Wonder Woman - the Official Movie Novelization

When a hurricane comes through and you have no power, trust me when I say - it gives you plenty of time to read!  And what better way to spend the time than reading the novelization of one of DC's greatest superhero films since Christopher Reeve's Superman!  The official novelization of the Wonder Woman film is, by far, one of the best film novelizations I have ever read.  It didn't just stay true to the film - it was the closest I've ever seen to a book matching the film exactly!

Author Nancy Holder adapted the film nearly flawlessly (and the reason I say "nearly" you'll see in just a bit...).  With every page, the descriptions so vivid, the dialogue such a match, that I could visualize with no difficulty the scenes from the film.  In fact, while reading the novel, I pretty much felt like I was the watching the movie again!  Every scene, every bit of dialogue (at least, to the best of my recollection), every character, every action, everything!  Yes, we did get some inner dialogue here and there from the characters, particularly Diana - but it fit the characterization, and I could easily see Diana and some of the other characters thinking these things as they acted the way they did in the movie.

I am not sure if Holder adapted this from the original screenplay, a later revision, or if she simply took it from the film itself (the last seems totally plausible, since there are no scenes in the book that aren't in the movie, and there were no scenes omitted as was what happened with the junior reader novelization), but regardless of how she did it, I am impressed with her capture of the film.  It's not often you read a book and you can actually feel the innocence of Diana as she arrives in Man's World - or feel her betrayal and anger when she thinks Steve has lied to her - or feel her determination and loss when she battles Ares after ... well, I won't say that, as I don't want to spoil anything for those who may not have seen the film yet.

Now, the reason the book is only "nearly" flawless and not perfectly flawless is because of the number of editing snafus.  It's a shame really, since I just finished making comments about the lack of editing these days in my last review (of the second Boxcar Children Great Adventure book).  Yes, as I turned page after page, I was stunned at how many grammatical errors there were, or instances where words were simply missing from the sentence, or the wrong spelling of the word.  Do books even have editors any more? Or have we become a society so dependent on technology, that we think the computer will catch any errors and we don't actually have to read the drafts prior to sending to print?

Yes, I realize to err is human - however, when I'm shelling out hard-earned money for the books, I expect the product that I receive to be a bit more professional.  One or two mistakes in a 280 page book I can probably overlook - but when there are one or more mistakes in every other chapter, it becomes annoying, as it immediately takes me out of the story, ruining my full enjoyment of the book.

But enough about that.  This is Wonder Woman.  This is the Wonder Woman that I have been waiting years and years to see brought to life on the big screen.  This is the Wonder Woman that I absolutely love seeing brought into the limelight where she belongs.  Outside of the editorial errors, this is an engaging, action-packed, smooth read that made me smile, made me tear-up, and made me wish more and more and more that this was the kind of story DC Comics would publish in their comics these days.

Thank you, Holder, for taking the feature film and making Wonder Woman just as successful in print!

RATING:  8 golden lassos of truth out of 10 for, well, simply put, bringing more Wonder Woman to the public at large!