Customer Reviews

Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A few years ago, Spider-Man fought an incredible being who called himself Morlun, who was supposed to be an Ancient and a drinker of souls. More to the point, Morlun feasted on the souls of people who chose animals as their "spirit totem." He wanted Spider-Man because of his connection to the spider spirit. Spider-Man defeated Morlun with help, but now the rest of the Ancients, a sister and two brothers, are out for revenge. And maybe a midnight snack. After being assigned a temporary basketball coaching job with a troublesome star athlete, Peter Parker (Spider-Man) arrives home to find more trouble: his wife MJ has taken on an acting job but now has to drive to get there. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a driver's license (what native New Yorker does?) and just failed the tests. Peter tells her he'll help her, then jumps into patrol as Spider-Man. He immediately gets jumped by Felcity Hardy, an old girlfriend who goes by the name The Black Cat. Black Cat tells Spider-Man that he's being lured to his doom by the Rhino on a rampage. But, being a hero, Peter has no choice but to go -- and nearly gets feasted on. Together, Spider-Man and the Black Cat have to figure out how to defeat the trio of Ancients without losing their lives in the process.

Jim Butcher is the best-selling author of the Dresden Files, featuring wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden. A television show is being filmed now. He's also the author of the Codex Alera fantasy series.

Butcher hits some really nice licks with this book, capturing the humbleness and golly-gee of Peter Parker in his first-person narrative. Throwing the Black Cat into the mix with Peter and his wife MJ was an especially nice touch, a romp down memory lane for old-time comics fans. The Rhino, always one of Spider-Man's more simple yet complex villains, is played brilliantly in the book. There's even a couple cameos with Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (as well as an astonishing reveal about Wong, Dr. Strange's majordomo). The pacing is frenetic, filled with the trademark quips as well as lots of dialogue among the characters, and surprising twists and turns of the plot that keep a reader moving along. Although these are comic book characters, they come across as surprisingly human on Butcher's pages.

THE DARKEST HOURS is a solid Spider-Man novel, a great adventure read, and the very thing a comic geek or someone interested in Spider-Man through the movie venue needs to pack along to the beach. Harry Dresden fans will probably also enjoy this sideline jaunt Butcher takes through the Marvel Comics Universe.

Some of these Spider-Man novels fall a little flat. This one "gets it." Spidey is smart, and witty. It even has a whole sub-plot involving his students at school. There's a guest shot by Dr. Strange, some comments about him being a team-up junkie, the ex-girlfriend alone with the wife, and all the fun of a typical Spidey mega-event. All this and the author makes Rhino interesting, too.

I couldn't put it down. After devouring it, I headed over and checked out the author's Dresden books and I am currently enjoying them as well.

Bought this book because I'm a huge Spidey fan. I wasn't disappointed. The book was fantastic! Jim Butcher really captures Spidey's character. The plot is fast moving, and there's lots of action, but there's also many good Peter-MJ moments. What can I say? This books just plain fun to read.

A few years back, Spiderman nearly died in a two day fight with Morlun, an ancient supernatural predator. When his old foe the Rhino appears and starts tearing up the city, Spiderman arrives only to discover that Rhino was just a lure for three of Morlun's kind to trap him.

In typical Spiderman fashion, our hero is struggling to take care of his job, his marriage, his Aunt, and the people of New York - all while cracking jokes. Empty of dull moments and surprisingly full of three dimensional characters, this is a book even people who have only seen the movies will enjoy.

I have read other works by Jim Butcher, and I definitely rank his books as the most enjoyable fantasy novels available. This book just reinforces that impression.

Jim Butcher is an excellent writer who has created a few not-so-ordinary worlds of his own for his characters to frolic in. In one, he has a wizard/detective for hire in Chicago; in another, he created a believable fantasy universe. In both cases, the characters spring to life off the page, wisecracking their way through occasionally implausible adventures with some extra-special abilities. And he makes them seem quite plausible indeed.

So I was _really_ curious to see what he'd do with Spider-Man. To my great relief... he did a wonderful job. Spider-Man is a wise-cracking good guy with extra-special abilities too, and Butcher makes him sparkle.

Now, I like Spider-Man, but I'm not a card- (or web-)carrying fan. I didn't grow up with a stash of comic books under my bed (little girls didn't *do* that), but I was generally familiar with the story and I liked the movies. I've read a handful of Spider-Man stories since then, primarily by Babylon 5's Straczynski, and I think they're fun mental cotton-candy.

The basic story is the stuff of comic books. (Well DUH.) Spider-Man thought he was done with Morlun, a life-sucking entity who feeds on "totemic images," after he wiped the guy out in a previous book. But Morlun has a sister and two brothers, and boy are they _mad_. And also hungry....

It's hard to fathom a book about Spider-Man without images, but Butcher pulls it off. He writes very visually, even (or maybe especially) in the fight scenes. But the "words" let the reader learn more about Peter Parker's internal dialog, which both adds to the character and makes you giggle out loud. You realize how much Peter loves his wife; you watch him figure out how to resolve the "B plot" with the high school basketball player; you get to see him question the "humanity" of someone he thought was evil. It's all lightly done, and you can see Butcher's tongue poking out of his cheek at times... but hey, that's what you came for.

If you're a Spider-Man fan, you'll like this book. And if you're a Butcher fan, as I am, you'll enjoy watching him romp through someone *else's* universe for a while.

I have been aching to read another Spidey novel since the ones written in late 90s. I am a huge fan, however the last five years until J. Michael Straczynski wrote Amazing.

I knew of Butch from Dresden files, underrated show but worried how he'd write Spiderman especially knowing it would be a First-Person narrative! HOWEVER I was most thankfully surprised! He is a true fan and does Parker and the Spiderman universe and characters proudly!

I LOVED this book being different, being a first person narrative (don't see that often in ANY books these days) let alone a Marvel Book. But Butcher captures Peter's insatiable wit to the tee and at the same time his genuine humbleness.

Many moments I laughed out loud, Butcher REALLY got into the essence of Spidey/Peter's character! The action is heavy, but there is a nice B plot with Peter being a fill in coach, and his relationship with MJ does not disappoint. There IS depth here, it's no Dicken's obviously but it doesn't need to be.

The characters are drawn out nicely, have depth and psychological impact. Even the Rhino gets his horns into some sympathetic meat!

Butcher deliver's a fun, insightful, caring and engrossing novel here. It DOES have psychological depth and deeper more meanigful and more personal themes than most other Spidey novels I've read.

I REALLY hope Butcher will do ANOTHER FIRST PERSON SPIDEY narrative!

It was such a treat to read being First Person, I must say. And Butcher (repeating myself =) is so good at it!

Dialogue is wonderful and hilarious (For instance, Spidey asking Dr. Strange why he can't just magically fix his fractured wrist: "For you, isn't this just a bibbity-bobbity boo-boo?")...characterization, dead on...plot, well thought out...writing outstanding.

I highly recommend!

This is pretty good, in fact, I like it more than the couple of Dresden files books out there.

After encountering the Rhino, Spidey learns that Morlun wasn't the only one of his kind, and there are three more of them coming. Luckily, he has help. The Black Cat is around, and doesn't want the Spider eaten, and Doctor Strange offers some sneaky help that isn't help, and a nice sandiwch thanks to Wong.

When the Rhino's employers, the Ancients, turn on him, and Spidey saves his grey leathery hide, he agrees to help the pair of heroes with their plan.

I have actually read a trade recently of Spider-Man fighting the Morlun guy, so perhaps that was fortuitous, as I haven't read much of him for a long time, but this book is definitely enjoyable, wry, amusing, action packed, altruistic, and other stuff.

I really enjoyed the story. The writing was pretty good. I read this book in 2 hours. I highly recommend this book ..

Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files series. The protagonist, Harry Dresden, is a wizard version of Spider-Man. After reading most of the Dresden Files books, I stumbled upon The Darkest Hour, and I knew it would be a fun read. Butcher understands Spider-Man/Peter Parker, and he is able to take you into the web slinger's mind and life as well as the best of the comic book hero's writers. I feel like I know Spider-Man/Peter Parker even better after reading this book, and I have been a fan of the comics for decades. The combination of Butcher's knowledge of the comic and ability to write allows him to describe the web-slinger better than the comics could by themselves. And we haven't even touched upon Butcher's real talent. He can spin an adventure and fight scene like no other author. I have never known an author who can put the protagonist in impossible situations and still find reasonable ways for him to succeed, and in this book, Butcher does it over and over again. As an extra bonus, we get to learn more about the Rhino and there is a guest spot by Dr. Strange. You don't even need to be a fan of Spider-Man to really enjoy this book.