This new series will review tie-in novels to popular movies and TV shows, especially those written in the 60s and 70s. I've always been a fan of tie-ins such as Star Trek and CSI novelisations though this series will tend to go deeper into the past...
Enter The Dragon by Mike Roote
Enter The Dragon, the classic Bruce Lee kung-fu epic is one of my favourite films, can the martial art skills of Bruce translate into prose? Well yes the author does an unexpectedly good job. As the film is one of my favourites i have seen it many times of course, so that makes a tie-in novel in this case an interesting experience. Will the book stay true to the original screenplay? Will it add anything new?
Well yes to both really. The novel is fairly true, there are a few differences in structure for example the flashbacks near the start of the film are presented in the book in linear fashion at the start but that's fine as it probably works better in print. The overall plot and feel of the film is adhered to with some differences in detail (but this may have been changed from the screenplay the author worked to anyway).
Does the novel add anything new? Well amazingly yes, it helped clarify some parts of the plot which perhaps were not that clearly laid out on screen. So overall a hit. The cover artwork is basic but effective, a classic still of Bruce in his epic fight with Han. No bullshit.