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ktothelau's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Ever since I've started reading Flash comics a couple years ago, I've pondered on the idea if DC has ever published a Flash novel (After all, they do so with Batman and Superman), but it wasn't until a month ago I found out that this book was already released. Of course, it ties into the show instead of the comic, but I decided to take what I could get. It's understandable that a Flash novel hasn't been published before now due to the stories and action heavily relying on visuals. However, I think Clay and Susan Griffith did great with what they had.
FULL REVIEW
Ever since I've started reading Flash comics a couple years ago, I've pondered on the idea if DC has ever published a Flash novel (After all, they do so with Batman and Superman), but it wasn't until a month ago I found out that this book was already released. Of course, it ties into the show instead of the comic, but I decided to take what I could get. It's understandable that a Flash novel hasn't been published before now due to the stories and action heavily relying on visuals. However, I think Clay and Susan Griffith did great with what they had.
FULL REVIEW
literati42's review against another edition
4.0
This was an absolute delight to read. In the best way possible, this is a high quality officially sanctioned fanfic and I loved it. There were a few moments of eyebrow raise (why did Caitlin and Iris have an 80s movie style friend date, it was super weird), but everything else was pitch perfect for the show.
Since this is fan fiction basically...
What tags would this book receive in AO3? Probably Barry Hurt/comfort, Protective Ollie, worried Joe, OmG science, time paradox cancer?
For new comers to the show this is set in a time somewhere in the realm of season 2 flash though it’s not clear exactly how it links up timeline wise. Most spoilers are for season 1 but it does talk about the big bag of season 2. No spoilers for season 3 or beyond.
Since this is fan fiction basically...
What tags would this book receive in AO3? Probably Barry Hurt/comfort, Protective Ollie, worried Joe, OmG science, time paradox cancer?
For new comers to the show this is set in a time somewhere in the realm of season 2 flash though it’s not clear exactly how it links up timeline wise. Most spoilers are for season 1 but it does talk about the big bag of season 2. No spoilers for season 3 or beyond.
szara's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't have high expectations for a novel based on a tv show that's a comic book adaptation... But I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really enjoyable weekend read, no one was strikingly out of character and the plot was intriguing. Within it's own genre, it is a really good book. I recommend it to any fan of "The Flash" and "Arrow". Myself, I am impatiently waiting for the sequel to come out in March!
mara_jade510's review
5.0
Ignore how long this took me to read...I kept getting distracted from it at first. Anyway. Really loved this one! I like getting more depth from characters I already know and love onscreen.
spazenport's review
5.0
Wow, just wow! When I get really involved in a show, I tend to either hunt for more stories in that universe or write my own in the form of fan-fiction. It was one of these hunts that led me to discovering Clay and Susan Griffith’s The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen.
The entire book reads like a long episode of the Flash. We get a look at each character as they work on their own plot specifics, and we even get a great chance to see Rathaway as a villain again. Pre-Flashpoint has made a lot of great stories possible, by making everything that takes place before that Canon/Not-Canon, since Flashpoint ends up undoing anything that might have been story specific.
Anyway, Rathaway builds his own Rogue’s Gallery out of Peekaboo, Nimbus, Prism, and Weather Wizard. He uses them to terrorize the city. The major plot here is actually a callback to the giant wormhole that opened up when Eddie Thawne ended season 1 the way he did. Barry’s visited by ghosts and mirages from the future while also trying to battle to protect his city. It’s more than one man, even the fastest man, can handle.
Enter the Arrow! Teams join together to combat the evil that has plagued the city and the end result is a great read that has me incredibly excited about the second book that just came out.
This book was well done and fits well with the Canon of the series. Loved it, and have already started reading book 2.
The entire book reads like a long episode of the Flash. We get a look at each character as they work on their own plot specifics, and we even get a great chance to see Rathaway as a villain again. Pre-Flashpoint has made a lot of great stories possible, by making everything that takes place before that Canon/Not-Canon, since Flashpoint ends up undoing anything that might have been story specific.
Anyway, Rathaway builds his own Rogue’s Gallery out of Peekaboo, Nimbus, Prism, and Weather Wizard. He uses them to terrorize the city. The major plot here is actually a callback to the giant wormhole that opened up when Eddie Thawne ended season 1 the way he did. Barry’s visited by ghosts and mirages from the future while also trying to battle to protect his city. It’s more than one man, even the fastest man, can handle.
Enter the Arrow! Teams join together to combat the evil that has plagued the city and the end result is a great read that has me incredibly excited about the second book that just came out.
This book was well done and fits well with the Canon of the series. Loved it, and have already started reading book 2.
miguel's review
3.0
Ah, what a relief. The second in Titan Books's series of novel adaptations of TV adaptations of comic books, The Haunting of Barry Allen, is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The unfortunate reality is that this novel, even at its most entertaining, is not as good as an episode of the television show. But if you are anything like me and are seized with a sense of panic as summer sets in and the itch for more Arrow and The Flash can only be vaguely scratched by rewatching Arrow season 2 and The Flash season 1, you might appreciate this novel that is at least one tier above fan fiction.
But if the Griffiths's novel is a cut above fan fiction, it is only just. For canon purists, it is unlikely this novel will ever be alluded to in the show. It is only vaguely placed in the early portion of The Flash's second season and the concurrent Arrow season four. Likewise, as stated, the novel is missing all of the thematic unity of even the worst episodes of the television series. Usually, an episode of The Flash or Arrow involves a running theme that draws together the two parallel plot lines and drives the machinations and motivations of the weekly villain. Still, this can make the plot turns predictable. The Griffiths's novel seems far more like an unrelated sequence of events than any kind of concerted mediation on even the most overt of themes. Barry, faced with an encounter with his aging future-self, who may or may not be a hallucination, remains inoculated from the various other thematic threads in contention. For instance, there's virtually no connection between Flash's mortality, the Green Arrow's position as brotherly mentor, Hartley Rathaway's villainous resentment, and Shawna Baez's aspiration toward familial acceptance. On the villain side, the Mist, Weather Wizard, and Prism are barely worth mentioning, led by the undercooked Rathaway or Pied Piper. There is nothing pulling his motivation together beyond what was revealed on the show. Shawna, Peekaboo, is the most compelling villain by half. But even her motivations seem to fall away toward the novel's end. Her brief encounter with Iris leads the novel in the direction of an attempt at class analysis, but Shawna's desire to take for herself what the rich won't miss runs squarely against a paradigmatic figure for the excesses of wealth, Oliver Queen. Oliver's joking reference to his favorite childhood toy, his Ferrari Testarossa, being the only allusion to Oliver's financial history forecloses the possibility of this theme being expanded on.
But if the novel is lacking on the macro level, where it succeeds is on the micro level. First, despite the plot lacking substance, it is a page-turner. And while Rathaway's plan ultimately reveals itself as incoherent, I find myself forgiving on account of the great character interactions his plotting facilitates. Any occasion to bring together the Flash and the Green Arrow is one of great joy for me. Furthermore, the Griffiths seem to have an excellent grasp of how these characters speak and interact. Diggle's constant confusion and discomfort with metahumans and superpowers are deftly played for laughs. One can imagine the vast majority of the lines being spoken by the TV actors.
Even when The Flash has had its lowest points, and every season following the first has gotten progressively more painful to watch, the delightful characters and better-than-expected acting keeps me watching. And that is precisely what this novel delivers. The characters feel as vividly realized and real as their television counterparts. For those of us who love watching the exploits of Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, Joe West, and even Oliver Queen, this novel fills the lengthy gap between seasons with a unique pleasure. This isn't a novel for a general readership, but series fans would do well to crack it open.
But if the Griffiths's novel is a cut above fan fiction, it is only just. For canon purists, it is unlikely this novel will ever be alluded to in the show. It is only vaguely placed in the early portion of The Flash's second season and the concurrent Arrow season four. Likewise, as stated, the novel is missing all of the thematic unity of even the worst episodes of the television series. Usually, an episode of The Flash or Arrow involves a running theme that draws together the two parallel plot lines and drives the machinations and motivations of the weekly villain. Still, this can make the plot turns predictable. The Griffiths's novel seems far more like an unrelated sequence of events than any kind of concerted mediation on even the most overt of themes. Barry, faced with an encounter with his aging future-self, who may or may not be a hallucination, remains inoculated from the various other thematic threads in contention. For instance, there's virtually no connection between Flash's mortality, the Green Arrow's position as brotherly mentor, Hartley Rathaway's villainous resentment, and Shawna Baez's aspiration toward familial acceptance. On the villain side, the Mist, Weather Wizard, and Prism are barely worth mentioning, led by the undercooked Rathaway or Pied Piper. There is nothing pulling his motivation together beyond what was revealed on the show. Shawna, Peekaboo, is the most compelling villain by half. But even her motivations seem to fall away toward the novel's end. Her brief encounter with Iris leads the novel in the direction of an attempt at class analysis, but Shawna's desire to take for herself what the rich won't miss runs squarely against a paradigmatic figure for the excesses of wealth, Oliver Queen. Oliver's joking reference to his favorite childhood toy, his Ferrari Testarossa, being the only allusion to Oliver's financial history forecloses the possibility of this theme being expanded on.
But if the novel is lacking on the macro level, where it succeeds is on the micro level. First, despite the plot lacking substance, it is a page-turner. And while Rathaway's plan ultimately reveals itself as incoherent, I find myself forgiving on account of the great character interactions his plotting facilitates. Any occasion to bring together the Flash and the Green Arrow is one of great joy for me. Furthermore, the Griffiths seem to have an excellent grasp of how these characters speak and interact. Diggle's constant confusion and discomfort with metahumans and superpowers are deftly played for laughs. One can imagine the vast majority of the lines being spoken by the TV actors.
Even when The Flash has had its lowest points, and every season following the first has gotten progressively more painful to watch, the delightful characters and better-than-expected acting keeps me watching. And that is precisely what this novel delivers. The characters feel as vividly realized and real as their television counterparts. For those of us who love watching the exploits of Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, Joe West, and even Oliver Queen, this novel fills the lengthy gap between seasons with a unique pleasure. This isn't a novel for a general readership, but series fans would do well to crack it open.
stellar_raven's review
4.0
I can often times be a bit leery of media tie-in novels, because they're usually not written by those who write the shows/movies, and that can lead to problems with characterization.
However, this novel written by Susan and Clay Griffith, avoided that.
Barry begins to suffer from what he calls "blurring" during rescues in which he sees an older version of himself and his powers "glitch". These episodes become more and more severe just as a group of villains (Pied Piper, Peekaboo, Weather Wizard, Prism, and The Mist) join forces to wreak havoc on Central City.
Barry, growing more and more weary from the almost constant onslaught of the villains and the blurring (which causes his speed healing to malfunction), calls in The Green Arrow (and Diggle and Felicity) for help.
I really enjoyed this book. For the most part the authors were dead on in regards to the characterization. Not 100%, but pretty darn good all the same.
I also enjoyed the fact that with this being a novel, we got more time to have scenes between characters that we don't normally get in the show. There was a great scene with Iris and Caitlin, for example. And another with Joe and Diggle that I really enjoyed.
The book also spent plenty of time with our villains from their POV, and I absolutely loved the development that Shawna Baez (Peekaboo) got.
As far as where this would fit in the show's timeline, I'd say early season two. After the singularity most definitely, but before Earth-2's Harrison "Harry" Wells shows up. They are aware of Zoom, and I'd say they would have had to have met "Jay Garrick" since Barry knows how to throw lightning in this book, and that's something I was taught by "Jay" (trying so hard not to spoil S2 here). Then again, this isn't exactly show canon, so maybe this is something we're supposed to hand wave, I don't know.
Speaking of Harrison Wells--who is my favorite character, any version of him--I was so disappointed to read in another review that he wasn't in this book. That's not exactly true. While the season 1 version of him isn't a speaking, physical character in the book (due to having been defeated), his presence is hugely felt throughout the entire book, and he is mentioned several times. So, it wasn't as disappointing as it could have been.
I've already preordered the second part of the crossover, Arrow: A Generation of Vipers, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
However, this novel written by Susan and Clay Griffith, avoided that.
Barry begins to suffer from what he calls "blurring" during rescues in which he sees an older version of himself and his powers "glitch". These episodes become more and more severe just as a group of villains (Pied Piper, Peekaboo, Weather Wizard, Prism, and The Mist) join forces to wreak havoc on Central City.
Barry, growing more and more weary from the almost constant onslaught of the villains and the blurring (which causes his speed healing to malfunction), calls in The Green Arrow (and Diggle and Felicity) for help.
I really enjoyed this book. For the most part the authors were dead on in regards to the characterization. Not 100%, but pretty darn good all the same.
I also enjoyed the fact that with this being a novel, we got more time to have scenes between characters that we don't normally get in the show. There was a great scene with Iris and Caitlin, for example. And another with Joe and Diggle that I really enjoyed.
The book also spent plenty of time with our villains from their POV, and I absolutely loved the development that Shawna Baez (Peekaboo) got.
As far as where this would fit in the show's timeline, I'd say early season two. After the singularity most definitely, but before Earth-2's Harrison "Harry" Wells shows up. They are aware of Zoom, and I'd say they would have had to have met "Jay Garrick" since Barry knows how to throw lightning in this book, and that's something I was taught by "Jay" (trying so hard not to spoil S2 here). Then again, this isn't exactly show canon, so maybe this is something we're supposed to hand wave, I don't know.
Speaking of Harrison Wells--who is my favorite character, any version of him--I was so disappointed to read in another review that he wasn't in this book. That's not exactly true. While the season 1 version of him isn't a speaking, physical character in the book (due to having been defeated), his presence is hugely felt throughout the entire book, and he is mentioned several times. So, it wasn't as disappointing as it could have been.
I've already preordered the second part of the crossover, Arrow: A Generation of Vipers, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
jennjuniper's review
4.0
This book has been the actual gold standard of TV show tie-in novels, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised all the way through.
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