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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
dark
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TLDR: Olay return to the universe for die haed fans to get a little more character story. For new people this should be a pass in favor of the manga.
As a huge fan of the Alita series, I was excited to dive into this book. I'll dig into nearly anything that expands the 'verse a little.
From a background perspective the book does pretty well. You're getting more backstory of the key characters from the movie (and for some in the books) and you get more exposure to the sad, dark, just focus on your own survival that is Iron City
From an overall plot perspective there really isnt one. The characters have a connection, and there is somewhat of a unifying story around a chip and later on a newer character, but nothing that really drives the whole story.
As a huge fan of the Alita series, I was excited to dive into this book. I'll dig into nearly anything that expands the 'verse a little.
From a background perspective the book does pretty well. You're getting more backstory of the key characters from the movie (and for some in the books) and you get more exposure to the sad, dark, just focus on your own survival that is Iron City
From an overall plot perspective there really isnt one. The characters have a connection, and there is somewhat of a unifying story around a chip and later on a newer character, but nothing that really drives the whole story.
I didn’t realize this was a prequel but right from the beginning it felt familiar. I was a little put off by the narrator for the first part of the story. I felt his cadence and tone was not helpful to a plodding introduction. But then the story picked up and I enjoyed him a lot more. So I think it’s less the narrator and more the story. The last 2/3 of the story felt like the Netflix adaptation. It filled in some blanks as to the people and why they did what they did. But it really didn’t illuminate. It was just set up for the main Alita story. But it entertained me so it’s fine. If you liked the show, you’d probably like this story. It made me want to rewatch the show. But I wouldn’t say you could read this first and be super thrilled by it. It definitely helps if you’re familiar with this world and the characters.
Pretty good prequel to the movie. I enjoyed the movie and this prequel filled in a lot of gaps in the movie back story.
Good prequel, although I hoped for a little more in Zalem, the last sky city.
I have exactly zero background on Alita prior to this prequel. It was an interesting novel, enough to make me want to know more, but probably not more than maybe watching the film.
This is a novelised prequel to a film I have seen so I wasn't going in completely blind.
As always I'm thankful for the narrator (Brian Nishii) having a clue about how to pronounce Japanese names. Too many audiobook producers don't seem to care about or notice this sort of thing, but it's a trend that seems to be slowly righting itself, as Audiobooks become more popular.
I feel like this content straddles a line of "written for young people" and "content for science fiction fans and anime/manga fans". As a science fiction model it doesn't flesh the world out much. We get the same enclosed, bottom-looking-up view of the world as you do in other things like Maze Runner, Divergent and Hunger Games... a sort of "potted world". This isn't always bad, but you'd hope that it would give more scope for fleshing out the characters and actually describing some of the differences of the world.
I guess that, because it's a novelisation, a lot of the look and feel of the places is left out of the book because they expect that you will have watched the movie, but I like for my books to be the deluxe version... a chance to get more detail. This is really a lot more plot driven than thematic, or character driven. Hugo feels like a cardboard cut-out, and even his internal conflicts seem lacking in nuance.
It's... OK. There don't seem to be any huge gaping holes, except for in the hearts of the characters... and that's part of the point I guess.
As always I'm thankful for the narrator (Brian Nishii) having a clue about how to pronounce Japanese names. Too many audiobook producers don't seem to care about or notice this sort of thing, but it's a trend that seems to be slowly righting itself, as Audiobooks become more popular.
I feel like this content straddles a line of "written for young people" and "content for science fiction fans and anime/manga fans". As a science fiction model it doesn't flesh the world out much. We get the same enclosed, bottom-looking-up view of the world as you do in other things like Maze Runner, Divergent and Hunger Games... a sort of "potted world". This isn't always bad, but you'd hope that it would give more scope for fleshing out the characters and actually describing some of the differences of the world.
I guess that, because it's a novelisation, a lot of the look and feel of the places is left out of the book because they expect that you will have watched the movie, but I like for my books to be the deluxe version... a chance to get more detail. This is really a lot more plot driven than thematic, or character driven. Hugo feels like a cardboard cut-out, and even his internal conflicts seem lacking in nuance.
It's... OK. There don't seem to be any huge gaping holes, except for in the hearts of the characters... and that's part of the point I guess.
I listened to the audiobook. After watching the movie Alita recently, I'm curious about her universe so I thought I would check out the books (not the comics). It was cool learning some of the character's backstories but we still don't find out why Zolem is so special in this particular dystopian universe.
I saw the movie Alita Battle Angel and I was very interested in the back story.
Hopefully they will make this back story into a film as well.
Hopefully they will make this back story into a film as well.
Audio book review.
An excellent prequel! I'm a big fan of the original Alita story (movie & classic manga), and getting more background for Hugo, Ido, Chida, Vector, hunter warriors, and motorball all against the backdrop of the glittering idealized world of Zalem floating over a ruined garbage city. It's wonderful and haunting all at the same time.
An excellent prequel! I'm a big fan of the original Alita story (movie & classic manga), and getting more background for Hugo, Ido, Chida, Vector, hunter warriors, and motorball all against the backdrop of the glittering idealized world of Zalem floating over a ruined garbage city. It's wonderful and haunting all at the same time.
This wasn’t a bad book. It was nicely written. I just didn’t get *why* it was written. Yes, we got some background into the characters of the film, but not Alita herself. And nothing that wasn’t really explained in the film. There just didn’t seem to be a point to this book.