Solid writing, and a fun romp. Not my usual comfort zone in terms of characters, but that's cool. ( )

A perfectly serviceable Spider-Man novel. ( )

Diane Duane is one of my favorite Star Trek novelists, which was my reason for including this book in my list of interesting prose novels based on comic book properties. It displays one of Duane's writing tics to a T: exhaustive research. We all know that Peter Parker is a photographer, but Duane makes us believe it, devoting time in the novel his purchasing of film and other equipment, his developing of film, and his going through the whole process of submitting photos to the Daily Planet and obtaining reimbursement for expenses. It's the kind of detail you probably wouldn't or shouldn't give in a superhero comic book, but deepens the realistic feeling of the world in a novel, which was part of my whole reason for this project. Peter's also a graduate student in physics during this time period, and Duane captures some of the nuances of that, too, though not as well. (I find it hard to believe anyone has the time to be a graduate student and a freelance news photographer and a superhero.)

Other than that, this is a decent if unimpressive novel. Duane captures the characters of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane, and Venom well, based on my limited experience of them all. (This is set during the period where Peter and Mary Jane were married, and apparently also Venom was kind of a good guy? He seems like he's going to be the book's villain, but it turns out to be misdirection.) It's the first part of a trilogy, so I guess the full story will be forthcoming.

This wasn't a bad book. It made you feel it going on around you but it seemed alittle simple. it held my interest much more towards the end. I liked her take on venom and the interaction and liked the end. it's not a bad book to kick back with but it's not one that will enthrall you, keep you excited and you will be able to put it down. ( )

Diane Duane's Spider-Man novels are some of my favorites. I've read all her Spider-Man novels numerous times. This is my favorite in her series of Spider-Man novels. The characters are dead on and so interesting. I've read this one a lot and it keeps me coming back! Venom isn't my favorite villain but in this novel he is right up there and I can't say enough how much I enjoyed it! ( )