Wayland Drew (1) (1932–1998)

It’s a quick read. It humanizes the characters, gives them a little more depth and motivation for what they’re doing. Stuff you can’t get from a movie that has a limited perspective. With omniscience, you can get more background on how Frank saw the neighborhood change, what’s going through Faye’s mind as she has her episodes, Harry’s backstory, and so on. Makes them less archetypes. Doesn’t give any more insight into the robot aliens, which is what you might be looking for.

BTW show more this screenplay was written by Brad Bird? The Iron Giant and The Incredibles Brad Bird? What, was he twelve when he wrote this? show less

I read this novel before I properly knew what a novelization is, and I'd read it twice before I ever ran across the movie it retells (starring Peter MacNicol). I remember the genuinely bittersweet climax, indeed the strangely poignant tone throughout. I also loved the dragon's backstory, unique in my reading at that point. I need to return to this one (I still have it somewhere!) to see if it stands up at all. But I think my affection for this book is justified, at least to some extent, by show more more than nostalgia! show less

Late in the Twentieth Century, farsighted men had hidden the colony Yggdrasil far underground. From there, it could guide the survivors of the Final War toward a true civilization, one that would never settle its problems on the battlefield.

Two centuries later, the tribes were in revolt, high-tech supplies were running low, and the colony's leaders were planning to enslave aborigines so that Yggdrasil could continue to live in the luxurious fashion of the ancients.

But a ragtag band of show more mutants and outcasts had other ideas. And one man among them knew the secret of the ancients' power. show less

A good example of what a novelization should be. Well written, it expands and depends the story of the film. If you read it without knowing it was a novelization, it would stand as a good fantasy novel.