside the prison, Roshan's life changes more and more, and she goes with his crew on a journey to the Silk Road to search for a powerful lost artifact.. You definitely don't want to miss this book!

* My full review in Arabic.

AC Mirage: Daughter of No One by Maria Lewis 🥷🏽⚔️

happy pub day @maria___lewis

genre: science fiction
format: epub arc
pages: 226
times read: 1
date read (dd/mm/yy): 1/11/23-4/11/23
would reread: idk
rating: 4⭐

review:
im an assassin's creed fan thru and thru so imagine my surprise when, while scrolling on netgalley, i find the arc for this book amd how flabbergasted i was when they sent it to me

for what i understood, this is a prequel book for the game Assassin's Creed Mirage following Roshan before becoming Basim Ibn Ishaq's mentor

i loved this book, but mostly i loved Roshan and Azadeh's friendship, Azadeh was my favorite character and in the end when Onyx died i almost cried with her

i loved the heist theme for this book, and the dual timeline explaining Roshan's life was also pretty good, i loved to read about her time being trained by Advi.

Dias was a complete fucker but i kinda liled his character yk? he was fun-ish

Francis sucks ass and i hate him, same thing with Geir and Gud i hate all 3 of them for killing Wei and Nacanua, i loved them sm

Fulagh was also a pretty good character and even though he didn't appear much I liked hys mysterious vibe a lot

the fights in this book were amazing and well detailed and i loved every aspect except the fact that there weren't enough bow and arrow fights (one of the main reasons AC Origins is my fav is because of the bow tbh, I love using the bow and shooting arrows)

any AC fan will love this book and I'm sure the game will be even better than the book so i cant wait to play it

thank you @netgalley and @aconytebooks for sending me an arc

Assassin's Creed: Daughter of No One by Maria Lewis expands on the master assassin Roshan introduced in Assassin’s Creed: Mirage. Dual timelines allow explorations into Roshan’s character at different parts of her life, with each chapter filled with something new and action-filled.
We know Roshan is a master assassin from the game, but the story sets her up in a precarious position, in the bowels of a prison where escape is not an option, but with the help of the assassin, she gains her freedom and joins him and shady figures to steal a mysterious object. From the moment we meet her in the prison, Roshan is a resourceful survivor who values the lives of other creatures with one desire: to be free. For most of her life, she was a slave to her husband and then on the run, but with the Hidden Ones, she can gain that freedom.
There is a lot of action in the two timelines, and what Lewis does well is manage to keep both timelines moving forward and feel that they are their own story while remaining connected. The second takes place five years later and is where the heist and most of the action take place. The different timelines work well and give an interesting take to the story to show Roshan’s evolution. The style of writing works for a video game book with lots of visual elements that make a good companion to the game and draw in fans of the game.
Apart from the two timelines, that is the only interesting part of the book. Just when things are about to get interesting, the chapter abruptly ends. The chapters are short, which doesn’t allow any action or development to grow, which could be forgiven as a stylistic choice, but it takes away from the story and happens in nearly every chapter. Conflict is constantly randomly bought into the book only to die down by the same chapter and ignored for a separate conflict that pops up. Add an unnecessary romance plot for Roshan that is both thrown in and discarded after a few pages; it seems there was a lack of direction and perhaps a conflict between what the writer wanted to explore and the style of the book. Both, unfortunately, lack
As for the main character, Roshan’s story was promising and sounded intriguing, but she comes into conflicts easily and solves them even easier, such as a sudden betrayal from her first mentor. For a few chapters, he was generous and a source of freedom for Roshan, but out of nowhere, he is not trusted, but then it is resolved in the same chapter. There is no nuance or buildup, just a familiar formula of sudden conflict, resolution, and chapter end. Roshan’s personality doesn’t come through the pages, nor do the side characters. Part of the problem is the short chapters that don’t allow for anything to grow. When something interesting happens with the plot or character, they fade away into nothing.
Where the game lacked in Roshan’s character, the book provides more insight but not enough to make Roshan compelling. As a game DLC, this could work, but in written form, it wouldn’t.

excerpt
Assassin's Creed: Daughter of No One by Maria Lewis is a video game book that expands on the master assassin Roshan, introduced in Assassin's Creed: Mirage. The book features dual timelines, allowing exploration into Roshan's character at different parts of her life. However, the book's short chapters and lack of nuance or buildup in the main character and side characters make it less compelling than the game. The book provides more insight but not enough to make Roshan compelling, making it a potential game DLC over a novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I'm a big fan of the Assassin's Creed games and was super excited to be approved for this ARC! I'm yet to play Mirage, but this book was a nice insight into Roshan's backstory.

I really enjoyed how the chapters alternated between past and present. I think this helped keep me invested as it meant there were cliffhangers throughout.

The writing itself wasn't the best, but I did quite enjoy the story. I do think, however, that if it wasn't an Assassin's Creed novel, I probably wouldn't have been as interested.

This was a fun book. Roshan is a great main character and I loved following the duel timelines. This was fast paced but also took the time to really get to know Roshan as both a survivor and a mentor. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Assassin's Creed: Mirage and the game series in general.

Assassin's Creed Mirage : Daughter of No One by Maria Lewis, is the newest addition to the Assassin's Creed universe.
In this one Master Assassin Roshan’s past is revealed in the hunt along the Silk Road for a powerful mysterious artifact. Our story starts in Cairo in 824 and we follow Roshan as she tries to survive her mission. We are following two timelines. In the present, we find Roshan in a prison with no prospect of getting out alive. In the past, we meet a younger Roshan, who made a great sacrifice for her sisters.

I really enjoyed reading this book and the writing style was really good. .
It is adventurous and action-packed and a page turner. I really liked our main character Roshan. She is strong and determined to protect the people she loves, no matter the cost.

However, if I didn't know that this was an Assassin's Creed novel , I wouldn't have guessed it. The Assassin makes a really small appearance in the book.

I really had a blast reading this book. This was my first time reading Maria Lewis and she’s an outstanding writer.

I was immediately sucked into the plot and loved the main character, Roshan. She’s a woman forced into some pretty awful situations to protect the people she loves. Her sacrifices end up changing the whole course of her life. In some ways for the better, she sees the world, learns new skills and meets new people. For the worse she has a harder time creating any emotional connections to the people she meets.

As far as the plot goes it’s an entertaining take on the Dirty Dozen or Oceans 11 set in the Middle East during the medieval period. An Assassin provides a group of ragtag criminals and heroes a job to stop a dangerous group from unleashing a powerful weapon.

Chaos, destruction and betrayal ensues but more importantly Roshan gets an opportunity to learn how to trust others and make meaningful relationships.

It’s an unusual Assassin’s Creed book because the actual Assassin has a very small role in the story but I found the entire take refreshing and engaging. I would love to see more of Roshan’s story. You deserve a treat, pick up this book and sit back and enjoy it. .

I like the Assasin's Creed games, but I have never read any of the stories before. However, when I saw that Maria Lewis wrote one, I decided to give it a try. The story is about the origin of Roshan, and it is exceptionally well-written. Maria Lewis did an amazing job of capturing the world, and the action scenes were incredible. If you enjoy the games, I highly recommend reading this story. Even if you have never played the games, it works perfectly as a standalone fantasy book. I highly recommend it. Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

I'm a longtime fan of the Assassin's Creed games, so I was super excited to see this new novel that gave some backstory to Basim's mentor Roshan, and the chance to read it before playing the game was a great excuse to get me in the mood to parkour over the roofs of Bagdad and assassinate some flunkies!

I think this style of writing is very well suited for film or video games, something that has more of a visual element to draw the audience in. While it's entertaining to read, and definitely delivered on what I wanted from the book, the narrative style isn't exactly what I would consider your typical historical fiction adventure novel. It keeps the pacing quick and exciting, enough to pull the reader along while also keeping them at a distance, never really letting them dig into the characters mind or choices. It genuinely feels like watching the story from behind a screen, and while I'd say that's not exactly a BAD thing, I do think it limits how connected the reader can be to the characters.

I had a great time following Roshan and seeing how she'd become the assassin master that she is in the game, especially getting to see a woman take on a leading role in this world and all she had to sacrifice to get there. It's not something we get to see often in Assassin's Creed, and that aspect was definitely the highlight of the story. A badass, mature, fierce woman doing what she has to do to survive in a male dominated environment will always get me.

Fans of the AC franchise definitely don't want to miss this one, and I think reading it before jumping into the game is the best way to do it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aconyte Books for the e-arc!

This book relies heavily on the goodwill of fans of the series to maintain interest, The first chapter starts with exposition, ending with a small amount of action, but not much. When things get interesting, the narrative style revers to summary rather than in the moment scene. I was ready to forgive that, until the second chapter did the exact same thing. And the third.

In concept this is a compelling story. As part of the Assassin's Creed franchise, it would have made a spectacular game. As a novel, the style is lacking. The characters are a bit too flat and the reader is kept too far at arm's length for most of it.

I love a good Assassins Creed story, and I think this was another really solid one. Very good wordbuilding with interesting character work. One to read.

I am a fan of the Assassin’s Creed game series and I am working my way through the book series. When I saw that there was a new book coming out, I was very excited to read it.

This book follows the origin story of Roshan, who eventually becomes Basim’s mentor.

The story unfolds in dual timelines that eventually converge. One timeline is the present and going forward; the second timeline starts 5 years prior and also moves forward.

This book was really well written, and probably the best well written of all the AC books I have read. The story was fast paced and Roshan was a really well developed character. I enjoyed both the segments in the past and present. She’s a very determined character and will do almost anything to survive and live life on her own terms. The story was very action packed and a total adrenaline rush.

If you like AC, definitely pick this book up!

This was a wild ride. The book tells the story of Roshan and she is many things, but most importantly a survivor. We are following two timelines. In the present, we find Roshan in a prison with no prospect of getting out alive. She is offered freedom on only one condition. She needs to retrieve a strange object, while working with a group of people that she can’t trust. In the past, we meet a younger Roshan, who made a great sacrifice for her sisters. We follow her though different cities and meet unlikely allies in the way.

This story is packed with action from the very beginning. Roshan is a great main character. She has a very mature voice and I connected with her early. She is a fierce warrior and a scholar. Her desire to learn and ability to utilize that knowledge, is what kept her alive. I should note that I am Assassin’s Creed. However, I believe that there is no need to be familiar with the franchise to read this book. This book deserves to be big.

Thank you to Aconyte Books and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley for giving me an Arc to read.

I really enjoyed this! The pacing was perfect, just the right amount of character growth and action.

I’m so excited for the new game now!