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.]]
 
[[Image:Worlds of Power - Blaster Master - Paperback - 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]]'', 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.
  
 
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.
 
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.

Revision as of 12:29, 11 February 2019

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.

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.

Review

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: "boy's pet frog escapes and leads him to radioactive waste where he falls into an underground cavern and steals a futuristic tank."
  • 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!

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

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