Rating:  -
I am a huge Spider-Man fan. I know pretty much all there is to know about the wall crawler. I had just finished reading "Spider-Man: The Darkest hours" and was impressed. It was a great book. I decided that I would keep on the streak and move to this book.
"Down these Mean Streets" was a disapointment to me. The plot itself was very good, but the exacution was lacking. I encountered several spelling grammar errors which were not caught by the editor. There were also a few parts that were worded funny.
All in all I'm giving it a 2/5. Like I said, good plot, but the writing in and of itself was lacking.
Rating:  -
Triple X,a potent combination of Ecstasy and gamma radiation,is
turning people into Hulkish monsters.Now it's up to Spiderman to stop them and find out who's responsible.This is a well-done,
fast-paced thriller that works up quite a head of suspense.It also has a surprising dark adult tone and some rough but very
appropriate language.I like how DeCandido also lightens things
at times with some of Spidey's trademark zingers.He also creates very believable characters.All in all,this is a very
satisfying read.
Rating: -
When a mysterious drug starts spreading across NYC turning people into gamma sized Hulks, it's up to Spidey to figure out the why's and how's. That's pretty much the story in a nutshell. It's an entertaining story throughout but some places where it stops short.
In general, I'm a fan of Spidey and I was glad to see him back in a full length novel and when I heard it was being written by Keith De Candido, I was even happier. For those who don't follow Star Trek, De Candido has written many Trek bestselers and is one of the more poular authors in that line.
There were times in the book where there's some cursing and reading it, surprised me if only because it's not something you see in his Trek books (at least I haven't).
His writing style here is similiar to his style in other pieces of his novels. The chapters aren't as long as usual but it does go at a fast pace with the story beginning right away. It is a qucik read (less then 300 pages), wheras most of his other stuff is more then that. There were times in the story where I thought The Incrediable Hulk himself would make a cameo but the only one we get is from Doc Ock but that pretty much was, IMO, a cop out only cause the author knew he had to end it at some point and he did so rather quickly.
The good thing about it is no one will suspect who the main culprit is pretty much until the end when all the clues are solved. In fact, the book plays like a mystery novel more then a sci fi (though why Spiderman is considered Sci Fi is beyond me).
All in all, if you like Spiderman, you'll like this book. If you don't like Spiderman but like De Candido's work. you'll probalby like this.
Rating: -
After being disappointed with a couple of the DC Comics novels of late, I decided to give one of the Marvel versions a try. And I'm glad that I did!
While "Green Lantern: Hero's Quest" and "Superman: The Never-Ending Battle" were both fairly bland, this novel was quite refreshing. For one thing, it was clearly written with a mature audience in mind. That does NOT mean that there is endless swearing (there is some) or unnecessary sex scenes (none), but that the theme and tone are geared toward a thoughtful audience.
This is a drug novel. It might be a science-fiction drug with science-fiction side effects, but it is a drug story nonetheless. Young people die from this drug. And both Spider-Man and the police have to use their wits for detective work just as much as for battle scenes.
As far as I know, I have never read any of Keith R. A. DeCandido's work before, but I would love it if he were to write more of these types of super hero novels. In fact, if this series of books maintains such a mature feel, I would love to see Dean R. Koontz or Christopher Andrews take a crack at one.
My ONLY complaint, the only reason I am not giving this novel 5 stars, is because of the ending. While my favorite elements were the down to earth, realistic issues, when it eventually became evident that a popular Spider-Man super villain was behind it all, THEN I was ready for a climactic battle. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The final fights, of which there were two, were handled very briefly, adding up to only a few pages the first time, and over in essentially one page the second time. A bit disappointing. I wish the author had taken just one more chapter to play up those elements. But ...
Overall, I was very pleased. This book was very refreshing after DC's let downs. Thanks to this novel, I am now looking forward to Christopher Andrews' "Paranormals," which is apparently ALSO a super human story (though not from DC or Marvel). I'll be reviewing that one next!
Rating: -
If you're a fan of superhero fiction, you'll probably like the first four-fifths of this book. It's well written, the characters ring true, and the story sticks to the Spidey universe.
The ending, though, is almost like the writer got tired of the whole thing and just wrote a quick ending so he could be done with it.
It is only in this last small part that you find out Doc Ock is the villain. There's a kind of lame connection between Doc Ock and this designer drug which is the main source of the conflict, and the characterization of Ock makes him out to be a kind of tight-assed sissy.
Worse, there's a bogus final scene where the Doc is taken into custody -- by ordinary cops, no less -- that you'll probably hate. Sadly, the epilog is better reading than the main story ending.
It's not often that I really, really wish I'd found a better use for my time than reading a book, but this was one of them.
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