Difference between revisions of "Blaster Master (book)"

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[[Image:Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Paperback - USA - 1st Edition.jpg|thumb|256x256px|First edition, US paperback.]]
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[[Image:Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Mass Market - USA - 1st Edition.jpg|thumb|256x256px|First edition, US paperback.]]
  
'''''Blaster Master''''' is a young adult novelization of the video game [[Blaster Master]], and the first book in the [[Worlds of Power]] series. Like all books in the series, it is attributed to "F. X. Nine," but the internal text describes the author as "A. L. Singer," which is a pen name for [[Peter Lerangis]]. It was published by [[Scholastic]] in 1990.
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'''''Blaster Master''''' is a young adult novelization of the video game ''[[Blaster Master]]'' published by [[Scholastic]] in July of 1990. It is the first book in the ''[[Worlds of Power]]'' series, and, like all books in the series, it is attributed to "F. X. Nine." The internal text lists the author as "A. L. Singer," which is a pen name for [[Peter Lerangis]].
  
My mother allowed me to buy this book from a monthly school book catalog. Although I didn't know anything about the game on which it is based, I knew it was an [[NES]] game, and that was enough to enticed me. I enjoyed the book enough that it made me seek out and play the game. It was only then that I learned how little the book had to do with the game.
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==Personal==
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My mother allowed me to buy this book from a monthly school book catalog in 1991. Although I didn't know anything about the game on which it is based, I knew it was an [[NES]] game, and that was enough to enticed me. Though I found the book a bit childish when I read it, I still enjoyed it enough to seek out and play the game. It was only then that I learned how little the book had to do with the game.
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==Status==
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I still own my badly worn reprint copy and have read it several times.
  
 
==Review==
 
==Review==
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{{Spoilers}}
 +
 
===Good===
 
===Good===
 
* The book is fun and properly geared toward children.
 
* The book is fun and properly geared toward children.
* The book has a much more interesting backstory than the one found in the game: "boy's pet frog escapes and leads him to radioactive waste where he falls into an underground cavern and steals a futuristic tank."
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* The book has a much more interesting backstory than the one found in the game, which is: "boy's pet frog escapes and leads him to radioactive waste where he falls into an underground cavern and steals a futuristic tank that just happened to be there."
* The characters created for the book add important camaraderie to the main character, and allow dialogue to an otherwise dialogue-free game. The character Eve was even ret-conned into later installments of the game!
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* The characters created for the book add important camaraderie to the main character, and allow dialogue to what would otherwise be a dialogue-free story. The character Eve was even ret-conned into later installments of the canon games!
  
 
===Bad===
 
===Bad===
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==Media==
 
==Media==
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Paperback - USA - 1st Edition.jpg|1st edition, US paperback.
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Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Mass Market - USA - 1st Edition.jpg|1st edition, US mass market.
Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Paperback - USA - 2nd Edition.jpg|2nd edition, US paperback.
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Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Mass Market - USA - 2nd Edition.jpg|2nd edition, US mass market.
Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Paperback - UK.jpg|UK paperback.
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Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Mass Market - UK.jpg|UK mass market.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762662.Blaster_Master goodreads.com/book/show/762662.Blaster_Master] - GoodReads.
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{{Link|GoodReads|https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762662.Blaster_Master}}
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* [http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/bm.html atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/bm.html] - Review.
 
* [http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/bm.html atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/bm.html] - Review.
 
* [https://gamebooks.org/Item/3632 gamebooks.org/Item/3632] - Game Books.
 
* [https://gamebooks.org/Item/3632 gamebooks.org/Item/3632] - Game Books.
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[[Category: Fiction]]
 
[[Category: Fiction]]
 
[[Category: Young Adult Books]]
 
[[Category: Young Adult Books]]
[[Category: Science Fiction]]
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[[Category: Media Theme - Adventure]]
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[[Category: Media Theme - Science Fiction]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Books]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Books]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Novelizations]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Novelizations]]
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[[Category: Trope - Damsel In Distress]]
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[[Category: Trope - Strong Female Character]]
 
[[Category: Books I've Read]]
 
[[Category: Books I've Read]]
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[[Category: Books That Fail the Bechdel Test]]

Revision as of 09:12, 7 August 2020

First edition, US paperback.

Blaster Master is a young adult novelization of the video game Blaster Master published by Scholastic in July of 1990. It is the first book in the Worlds of Power series, and, like all books in the series, it is attributed to "F. X. Nine." The internal text lists the author as "A. L. Singer," which is a pen name for Peter Lerangis.

Personal

My mother allowed me to buy this book from a monthly school book catalog in 1991. Although I didn't know anything about the game on which it is based, I knew it was an NES game, and that was enough to enticed me. Though I found the book a bit childish when I read it, I still enjoyed it enough to seek out and play the game. It was only then that I learned how little the book had to do with the game.

Status

I still own my badly worn reprint copy and have read it several times.

Review

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The book is fun and properly geared toward children.
  • The book has a much more interesting backstory than the one found in the game, which is: "boy's pet frog escapes and leads him to radioactive waste where he falls into an underground cavern and steals a futuristic tank that just happened to be there."
  • The characters created for the book add important camaraderie to the main character, and allow dialogue to what would otherwise be a dialogue-free story. The character Eve was even ret-conned into later installments of the canon games!

Bad

  • The book uses a lot of artistic license adding to and changing a fair amount of the game.
  • Some of the writing is a bit hokey, but then, it is written for elementary school students.
  • The jokes surrounding Eve's inability to grasp American idioms are pretty bad.
  • The book glosses over the later levels, bosses, and power-ups of the game with a single page.
  • I know it was implied in the game's American introduction, but it doesn't make much sense for Jason to believe that one of the bosses was his pet frog, or that any of the bosses were really pets. The first and third area bosses are clearly not pets, and how does a pet lobster escape an aquarium into the underground anyway?

Ugly

  • Nothing.

Media

Links

Link-GoodReads.png