The Division: Recruited by Thomas Parrott review

    THE DIVISION: RECRUITED is an expanded universe novel set in the universe of TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION by Ubisoft. The premise is the United States (and probably world) has been devastated by a plague called the Green Poison. With the majority of the human race dead, the survivors attempt to eke out an existence in the aftermath with various lawless factions rising to compete for limited resources. Standing in the way of utter chaos is the Division, a secret agency of disaster responders with special equipment as well as training. Oh and the authority to shoot any individuals who are standing in the way of you rebuilding America.

    This book is set around the time of The Division 2 and in the Washington D.C. area. Maira Kanhai is a cyber security specialist from the US Navy who served her term before the pandemic occurred. After a failed attempt to rejoin the US Army, she ends up the protector of a small community of survivors that is just barely holding on as the lawlessness of DC continues. After a bloody battle that results in many deaths, she is taken on as a probationary member of the Division.

    Maira proceeds to travel with a pair of other Division agents as they leave the DC area and start a lengthy road trip to the Midwest in hopes of setting up food convoys to prevent famine from finishing off the millions of survivors on the East Coast. It’s a very good acknowledgement of the infrastructure being the real issue that would finish off humanity’s remnants. The apocalypse can’t continue as a scavenger-esque society for more than a year as eventually the survivors would go through all remaining supplies.

    I give props to the writer as they successfully create new factions to add to the Division universe rather than just reusing the ones from the games. We are introduced to the Freighties and the Roamers, two bands of truckers who have developed radically different ideas of what they should do with their gasoline powered transports in a society where that suddenly means a lot of power. We also have a plot related to a Division agent going rogue because it seems they can’t keep their personnel from doing so in any spinoff.

    I have a few complaints about the book related to the fact that it sometimes imitates the game a little too much. For example, over the course of the book, our protagonists kill something akin to a hundred or more Outcasts. You know, the plague obsessed crazy cultists menacing DC from the second game. That’s me being literal about their numbers rather than exaggerating too. They get into several pitched battles with the Outcasts rushing them like Zerg. In the game, that’s understandable, but you’d think that would be a significant chunk of their actual forces. It just took me out of the book, especially since Tom Clancy’s name is attached despite him being a brand rather than actually involved in the IP.

    Even so, I overall really enjoyed this book and think that it will be a good introduction for people trying to become acquainted with The Division franchise. While you’re probably going to get more out of it if you’re already a fan, I had a lot of fun with it. I recommend getting the audiobook over the Kindle or paperback version as well. The narrator does a fantastic job.

Available here