#429 in our old book database. Not rated.

This is the novelization of the screen adaptation of the Destroyer novel series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. Remo: The Adventure Begins is an odd entry into the realm of film novelizations, as it was written by the authors of the original series, but is an adaptation of a film not adapted from any previous Destroyer novels, but a new origin story that reboots (well before Rebooting was really a thing) the Destroyer universe for the screen, a full two degrees of separation for fans of the Destroyer series. I'm unsure of how much of the screenplay was created or suggested by Murphy and Sapir, so it's hard to tell how much material is actually "adapted" to the novel from the screen, and how much originated with the writing of the novelization. On a side note, I also don't know why the film adaptation was called Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, but the novelization is just called Remo: The Adventure Begins. Confused yet? Sorry about that.

Anyway, the upshot to Murphy and Sapir writing the novelization of the film is that the translation from screen to novel smooths over some of the major differences between the original books and films that are based solely on narrative style or low-budget special effects limitations, so the novelization of Remo feels much more like the original Destroyer novels than Remo the movie actually did. This also means if you saw the movie but never read the books, odds are you'll enjoy the novelization more than the film. ( )