Smallville Books
I've always had a fondness for tie-in books. When I was in 10 grade and saw Tombstone for the first time, I rushed out to get the movie tie-in so I could hold Val Kilmer in my sweaty little hands. And then I read the Batman Forever tie-in by Peter David about three times before I saw the movie. So when Smallville started coming out where their books, I ran out to obtain.
So far, they've been ok. The teen books are far better than the adult, simply because the charaterization is far superior. The problem with the adult novels is it's painfully obvious by certain charaterizations (Whitney's, mostly, and sometimes Petes) that the authors dont' really watch the show. Whitney comes off as a one dimensional, jock-thug that you could read him as at first, but wasn't really true. The creators intended him to be what Clark would be if he didn't have his powers and, after a few false starts, they succeeded in making him more than just a jock. (I really miss Whitney, by the way). But the authors of Strange Visitors and especially Dragon make him such a one dimensional loser. Not to say that I didn't like Strange Visitors, because I enjoyed it. I hated Dragon though. I'm considering sending my complaints to the publishers, but doubt they would care.
The thing that's great about the teen books is that they read like an episode of the show, have good characterization, and are slashy. Part of this is because both See No Evil and Flight were written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, who both worked for the show. In fact, I believe they wrote "Jitters." There's an interview with them at www.kryptonsite.com (side note: I always want to write Kipton instead of Krypton. Hazard of the job, I guess). Whatever the reason, the teen novels are a lot of fun and a quick read. It was just what I needed this week.
And, for your enjoyement, a slashy excerpt from the novel.
( Flight )</lj-cut text.
So far, they've been ok. The teen books are far better than the adult, simply because the charaterization is far superior. The problem with the adult novels is it's painfully obvious by certain charaterizations (Whitney's, mostly, and sometimes Petes) that the authors dont' really watch the show. Whitney comes off as a one dimensional, jock-thug that you could read him as at first, but wasn't really true. The creators intended him to be what Clark would be if he didn't have his powers and, after a few false starts, they succeeded in making him more than just a jock. (I really miss Whitney, by the way). But the authors of Strange Visitors and especially Dragon make him such a one dimensional loser. Not to say that I didn't like Strange Visitors, because I enjoyed it. I hated Dragon though. I'm considering sending my complaints to the publishers, but doubt they would care.
The thing that's great about the teen books is that they read like an episode of the show, have good characterization, and are slashy. Part of this is because both See No Evil and Flight were written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, who both worked for the show. In fact, I believe they wrote "Jitters." There's an interview with them at www.kryptonsite.com (side note: I always want to write Kipton instead of Krypton. Hazard of the job, I guess). Whatever the reason, the teen novels are a lot of fun and a quick read. It was just what I needed this week.
And, for your enjoyement, a slashy excerpt from the novel.
( Flight )</lj-cut text.