THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

POCKET STAR BOOKS

Novelization by
K. J. Anderson

Based on the Screenplay by
James Dale Robinson

Based on the Comic Books by
Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

Copyright 2003 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
All rights reserved.

Cover art Trademarked and Copyright 2003 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
All rights reserved.



In a novelization of the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, novelization by K. J. Anderson, the novelization of the movie has famous Victorian Era literature characters being brought together to form a League to fight the leader of an evil organization that is bent on starting a World War at the end of the 19th Century.

Based on the comic books by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill,  this has the British Empire bringing together various characters - like explorer and adventurer Allan Quatermain; technological genius Captain Nemo of the submersible Nautilus; Dr. Henry Jekyll and his bestial alter ego Mr. Hyde who was terrorizing Paris; an Invisible Man Rodney Skinner, who makes his living as a thief; the ageless Dorian Gray, subject of the enchanted portrait; chemist Mina Harker, the surviving victim of Count Dracula, who received some of Dracula's abilities; and American Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer to stop the criminal mastermind "The Fantom." As the League races across the globe determined to hunt down The Fantom = they must also deal with a traitor in The League.


While writer Kevin Anderson can write some interesting stories, this feels like a homogeneous version of the graphic novels and does not seem to have the bite that it should have. My god-niece tells me to ignore this book and read the original books by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. While I have not read the graphic novels, or have seen the movie, the novelization is not that dark or appear to be as literate as it should be although I know Anderson added as much characterization as he could. It is a shame that Anderson basically has to stick to the script exactly because the book is a novelization.

I will say that, since this is a steam punk story, it was rather fun to see the submersible boat Nautilus as well as the technology surrounding the Nautilus that Captain Nemo uses, including a car, as well as the technology that The Fantom uses for his nefarious schemes. It is interesting that Tom Sawyer and Mina Harker develop a relationship, especially after Harker's former relationship with Dorian Grey. I would have liked to have enjoyed seeing more of that relationship if they ever did a sequel.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR WARS - THE JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY - DARK APPRENTICE

BANTAM SPECTRA

Written by Kevin J. Anderson

Copyright 1994 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

Cover art by John Alvin.

In Dark Apprentice, Volume 2 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, the New Republic wonders what to do with the captured super-weapon the Sun Crusher - while rogue Imperial Admiral Daala, in retaliation for the New Republic stealing the Sun Crusher from her, attacks Admiral Ackbar's watery homeworld from space. Meanwhile, at the Jedi Academy, a brilliant Jedi student is influenced by an ancient Sith Master.

Admiral Ackbar, after coming out of voluntary exile when he accidentally destroyed the holy Cathedral of Winds and killing numerous Vors with his starfighter on the planet Vortex, defends his homeworld from Imperial Admiral Daala' Star Destroyers. Since both Ackbar and Daala were under the influence of the late Gran Moff Tarkin, Ackbar was able to defeat Daala's tactics of using her Imperial Star Destroyers against his Mon Calamari homeworld.

It is nice to see the students at the Jedi Academy that Luke Skywalker created for learning about the ways of the Force. Mara Jade has decided to join them at the Academy for a short time, but you can see that Jedi student Kyp Durron becoming dissatisfied with Master Luke's limited teachings on Kyp's quest for power. Kyp then becomes a student of the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun. Determined in his quest for power, and vengeance for the loss of his parents, Kyp recovers the super-weapon The Sun Crusher with the Force from inside the gas giant planet Yavin for vengeance against the Empire. He soon declares himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. After encountering Exar Kun, what happens to Luke is very ominous.

Watching Wedge fall in love was nice to see - until Kyp gets to Wedge's scientist charge, Doctor Qwi Xux. Kyp mentally rapes her as a form of capital punishment, which is understandable since Qwi was the weapons scientist whose research designed the Sun Crusher - as well as designing the Death Star. As a result of this loss of memory, Qwi can never construct a superweapon again.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.