Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Warning: Novel

DO not read the LNC novel!!! It's the most boring piece of writing I have ever read! Take it from a dedicated book reader. It's a bad A plot drag, like a very bad piece of a neverending fanfic. Don't waste time or money. Its soooooo not worth it.

Where were you back about five years ago, Julie? I read both that book and the three (?) Michael Jan Friedman books, and then the Death of Superman book... Scarred me for life, I think. Good thing I found FoLCdom and fanfic, so I've healed a little since then...

But I could have used a warning, then...

Melisma (under her Rock, wondering how she could have ever thought a novel would replace the show - except a novel was what got her hooked on Trek, so... )

There are a few FoLCs who enjoyed the C. J. Cherryh novel. For myself though, I have to agree with Julie. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a book as that one. And I'd had high hopes because I'd previously enjoyed C.J's 'Gates' books very much.

For the novel though, it seemed to me that Cherryh hadn't so much as watched an LNC episode before writing it. I was irritated throughout by references which made it clear we were dealing with the comic characters here and not the ones we watched each week on TV. I felt conned by that and that it was sloppy work from both author and publisher.

Other than that, when I pick up a novel which says it's about LNC, the TV show, I expect it to mostly be about LNC in the same city at the same time. <g> Not being a huge fan of the Superman elements of the show (Superman rescues and suchlike) I found the huge portion of the novel which deal with Superman rescuing various people very boring. IIRC, Clark and Lois were in the same place interacting together during about 1% of the story. And even when they were it was something of a damp squib.

Really, my conclusion was that the novel had zero to do with the characters I love.

The Friedman books I found quite entertaining - although they were clearly marketed for a young market. They were quite fun though and at the time I read them - when LNC had just been cancelled and I was in the throes of heavy LCWS and desperate to find new adventures - they certainly hit the spot.

Once I found fanfic though...all bets were off. <g> Why waste cash on a novel when for the same cost I could read hundreds of stories that were miles above anything professionally published?

LabRat

As far as the Cherryh novel goes, I agree entirely with LabRat. If you take a look at the book\'s page on Amazon.com, you'll see a number of reviews, many of which make the same basic points - including that fanfic is far, far better than that book.

You may even recognise some of the names; at least three of the reviews, and probably more, are written by FoLCs. Mandy Crustner and Craig Byrne are there (they're not around FoLCdom any more, but they both have stories on the Archive), and another review is by me.


Wendy

Sorry, I should have written which book I was referring to. I was of course talking about the C. J. Cherryh one. I didn't read the others, though I should. Anyhow, my main point is that that book was such a disappointment to me. BTW- speaking of novels, Wendy, I have to say that I recently read your Faux Pas, and it took about as long as it takes for me to read a 300 page novel. Maybe you should publish it in novel form- it's long enough. And I enjoyed it a lot too.

So, there actually ARE L&C novels?

AnnaBtG. (I had no idea!!)

I quite liked the novels though if you're looking for romance the three written by MJ Friedman are rather devoid of it infact I had all three but I probably dumped them out since they were falling apart and between them there is an almost kiss because of a interruption (NOT by Jimmy) and only one kiss so really if that was what you were looking for then they aren't for you. I liked the plot of them but to be honest I much prefer the show.

I'd call the Friedman books cute I think. I enjoyed the humour in them - there were some very nice banter and character moments. But no, not too much romance and definitely I wouldn't call any of them a patch on fanfic.



LabRat

I've read all those books... they were only worth it for the pictures, and the Friedman books were a better value, since they had several pages of (black & white) pictures in the middle of the book. The Cherryh novel has a very nice dust jacket with a steamy shot of L&C (or it did when I bought it, I think they may have dropped that since then) but that's about the extent of the romantic interest. Cherryh obviously preferred the "action" moments that most of us fanfic writers skip blithely past <g> -- but even when we do write action, it's more interesting than what's in the book...

PJ
who bought all the books anyway, just on the off-chance it would inspire someone to publish more of them, with better authors...

My friedman books had the picture in colour actually a shame that I haven't the slightest clue where they are either they're in a dumpster somewhere or considering the state of my room they are under a pile of rubble from the tornado that hit.

The black and white photo section was apparently only in the US versions of the novels. The versions published everywhere else - including the UK - were in colour.

And, yes, at the time - before I got online - the photos were a great bonus. <g> I even thought that the Cherryh novel was worth the cover price even though it was a rotten read because of that steam photo of Clark and Lois on the cover. That lasted till I got on the net and discovered there were thousands of other photos I could get for zip. <g>

LabRat