Resident Evil Novels

[KevinStriker]

Much to my surprise, walking downtown to get some Japanese food, I noticed in the window of a thrift store, all seven Resident Evil NOVELS by S.D. Perry on display in the window, so obviously I picked those up. From what I've read, they're pretty good adaptions. (They sure as hell would've made better movies than whatever Paul W.S. Anderson pulled out of his ass.)
I've never seen the novels brought up anywhere, I figured I'd start a thread myself.
Share your thoughts!

1 - Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy
2 - Resident Evil: Caliban Cove
3 - Resident Evil: City of the Dead
4 - Resident Evil: Underworld
5 - Resident Evil: Nemesis
6 - Resident Evil: CODE Veronica
7 - Resident Evil: Zero Hour

Please NOTE that Caliban Cove and Underworld are original novels. I'd really only ask for SPOILER tags concerning those two.

 

[Flipqy42]

I've only read The Umbrella Conspiracy, Nemesis and Zero Hour, so I'm not sure about the others, but those three are pretty faithful adaptations.

 

[Springhosen]

I have all of the game-based novels and I loved them. They're pretty faithful in their adaptions and, as a book lover, it's nice to have something to hold onto and read instead of just playing the games. Also fleshes things out a bit in some areas. Of course with all the retcons and changes Capcom has made to the series over the years they're not completely in line with what's considered canon all around but that's to be expected.

 

[KevinStriker]

Of course with all the retcons and changes Capcom has made to the series over the years they're not completely in line with what's considered canon all around but that's to be expected.

Well, of course. The last adaptation (Resident Evil: Zero Hour) turned ten years old this year.
And yeah, I love having these books. Definitely going on the top of my bookshelf.

 

[Hel]

I read them all except Zero Hour, but honestly I only did so because I'm a fan, not because I found them particularly interesting or well written. My problems with these novels are:

1) S. D. Perry tells you right away who the good guys are, who the bad guys are, and what everybody wants. Well, most fans of the games will already know that anyway before they start reading, but it kills the tension for everyone else and takes away the opportunity to throw in a good twist. (Not that the games are any better in that regard, but that's why they're games. Novels work a little differently.)
2) She turns Rebecca into a complete Mary Sue who can do everything, knows everything, and is constantly praised by everyone else. In fact, every other character seems to exist for the sole purpose of pointing out how great Rebecca is. I actually liked the character until these books gave me an overdose of her.
3) The villains receive more screen time than they do in the games, which is basically a good thing, but the author keeps copying and pasting the same motives and personality on all of them, and their lengthy, repetitive monologues quickly get boring. She seems to have been particularly impressed with Chief Irons's back-story, given that she turned nearly all other male villains (including Wesker and Nicholai) into potential rapists.
4) Without spoiling anything, the original novels are just boring in my opinion, they don't contribute anything to the main story and only provide more opportunities for Rebecca to shine. It's one of the reasons I didn't bother to get Zero Hour as well.

Do I regret buying these novels? No. They can be fun to read after all, I actually read some of them a second time after replaying the respective games, and they make nice accessoires on my shelf. It's just that I expected more, and if not for the money she earned with her books, I'd say the author would have been better off writing fanfics. That way she could have focused entirely on Rebecca without having to pretend to actually care about the other characters.

 

[Gar Bageman]

I've been meaning to check these books out for some time, as they're the biggest blank space in my RE knowledge. I just haven't been able to justify blind purchases yet!

 

[Maestro]

I have all of them, and read all of them except Code Veronica (is there so much backtracking like in game? ), and now I'm "hunting" for other books connected with Resident Evil series, especially game guides from older games. Perry's book are written very well, although books based on games can be really predictable for fans (what a surprise, huh... )

So, Daburcor, you should not to have problem to collect them all, it's easy to find it on online shops or in larger shops with games and comics stuff

 

[KevinStriker]

Honestly, I'm just going to read CODE Veronica instead. I've never had the patience to beat that game, and that's saying something about a guy whose favourite games include Street Fighter 2010, Contra, Strider, Journey to Silius and God Hand.

 

[Springhosen]

I've been meaning to check these books out for some time, as they're the biggest blank space in my RE knowledge. I just haven't been able to justify blind purchases yet!

Found every one of mine on Amazon for $3 - $5.

@Maestro: I don't remember a lot of backtracking but it stays pretty close to the game plot-wise. Code Veronica was actually one of my favorites out of the books, partly because it's one of my favorite Resi games. I think it and Nemesis were very well done.