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chriszlol's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jjarthur's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
rubblez's review
4.5
Thoroughly enjoyed this, it's a great novelization of RE2. I'd recommend it to any fan
shiv91's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Leon has always been my favourite Resi character, so I was looking forward to this! Really fun read, with, as expected, lots of scary creatures.
As jacksepticeye would say, RPD = Real Proud Dad
As jacksepticeye would say, RPD = Real Proud Dad
notevenastar's review
3.0
Ok. I've mentioned at length about how my sudden Resident Evil hyperfixation absolutely wrecked my long streak of romance novel reading. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that an RE novelization would be the next step. And if it's not clear from my fifty-one notes and highlights or my vaugely rabid liveread thread on Twitter, I did truly enjoy this book.
A lot of the reviews of this book seem preoccupied with the plot diversions from the original RE2, which feels a little bit trivial to me. Books and video games are two different mediums and it's often necessary to give more events emphasis so we can see in the heads of the characters experiencing them. And I think the whole A Scenario / B Scenario deal is tough to handle on the page so it makes sense that there are a couple of major differences between this book and the game.
But. I mean. All that said. I can totally see why Capcom hasn't invited SD Perry back to write anymore books after she finished her Resident Evil series.
Mostly, the way this author writes Ada Wong is just so..... awful. Maybe I'm a little bit too enamored with the Ada we're presented in the RE2make, but this book takes a bizarre stance on 1998 Ada. By this, I mean she falls into ridiculous puppy love with Leon and spends a lot of page-time feeling guilty over doing her job and manipulating him. Like. Okay. It goes so against the iconic image of her as a nuanced femme fatale with complete agency over her decisions and emotions. Most iterations of Ada seem to have a soft spot for Leon but still manage to continue with their job. It's strange that the author went the complete opposite direction and turned Ada's quick moments of affection into entire rants about how much she would love to run away with Leon and leave her espionage days behind her. Thematically, I think it's always been important for RE2 Leon to be a complete ingénue with glimmers of worldliness and for Ada to be mostly detached, serving as a major factor for his emotional development into the absolute skank Leon is in RE4. (This is me speaking objectively, of course.) Ugh. So yes, one star off for the un-girlbossification of Ada Wong.
Other than that, I feel like this book is very nearly a four star. The action scenes are done pretty well, and I appreciate the streamlined bits around puzzles and areas of RE2 that would be tedious in a narrative. I adore Claire and Leon, as always, and I enjoyed seeing a little bit of their backstories before the Raccoon City incident. Sherry was also incredibly well-written and avoids the slightly grating "helpless little girl" area she hits in the '98 RE2. She is very small and very capable. I love my daughter.
So yes! I shall not be purchasing anymore Resident Evil novelizations (for now). I haven't finished [b:Love at First|54231816|Love at First|Kate Clayborn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609237177l/54231816._SX50_.jpg|84623334] yet and I feel bad for putting it on hold for a Capcom zombie franchise. That said, this book was an incredibly fun diversion.
A lot of the reviews of this book seem preoccupied with the plot diversions from the original RE2, which feels a little bit trivial to me. Books and video games are two different mediums and it's often necessary to give more events emphasis so we can see in the heads of the characters experiencing them. And I think the whole A Scenario / B Scenario deal is tough to handle on the page so it makes sense that there are a couple of major differences between this book and the game.
But. I mean. All that said. I can totally see why Capcom hasn't invited SD Perry back to write anymore books after she finished her Resident Evil series.
Mostly, the way this author writes Ada Wong is just so..... awful. Maybe I'm a little bit too enamored with the Ada we're presented in the RE2make, but this book takes a bizarre stance on 1998 Ada. By this, I mean she falls into ridiculous puppy love with Leon and spends a lot of page-time feeling guilty over doing her job and manipulating him. Like. Okay. It goes so against the iconic image of her as a nuanced femme fatale with complete agency over her decisions and emotions. Most iterations of Ada seem to have a soft spot for Leon but still manage to continue with their job. It's strange that the author went the complete opposite direction and turned Ada's quick moments of affection into entire rants about how much she would love to run away with Leon and leave her espionage days behind her. Thematically, I think it's always been important for RE2 Leon to be a complete ingénue with glimmers of worldliness and for Ada to be mostly detached, serving as a major factor for his emotional development into the absolute skank Leon is in RE4. (This is me speaking objectively, of course.) Ugh. So yes, one star off for the un-girlbossification of Ada Wong.
Other than that, I feel like this book is very nearly a four star. The action scenes are done pretty well, and I appreciate the streamlined bits around puzzles and areas of RE2 that would be tedious in a narrative. I adore Claire and Leon, as always, and I enjoyed seeing a little bit of their backstories before the Raccoon City incident. Sherry was also incredibly well-written and avoids the slightly grating "helpless little girl" area she hits in the '98 RE2. She is very small and very capable. I love my daughter.
So yes! I shall not be purchasing anymore Resident Evil novelizations (for now). I haven't finished [b:Love at First|54231816|Love at First|Kate Clayborn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609237177l/54231816._SX50_.jpg|84623334] yet and I feel bad for putting it on hold for a Capcom zombie franchise. That said, this book was an incredibly fun diversion.
vanmeers's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
31juliasmith's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
snyx88's review
5.0
Buena continuación del libro anterior pero sintiendo q hubo un arreglo rápido al encontrarse en un arma en el.momento más inesperado que le pudo dar una última oportunidad de salvación, algunas partes pesadas pero cuando encuentras una de las partes que te agarran es difícil soltarlo.
billyraymcevoy's review
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.