Nevermore (Supernatural tie-in #1) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Publication: HarperEntertainment (July 31, 2007), Paperback, 336 pages / ISBN 0061370908
Genre: Paranormal, TV tie-in
Rating: 
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Read: July 2009
Source: Bought
I haven’t really read that many tie-in novels for television shows, at least not since I went through my big Doctor Who tie-in novel phase two years ago (seriously, I read, like, 30 tie-ins in a month). But I was desperate for some Supernatural this summer and so I decided to try one of the official tie-in novels.
Summary from Amazon:
Sam and Dean have hit New York City to check out a local rocker’s haunted house. But before they can figure out why a lovesick banshee in an ’80s heavy-metal T-shirt is wailing in the bedroom, a far more macabre crime catches their attention. Not far from the house, two university students were beaten to death by a strange assailant. A murder that’s bizarre even by New York City standards, it’s the latest in a line of killings that the brothers soon suspect are based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Their investigation leads them to the center of one of Poe’s horror classics, face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet. And if Sam and Dean don’t rewrite the ending of this chilling tale, a grisly serial killer will end their lives forevermore.
Writing a successful tie-in novel seems like a terribly difficult thing to do, and I’m not even sure how to measure “success.” By its very definition a tie-in novel is meant to be a supplement to the original source, and not to necessarily stand out on its own as a regular book would. Is “success” when a tie-in novel can stand on its own as a separate entity, like a movie version of a TV show does sometimes? Or is “success” when a tie-in novel can fit in neatly with the original source, like a behind-the-scenes kind of thing?
I think I mostly judged Nevermore on the definition of a stand-alone novel, and it definitely doesn’t hold up to that standard. What is does do, however, is provide a little bit something extra to the TV show, and it does it pretty well. If you think of Nevermore as an extra episode to season 1, it works a lot better. But then you also have to consider things like writing style, plot development, character development, etc, and since those sorts of things stick out a lot more in text than they do in film, it makes it pretty hard for me to enjoy tie-in novels. And I don’t think it helped that I was bored a lot of the time when I read this.
The plot was fine. It did feel like a real Supernatural episode, and the Winchesters did all the things I’d expect the Winchesters to do. Because it’s set early in season 1, things are a bit prickly between the brothers but the stories aren’t depressing like in the later seasons and neither of them get seriously hurt. Huzzah for early season 1 episodes, back when things were fun and quirky and scary and awesome! But, uh, it wasn’t a fun/quirky/scary/awesome book, sad to say.
The mystery was pretty good: very literary-oriented, which was nice. We got some new plot stuff with a secret ring of hunter-helpers, and an introduction of a new character who I liked– tough-talking lady cop!– but who unfortunately seemed like a one-off. The other characters were fine, too, pretty much in line with just about every secondary character ever introduced in the TV show. Unfortunately their personalities were as forgettable as their names, and Sam and Dean’s characterizations weren’t too much better, either. Some of the dialogue seemed in line with the show, but overall everything was a lot more bland than most of the season 1 episodes were.
Nevermore was okay. It wasn’t overly horrible, but it wasn’t as good as some of the best Supernatural episodes were. Would I read another Supernatural tie-in novel? Eh…maybe not.
I think because I was already expecting it to be subpar, I wasn’t all that surprised when it was subpar. Like I said, it’s not horrible, but the writing was a little bit bland and since there wasn’t any real character growth and nothing super-duper important happened, I didn’t really care what happened to anyone or even what the answer to the mysteries were. I think maybe this is why I generally stay away from tie-ins and novelizations– they’re almost never as fun as the original source, and oftentimes after reading them I feel as if I just ate a bag of pork rinds: full, but kinda gross.
If you need a Supernatural fix between new episodes, or if you miss the feeling of season 1, then maybe you could give this book a shot. Otherwise– maybe not.
See for yourself and get a copy from Amazon or IndieBound.
Other reviews: Amberkatze’s Book Blog | Alpha and Omega | entil2001 | readingmuse
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