Aury WallingtonBesprekingen

Having become recently obsessed with the Heroes universe, I had to give this book a shot. It was a quick read, and dealt more with the emotional interaction between Hiro and Charlie than it did with the meat of the Heroes storyline.

Hiro's nerdery helped me to relate to him, as well as his fumblings with the fairer sex and his thoughts about creating multiple timelines with his power. Any misgivings that I had had with the story were gone by its midpoint.

For my review please visit my blog: Martin's View: Saving Charlie.

At least this as an interesting approach to a TV tie-in novel; instead of more exciting adventures with the characters from the series it’s a character piece based on it, a romance with superpowers. That choice is the best thing about the book though. What this story could have been is a tragic, doomed romance which, knowing the ending, breaks your heart. What it ends up being is a quick shallow sprint through what should have been a tender relationship. Hiro’s reduced from the lovable onscreen geek to a sketch of a geek, a pop culture obsessed virgin who can’t talk to a girl. And Charlie is a caricature of a smalltown girl. There’s no depth or impact to the tragedies of her life, they’re just things that have happened to her, from the death of her parents to her own death. The moments that should have sung, moments like Hiro using his powers for romantic purposes and a late reciprocation by her just occur with no visible impact. There’s no attempt to play up the culture clash between Texas and Tokyo never a moment where you can marvel at how strange it really is. And this is all wrapped in perfunctory prose which often seems to struggling to his a page count. Perhaps if this had been an episode the actors could have lifted it – the material’s certainly there for them to play the audience’s heartstrings like a violin – but what’s here feels better material for the screen than the page.

This was a cute story of a young girls quest to "become a woman". It was well written and very entertaining.

My daughter gave me this as a gift because we've been watching Heroes together. It's a good example of its type - novelizations of TV shows, movies, etc. I've read novelizations in several lines (Star Trek, Star Wars, Spiderman, etc.) and know they can run the gamut from insipid to inspiring. This one is closer to the latter. If you have good writers, they can take mass media characters and give them a depth beyond the flat 2-D of visual media and breadth beyond the ability of a 60 - 120 minutes of story telling. A bad writer (and I've read a bunch!) think the title will draw the readers and they don't have to put any creativity into the character development or plot. Bad editors will accept this dreck and thus give novelizations a bad name.

Wallington does a good job of fleshing out the story of one of Heroes' most endearing characters (Hiro) and one of it's most poignant story lines. Can Hiro save the life of a pretty West Texas waitress with the power to remember anything that's happened to her or she's read or saw? Will the evil Sylar succeed in murdering her and stealing her power? Wallington crafts a tender love story in the shadow of this possible horrible fate. It's not Shakespeare, but it's fun.

I think I waited too long to read this book, as the Heroes new episodes travelled back to Midland and worked to "Fix" Hiro's past. I won't elaborate more to save this from spoiling things.

This book touches a lot of information within Hiro, fills in gaps in the character that might not be obvious in the show. Books of this nature always are welcome in my shelves as I like to get to know characters well. From the general reading standpoint, this book was a fun romp thorugh the missing time of Hiro's journey to save the cheerleader. I think my biggest gripe was how they tried to work scenes from the show into the book to ground it properly into the show. They didn't feel like they flowed smoothly with the rest of the writing.

From a writer's standpoint, the book maintained a steady plot throughout, its subplots closely tied to the plot. It stuck closely with the one point of view, though drifted as most writers do when a character views another's actions. As I read, I remembered a professor of English Literature telling my class that a repeated phrase always frames important information within the book, and this book seemed to show a falacy within that concept, though I might be wrong.

Enjoyed the book, would only recommend it to Die Hard Heroes/Hiro Nakamura fans.

Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com

Marit can't hold onto a boyfriend. Every time the relationship gets physical she freaks out and either scares the boy away or breaks up with him herself. She is afraid of having sex for the first time and obsesses about it. Besides the "no boyfriend" problem on the first day of school, she also has to deal with the fact that her schedule is terrible. I mean, who should have second period lunch? Eating lunch at 9:00 a.m. should definitely be against the law! So far the only bright spots in her day are her constant friends Jamie and Caroline. Basically inseparable, these three spend their day mocking the "followers" and "joiners" of the school.

Marit has accepted a senior year without a boyfriend until a new boy walks into her German class and steals her heart. She just knows that Noah will be her boyfriend for the year. She makes a bold move and invites him to a school bonfire. Noah accepts and Marit is hopeful it will be a successful date. Once at the bonfire, the couple realizes they can't talk with all the noise and find a quiet spot to be alone. Eventually, they begin to kiss, and Marit's nerves cause her to do something to embarrass herself and she ends up running away from the situation instead of talking to Noah about it.

Determined to fix her problem, she goes to her older sister for advice. Hilly tells Marit she needs to find someone she already knows and feels comfortable with to have sex with for the first time. Once she has done "it," she won't be so nervous about it. The perfect candidate is Jamie, her loyal friend of eight years. At first Jamie doesn't think it is a very good idea, but soon changes his mind.

Aury Wallington writes a realistic story that involves typical high school drama while at the same time creating characters that are likable. Even though sex is the main focus of Marit's life, she remains a character that the readers will root for in the end. The author also buries a lesson in the pages of the story; one that we can never hear enough--friendship is more important than anything else. POP! is an enjoyable read, even though the ending is a little too convenient and quickly resolved.

This was a fun, light quick read. Not world changing but for fans of the early Heroes it is a chance to spend some time with Hiro and Charlie that we missed. We know how it starts, we know how it ends, this book imagines the middle. I enjoyed it for what it was. If you like Hiro, you'll love him here.

Marit can't hold onto a boyfriend. Every time the relationship gets physical she freaks out and either scares the boy away or breaks up with him herself. She is afraid of having sex for the first time and obsesses about it. Besides the "no boyfriend" problem on the first day of school, she also has to deal with the fact that her schedule is terrible. I mean, who should have second period lunch? Eating lunch at 9:00 a.m. should definitely be against the law! So far the only bright spots in her day are her constant friends Jamie and Caroline. Basically inseparable, these three spend their day mocking the "followers" and "joiners" of the school. Marit has accepted a senior year without a boyfriend until a new boy walks into her German class and steals her heart. She just knows that Noah will be her boyfriend for the year. She makes a bold move and invites him to a school bonfire. Noah accepts and Marit is hopeful it will be a successful date. Once at the bonfire, the couple realizes they can't talk with all the noise and finds a quiet spot to be alone. Eventually they begin to kiss and Marit's nerves cause her to do something to embarrass herself and ends up running away from the situation instead of talking to Noah about it. Determined to fix her problem, she goes to her older sister for advice. Hilly tells Marit she needs to find someone she already knows and feels comfortable with to have sex with for the first time. Once she has done "it," she won't be so nervous about it. The perfect candidate is Jamie; her loyal friend of eight years. At first Jamie doesn't think it is a very good idea, but soon changes his mind. Aury Wallington writes a realistic story that involves typical high school drama while at the same time creating characters that are likable. Even though sex is the main focus of Marit's life, she remains a character that the readers will root for in the end. The author also buries a lesson in the pages of the story; one that we can never hear enough. Friendship is more important than anything else. POP! is an enjoyable read, even though the ending is a little too convenient and quickly resolved.

Ehh. There's a lot to like about this book, but it didn't feel to me like it fit nicely into the Heroes chronology. "Saving Charlie" purports to tell the story of the six months Hiro spent back in time, trying to save the life of the waitress Charlie he met just moments before her murder at the hands of the arch villain Sylar. It's... ok. Nothing wowed me, and it didn't seem to me that the Charlie in this book could have become the Charlie that died, but your tastes may vary. Hiro's scenes are extremely sweet and in character, and it's worth a read.

What is it about:
How Hiro Nakamura, who possesses the supernatural ability
to freeze time & travel through space/time,
attempted to go back in time to save the girl, Charlie,
whom he fell in love with and was killed by Sylar.
He learned about the beauty of determination,
the virtue of patience, the essence of being a hero.

What went through my mind:
- This book doesn't necessarily live up to my expectations...
i guess Masi Oka did his acting so well,
that the story isn't deep enough to portray
his well-rounded adorable character.
- The 1 principle this book illustrates very well:
With special abilities, one always have to take it
with both the good and the bad.
Whether it be a perfect memory /
ability to go back to the past / freeze time,
or just being smart / pretty / talented...
we can't just envy what others got,
without realizing the pain they have to go thru also.

Why Should you read it, too?
If you LOVE Hiro Nakamura /
you've ever dreamt of turning back time to change the past.