Strange Visitors
Mar. 22nd, 2003 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustFinished reading the Smallville novel I borrowed from the library a few weeks ago. When I originally saw it at the bookstores, I was tempted to buy it. Now I'm glad I didn't. It's not that it's an awful book - it's just not particularly good.
The book is Strange Visitors by Roger Stern, and as someone who has read her share of tie-in novels, I can say that this is one of the ones you have to force yourself to finish.
There's nothing wrong with the plot premise, which involves an alternative medicine guru promoting the meteor rocks as a miracle health cure - and, incidentally, raking in a lot of cash for his 'research foundation'.
But the way it's executed leaves a lot to be desired. It feels very much like the characters are going through the motions, especially when you throw in predictable plot elements like the classmate dying of cancer and Nell Potter's infatuation with the guru.
Although our heroes suspect that this guru is a con artist and decide to investigate, there's very little suspense or tension - no compelling conflict, no sense of anything vital at stake. And you'd think that the stakes *would* be high, and the opportunities for conflict great, with a set-up like this. Do the guru and his followers cause havoc with unexpected meteor mutations? Do they stumble across Clark's secret? Do they butt heads with Lex Luthor? The answer is none of the above. They're so busy with internal squabbles, they don't have a *clue* what's going on.
But my main complaint isn't even about all this. It's about the other half of the book - the B-story half, the character development half. Except it's not about character development at all - it's about character *introductions*. We meet Clark's family, friends, acquaintances, crushes, rivals, victims, etc; we learn about his history, his powers, his relationships, and everything else a viewer of the show already knows.
Is this information delivered through subtle allusions in conversation or brief asides slipped discreetly into the body of the story? No. You get flashbacks, you get interior monologues, you get characters reminiscing aloud, or you just get told flat out.
I think I've become less tolerant of exposition than I used to be. I like subtle storytelling. I like it when the author drops you into a world and lets you figure out what's going on. I like it when the reader has to work at filling in the gaps. I believe in the impact of not being told but deducing it for yourself.
Maybe Strange Visitors is intended to serve as an introduction to the Smallville universe. Maybe that's why it's so long-winded. But there must be a better way of clueing in the newbies.
In spite of my opinions above, there *are* a couple of cute moments in the book:
*****
Clark looked around as Lex steered the Lamborghini into the heart of Smallville's downtown. "We're getting a lot of stares."
"Nothing new for me. Don't worry, they can't see you through the tinted glass. You can make faces at them if you like."
"Do *you* ever...?"
"Not for years." Lex grinned at his passenger. "But for a while, after I lost my hair... all the time. The first two years were the worst. People would assume I was on chemo, but when they found out I wasn't, I started hearing the 'baldy' jokes."
"Kids can be pretty mean."
"Yes. Kids, too."
*****
"So, you think the meteors cured your asthma?"
Lex shrugged. "They may have. Or maybe I just outgrew it. Though I'm sure your friend Chloe would prefer the former explanation."
"By a country mile, as my dad would say. Funny, though, I've never thought of you as one of Chloe's meteor freaks."
"Why, thank you, Clark. 'Not a freak'... that's one of the highest compliments I've been paid all month. With that kind of charm, it's easy to see why you get all the girls."
"No, no! I meant--!"
"Kidding, Clark. I know what you meant."
*****
"I asked Dad earlier, and he said I should ask you as well." Clark cupped his hands around his glass and looked at her earnestly. "Why did you adopt me?"
"What a thing to ask!" Now Martha looked distressed, as well as taken aback. "How could we *not* adopt you! You were so adorable--!"
"But I'm an *alien*! And not just from another *country*, but--!"
"You obviously needed a family--"
"I arrived here in a *spaceship*--!"
"--and we'd been wanting a child for so long--"
"Mom, are you even listening to me?"
*****
Jonathan stirred his coffee. "It took us a minute or two to figure out what had happened and where we were. That's when I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, something outside the truck."
Martha smiled. "It was a little boy, not more than three or four at the most."
"Yep. And naked as a jaybird."
"Dad!"
"What, did you think you were wearing a little space suit when we found you?"
*****
"I don't want to see you hurt, Clark. Lex is fighting two decades of being a Luthor, and those are some pretty long odds. I just want you to be careful."
"I'll do my best."
"You do that, Son."
"Yes. That's all we ever ask, dear."
Clark smiled at his parents. "Ya know, I've been thinking a lot about the day you found me." A wistful look crossed his face. "I know it never could have happened... but I sometimes wish that you could have adopted Lex, too."
*****
The book is Strange Visitors by Roger Stern, and as someone who has read her share of tie-in novels, I can say that this is one of the ones you have to force yourself to finish.
There's nothing wrong with the plot premise, which involves an alternative medicine guru promoting the meteor rocks as a miracle health cure - and, incidentally, raking in a lot of cash for his 'research foundation'.
But the way it's executed leaves a lot to be desired. It feels very much like the characters are going through the motions, especially when you throw in predictable plot elements like the classmate dying of cancer and Nell Potter's infatuation with the guru.
Although our heroes suspect that this guru is a con artist and decide to investigate, there's very little suspense or tension - no compelling conflict, no sense of anything vital at stake. And you'd think that the stakes *would* be high, and the opportunities for conflict great, with a set-up like this. Do the guru and his followers cause havoc with unexpected meteor mutations? Do they stumble across Clark's secret? Do they butt heads with Lex Luthor? The answer is none of the above. They're so busy with internal squabbles, they don't have a *clue* what's going on.
But my main complaint isn't even about all this. It's about the other half of the book - the B-story half, the character development half. Except it's not about character development at all - it's about character *introductions*. We meet Clark's family, friends, acquaintances, crushes, rivals, victims, etc; we learn about his history, his powers, his relationships, and everything else a viewer of the show already knows.
Is this information delivered through subtle allusions in conversation or brief asides slipped discreetly into the body of the story? No. You get flashbacks, you get interior monologues, you get characters reminiscing aloud, or you just get told flat out.
I think I've become less tolerant of exposition than I used to be. I like subtle storytelling. I like it when the author drops you into a world and lets you figure out what's going on. I like it when the reader has to work at filling in the gaps. I believe in the impact of not being told but deducing it for yourself.
Maybe Strange Visitors is intended to serve as an introduction to the Smallville universe. Maybe that's why it's so long-winded. But there must be a better way of clueing in the newbies.
In spite of my opinions above, there *are* a couple of cute moments in the book:
Clark looked around as Lex steered the Lamborghini into the heart of Smallville's downtown. "We're getting a lot of stares."
"Nothing new for me. Don't worry, they can't see you through the tinted glass. You can make faces at them if you like."
"Do *you* ever...?"
"Not for years." Lex grinned at his passenger. "But for a while, after I lost my hair... all the time. The first two years were the worst. People would assume I was on chemo, but when they found out I wasn't, I started hearing the 'baldy' jokes."
"Kids can be pretty mean."
"Yes. Kids, too."
"So, you think the meteors cured your asthma?"
Lex shrugged. "They may have. Or maybe I just outgrew it. Though I'm sure your friend Chloe would prefer the former explanation."
"By a country mile, as my dad would say. Funny, though, I've never thought of you as one of Chloe's meteor freaks."
"Why, thank you, Clark. 'Not a freak'... that's one of the highest compliments I've been paid all month. With that kind of charm, it's easy to see why you get all the girls."
"No, no! I meant--!"
"Kidding, Clark. I know what you meant."
"I asked Dad earlier, and he said I should ask you as well." Clark cupped his hands around his glass and looked at her earnestly. "Why did you adopt me?"
"What a thing to ask!" Now Martha looked distressed, as well as taken aback. "How could we *not* adopt you! You were so adorable--!"
"But I'm an *alien*! And not just from another *country*, but--!"
"You obviously needed a family--"
"I arrived here in a *spaceship*--!"
"--and we'd been wanting a child for so long--"
"Mom, are you even listening to me?"
Jonathan stirred his coffee. "It took us a minute or two to figure out what had happened and where we were. That's when I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, something outside the truck."
Martha smiled. "It was a little boy, not more than three or four at the most."
"Yep. And naked as a jaybird."
"Dad!"
"What, did you think you were wearing a little space suit when we found you?"
"I don't want to see you hurt, Clark. Lex is fighting two decades of being a Luthor, and those are some pretty long odds. I just want you to be careful."
"I'll do my best."
"You do that, Son."
"Yes. That's all we ever ask, dear."
Clark smiled at his parents. "Ya know, I've been thinking a lot about the day you found me." A wistful look crossed his face. "I know it never could have happened... but I sometimes wish that you could have adopted Lex, too."
