A fast read that captured the essence of the TV series. Fans of Fringe should enjoy the book, but for readers unfamiliar with the characters and mythology of the show, it may be more difficult to follow.

My main complaint with The Zodiac Paradox, which takes place in 1974, was the portrayal of Walter Bishop with his familiar and quirky post-St. Claire's Hospital personality. I would have expected his behavior to be more like the Walter in the Season 2 Fringe episode 'Peter', where we see him in 1985, in his prime, as a self-assured and somewhat arrogant scientist.

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My Review: 4 - Problematic, but Promising

Let's be honest: I went into this with LOW expectations. LOW because when it comes to media tie-in novels, they have a bad reputation for not being well-written, and most of the time, the authors skimp on all the usual things that original novels demand: setting, characterization, world-building, etc, knowing their readers are fans of the franchise they're writing in and will therefore fill in the blanks. Not ALL media tie-in novels are like this, but that's the reputation, and that's what I expected when I broke down and pre-ordered Fringe: The Zodiac Paradox for my Kindle. Because while I assumed it would be bad, I miss Fringe and I couldn't resist seeing what the spin-off novels would be like.

I got what I expected, with a notch above in terms of quality/interest level. The pluses: Nina was very well presented on the page (I was going to say very sharp on the page, but that would've been a grown-worthy pun), and I liked her interactions with Walter, Bell, and her housemates. I also really liked Faust's characterization and POV of the Zodiac Killer (where he comes from rocked my world), because while some of it was a little too pat and stereotypical for me, I couldn't deny feeling very engaged by his POV.

Walter, as much as I love that character, left me in confusing shambles. I kept seeing OUR Walter: the Fringe universe Walter, the Walter after he's been in a mental institute for years and years, the Walter who's missing some vital parts of his noggin. That's how he came off to me, but this story? Is a YOUNG Walter. A Walter before all that other stuff happened. And while I could acknowledge the author may be making a case that OUR Walter was the original Walter all along, but events shaped him into the hard man he became that cost him so much, and the Zodiac Killer was one of the main triggering events. I can get that as an argument, but on paper, as shown in the novel, I couldn't. I wanted a different Walter, one different from the man I know and love and cried for. I want a devil-may-care Walter, someone who might feel a bit guilty about some of the things he has to do, but is able to put them aside for the sake of science, for justice.

William Bell, as a character, came off as a sounding box for whatever needed to be said, whenever it needed to be said. I never fully bought him as a character so much as a mouthpiece, but given William Bell's role in the show, I can't say I'm surprised. The character has always been enigmatic.

The writing as a whole is mostly generic (including one painful shout-out to William Gibson's Neuromancer), with nothing fleshed out and, as expected, the reader is required to fill in the blanks. This isn't a book I'd give to someone to introduce them to the Fringe universe: this is a book I'd give to someone who's missing that universe, wants new adventures, and doesn't place too much stock in whether or not the book is considered "high literature." It's fun and fast to read, and I'll admit it: I've pre-ordered the next two books, if only to see what Olivia and Peter's prequel adventures will be like. ( )