|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 31 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Perry does it again. Jul 10, 2005
By Eric Hausdorfer
The great thing about the Resident Evil series is just how cheesy and lame the stories tend to be- because that gives S.D. Perry plenty of leeway and creativity. While "Zero Hour" isn't the best example of this (even she can't work miracles), one needs only to look at "Nemesis", "Code Veronica", and her masterpiece "City of the Dead" to realize how awesome Perry can be when she's in the driver's seat. Perry's just about the best thing to happen to the Resident Evil series since over-the-shoulder firing mode.
Why does she succeed? The answers are legion with every page, but for the sake of brevity I'll limit it to three- thoughtful characterization, a versatile writing style, and careful attention to RE canon. What she removes from her stories are the largely banal puzzles of the game, and what she adds are wondrous and frightening touches that make the world around these characters pulse with life. With talent that other writers would beg Old Nick for, Perry takes these two-dimensional characters off the screen and turns them into thinking, feeling, fighting humans. And you would not believe how many ages it appeals to. My grandfather picked up "Nemesis" and not only wasn't able to put it down, but went to the bookstore merely halfway through and bought all the other novels in the Resident Evil series. That's how engaging Perry is. She's a writer who does not waste time. Each scene has a purpose, each character's response natural while still being unique unto them, and most importantly, she manages to capture the "shock-fright" factor that made the games so much fun to play.
I also applaud her for the brief but telling internal monologue she employs, which grants so many of her characters that breath of life needed to make them live on the page. Most impressively, she gets into the minds of the villains, and still manages to keep them enigmatic, sinister, and largely unsympathetic- a vast improvement over the closed-off antagonists of science fiction who we're supposed to feel sorry for without any insight into their persona. In "Zero Hour" she takes Albert Wesker, arguably the archnemesis in Resident Evil, and continues her excellent development of him as a ruthless sellout who is almost obsessed by a battle-code, cloaked in violence, and yet still fearful of the Hell he has helped to create. I hope she realizes she has a winner with this character.
"Zero Hour" is essentially the novelization of Resident Evil 0, which I personally think is the weakest game of the series. Outside of stellar graphics and plenty of fanservice shots of RE babe Rebecca Chambers, the game brings little more to offer the player, and the story, as with Resident Evil 3, laughably disgraces its own canon. Perry manages to bring some dignity back to it, but again, she can't work miracles with RE0; I sincerely doubt anyone could. Yet it turns out to be an enjoyable read, and Perry proves again that Rebecca Chambers is a character out of her own mold. Surly newcomer Billy Coen, who was a walking cliche in the game, actually turns out to be a decent male lead, and I enjoyed the relationship that unfolded between him and Rebecca- while there are some touches of romance, Perry kept their camaraderie original and believable. They make a good pair of heroes.
Ultimately, "Zero Hour" comes out feeling pointless, but the important thing to remember is that it's not through any fault of Perry's. She did the best she could, and though I lean on hyperbole here, I think it's the best anyone could have done. Would I recommend it as a first read? No. Perry's best works remain in the other books of the series. Would I recommend it to someone who wants to see more of her style? Absolutely. She is one of the most underrated authors of our time, and proves that people can take a project that is essentially glorified fanfiction, and turn it into some of the best writing of the modern age. Again, I may be leaning on hyperbole...but at the very least, Perry's writing is a captivating gem in the science fiction genre.
I eagerly await her coming works on Resident Evil. Given the wild success of Resident Evil 4 and the new factors it brought into the canon, I think my grandfather will be paying another visit to the bookstore in the future. I know I will.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Just like playing the game Sep 25, 2006
By L. Maynard
I am a fan of the Resident Evil video games and this book was very much like watching someone else play the game. It wasn't as graphic as it could have been. The creatures weren't described in enough detail to do them justice, but the story flowed well and had a great ending.
S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team is in for a surprise when they enter Racoon City to investigate some unexplained murders. Rebecca Chambers, the youngest member of the team has her hands full when she stumbles upon Billy Coen, a military man who has been sentenced to be executed for crimes he may or may not have committed. Will Billy and Rebecca team up to survive, or will they opt to destroy one another to get out?
The story is fast paced and well developed. Sure, there are some unbelievable moments, but isn't that to be expected in Raccoon City? This was a fun, easy to read book. I will definitely read the next one.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Good, could of been better. Dec 27, 2004
By Adrian Jones
This novelization of RE0 is, like its predecessors good at covering the story and doing what the Video game did, although this book had a few events way out of order. While it was only natural that we get a novelization of RE0, I (like others) wished the time spent writing it was used for original RE fiction. It seems only natural that we get a few originals in the future since RE4 is coming out and is set 6 years into Code Veronica's future and Umbrella doesent exist. We need some books on what happened between there and how Umbrella was taken down.
At any rate.... this book is well worth the read, it's quick (took me only a few hours over a couple of days), and in my opinion it's better than the Code Veronica novelization.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 The Beginning Nov 24, 2004
By H. Lee
This is possibly the best idea Capcom has ever come up with. Starting the story over after years of success and going back to tell how it all started. As usual, S.D. Perry does a brilliant job of telling the story portrayed in the games. Zero Hour will no doubt be the best of the series connecting bits of information that could not be completely understood before its production. How else could you explain finding the bodies of the fallen Bravo team in the games RE1 and RE2 without going back to the beginning? The pieces of information go together masterfully in the lastest edition to the RE book series.
(And a couple of side thoughts; no one who thinks the title of the 2nd book is "Columbian Cove" (which is really Caliban Cove) can truely believe they are the biggest RE fan. The books are made to go along with the games, so if you don't know the games and the guidebooks well then I'm sure that the books will not make sense or seem to match up. Also one more point, writers who write for large companies such as Capcom do not write truely original works, they work with and write with what they are given. If you will notice most, if not all, of Perry's work is related to a television show, video game, or movie.)
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
"Zero Hour" Timely Finish Dec 18, 2005
By Charles O. Parshley
"Charles O. Parshley"
The seventh volume of S. D. Perry's 'Resident Evil' series is a perfectly paced adventure. A consistent style follows throughout most of the books in this collection, the only missteps appearing in 'Caliban Cove' and 'Code: Veronica', and at times being predictable and formulaic which is a common pratfall of most series. This aside, the talent Perry displays for balancing scens and character development and positioning makes this particular group of works well worth having in one's collection. It would be worth having Ms. Perry bring this cycle of work to an even ten books, hopefully giving the character Trent an opportunity to find closure to personal quest which followed through of the previous stories!
See all 31 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
| | |
