Book Review: Man of Steel Novelization

Book: Man of Steel Novelization by Greg Cox

Edition: Paperback

Description:

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers, and that he is not of this Earth. As he approaches adulthood, he journeys to discover where he came from, and what he was sent here to accomplish.

But then the world faces an unimaginable threat—an invading force the likes of which has never been encountered before. When this occurs, the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation, and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.




Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Man of Steel is a different take on the origin of Superman that follows the destruction of his home world Krypton to his meeting reporter Lois Lane to then having to defend Earth against terrifying evil.

Despite Jor-El's dire warnings that Krypton was on the brink of destruction, no one on the Council would listen to him. To make matters worse, General Zod attempts a violent coup to overthrow Krypton's leaders, who he feels are weak and ineffective. With a raging war breaking out between Zod's army and Krypton's guards, Jor-El used that moment to carry out the contingency plan he and his wife Lara Lor-Van had put into place.

The plan involved sending their newborn son Kal-El (he was the first child in many years to be born outside of the artificial Genesis Chamber) to a distant world along with the Codex, which is a database that contains all the genetics information for all of the Kryptonian bloodlines that's used for artificial birth. The main reason Jor-El took the Codex was to keep it away from Zod who planned to use it to get rid of inferior bloodlines to ensure that Krypton's future would be ruled by the best and strongest.

However, Zod's plan to take over Krypton did not succeed and it left him and his army banished to the Phantom Zone. But there was no celebrating for Krypton because Jor-El's warnings about Krypton came true. Before Zod and his army were stopped, Lara Lor-Van made the ultimate sacrifice and sent her son Kal-El into space where he would land on Earth in Smallville, Kansas. He was found by Martha and Jonathan Kent where he was adopted and named Clark Kent.

Despite the love Clark received from his parents, growing up in Smallville wasn't the most tolerant place to live in. As a child and teenager, he had to deal with constantly being teased and bullied. He never quite felt like he belonged and his growing superpowers which he did his best to hide, only added to his struggles.

As an adult, he kept a low profile going from one dead-end job after another, but he also ended up using his powers to help people. Clark ended up crossing paths with reporter Lois Lane in the Arctic when she was there covering a story about an unbelievable scientific discovery. That discovery would lead to Clark finding out more about his Kryptonian heritage, however his exploration was cut short when Lois, while investigating, was unexpectedly attacked. She was left with a lethal injury and he had to save her but that would require revealing his superpowers. Lois' mysterious savior piqued her interest and had her uncovering clues as to who he was. However, it was keeping his secret that would build a trusting relationship between them that would grow into more.

Clark learning about his Kryptonian heritage, gave him a better understanding of himself along with a new sense of purpose. And he was going to need that and so much more to step out of the shadows and defend Earth against an extremely deadly threat.

Although, I'm not the biggest fan of the Man of Steel movie, it felt like it was more style over substance. However, I found this novelization to be a really good read. The story is well-written, engaging and feels like you get a better understanding of the story which was allowed more time to unfold. The story which is fast-paced, allows the reader to get more insight into the characters from their point-of-view in certain scenes to getting a better sense of their personalities.

I was surprised by how much chemistry Lois and Clark had in the book opposed to what was shown in the movie. I thought these two didn't have any chemistry in Man of Steel but that changed in the next two movies, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League where you could see this amazing chemistry that had developed between them. So, this book sort of makes up for their initial lack of chemistry.

As much as I enjoyed reading this, I was disappointed because there were numerous grammatical errors that included a lot of additional and missing words along with at least one word I found misspelled. I read a lot of novelizations and I noticed that many of the books contain quite a few errors which I find annoying. Because it gives the impression that novelizations are not worth being thoroughly edited as other books are. I guess to the publishing industry novelizations are just throw away stories which probably don't bring in as much money as original stories but that doesn't mean these books should not be edited properly.

Anyway, if you are like me and didn't enjoy watching Man of Steel, please think about giving the novelization a read. Aside from the grammatical errors (if you can please overlook), this is a really good story. Even though it's full of action and sci-fi elements, this was a heartfelt story that I wish had been more noticeable in the movie.