Assassin's Creed: The Golden City

I received this from NetGalley and as a huge fan of the series, I was stoked. 
Some checks for the game fans: Leap of Faith: Yes, but they didn't name it! Assassinations: Yes, but not a huge amount! Stealth: Yes, but only for small bits or mentioned outside of the main character's movements.  
This novel follows Hytham and Basim before the events of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. They are sent as representatives of The Hidden Ones to Constantinople in hopes of disrupting the Order of the Ancients grab for control. The Emperor, Basil I, has recently found reason to distrust his son Leo's lineage. The problem is that he's already announced him to be his co-emperor. So, what is there to do but try to have him killed? 
As a huge fan of Roman history, I was excited for the setting. The story gives lush descriptions of an ancient place we could never visit. As with recent works from Ubisoft, the story felt very historic in its setting with big names from people that actually lived. 
I enjoyed that this book sought to make a more realistic approach to the assassins, as we know with the games that the 1vs30 odds are never really a problem. Where that fell flat for me though, was a scene where Hytham is almost overcome in a fight that only features two enemies. I know he's an initiate in this, but he is a trained assassin, and not for nothing, you play an initial in 90% of the games. Failing against two enemies seemed too few for me. Otherwise, the minimal gripes I have is that Basim was not the main, and as the master, he ended up pulling a lot of the strings from the background. Which in turn ended up feeling a little cheapened. 
Loads of fun still, but I was a bit surprised there was nothing modern day/animus wise! Personally a 4/5* for me.