Not all books I've read in my life were good. Some I didn't enjoy. Per example Van Helsing. After seeing the movie I wanted to try the book. What a dissapointement to me.
If you are doing a novelization then you should add something more than the movie gave us. That's the only way a book will work better than the movie. There are some good things like the main character. The writer gives us a larger view of Van Helsing besides being a mindless killing machine. Apart from that I didn't enjoy it. 5/10
Another book I hated was To Bring the Light by David Drake. This was a supposedly a second part from one of the first books depicting time travel called Lest Darkness Fall by L Sprague de Camp. This one was a very good. I don't know why they join the stories. It just didn't work for me. If Lest I would give a nice 8/10 the last one I would give 5/10.
In Lest Darkness Fall, twentieth-century academic Martin Padway travels through time to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire, while in To Bring the Light, Herosilla must forge the birth of Roman civilization.
Martin Padway, mild-mannered archaeologist, is visiting Rome when he is thrust backwards in time... all the way back to the sixth century A.D. The Roman Empire is fading fast... facing foes on all sides... with the thousand-year blight we now know as the Dark Ages fast approaching. Can a single man -- Padway --change history and prevent the fall of Rome? Nothing less than the 'Age of Enlightenment' hangs in the balance.The literary descendent of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', de Camp lets Padway grapple with raw issues. I found these areas the story's most interesting sections: how to make a living, having arrived with only modern currency in hand... how to avoid the authorities, given their proclivity to brand any new technology 'witchcraft'... how to assemble allies, fend off enemies and stay healthy in an environment not conducive to outsiders.
Because it was written in 1939, there is a level of 'political incorrectness' that is entertainingly fresh. Italian women, Muslims, the French and others are insulted with broad brush-strokes. Nonetheless, it is historically informative, important from a literary standpoint and makes for interesting reading. Despite its age, it is a fluid, fast read. de Camp had a lot of interesting things to say... and said them well.
Other books I Didn't enjoy were Sink Bismarck by C S Forester. Simple book with a simple plot. It was not that good. And honestly I don't even remember much of the book. 4/10 Fortunally this doesn't happen to me a lot. Another book I don't remember almost nothing is Everday life in Ansalon during the War of Souls, a dragonlance book. And Everyday life in Krynn of the Fifth Age another dragonlance book. Both are pretty boring without an hint of anything usual. They collected things for every day... clothes, furniture and everything boring. Both book received a 2/10. Another Vem ai as Formigas was another book that I read it and forgotten it. But I remember enjoying the story/plot but the ending was pretty boring. It reminds me Green Brain by Frank Hebert (but worse of course).
Other uniteresting books were O cidadão da Grécia Antiga (the citzen of ancient greece), Os grandes livros misteriosos (the great mysterious books) or Os Grandes Enigmas da Arqueologia (The Greastest enigmas of Archeology), Nos Confins do Mundo (In the ends of the world (something like that), A Ciencia Perante o Desconhecido (Science before the Unknown). This five books were good at a time but now they are undated and pretty much useless. I would think they would be better even today but in my perspective they were not that good because I would search the internet and found something better written and researched. But it was a good start. Believe me.
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny was another anpealing story to me. Pretty straightforward but it had nothing new. Well in 1969 when it was written it may did but not today. After a nuclear war most of North America has become a wasteland known as 'Dammnation Alley'. Hell Tanner, the last surviving Hells Angel and due to die for rape, murder, extortion, etc. is given the choice of delivering a vital vaccine to a plague ridden city or being executed. I suspect that Hell Tanner was the inspiration for 'Escape From New York' Snake Plisken. But by all means read the book. It may work out for you. 6/10
The Drought by J G Ballard was another book that I didn't enjoy. I don't undestant all the nice things everyone says about this book. It his not that good but I am not a literary critic so I might be wrong. I have the other two books in this (could be) trilogy of disasters. Maybe one day I will adventure there. 5/10
The Road was another not that good book. I will give it a try in a couple of years after seeing the movie. Maybe I am mistaked. Maybe I read it in a wrong time (it happens) 4/10
Guag Keep by Andre Norton was another book that I read but didn't care about. The premises were good. A boy from our world is transported into the game. Who of us didn't thought of that? Unfortunally it didn't work out that good. 5/10
Mutants Chronicles. Another book that I didn't enjoy. Seeing the movie and enjoying it I try buying the book novelization. What a dissapointement. It gave very little for ones who were trying to know more. I remember reading a couple of articles in the net with only a couple of pages that was better than this novel. 6.5/10
The last book it was the first book I had the pleasure to finish it and I gave it away in the same instant. It was the only book I gave away to someone. It was called Flash Flood by Chris Ryan. The premises were good... What if the Tames would swollen up and engulf london. Our heroe is only a boy but behaves like a man. It reminds me of Detective Conan's Edogawa Conan (but this one as a excused since he was given a drunk that shrunk his body). Awful book. I don't recommend to anyone above 15 years old. 3.5/10
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