Strange Visitors (Smallville, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Roger Stern (Author) "Halfway to the Moon, Clark Kent stopped and looked back over his shoulder..." (more)
Key Phrases: meteorite research, open loft door, cosmic ladder, Stuart Harrison, Ascendance Foundation, Lionel Luthor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
In the first novel spun off from the new TV series, Smallville, a mysterious faith healer and lecturer who possesses some Kryptonite comes to Smallville. Donald Jacobi drags his reluctant business partner, James Wolfe, to the small Kansas town after he reads about the strange happenings there. Jacobi draws to his first lecture a crowd that includes Clark Kent and his friends. Clark is suspicious of Jacobi, especially after he spots Jacobi's Kryptonite. His friend Chloe, a reporter for the high-school newspaper, is gratified to see that people may finally be putting stock in her theories about the decade-old meteor shower and the unexplained phenomena that are common in Smallville. Meanwhile, Lana Lang is concerned about her aunt Nell's growing fascination with Jacobi and his theories, and Clark worries that Jacobi's claims will give false hope to the family of a dying teenager. Stern's tale will please Smallville fans because he captures the feel of the show by focusing as much on the relationships among the characters as on the plot. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Aspect (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446612138
• ISBN-13: 978-0446612135
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #864,448 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Smallville Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointingly Dull, October 12, 2002

By A Customer

Let me first say that I was really looking forward to this book's release, as I am a huge fan of the "Smallville" television series, and wanted more than my once-a-week "Smallville" fix. I was hoping that Roger Stern's "Strange Visitors" would be a thrilling, page-turner that I would find hard to put down. Unfortunately, my experience reading the book left me feeling just the opposite.
I would rather not get into the plot of the book too much, as you can read the blurb for yourself from Amazon.com's book synopsis. Unfortunately, the plot isn't a very interesting one anyway. I can sum it up this way: a spiritual guru and his partner try to sell kryptonite encased meteor rocks to brain-washed followers of his cult-like organization to improve their health, while sponsoring snake-oil salesmen type revivals, attracting Smallville citizens to become followers and contribute to the pair's evangelistic-type money making scheme. WHEW!
Of course, there is a little bit more to it than that,though unfortunately, not much. The book really seems to drag boringly by until about the last forty (out of 281) pages. Also, author Roger Stern seems to write into the book a lot of very uninteresting scenes that seem totally unimportant to the plot, and in some cases, out of the complete "Smallville" context. It's almost as if Stern had to fill some kind of word quota, for which he just created several dull filler scenes, for which this reader could only wonder why.

Stern does a fair job with characterization, most notably with the characters Chloe of Lex Luthor. Readers may want to take note that the novel is written to take place between two of season one's episodes, so last season's characters feature most prominently. Stern delves somewhat into the whole Clark/Lana relationship, though not as much as I would have liked. For the most part, all of the characters personalities seem to be pretty much in line with their television personas.
Above all, I really found the book quite dull. It just didn't flow well for me. The few attempts at humor really didn't strike me as funny. The dialogue seemed somewhat forced at times. Also, though I understand that it can be difficult to convey action in a books written form as opposed to visual scenes on the television show, the book was somewhat lax as far as action scenes go.
Stern does seem to have the setting of Smallville down pretty well, which I liked. He really did his homework on the science behind the books plot too. Lots of good technobabble!Stern does a good job synopsizing the plot-points of last season's television episodes that work their way into the book's plot. Unfortunately, that also can become quite annoying at times when the reader, who may be quite familiar with the world of "Smallville", has to read through the recaps of how Clark arrived on Earth to live with the Kents, his life, his friends, his insecurities, etc. The recaps,though, can be a very valuable tool for readers who may not have seen the tv series first.
All that said, I obviously will not recommend this book. I found it really didn't have much pop and sizzle. As I read it, I just kept hoping it would get better, and when it finally did get a little more interesting, it was too little, too late. I was really hoping for a great book, but this was just not it. The story could have been told with many less pages. I was bored with it, but just pressed on until the end. There were no great plot twists, cliffhangers. Clark didn't even have a true nemesis until the very end, and even that came off as trite. Nothing made me stop and say "wow". Hopefully, Stern has a better, more interesting "Smallville" book in him. If not,I have plenty of them in me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just okay, but it's not the book's fault, December 2, 2002

By	Blake Petit "Novelist, Comixtreme.com columni... (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Smallville," in the course of its first season, became one of my favorite shows on TV. In part, this is because I've been a Superman fan as long as I can remember, but that wasn't enough to keep me around for "Lois and Clark." No, this is a series that does Clark Kent RIGHT -- this is a series that really has the FEEL of Superman, and that's why it's a tad disappointing that this first novel in the inevitable spin-off series is just okay.

"Strange Visitors," by longtime Superman scribe Roger Stern, is about a couple of 21st century snake oil salesmen who come to Smallville pitching the green meteorites that torment Clark as a potential magical cure-all. Clark and his friends, of course, investigate, and the situation gets worse when one of their classmates, a cancer sufferer, gets mixed up in the con men's schemes.

Stern is one of the best Superman writers the comic books ever saw and his novel "The Death and Life of Superman" is a great adaptation of nearly a year of comic book continuity, so the problem with this book isn't in the writing or the story, but in an inherent problem with the medium. Everything from Star Trek to Buffy to the X-Files suffers when people try to translate it to other medium because -- as the television series is still the primary medium -- the creators simply aren't allowed to make many changes to the status quo or develop the characters. The most you can hope for is a little undisclosed backstory, which this book does provide. (For instance, did you know that Pete's mother is a judge?)

It's an okay book by a great writer and worth it for "Smallville" fans... just don't expect anything mindblowing.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There Here...., October 22, 2002

By	FlyingDream "Book Reader" (Naperville,IL) - See all my reviews

Well folks the SMALLVILLE books are starting to come in.I was slightly disapointed with this book.I LOVE the series it self.I was looking for a littel more action and romnce in it I guess and Lionel had such a small part in it .Still all and all good book.I can't wait to see how this series devolps.