Customer Reviews

Heroes: Saving Charlie: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am a huge Heroes fan, and I've been dying to know the details of the Hiro/Charlie story. Even though it was only a tiny part of the series, I really loved the character and wanted to know what could possibly have happened to cause Hiro to not save Charlie. Did all the jumping forward and backward in time mess up the time line? Did saving Charlie lead to some worse result later on? Would we have a Sylar/Hiro confrontation? Unfortunately, the novel gives us nothing, and that nothing occurs in the last few moments of the book. We don't even get to see what happens in the final timeline where Hiro and Ando walk into the diner that Hiro has been working at for all those missing months. Instead, all we get is page after page of a Hiro that bares little resemblance that the Hiro we've come to love. I did find some of the Hiro/Charlie romance charming, and the book did have a nods to the fans. But ultimately, it reads more like a short fanfic expanded to book length instead of a story that could have actually been part of the show.

A case of trying to hard coupled with mediocre writing, this book really didn't do it for me. The author even somehow managed to turn the single most lovable character in Heroes into an annoying, emotional, even whiny unlikable loser. I get that Hiro isn't perfect and that he's kinda been a disappointment to his father and all, but jeez...how many times did they have to get into his utter lack of ever even managing to kiss a girl? Or, the need to bash us over the head with his extremely exaggerated emotional swings? (Since when is Hiro manic?)

I just didn't enjoy it. I don't generally read books based on existing properties, but I thought it'd be a light, fun read. I mean, how could it go wrong? Hiro is just so gosh darn likable on the show. But this book didn't read like him at all. Clearly, the author didn't understand the character and that came through as you felt, reading the book, you didn't either.

I bought this book in the hopes that it would be an enjoyable read during the writers' strike and that it would provide insight into a missing period of time in the show.

The biggest problem was that, to me, Hiro was almost unrecognizable. Instead of a sweet, caring, loving character, he came across as an ignorant, selfish, sex-obsessed geek. Not only did I find his characterization lacking, but the continuity with the show in regards to his past was spotty at best. The combination of the two left me sorely disappointed.

Aside from that, the plot seemed to diverge too far from what was actually indicated on the show to be at all plausible as canon. The ending was especially far-fetched, and at times read like poorly thought-out fanfiction.

Overall, I'm left to wonder what the show-runners think of the book, and to what degree they consider it canon. Because the discrepancies between the book and the show are hard to overlook.

If you like, or love the tv show Heroes you will probably enjoy this book...as to how much you will like it may depend on your tastes. The story basically fills in the romance between Hero and Charlie, with no great surprises. On the positive side it is a quick read, on the other it is mostly a romantic tale. I cannot help but think this was a story arc that the writers thought about developing through a season of the show, but decided to go another way and figured they would put it out in book form. That being said...without other story lines to take us away from this, the story of "Saving Charlie" ends up to be a nice one, but with no real surprises or excitment...more of a romance than anything else.

I was looking forward to something that could fill the void left behind by the disappointing second season and the subsequent writers strike.

THIS BOOK IS NOT IT.

It is, quite simply, horrid. It's like reading fan-fiction, and BAD fan-fiction at that. If it had been original that would have been one thing, but much of the book seemed to have been a literal re-writing of the scripts. I didn't realize exactly how bad it was until I went back and re-watched the episodes covered by this book.

Don't waste your money. There is better Heroes fiction - for FREE - out on the web.

I'm a huge fan of the show so I was very excited about the book. Unfortunately, I found it extremely disappointing. I wasn't expecting any huge secrets or revelations to be revealed, so it didn't bother me that there aren't any.

What really disappointed me was that the blook is very light and fluffy, for lack of a better way to describe it. I went through it in about an hour and a half. I was expecting something more in-depth and engrossing. The book basically covers the amount of story you could get in one episode of the show.

I enjoyed this book. I love the show and was looking forward to this book. There's not much action to it and it's more about Hiro's character than anything else. It had sort of a romantic comedy feel to it. I think the writer did a good job getting into Hiro's personality and provided some glimpses into his childhood that were interesting. Overall I liked it. I do hope for future books they get some more science fiction or comic book writers to pen them, but having said that, I would read this author again if they write another one.

Heroes is a show that is marked by great writing, action, mystery, and well developed story lines; all of which is absent from Saving Charlie.

Saving Charlie tells the story of how Hiro tried to go back in time and save the waitress, Charlie, whom he fell in love with, from death at the hands of the demented Sylar. So first of all, did we even need a book written about this event? There is so much depth and unexplored territory in the Heroes world; why did we get a book about Charlie? The book is supposed to be filling in the gaps left by the episode from season one "6 months ago". The saddest thing is that the Hiro/Charlie story only makes up about 15 minutes of that show; there were only 15 minutes of information that had to be correctly incorporated into the book, and the author failed miserably. The ending of the book not only conflicts with the events from the show, but is depressingly stupid (that is to say that it is depressing because it is stupid, not just because Syler kills Charlie; we knew that from the show anyway). Of course, there are numerous contradictions throughout the book with the TV series. Plot threads are introduced which go nowhere and serve no purpose (such as Barbie the waitress).

So, the premise of the book is bad and it is difficult to tell that the author has even seen an episode of Heroes; there are a few bright spots to the book. The addition of the character Lloyd made the book interesting at times, and the character of Charlie was well developed. Hiro fluctuates back and forth from being the character in the show and the stereotypical nerd, but it is bearable.

Overall, the book is a disaster. I know that fellow Heroes fans are eager for more, but this book doesn't provide it. Hopefully, in the future the show creators and Universal will at least put a little effort into a book instead of quickly churning out material for a few extra bucks. I am more than willing to shell out money for hardback Heroes books, but a series of books should have to live up to the same high standards that have made the television show a huge hit.

Before the release of this book I hurriedly re-watched the series on DVD. All I will say is that "Saving Charlie" lived up to my expectations and, in fact, ended pretty much as I imagined it would. Ms. Wallington keeps true to the show's characters and makes their interactions believable. There is plenty of action right from the get-go. I certainly hope that there are more books to come in this series.

This book was a total disappointment. I love the Heroes show. I was so looking forward to this book. I made it to page 137, and could not take any more of it.

Where to start? The book assumes you have seen the show. The first pages go so fast that it seems to be setting the story, but what it is doing is recanting the story -- very poorly at that. The introspections of Hiro, his thoughts, his ideas are so lame and poorly expressed. Hiro may look "dumb" to us because he is so naive in our culture and quite a dweeb; however, this author paints him as a total idiot. He was no such thing in the series. The dialog is bland and not very deep.

It is very sad that such a great series has been followed by such a poor attempt at a novel.