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caffienekitty) wrote2007-09-03 08:16 pm
caffienekitty) wrote2007-09-03 08:16 pm
Entry tags:
SPN Book Review and Poll: Nevermore
Opening general statement:
Mr. DeCandido has been active in interacting with Supernatural fans, which is quite nice of him. So, on the off chance he runs across this review... uh... nothing personal, and no hard feelings, okay?
I will say it is damned brave of Mr. DeCandido to write the first of the Supernatural official novels. Supernatural fans can be extremely nitpicky and detail-obsessed. We're as rabid as any given fandom over details, but it's kind of a stealth rabidity. We aren't generally as out in the open as other fandoms, just because we're small and new, but we make up for it by being exponentially more insane.
This book has an uphill struggle ahead of it. While this is the first authorized novel, it's not the first fiction written for the series, and has the disadvantage of both being the first book, and attempting to garner an audience which has in part already developed fictional tastes regarding the series, and views on the literary characterization of the main and subsidiary characters.
However, most of the people who read these books won't have any fanfiction comparisons by which the books may suffer or be ameliorated. A few will not have seen the TV series, or only have seen a couple episodes. Their impressions of the world and characters will be partly formed by these books. Because this show is so new and unfortunately obscure in viewership, our greatest hope is that these books will be good enough to draw in new viewers.
So, uphill, both ways, in the snow, barefoot. Kudos to Mr. DeCandido for braving the storm.
And like I said, if he's reading this, nothing personal, 'kay?
PRE-REVIEW SUMMARY, BOOK-SPOILER-FREE:
In general, I hold official releases to a higher standard than I do fan-produced material. Fans do it for love. Even the worst, misspelled, pointless, Mary-Sue-ridden fic is done out of some variety of love. Someone got paid for the official stuff. Therefore, I'm gonna be way more nitpicky about it.
The overall gist of my opinion for those that are avoiding spoilers or just don't want to spend the next half-hour slogging through the 4000 word review from hell:
How is it?: ...It's okay. It's not awesome, it's not really awful. I did not throw the book across the room at any point in time, nor do I feel the need to write a DVD-style commentary on it like I've been doing for the comics, which are heinous. There are parts in the book which made me curse loudly, there are parts which made me laugh, and there's large wodges of it which made me go 'meh'. It gets most of the major surface things right. I did not tear my hair out, have an aneurysm, or gnash my teeth overmuch. I do not actively dislike this book.
Is it worth the money to buy it?: As a book in and of itself... um. Well, if you've got the money to spare, and want something dozy and slow, sure. Why not? As a Supernatural product that the Powers That Be are probably tracking the sales of, oh hell yeah. But as I've said before, I would buy a package of processed cheese if it was a Supernatural tie-in. Not that the book compares in any way to processed cheese.
Does it live up to the blurb on the back?: Um, no. The blurb on the back is not only hugely spoilery for the book, it's waaaay more exciting. Events in the blurb all occur, generally speaking, but not even close to as tense and exciting as the cover blurb makes it sound.
Does it compare well to fanfic?: Heh. I'm realizing how spoiled we are for truly awesome fanfic and fanfic writers in this fandom. I only read Gen, and there's so much great, probably even commercially publishable stuff out there I can't keep up. However, if I had never read any fanfic for Supernatural, this book would seem pretty darn good. Certainly truer to the series than some of the early Star Trek novels were to that series, at least. Having read fanfic... the book's okay for a first fic, which it is really. It could have used a good solid beta that knows how to tweak plot and pacing, check characterization quibbles and cull extraneous filler, but all in all, not horrible for a first shot in a new fandom for the writer.
Alright, that's the general summary. Extreme nitpickery, detailed book spoilers and highly opinionated rambling below. This is your last chance to run away....
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....okay then, don't say I didn't warn you!
I will admit that I was kind of pre-disposed to be hostile towards this book based on the chapter released before publication, among other things. But, I'm going to make a conscious effort to be as fair and even-handed as I possibly can in this review, and condense the sixteen pages of (occasionally quite... agitated) scrawling down into a coherent whole. I haven't read any other reviews of this book, so these opinions are all uninfluenced, and may vary from everyone else's.
MAIN GINORMOUS NITPICKY RAMBLING REVIEW
The pace is very slow. For a horror/mystery novel, this is not good, and contributes to a lack of tension. The story follows two cases which are completely unrelated, except for occurring in the same area at the same time. One, someone is apparently trying to raise Edgar Allen Poe from the dead by re-enacting death scenes from some of his well-known pieces. Two, a ghost is haunting a friend of Ash's who is in a painfully bad rock band.
Case #1 - The Poe Murders:
The Poe-themed murders are an interesting concept, but in the end do not actually involve the supernatural, and could have been used as a plotline in any procedural drama. I found that kind of disappointing.
The Poe Murders case starts off in the first chapter with a 'death by monkey', which suffers greatly from the slow pace. Two guys getting murdered in the middle of a Bronx street by a monkey should be one hell of a hook. However, it lacks energy and punch due to the excessive amount of pointless background detail, and during the attack, the soon-to-be deceased viewpoint character reminiscing about his high school prom.
The murder mimics a scene in "Murders in the Rue Morgue" which we are told multiple times afterward is 'the first detective story'. Which is arguably true, (really, the first english-language mystery), but after the fourth repetition of this particular assertion I was on the internet looking up other early detective stories in hopes that it wasn't because the repetition was annoying as hell. Poe is credited with the inception of the horror genre as well in "Nevermore", which can be more accurately attributed to the gothic novels of the late 18th century.
Sorry, got side-tracked there, but the universal adoration of Poe, who I have nothing against, by almost every single frigging character, including Sam gushing in chapter three, was so grating by the end of the book that I needed to grouse about it. I'm good now.
There is an abrupt POV shift at the end of chapter one to the instigator of the murder, and here's where my subjective opinion interferes. I don't mind seeing from the "monster's" perspective. I do mind when it gives away the plot. So, for me, it's the end of chapter one, I've just been told what's happening and why, and I become disengaged from that plotline, because there's nothing to figure out.
Who did it? Nobody the boys get introduced to until chapter fifteen, and it doesn't really matter because there is a predictable pattern to the murders. All the boys have to do to catch the perpetrator is show up at the right place and the right time. Knowing who the perp is is immaterial. Why is the person doing this? Well, raising Poe from the dead. Why raise Poe from the dead? Meh. Unless it's to take over the world, or to serve some demonic plot, doesn't matter. The perp's motivation does not influence the case one whit. If it had, I would have found it more engaging. If the main characters had been more involved in investigating the plotline, and the answers to the few questions left unanswered had been important to them, I would have been more involved in the story in turn. But that's just the way I roll. Anyway.
The first case of the Poe murders is then... well, pretty much sidelined. Except for some desultory picking around at it, visiting a Poe museum and the zoo for some gratuitous Dean-bashing, there isn't a lot of focus on it again 'til chapter Fourteen.
The timeline of the ritual involved spreads the murders out over the phases of the moon, giving a week between 'go-times' for the boys to futz around on the other case. While a deadline or timing framework usually adds tension to a story, in this case it leaches the tension away because there is so long between active phases of the case that's actually killing people to spend on the case that's less dire, and the boys don't seem overly concerned with the passage of time.
Characterization of Sam, Dean and John (in absentia):
Sam and Dean are introduced in chapter two. I'll refrain from expounding on the unwritten rules of when Dean calls Sam 'Sammy', but I will say, he's never called him 'Sammich' in the series to date. That's a fandom term, and if it does get used in future seasons of the show, the resulting fangirl explosion will register on the Richter scale in five countries. Okay, maybe that's exaggerated. Point being, I realize it's intended to be a shoutout, but Dean's never used it, so the two times the term is used in the book jar me, as a fan, out of the story.
Chapter two bogs heavily due to the unavoidable need for backstory. In fanfic, we're all lucky. We know we are preaching to the choir, and every person likely to read a piece of fanfic knows exactly what the boys look like, how they dress, what they drive, what their personal history is, how they take their coffee, et cetera.
With a tie-in novel, as I said above, the hope is that there will be people reading it who have never seen the series, or have only seen a couple episodes, and will be drawn to watching the show through the novels. Don't laugh, it worked with me and Star Trek. It also worked in reverse with me and Star Trek, where the decreasing quality of the novels put me off the TV shows.
At any rate, tie-ins, especially early ones, need to have a lot of backstory. In "Nevermore" a lot of it is wedged into Chapters two and three. Backstory is a tough thing for writers to insert smoothly, and unfortunately to a reader who already knows all of it, it comes off as quite forced and clunky, very much 'tell' and not a lot of 'show', despite a very forced-feeling hotel scene in chapter two.
There's also a lot of backstory which isn't directly relevant to the story at hand, here and throughout the book. It's admirable to try to convey two seasons worth of immediate character history, as well as 22 years of pre-series backstory, in a few pages. However, when it isn't relevant to the story being told in the book, it feels force-fed. But again, backstory is problematic for most authors, and there are a few who's series' I read where I know to skip chapter 2 of their new books because they're just summaries of the backstory to date.
What also bogs these two chapters (and several times later on) is the extended passages of scenery description. Because there isn't much tension already, these observational passages, mostly by Sam, make it seem like he's coasting through the case on a kind of easily distractible autopilot, and not really involved with the investigation. If there were more tension, and there was a more subtly sinister or unsettling bent to the observations, it would be a great way to ramp up the tension and add ominousness. (What, it's totally a word.)
My impression is that the overly-detailed scenery is either an attempt to mimic Poe's writing style, or a shoutout to people from the area being described, particularly the University. If it's an attempt to mimic the style, that's kind of cool, in theory. In practice it still bogs due to the tension problems. If it's a University shoutout, that's not a group I am a part of so I can't speak to how interesting it might be to them.
There are a few annoying assertions about the main characters including a scene where Sam is shown as not believing that Ash went to MIT. This is based on the assertion that Sam thinks Ash really didn't know where MIT was, due to the 'School in Boston' crack in "Everybody Loves a Clown". Ash was being a smart-ass about the school's location, which seemed clear to me from the scene as aired, and appeared to be understood by Sam. Having Sam doubt this makes him seem loutish and snobby.
The main characters are okay, but don't go much past the surface resemblance. There are a few moments of characterization missteps, in my opinion, but other people may not feel that way. I will say that Dean's dream at the start of chapter six caught me completely by surprise, as it demonstrated a deep view of the character that was otherwise not apparent in the writing to that point and afterward. Dean is by nature reticent, but he is also very expressive, and his deeper emotional states have clear 'tells' when he's around Sam; these weren't present.
(I'm leaving out a few other things that I noted, such as specific points of characterization of Dean (driving in cities, aggressive driving, and some mild 'Dean is an idiot' moments, opinions on kids) which are perhaps more subjective than objectively supportable, and I'm trying to be fair here, so I'll rant about those to my cat.)
One thing that was a very jarring misstep in characterization in my opinion was having John be actively and willingly complicit in Sam's enrollment at Stanford. This strikes me as very out of character for John, and I don't believe for a second that Sam could not forge the required paperwork. He and Dean have probably had to forge John's signature on over half the report cards they received, given the depiction of their early life in the series.
I could almost see a huge argument about the paperwork resulting in John filling it out in a fit of anger just before sending Sam packing, but not really. John and Sam are both stubborn, and John's mindset that by leaving, Sam is somehow betraying the family (as depicted in Dead Man's Blood) simply does not jive with a John that cooperated in Sam's going AWOL from his family. The scene itself is well written, and an interesting but falls far out of the range of what is known about the character of John.
Overall, the feeling I get is that the main characters are not prominent in the storyline. Yes, they are there, and they are the main characters, but there are so many other point of view shifts, wodges of scenery description, and pointless waffle that they kind of drift into the background. And then there's the original characters.
Original Characters:
Generally speaking, the original characters come across as being more interesting and developed than the main characters. This isn't a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Most are quirky and distinct, more-so than Sam or Dean, who are almost coasting through the book on valium.
In my highly opinionated opinion, the character of Detective McBain is a pair of fairy wings away from being a full-blown Mary-Sue. She gets the drop on the guys, and knows them and John. She has wild tales to tell the boys about their Dad including him slaying a dragon, which is also jarring as dragons are not monsters in Chinese culture, but revered, but that's beside the point.
She is also part of a Super Secret Law Enforcement Officer Hunter's Club, and generally leads the boys by the hand through the climactic scene of the Poe plotline. After the boys leave at the end, the book returns to her to see her face down Hendrickson. Beyond that, the character took control of the plotline, fed the boys clues, and made them look unnecessarily incompetent or foolish on a couple occasions. I did not like her in a rather extreme way.
This is mostly due to the way she was introduced, which makes Sam and Dean seem incompetent, and the subsequent air of superiority she exhibits. She was generally disdainful and condescending and the nickname 'Brushy-top' she insists on calling Dean is possibly the most inane nickname I've ever heard, and did nothing to raise the character in my estimation. Had she been introduced in a more neutral way, and not taken over the parts of the book she appeared in afterwards, I might have had less trouble accepting her.
I suspect this super secret L.E.O. Hunter's Club may become a recurring part of the novels. It has that feel to it. I don't actually mind it that much, just perhaps that it's a trifle too organized and has the 'Excellent source of Uber-Sue characters' stamped all over it.
The cool bit about the Secret L.E.O. Hunter's Club was the mention of Detective Ballard from Usual Suspects starting to do some hunting of her own. I'd have preferred Deputy Kathleen Hudak from "Benders" because she kicks ass and Det. Ballard is kind of a twit, but that's a strictly personal preference. Det. Ballard makes more sense, in a way though. Deputy Kathleen was not involved in a case that was supernatural in nature, so she's not been made aware of the wider world of the supernatural, where Det. Ballard had her nose liberally rubbed in it, so to speak.
During this introduction of the Secret L.E.O. Hunter's Club, the author has Sam ask questions about the group's predominant female composition, and about the person with an Asian-sounding name. It might be a personal thing, but I see absolutely no reason for either of these questions to be asked at all, let alone by Sam. It doesn't seem to me something that would need to be so pointedly remarked on. Asking them implies that there is a reluctance on the part of Sam and by extension Dean to accept female hunters or hunters of a different culture, neither of which is something I feel Sam or Dean do. Their reluctance to accept Jo was because she was inexperienced (*koff* and an annoying brat *koff*), not because of her gender, as was made clear in "No Exit".
I felt these questions were an awkward and out-of character moment, tacked on to explain something that didn't need explaining.
Case #2 - The Ghost Groupie:
I haven't spent much time on the other plotline of the ghost haunting Ash's friend. This is partly due to the annoyance I feel with how it affected the pacing. It's also due to the utter boredom I felt with it and every character involved in it.
The ghost appears at predictable times, makes a lot of noise, but otherwise doesn't do much. In the process of figuring out why she was there and shooting her off-handedly with rock-salt a couple times, the boys probably did more damage to Ash's friend's property than she did.
The ghost only turns up after Manfred's band plays a gig. There is a stultifying amount of hanging out in a bar developing two stunted romance/nookie sidelines for Dean, lamenting how much the band sucks and generally boring the main characters out of their wits. The assumption that Aldo, a member of the band killed the girl came out of nowhere and seemed based on nothing. Having the characters make this assumption make them look kind of moronic. But then there is a sudden improbable series of revelations and a resolution involving bringing all the suspects into the house and summoning the ghost.
Now, as out of character and idiotic as that course of action is, here is where I was briefly hoping there would be a little intermingling of the two plots. I had hoped that once Sam and Dean had everyone in the room, they would rig up some kind of "Telltale Heart" scam to get the killer to reveal himself, thus bringing Poe into the ghost plotline and adding some cohesion of plotlines to the book. Instead, Sam summons the ghost into a room full of normal, unaware of the supernatural people, (albeit most habitual substance abusers who might be easier to convince that the ghost was a hallucination) and let her run free.
Not having the "Tell Tale Heart" trope to link the plotlines together without making them dependent upon each other makes the gathering of all the suspects potentially homicidally stupid. If the ghost had been out to kill her murderer, it would have been a very messy plan of action, and something that Sam and Dean would have been at least concerned about. Not to mention the "We do what we do and we shut up about it," rule of the Winchester family kind of precludes a group seance.
The other option to unify the plotlines would have been to have the two cases interfering with each other, to the point where both would come to a climax on the same night. However, because the appearance of the ghost hinges on the band playing, or it being summoned at the end, it is thus completely controllable. The controllable aspect leaches all possibility of tension out of the ghost plotline.
Because there is no interference or connection between the two 'cases' the novel seems wishy-washy. If the timeline of the investigation of one had been being interfered with by the timeline of the investigation of the other, it would have added tension, and integrated the two plotlines for more cohesion in the novel.
On the up side, having this be such a tension-impaired pair of cases, spanning more than ten days, it feels like a breather for the characters, who could definitely use one where they are in the plotline of the series. However, having this breather at this point with little reference (except for the great dream in chapter six) to the ongoing tension in the boys lives sucks tension from the series storyline, if one attempts to wedge the novel into the series line.
I could go on, but really, this review is too long already. It would mostly be fiddly things like Dean's ringtone not being "Smoke on the Water" even though it does sound a bit like it, the phones being the ones from the first season instead of the second, the 'blue eyes' thing, the pasted on and forced feel of some of the bantering, the way at times there's too much forced effort going into making the characters 'quippy', the use of trite jokes as character backstory and conversation filler, and an annoyance with the number of shout-outs there were for CSI when it's a show competing directly with "Supernatural" on the TV schedule....
(Still with me?)
SO, TO SUMMARIZE:
-There are two plots/cases active in the book, either of which would have made an okay short story or novella separately, but they are presented simultaneously in a way that adds to neither plotline.
-The main characters are reasonably accurate as far as surface perceptions go. They show a few notably out-of-character moments, but there is one very good in character moment for Dean, which is unfortunately not reflected in the rest of the book. Neither were sufficiently out of character to get my blood boiling, but they were very subdued and uncharacteristically passive.
-The original characters are universally more vibrant, quirky and developed than the main characters, including Det. McBain who pins my personal Mary-Sue meter.
-There is a general lack of tension, brought on by excess description not directly related to the plot, an apparent lack of urgency to the main characters' actions, and random anecdotes that serve no purpose.
-I have read worse tie-ins for other series', including a few that did get literally thrown across the room. This isn't one of them. This is a slow-paced meandering read, suitable for bus rides, plane trips or reading by the pool. In my opinion, it shouldn't cause many apoplectic heart failures.
Anyway, that's my opinion on "Nevermore". What's yours? In fact, here! Have a poll!:
[Poll #1049721]
no subject
Most of the comments seem to be focussing on the details (and egregious errors therein), and the adherance to the show as presented. Problems there. I'm glad to see you address the book as a work of fiction in its own right; plot, pacing, characterization. I'm afraid I won't be able to get through the first few pages if the entire book is like the exerpt: padded sentences, bloated description, and in the end meaningless.
A further question:
Say what you will about fan fiction, most of them (even the ones that are solely about sex) have something to say. (Even if it's just about sex.) This book doesn't seem to have anything to say about the Winchesters, about the supernatural. Only about parking in New York. Did you find anything insightful or meaningful going on? DeCandido crowed about how easily he 'got into the heads of the Winchesters,' but it sounds like he meant he was able to mimic the voice with some accuracy. (I do a great John Cleese, can I write a tie-in?) Is there something of substance there?
Re the Poll: I'll bought the book to support the show. I'll buy the next one by any other author to support the show. That's all I can promise.
Thanks again!
Karasu
no subject
*koff* Well, if I say that for me, the excerpted chapter did not stand out from the rest of the book when read as a whole, would that be a bad thing?
Did you find anything insightful or meaningful going on?
Um. Not as such, no. There are a few tossed in moments that might have been intended as meaningful (the ludicrous bit about John and the paperwork, for one) but nothing that was developed or continued beyond the end of the next paragraph. Dean's dream in chapter six is an interesting one, character-wise, but all hints of it are dropped before Sam wakes up. There's not even subtextual hints that Dean's had this dream that's supposedly shaken him awake.
I didn't get any inferences of series character and plot continuity out of it either. The book's set right after Crossroad Blues and there is no lingering sense of where they were individually or as a family at the end of that episode at all, or any attempt to bridge the characters from Crossroad Blues to where they were at the start of Croatoan, which would have been nice. It's a patchwork quilt of anecdotes and waffle, really. Good for reading on a day when it's too hot to think.
DeCandido crowed about how easily he 'got into the heads of the Winchesters,' but it sounds like he meant he was able to mimic the voice with some accuracy. (I do a great John Cleese, can I write a tie-in?) Is there something of substance there?
Heh, yeah, I winced and went "Oh really" when he made that assertion.
He has a superficial depiction of them with reasonable approximation of the characters in, say, the early first season. Essentially none of the richer depth of character in the second season or the latter first season. The only time I would say he got into either of their heads was Dean's dream at the start of chapter six, which is an isolated incident that seems to serve no greater purpose than to get Dean to wake up before Sam and rummage through his host's record collection.
Voice-wise, they're okay, generally. I found the banter quite forced, the quippiness of some lines seemed to be trying too hard and there were jokes and anecdotes that felt almost boilerplated on. There's some quibblable moments of diction and tone for both characters' dialog.
Overall, they are superficially recognizable as Sam and Dean, which is better than I've seen in some tie-ins. Still, it's quite disappointing to me that the book is not better than it is.
I'll bought the book to support the show. I'll buy the next one by any other author to support the show. That's all I can promise.
*nods* We're on the same page there. I'm hoping to post reviews of them all, but we'll see how that goes. Any other reviews won't be nearly as long as this one, unless future books annoy me excessively.
no subject
I`m generally a reader most interested in deep characterization so I realize fanfic will be more to my taste. I do acknowledge that, considering the broader appeal tie-in novels are supposed to have (and the more young adult touch they seem to carry), tie-ins can`t really go as deep as fanfic, let alone explore certain themes. :)
Having read all of the Buffy/Angel tie-ins which ranged from godawful to pretty good, I found those to be on the latter end that entertained me with an exciting plot and at least a few smidgeons of character exploration.
In "Nevermore" the Poe mystery started out promising to me - even the ghost storyline on the side wasn`t a total drag - but the suspense wasn`t sustained or climaxed in any meaningful way. In the end both cases felt like a letdown.
And apart from Dean`s dream the rather superficial characterization, less favorable in Dean`s case, didn`t do wonders for me.
One thing the book did well in my opinion was convey the humorous banter/snark. But on the other hand the overemphasis on just that without the usual depth of the characters from the show made it seem so unbalanced. Dean was mostly just shallow. Sam was mostly just a superior priss.
There should have been more sprinkles of emotional depth like the dream to really bring the characters to life - and not just parts of them.
I absolutely agree on McBain who was a character I wanted to throw across the room. The very cliché of "I`m so tough and in your face, little boy" bitch that I hate passionately since that never speaks of strength to me but of a bully personality.
Her first appearance already annoyed me with the "unlike you your dad was smart enough to call me when he was in town." It`s obvious to anyone, including you, they have no freaking idea who you are, so how would they have called you then, braintrust? *headdesk*
So it was obviously just said to convey she is a tough bitch. Only for me that`s annoying.
As fluffy and throwaway as it was, I did however enjoy the Dean-Jennifer interaction as I found their bantering to be cute.
All in all, it was an okay-book for me but certainly with room for improvement character and plot-wise.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2007-09-04 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)hermit
no subject
His LJ entries really harp about word count - like "Whew, OMG, I did 5500 words today." Like he's checking things off a list, or running a marathon. He doesn't talk about quality; it's quantity all the way. So it seems to me that he's submitting early drafts of each book and saying, "Let it fly," when the thing should have gone through at least a couple more drafts.
He likes to backpedal and make excuses, but the core of the problem is, he either doesn't know how to develop a strong, cohesive plot in the first place, or he entirely lost track of that ability in his quest for word count. I'd be willing to overlook the lack of character depth for Sam and Dean (even though he squeed all over the place about how he'd gotten into their heads) and some of my other minor quibbles if he'd:
1) Kept his A story (the Poe mystery) in prime focus;
2) Chopped the B story (the ghost) back to a minor position; it should have served as nothing more than a reason to get the boys to Brooklyn, and occasional comedy relief;
3) Prune all the extraneous crap (the parking, the coffee mugs); and
4) Let the protagonists solve the damn cases.
He might have been aiming for a "general" audience; that's okay. But judging from this endeavor, he's not a good writer, and I wish all to hell and gone that people would stop telling him he is.
no subject
The banter was good in parts, but for me didn't flow with the surrounding story and stuck out awkwardly.
McBain, yeah. Bully, and obnoxious cow, for no reason. Being a tough bitch is fine, but doesn't have to be done by running down the main characters. Throw her across the room.
Dean-Jennifer was cute, too. There was a bit in the last part of it that made me feel he was stereotyping single moms, for some reason, but I can't recall it off-hand.
no subject
It's frustrating to me because I've read fanfiction that is simply brilliant and novel-length that would really do well in publication. I mean I've even spent money to print some stuff out and bind it for myself, just to have it in book form.
no subject
To me it felt like the book as it stands could have about a third of its length cut without losing anything of importance. And like I said to Karasu above, some of the banter feels boilerplated on, like he had the joke or anecdote picked out to add to one of the many books he's writing, and just flopped it in to this one.
I hadn't known about his current writing schedule. That would explain a lot, if he's just churning them out as fast as possible to make a living, and doesn't have time to craft the story. I've never written anything novel-length, but two months seems like far too little time for even a first draft, let alone editing and revision.
Hey... You've written tie-ins... Do you still have an agent? Maybe that could shop you to Harper-Collins as a novel writer for Supernatural? *nudgenudge* ;-)
no subject
I'm holding out hope that "Witch's Canyon" is better - I'm sure it won't be mind-bogglingly good, because tie-ins very seldom are. But a coherent plot would be a nice treat.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2007-09-04 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)I thought the characterization of Dean was terrible: At one point in the book, Sam is being a smart-ass and lists all the things he presumably brings to the team, then asks why he needs Dean. By the end of the book, the reader would be asking the same question. Dean's one step above an idiot. Sam knows all the lore (and after Season 2, there's no basis for that claim. Sam was no more knowledgeable than Dean was all season long.) and does all the research. Dean drinks heavily on the job--despite it being canon ("Playthings") that he scolds Sam for getting drunk while working. Dean--who, on the show, has navigated Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Baltimore etc--cannot figure out the Bronx and leaves Sam to do all the driving (something EK would not approve of).
Dean is easily distracted and has to be kept on target by Sam (and the author's canonical support for this is "Hollywood Babylon". Instead of noticing that Dean, far from being distracted, was actually multi-tasking and doing two jobs well, the author apparently felt that Dean's holding two conversations at once and thus not hanging solely on every word Dean was saying, was being "distracted.").
Sam, on the other hand, did not have a discernible flaw. Or, at least, nothing the book particularly took notice of. He wasn't even particularly pissy or bitchfacey (it is *so* a word! <>). Interestingly, when this was mentioned on the novel thread at TWoP, there were no counterarguments, not even from the author.
I would have had less problem with the "flaws", even the non-canonical ones, had it been more balanced between the brothers.
And McBain? Totally agree. She was the book's Missouri Mosely for me.
At least if the book had a frisson or two, it might have worked on that level. Still, I have ordered the next and I would urge all SN watchers to purchase the novels, if we want there to be more (hopefully, better) of them.
Does it make me a bad fan? :-D
I started out reading tie-ins of Star Trek TNG as a college freshman and being very excited about all of them, to realizing that there were only certain authors that could really rock my world and move my soul, to realizing that there were only certain authors that were even remotely worth the time I could be spending raeding... well, not tie-ins. Read a couple of Buffy tie-ins fairly recently, enough to realize that "cute" and "fairly diverting" are not adjectives I want to use about stories involving characters and a world that have, in past, rocked my world and moved my soul -- I don't want to be fairly diverted by a fandom that has been able to send me down a roller coaster.
So I'm not keen to buy the books to support the show. If the books are not good, I'm inclined to let them die the hell out. Darwinism. But you guys are making me feel like a meanie. ^___^
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(I'm a bad person, I stand in stores and read things. ^___^ People let me because I am ALWAYS in their stores buying tons of crap. I think that's why...)
I will caveat that I have edited far, FAR worse and more painful stuff. DiCandido has the added hurdle of dealing with already-created universes. He's obviously a thoughtful, thorough guy (details of New York streets, etc.) Some of his ideas I'm sure I would find really, really intriguing -- had they not been direct contradictions of established characteristics. *slowly puts away remastered Serenity DVDs...*
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Oh, but it gets your NAME out there!!! Surely a good thing career wise? I do see your point about other people's pockets, though.
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I've got hopes for "Witches Canyon" too. I've never read anything by the author, but I'm actually looking forward to it.
Re: Does it make me a bad fan? :-D
Perhaps we have to start strong-arming our favorite fic writers to go pro. I suppose sending our fan reading lists with recommendations is entirely impractical. But that's what I feel like doing: "THIS, publishers! Give us THIS and I'll buy three!" One to read, one to get autographed, one to give away. Like I did the comics but only achieved Item 1 on the list.
Re: Does it make me a bad fan? :-D
I would say that the first few books in the tie-ins are going to be rocky. I don't think they take unsolicited submissions, and I think Mr. DeCandido and Mr. Marriotte have both mentioned being approached by Harper for these novels, and not being familiar with the show. So in that case part of the book production time would be taken up by a crash course in the TV series. There'll probably be a lot more of that as I'm guessing the publisher will be concerned only with whether the authors have written saleable tie-in novels in a similar genre before, and will meet deadline.
I'd be going with your third option for books I like in the series (striving for optimism here), as long as I can afford to at nearly $12 a book after tax, and donating spare copies to libraries, hospital reading carts, second-hand book stores, charity book sales, reading advocacy groups, doing that bookcrossing thing with them in airports and train stations, or whatever. That way not only do the sales go up for the better ones, more readers are exposed to them. In an ideal world that is.
The comics, see, the comics I'm buying multiple copies of to keep them out of the hands of the innocent. If they weren't so horribly wrong, I'd be buying fewer copies so the local comic buyers might pick them up. See? Vast difference. :-P
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Oh absolutely! This isn't as bad as it could have been but it isn't as good as I was hoping it would be, which is disappointing.
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Sam seemed to me like he was stoned, wandering around looking at scenery while there's investigating to be done, and generally not really there much. Oh, and an annoying Poe fanboy, and inferentially misogynistic and culturally intolerant. And an idiot for going through with the group seance thing.
But I do agree with you about Dean getting the very raw end of the characterization stick regarding his perceived intelligence and professionalism in this book. :-(
And McBain? Totally agree. She was the book's Missouri Mosely for me.
Hee. I was fighting so hard to keep that comparison out of the review, but I feel exactly the same way. She's just got a gun and a badge instead of a wooden spoon and a bag of herbs and the Super Secret L.E.O. Club instead of psychic abilities.
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I chose, "got it as soon as it was available and read it immediately" up there and so now I don't actually remember it that well. Heh. I do recall some of the impressions I had while reading it though. I am, I think, a superficial reader (and viewer, for that matter). I don't meta, I don't really go into much depth which may be why when I first read or watch something, it's all good, then I read meta or wonderful in-depth reviews and I get all, "Yeah, really, that sucked!" LOL
I remember thinking that Dean just seemed way to mean to me. Like he couldn't be bothered with some of the people and couldn't stand most of them (besides Bartender chick). And that scene at the zoo where the girl just kept swooning over Sam sticks in my head like something awful. Sam, yes, you are a gorgeous tall drink of water, but the way it was written, like Dean was a 3 day old fish rotting in the sun was incredibly annoying. And ya know what? I only need to be told once how difficult it would be to find parking in NYC with the boat that is the Impala. And even then, I could've probably guessed that on my own. Also, I wish the book had been even remotely scary. I've read books that have terrified me so I know its possible to do. So yeah, that stunk.
Anyway, that's all I recall about the book. I'm going to donate my copy to the library. I keep picturing them filing it in the young adult section. :( Bleh.
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Re: Does it make me a bad fan? :-D
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Arg.
Trying to remember what I said in the first response now.
What annoyed me most about the girl at the zoo regardless of which of the boys she was panting after was that she was behaving that way at all. She was at work, working in a non-trivial job, and openly drooling after some guy who walked in the door. That's highly unprofessional, totally unnecessary and kind of insulting. I mean, it's one thing to respond positively to an attractive person who walks into your place of business, and it's something else entirely to start humping the person's leg, ya know what I mean? ;-D
Sigh. I was of course muuuuuch more eloquent in the missing response. *kicks LJ again*
Anyway, YAY! You're back! How was vacation? Oh! And dude! The P!WT props were awesome!!! :-D
Re: Does it make me a bad fan? :-D
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I think I'll be buying that soon though, as long as I can find it. It'll probably be a two week wait. It's a reference book, isn't it? Is it reasonably close to what's been shown in the series?
*debates with self* I think I can handle a minor spoiler for the Book of Monsters... Fire away! :-)
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Anyhow, the one thing that doesn't match up is that in the Monster book, Dean and Sam say there's no such thing as dragons - but the book is written in a post-Heart time-frame so they would have been told this about John and a dragon in NY already, so....
Like I said, not a big continuity issue. And man, do I *want* them to deal with a dragon in S3! Also unicorns, but that's a completely different situation.
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Firstly, I agree with the the SPN Monsters book on there not really being dragons in the SPN world. Unless Kripke puts them in an episode for some insane reason, they either don't exist or are smart enough not to interact with humans in any way.
Second, the dragon John is supposed to have killed is a Chinese dragon, or Lung. From what little I know of the culture and mythology of China, Lung are usually long, sinuous guardians of lakes and waterways and revered in Chinese culture. They are considered universally benevolent, wise bringers of good luck. One being hunted in Chinatown is so very very wrong on a cultural and mythological basis it's laughable.
I'm inclined to completely dismiss most of the events and assertions in Nevermore as having no place in canon at all. Now, if a person was determined to retcon the event into continuity, I'd say maybe there was some kind of bizarre incident with a Chinese New Year dragon dance gone horribly awry, maybe a bunch of dragon dancers were cursed and rampaging through Chinatown under a dragon costume causing destruction, and John broke the curse, thereby 'slaying the dragon'. Or Det. McBain was full of baloney and yanking the boys' chain. :-)
Thanks for the question! That's one of the points in Nevermore that really annoyed me, but I didn't expound on too much because I figured it might be more of a personal thing. :-D
Nevermore
(Anonymous) 2007-09-09 04:07 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Nevermore
Absolutely. It's disheartening. The tie-ins should have been something that kicked ass. There is so much potential in the framework set by the series for unrelentingly great stories that something so disorganized and meh is a true shame. Still, I'm not giving up on them. Um, but yeah, I won't be seeking out the author's other books. :-/
Oh and the comics? Hehe... I'm totally wih you on that one. I've written DVD style commentaries from the POV of Sam and Dean about issue #2 and issue #4 ;-)
Re: Nevermore
(Anonymous) 2007-09-18 01:54 am (UTC)(link)Re: Nevermore
And yes, happy thoughts! *hugs DVDs*
Re: Nevermore
(Anonymous) 2007-10-03 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Nevermore
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Now that I'm done spouting clichés, a few minor nitpicky things:
1. I know people who went to MIT, including
2. I stand by what I postulated about John and Stanford, in part because a friend who works in the financial aid biz assured me in no uncertain terms that it is completely impossible for Sam to have gotten the "full ride" described without John filling out a ton of forms (said person also gave me the notion of Sam declaring John missing), and in part because of what Jerry Panowski said in "Phantom Traveler" about John telling Jerry how proud he was of Sam. But I didn't just pull that out of my ass, I think it is completely plausible based on both onscreen evidence and the realities of university life.
3. There were only two shout-outs to CSI, and one was there in order to make a joke about how it's on opposite Supernatural. The other was a natural reference to cleaning up after a crime scene by making reference to an overwhelmingly popular TV franchise about people who investigate crime scenes, and I stand by that as well.
I can only hope that you like Bone Key better.....
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I do see your perspective on those three points, especially point #3. It's hard not to reference police forensics these days without referencing CSI. One and two... well, opinions vary or life would be boring indeed, so no worries. :-)
I can only hope that you like Bone Key better.....
Heh, we'll have to see in September, won't we... ;-) I don't know if I'll post a lengthy review of it though. This was a special case, since 'Nevermore' was the first one in the tie-in series. Life has busied up considerably for me since then. But we'll see. :-)
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Your opinion is perfectly valid, it's just a different interpretation of the facts at hand. I just wanted you to know that I didn't make mine lightly. *grin*