Nancy Holder

Originally, Lionel considered letting Lex in on the Project, but decided against it. Lex had a strange moral streak. Sometimes it operated, sometimes it didn’t. — From Smallville: Silence

Nancy Holder can be either hit or slight miss for me when it comes to her book series entries based on popular television shows, but unlike Hauntings, where it seemed to me as though any group of teenagers could have been plugged in, this one very much feels like a huge Smallville story, perhaps a show more double-episode, and it’s fabulous. Holder hits this one out of the park.

This one is big by Smallville book standards, at just over 300 pages, but it’s big in every other way as well. It’s a rich tapestry with intersecting tentacles. Holder has the reins firmly in hand this time out, keeping each thread connected to Smallville and the characters we love. Silence really feels like Smallville, and despite the zombies, which are not a favorite of mine, it’s not only entertaining but rings true, both in characterization and tone.

Silence opens on a genuinely eerie note, with an exciting scene of young Marica Lopez’s humanitarian efforts in Haiti becoming a nightmare of peril as she races for her life from the undead. It reminded me of scenes from Woolrich’s Black Alibi in some ways — though it doesn’t quite reach the literary terror that Woolwich could so inspire. But just reminding me of it tells you how well it’s done — and in a young adult novelization based on a television show to boot.

What’s turning people into zombies may be an experiment gone wrong, and it could have something to do with a crop fertilizer produced by — you guessed it — Luthorcorp. If you’re even remotely familiar with Smallville, you can just about guess one of the ingredients in the fertilizer. When Lex is confronted with evidence of such, it will pit him against his father, even as he finds himself romantically attracted to the person doing the confronting.

Meanwhile, Chloe’s nose for news and passion for a story has tragic consequences that throw her into a tailspin of regret. The story, involving a family and a father keeping a secret, and a son filled with anger over the events leading to a tragedy from which his family might never recover is as weighty and riveting as the main story, which turns out to have tentacles of its own.

Then there is the new girl at Smallville High, Rebecca. She’s sweet and endearing, but hiding a secret concerning her father. Struggling to find a home and stability with her widowed father, it rings true of the age and struggles of teenagers, especially in her interactions and growing friendships with Clark, Chloe, Pete and Clark. She begins to wonder about her father’s strange disappearances.

Robberies, zombies, intrigue and thefts, corporate/military collusion, Clark doing Clark things while taking measures to make sure no one who doesn’t already know of his abilities finds out, and the spot-on characterization of the cast, including Lex, make this a fabulous time for any Smallville fan. Even Clark’s parents have a few nice moments here, as Martha falls strangely ill at one point and has to be hospitalized.

Holder has done a wonderful job here of making Silence an exciting page turner while at the same time keeping it grounded in the Smallville atmosphere beloved by fans. Silence is an immensely readable and enjoyable visit to Smallville, with some atmospheric side trips to Haiti. The entire cast is wonderfully rendered, with each having nice moments that make them feel true to character.

This one was fabulous, but definitely feels like it’s part of the second series, for older young adults. The story-line of teenager Rebecca trying to fit in but fearful of her new friends discovering her father was in prison is sweet and tender; it becomes more relevant to the main plot as we reach a thrilling conclusion which involves a fire at the author mansion, and Clark going to Haiti and witnessing some very creepy things before returning to a Smallville graveyard overrun by zombies. What’s in the fertilizer has a terrible effect on Clark of course, but Lana and Chloe are there to help. Pete has his own problems, and it’s one of the reasons for Clark’s trip to Haiti near the end.

Nancy Holder deftly ties up all the many tentacles and side stories in Silence — and there’s a lot — leaving the reader feeling like they’ve just watched a big two-part-episode of the show that for some reason never aired. No fan can ask for more than that from a novelization of a television franchise.

A big five-star recommendation for Silence, which should please any true Smallville fan. Up next for me is the much slimmer and no doubt lighter toned Sparks, a hard to find one I just picked up. show less

Halloween Rain is fun for fans of the show, and the Halloween setting is seemingly perfect for a Buffy story. Yet this one isn’t quite as good as the premise would suggest because of the execution by the authors. This is one of the very early Buffy books, based on the television series which bridged the gap between kids and adults, making fans at both ends of the spectrum. I really enjoyed Blooded, which was also penned by these two authors, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder, but in show more Halloween Rain they seemed to still be feeling their way into the mood of the show, and the characters. Because of that they’ve tried to capture the humor and sarcasm much too often — usually through Xander’s voice, but sometimes even Buffy’s — and it’s too much, giving the dialog a strained, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny vibe.

Caveat aside, it’s still a pretty fun story, as you would imagine from a story-line centering on a Sunnydale legend about dark magic being released through a scarecrow when it rains on Halloween. But of course this is Sunnydale, so the legend is true. But this year it’s worse, because an evil spirit named Samhain, who is the demonic spirit of Halloween, is “that” guy. He is the King of the ancient Druid rituals, and Giles discovers he murdered a slayer in the seventeenth century. Having the Pumpkin King, who can see through the eyes of jack-o’-lanterns, trying to kill Buffy gets a whole lot creepier really quickly. A man named O’Leary who is viewed as the town kook, enters the Bronze while our intrepid trio are there, warning everyone that the dead are being raised. Yep, it’s zombies.

There’s a bit of vampire action at the Bronze, and a couple of them have the hots for Willow and Xander, but mostly this is Giles and Willow and Xander trying to figure out how to help Buffy fight off zombies and defeat the Pumpkin King before he kills another slayer — Buffy! Halloween Rain is enjoyable, but Golden and Holder haven’t yet captured that special balance of humor and action the show did, so it’s not quite as smooth and fun as it could be for fans. It’s definitely worth a read if you’re a huge fan and nostalgic about Buffy, but the forced attempts at humor have me giving this one a 3.5. It does move along nicely and comes in at 160 pages, making it a nice tweener between meatier books, however. I’ll stick with three stars on this one, because I did like it, and Buffy is never a waste of time, but there are better books in the series to track down. show less

This is a superb example of why I find fantasy, and fairy tale retellings in particular, so compelling. Because at their best, in addition to spinning a wonderful story, they reach truth. In this instance, that truth is the nature of love---no small object! More specifically, it's about growing up and learning what it is to love...that love is a journey, not without moments of darkness and grief, and that it can and should be a healing force. So much is written and sung about love that at show more times it feels trite and sentimental---I feel a little that way just writing this review---but this book comes very, very close to touching, and illuminating, the strength and matchless, unflagging power with which it moves in each life, if only that life has the will to see it. show less

Authors Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder perfectly capture the tone and feel of the fun television series, which melded that crazy social quagmire that was high school for the most of us, with vampires and other assorted ghouls attracted to the Hellmouth. In Sunnydale, a pretty teenage girl named Buffy, with help from her Watcher, Giles, and her friends, Willow and Xander, battled the forces of evil while trying to navigate those treacherous and tumultuous waters of high school. show more Everyone’s seen the show, so no further recap of the basic premise is needed.

What I found great fun about Blooded is that every voice and character rang absolutely true to the series, without a false note detected anywhere along the way. At certain moments throughout the very good story, we get a glimpse into the thoughts of each character, and they fit perfectly with the people we know. If you loved Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles and Cordelia, and of course, Angel, you’re almost certain to have fun reading this one. There’s action from the get-go as the book opens with a big fight at a movie theater, but soon settles into the story-line of a high school field trip to a museum that, because it’s Sunnydale, goes way, way wrong.

Willow cuts herself on a sword which has bound Chirayouju, a powerful and ancient Chinese vampire, and Sanno, the Japanese Mountain King. They were bent on destroying each other, and the backstory of what happened is parceled out nicely as Willow becomes, well, very un-Willow-like. As Giles and Buffy try to figure out what’s happening, it goes from bad to worse. When Cordelia seems the voice of reason, you know it’s bad. Sanno finds a host in Xander, and Buffy must figure out a way to keep them from killing each other, and possibly destroying much of Sunnydale in the process. Finally, Chirayouju vacates Willow and takes over Buffy, and things get even more complicated.

It’s a lot of harmless fun, woven around the personalities of the characters we came to know so well over the years. Reading it now, it’s both nostalgic and enjoyable on an entertainment level. Overall, this was a blast, and just the right kind of read for a palate cleanser, or just a comfort read. Very fun, and nicely done! show less