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42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bad writing ruins a good story, March 13, 2000
This review is from: Planescape: Torment (Mass Market Paperback)
How come the story was so brilliant in the computer game, and yet this novel is so bad? Is this story too big to fit into a book? Does it have too many scenes? Does the game end up providing you with vastly more background than a book ever can? Is user-interaction a key part of the story? "No", I think the answer must be: a good book of the story is possible. But this novel is not it. This novel is just badly written. The book is bad, and far worse than the original computer game. The story in the computer game was mature, sophisticated, complex and intruiging; but the book in most ways seems targetted at 8-14 year olds. The sophisticated story is in conflict with the childish writing. I had bought the book hoping to have some of the beautiful, dramatic scenes from the game played out in full -- such as the memory from Dionarra's stone, for instance. But the book manages to fit only a (remarkably) small number of events and scenes in its 240 pages, and in an unusual choice it has included the boring events and omitted the dramatic ones. There is an interesting problem: how on earth can you write a novel in which the main character has no name? The book struggles clumsily with this stylistic problem, eventually naming him "Thane" at the end of chapter 3. The authors seem to have written it as a 'soap book'. Every single chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, which is invariably resolved within 3/4 of the first page of the new chapter. It gives the book an unexciting tick-tick-tick periodic pace, like a metronome. I can't imagine why they did it. The book's dialog and characterisation are irritating. The hero, Thane, has been given mind of an awkward, innocent 12-13 year old -- struggling with adolescent falling-in-love, with trying to make sense of the world and other people. This is incongruous given his role in the story. Annah speaks in irritatingly over-the-top Dickensian slang. Dakkon has the speech and mannerisms of a late-20th-century rational liberal humanist. The book is filled with these things: descriptions of the world as if it were a wholly new thing to Thane as though he were innocent and adolescent; and awkward conversation that expresses over and over again Thane's internal uncertainties. Thane in the book reminds me a lot of Rincewind from Terry Pratchet's Discworld novels -- because of his adolescence, and because he is an unpowerful character, always running away from things, never having a clue about what is happening or why. He doesn't have any of the remarkable, insightful dialog from the game; when he defeats his nemesis it is by clumsy accident. (Unfortunately this book exhibits none of Pratchet's humour). To a large extent, the book's dynamics are in accord with its protrayal of the hero: the chapters and events sweep past, with the hero an impotent and perplexed participant, passive. The reader is also perplexed and impotent. The book's 17 events (one per chapter!) are like a fairground ride going past different scenery -- neither the hero nor the reader have no idea why, or how, or what comes next, and nor can they really engage with the events or shape them.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ravel can see my Torment, October 10, 2000
This review is from: Planescape: Torment (Mass Market Paperback)
At one point in Torment (the game), Ravel Puzzelwell, an infamous legendary Night Hag who has granted the curse of immortality on the Nameless one looks mockingly into the heart of both him and the hearts of his five companions. Nameless, as she explains acts as a loadstone for tormented souls, all the characters who have followed him thus far are "tormented" to some degreee as well. Each has an internal conflict, and Ravel with her demented but nontheless truthful vision sees the faults and torments of each character: Dak'kon the grimly silent but obedient githzerai is bound to the service of the Nameless one through an old and forgotten debt. Annah, the bitchy but lovable teifling girl, finds herself mysteriously drawn to scarred and leathery man, although this revelation confuses and frightens rather than reassures her. Fall-from-grace, the reformed succubus, also finds that the Nameless one inspires her sympathy, although in turning away from her inherent dark nature she suffers as well. Nordom, the rogue modron, has lived in a world of perfect order until he deviated from the norm in his home. His assured and robotic voice hides is an increasingly confused being behind it. Even Morte, the goofy floating skull, with a wry and sometimes raunchy sense of humor, is stricken with guilt about a past event so distand he doesn't even remember it. Yet now his innate cowardace is his achilles heel. Now, I suppose, if I were traveling with the Nameless one and his motley crew of friends, what would Ravel see in me? What is my torment? Very recently, I had played a turly phenominal game called Planescape: Torment. I revelled in world so fascinating and descriptive, with characters so real and outlandish at the same time, and lived vicariously as complex and tragic figure, a heavily scarred immortal amnesiac who wanders the planes in search of his identity. Games have made me laugh before, but never have made me laugh so hard. And never before had a game made me cry. Never before had I felt such a feeling of dread, despair, and morbid fascination. In short, the experience of Torment is like reading a gripping novel. Not this one, that is. Then I found out that someone had written a novel of this game, so I had to submit to my own curiosity. I expected it to altered somewhat, but for 240 pages this book mechanically toils away and underminds everything about the game it possibly can. The end result: a fast-paced, user-friendly, watered-down, slipshod, juvenile carigature that completely destroys the best elements of the game. Even from the beginning the starts off on the wrong foot. Gone are the vivid descriptions, characterizations, startling revelations, subtlties, and in short scope of the game. Worse than that, the book is badly and hastily written besides. The emotional edge is lost as well as much of the imagery, for the book relentlessly nods away and proceeds, leaving little room for thought. This creates a sense of detatchment and even indifference on behalf of the reader. The story contained within this almost completely incongruous to that of the game, it's as if a sheet of paper was sent to authors within a weeks notice containing only a few vital names characters (The Nameless one, who is referred to as "Thane", Annah, Morte, Fall-from-grace, Dak'kon (who look nothing like how they did from the game), Pharod, etc.). Several of the most interesting locations and characters in the game, such as the Dismembered Crypt, the Warrens of Thought, The Alley of Lingering Sighs, The Brothel of Slating Intellectual Lusts, the Rubikon Testing grounds, the Lady of Pain's maze, the Maloseum, Deionarra, Nordom, Ignus, Vhailor and countless others are completely absent. Although they are familiar with the Planescape universe, it is impossible to assume, or even hypothesize that the authors ever played the game. That alone will be evident after reading the first chapter or two. Therefore, nothing of quality remains in this choked story. It is an injustice of the worst sort (even Vhailor might agree with me on this). I wonder if anyone ever read the book before it was shipped. If you've played Torment, you will regret the experience. If you you have NOT played Torment, then I urge you--no I beg you--go out and buy the game. Or borrow it from a friend at least. Don't bother reading this book. Don't make eye contact with it. In fact, don't even finish reading this review. Even if someone had simply received a copy of the script and all it's countless ramifications from Black Isle and turned it into a book, it would be a much better read than this. (Come to think of it, I would like to see that . . .) There is way to make this material work in book form, though it would hardly be neccisary. If you truly wish to turn Torment into a novel, then for God's sake, I'll have you know that 90% of your dialogue and even descriptions have already been done for you in the game. Otherwise, it makes this book seem even more pointless. Typically, novelizations of narrative-impaired games such as DOOM work for novels, because the authors are free to incorporate their own story encompassing the theme of the game and building on, rather than undermining those elements that made the game so memorable (and by conicidence, I'm being very fair when I state that the DOOM novels are much better than the novelization of Torment, even if you are to read them without prior knowledge of the games). Torment, however is a fluke in the fact that it is the exact opposite. They should have known better.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Book, in Contrast to an Outstanding Computer Game, January 29, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Planescape: Torment (Mass Market Paperback)
I played the computer game first. I was amazed at the quality. I thought it should win RPG of the year. The characters were well developed and interactive. The plot and graphics were rich and detailed. I bought the book to better understand the characters, to get more insight into the plot, and ,in general, to get more of what I loved in the computer game. I wanted more insight. The writing in a novel would seem to be less restrictive, limited only by the imagination. The book gives more, but the computer game has SO MUCH written dialogue, that it almost plays like a separate interactive novel. In many ways, the book barely even touches the complexity of some of the characters or side plots in the computer game. The book disappointed me with the treatment of the meeting of Ravel in the maze (very unremarkable), the scant appearance of Fall-from-Grace (she leaves the plot line very quickly), and some significant variations in the characters from the computer game, in style, and sometimes in personality. I felt that Morte was held back too much, and Dak'kon was made too personal in the novel. The computer game has much more DEPTH overall that this book doesn't touch, but the book adds some subtle details and clarifies major plot points that weren't completely clear in the game and leaves out others (where was Dionarra! ). The book certainly clarifies the ending (at least in the way my first computer game has ended). If you've already played the game, I recommend this book only if you truly loved it and want to fill out more details. The question would be how much you are willing to pay for more background. The plot is the same, and much is anticipated, but many scenes were in new places and many characters had subtle twists. If you haven't played the game yet, DON'T BUY THE BOOK! The plot and characters are so much better developed in the computer game. Let the enriched media enchant you all the way. Reading the novel first would have reduced the wonder I felt when playing the game. Get the game first, then buy the book if you're still interested. I hope this helps.
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