Oh my god JC, a novel! A NOVEL!

Del Rey has just sent out a presser announcing that they will be releasing a novel based on the Deus Ex series of games, titled Deus Ex: The Icarus Effect. Obviously, it’s going to be a tie-in for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and both the game and the novel will be released some time in 2011.

The novel will be written by James Swallow whose primary writing credits include works based on other franchises like Doctor Who, Warhammer 40,000 and so on. He is, however, one of the writers on board for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so whatever he’s going to write is going to be straight from the game’s development process. The only released info on the plot and characters is this:

DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT is set in the complex and enthralling world of Deus Ex, a cyberpunk-style technological dystopia where all is not what it seems. In the not-so-distant future, the world is a place of great innovation and technological advancement… but also a place of chaos and conspiracy. New technologies push the limits of human potential, even while they threaten the very future of the world. And from the shadows, dark and secret powers are coming together to take control, intent on designs so large, so intricate, they will take decades to come to fruition. But when two unlikely heroes—Anna Kelso, a Secret Service agent, and Ben Saxon, a special-ops soldier—draw uncomfortably close to the truth, the choices they make here and now will alter the course of history… or usher in an age of darkness.

With one sentence ripped off completely from the Human Revolution trailer, it isn’t hard to tell that this one’s about milking the franchise. Still, it should be a good cyberpunk book if nothing… I hope. It’s also confirmed that elements of the book will overlap with things in the game – I’m calling on a cameo by Adam Jensen. Or maybe Manderley rapping.

So this leaves us speculating about how good a Deus Ex novel can possibly be, especially one set in the Human Revolution period. More importantly is the curious title of the book, The Icarus Effect. Is this supposed to allude to the Icarus myth that the art director has so unsubtly pointed out to us? I’d guess so, seeing as how the AI named Icarus in Deus Ex only came into being a couple decades after Human Revolution.

So what do you think: will this be the orange soda Gunther wanted, or is it doomed for an Icarus effect of its own?

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