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phileasfogg's review
3.0
The latest in my occasional project to read some of the old TV novelisations and original TV tie-ins that have sat unread on my shelves for years.
This is actually the second original novel based on the Avengers TV series. The TV series had changed so much between the first Avengers book--[b:The Avengers|3969467|The Avengers|Douglas Enefer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1325270394s/3969467.jpg|4015225]--and this new 'first' book that it was virtually a different show. And that first book was never going to be reprinted. So restarting the series at '#1' makes sense.
At the time this was published, the TV series had a fairly distinctive style, far from realism. The book captures well the way the main characters speak, but it's entirely different from the flavour of the series. The author was probably intentionally taking the opportunity offered by a book to put the characters into situations that couldn't be shown on television. There's rape and torture and a sadistic cross-dressing lesbian. Emma stands by while terrible things are done to people, to preserve her cover. It's a bit nasty.
The humour works well, on the brief occasions it appears, especially during the scenes where Steed campaigns for a parliamentary election.
It's a page-turner and there are moments of writing flair.
There are several severe miscalculations.
Firstly, in the earlier chapters we are privy to Steed's thoughts. They are not thoughts I could imagine him having, nor want to imagine him having. It is always a problem with novels about larger than life TV characters: by the time the audience picks up the book, they probably have an idea of who the character is from watching him on TV, an idea that may substantially differ from the author's. So it was for me in this case. In such cases I believe that if we must know the character's thoughts, let them be practical observations and speculations regarding the plot at hand, nothing more.
Secondly, the ending is all wrong.
This is actually the second original novel based on the Avengers TV series. The TV series had changed so much between the first Avengers book--[b:The Avengers|3969467|The Avengers|Douglas Enefer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1325270394s/3969467.jpg|4015225]--and this new 'first' book that it was virtually a different show. And that first book was never going to be reprinted. So restarting the series at '#1' makes sense.
At the time this was published, the TV series had a fairly distinctive style, far from realism. The book captures well the way the main characters speak, but it's entirely different from the flavour of the series. The author was probably intentionally taking the opportunity offered by a book to put the characters into situations that couldn't be shown on television. There's rape and torture and a sadistic cross-dressing lesbian. Emma stands by while terrible things are done to people, to preserve her cover. It's a bit nasty.
The humour works well, on the brief occasions it appears, especially during the scenes where Steed campaigns for a parliamentary election.
It's a page-turner and there are moments of writing flair.
There are several severe miscalculations.
Firstly, in the earlier chapters we are privy to Steed's thoughts. They are not thoughts I could imagine him having, nor want to imagine him having. It is always a problem with novels about larger than life TV characters: by the time the audience picks up the book, they probably have an idea of who the character is from watching him on TV, an idea that may substantially differ from the author's. So it was for me in this case. In such cases I believe that if we must know the character's thoughts, let them be practical observations and speculations regarding the plot at hand, nothing more.
Secondly, the ending is all wrong.
Spoiler
Avengers-writing 101: Steed and Mrs Peel have to save the day. They can't be rescued by boring everyday realistic spies.
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