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A review by billyraymcevoy
City of the Dead by S.D. Perry
2.0
This is the first book I have ever read that is based on a videogame (Resident Evil 2, one of my favourite games of all time), and it is almost exactly what I'd expected.
The plot plays out very well, adapting a split story with two campaigns to make one story where both of the characters, and side characters, have their own pathway. I was, for the most part, pleased with how the story was adapted for this medium. The story focuses on two main characters, Leon and Claire, as well as a bunch of side characters.
Claire Redfield's story:
Claire's story is definitely the most exciting of all the characters, although, this is for a bizarre reason. The author, instead of splitting certain larger monsters evenly between Leon and Claire, seemed to give all of them to Claire. While Leon is off with Ada, dealing with your average zombie, Claire gets through the zombies, the lickers, is harassed by Mr X constantly, and occasionally comes across William Birkin in a few monster forms. It seemed odd that she had to deal with so many as opposed to making her deal with Birkin and lumping Mr X onto Leon's story, which I believe would have been more sensible. Claire definitely has a much harder time than anyone else. Her interactions with Sherry were great and also with chief Irons too.
Sherry's chapters are a very enjoyable, its nice to read her internal monologue and actually makes her running off in the games feel a lot less annoying.
Claire's run ins with Chief Irons were also very good to read. Reading Irons chapters and his delve into paranoid delusion was interesting and he was an all around creepy and antagonistic character.
Leon Kennedy:
Leon had a lot less chapters than expected. In fact, from the start of the book up until we finish with Ada, it feels like we only have three or four chapters with him and that it focuses more on Ada, bizarre! Leon comes across as a do-gooder who really wants to help and do a good job but doesn't come across as naive, he is authoritative when needed and his story with Ada is unexpected well developed. Again though, he doesn't deal with half as much of the madness and big bad monsters that Claire does.
Ada Wong takes up the majority of Leon's story in this book which is a really strange way to write it, considering that Leon is a strong fan favourite and this is his and Claire's story. Although, Ada's chapters are surprisingly interesting and mostly not too contrived. Surprisingly because you would expect chapters based on Ada to ruin the mystery behind her character, however, the added emotional depth to her character is actually done very well and makes her, and her "love story" esque subplot with Leon, a lot more believable than in the game.
Annette Birkin's chapters were okay, probably the least interesting of the bunch but not an unwelcome addition. She is almost like a figure who pulls some strings behind the scenes to set off the endings events and ties certain story elements together. A bit more concern for her daughter, Sherry, would have been nice though.
As this is a book based on a PS1 survival-horror game it comes with an expected level of campiness and fun. If you like Resident Evil 2 then you will probably enjoy this book and how it does a rather good job of combining two stories into one cohesive narrative with just as an exciting ending as the source material (seriously, the ending with the countdown and multiple monster battles is quite exciting when you let yourself fall into the campy action and absurdity of it all, but that's Resident Evil in a nutshell really). Therefore, it is best enjoyed when you want something fun and easy to read inbetween anything more serious and are not expecting anything too serious.
The plot plays out very well, adapting a split story with two campaigns to make one story where both of the characters, and side characters, have their own pathway. I was, for the most part, pleased with how the story was adapted for this medium. The story focuses on two main characters, Leon and Claire, as well as a bunch of side characters.
Claire Redfield's story:
Claire's story is definitely the most exciting of all the characters, although, this is for a bizarre reason. The author, instead of splitting certain larger monsters evenly between Leon and Claire, seemed to give all of them to Claire. While Leon is off with Ada, dealing with your average zombie, Claire gets through the zombies, the lickers, is harassed by Mr X constantly, and occasionally comes across William Birkin in a few monster forms. It seemed odd that she had to deal with so many as opposed to making her deal with Birkin and lumping Mr X onto Leon's story, which I believe would have been more sensible. Claire definitely has a much harder time than anyone else. Her interactions with Sherry were great and also with chief Irons too.
Sherry's chapters are a very enjoyable, its nice to read her internal monologue and actually makes her running off in the games feel a lot less annoying.
Claire's run ins with Chief Irons were also very good to read. Reading Irons chapters and his delve into paranoid delusion was interesting and he was an all around creepy and antagonistic character.
Leon Kennedy:
Leon had a lot less chapters than expected. In fact, from the start of the book up until we finish with Ada, it feels like we only have three or four chapters with him and that it focuses more on Ada, bizarre! Leon comes across as a do-gooder who really wants to help and do a good job but doesn't come across as naive, he is authoritative when needed and his story with Ada is unexpected well developed. Again though, he doesn't deal with half as much of the madness and big bad monsters that Claire does.
Ada Wong takes up the majority of Leon's story in this book which is a really strange way to write it, considering that Leon is a strong fan favourite and this is his and Claire's story. Although, Ada's chapters are surprisingly interesting and mostly not too contrived. Surprisingly because you would expect chapters based on Ada to ruin the mystery behind her character, however, the added emotional depth to her character is actually done very well and makes her, and her "love story" esque subplot with Leon, a lot more believable than in the game.
Annette Birkin's chapters were okay, probably the least interesting of the bunch but not an unwelcome addition. She is almost like a figure who pulls some strings behind the scenes to set off the endings events and ties certain story elements together. A bit more concern for her daughter, Sherry, would have been nice though.
As this is a book based on a PS1 survival-horror game it comes with an expected level of campiness and fun. If you like Resident Evil 2 then you will probably enjoy this book and how it does a rather good job of combining two stories into one cohesive narrative with just as an exciting ending as the source material (seriously, the ending with the countdown and multiple monster battles is quite exciting when you let yourself fall into the campy action and absurdity of it all, but that's Resident Evil in a nutshell really). Therefore, it is best enjoyed when you want something fun and easy to read inbetween anything more serious and are not expecting anything too serious.