Scan barcode
sally1's review
2.0
Having discovered the TV version first, I had hoped that the book would ease the withdrawal once I'd finished watching the series. I was disappointed. I found the writing to be shallow and wondered if this was a "young adult" book. Loved the TV show, but the book left much to be desired.
alexauthorshay's review
2.0
I remember being really into this show for the first several seasons, before it got more and more unrealistic, to the point I had to stop watching. I actually encountered the second book first, which sent me on a hunt to get this one. I was hoping these books would be original adventures with the characters, but this one for sure isn't. I remember this particular episode rather well, so this is essentially just a novelization.
I've never read anything by Lyle before, so I don't know how much is his writing style and how much is just copying verbatim what happened on screen, but this book was really boring. The majority of it is dialogue or direct description, with a result that Divya rolls her eyes a lot, Jill laughs almost constantly, and Hank says things he hope will happen, followed by a paragraph break and a single paragraph of 'I did' or 'It did'. The medical jargon was almost welcome in comparison. As a doctor, Hank probably would think in those terms, and being a medical man himself, Lyle can add those descriptions realistically. But there's next to no internal thought from Hank, no subjective introspection, etc. Things happen, the end. No growth, no change, no getting to know how the characters tick.
I also found it odd that, told in first person from Hank's perspective, it suddenly switched to third person to follow Evan and then Divya. I've encountered this in some books, but you don't generally wait until chapter 9 to introduce it. Then it didn't happen again until almost 3/4 of the way through the book, jarring every time. I've read published "fan fiction" before, like Loki: Where Mischief Lies, or Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth, but those still had story to them. This reads more like Batman Returns, a novelized version of a movie script. Will be forgoing the other book.
I've never read anything by Lyle before, so I don't know how much is his writing style and how much is just copying verbatim what happened on screen, but this book was really boring. The majority of it is dialogue or direct description, with a result that Divya rolls her eyes a lot, Jill laughs almost constantly, and Hank says things he hope will happen, followed by a paragraph break and a single paragraph of 'I did' or 'It did'. The medical jargon was almost welcome in comparison. As a doctor, Hank probably would think in those terms, and being a medical man himself, Lyle can add those descriptions realistically. But there's next to no internal thought from Hank, no subjective introspection, etc. Things happen, the end. No growth, no change, no getting to know how the characters tick.
I also found it odd that, told in first person from Hank's perspective, it suddenly switched to third person to follow Evan and then Divya. I've encountered this in some books, but you don't generally wait until chapter 9 to introduce it. Then it didn't happen again until almost 3/4 of the way through the book, jarring every time. I've read published "fan fiction" before, like Loki: Where Mischief Lies, or Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth, but those still had story to them. This reads more like Batman Returns, a novelized version of a movie script. Will be forgoing the other book.
More...