Supernatural: Nevermore (Supernatural Series, 1) Mass Market Paperback – July 31, 2007

Interesting storie

As expected

Gift.

** spoiler alert **So, I must admit despite thinking I was already far deep enough in Supernatural's "hardcore fandom" (*think LiveJournal, cough*), and even in the face of Nevermore, the first novel for the Supernatural television series, intriguing me for quite a long while after I had first discovered the official tie-in books, I still quite deliberately missed out on these books for the main reason of mostly having experienced such supplements and guides as shoddy and insubstantial, at least for past tv shows and films I had been interested in. However, I kept long considering Nevermore's description that promised a little Edgar Allen Poe mystery in New York along with the puzzle of a banshee haunting at a musician's home, which sounded like a decent plot to roll with, and so, finally, in a recent and rather desperate moment of weakness while in need of a Supernatural fix between new episodes, I decided to go ahead and try Supernatural: Nevermore, albeit trepidatiously.Damn, I am really glad I did because it was such a fun read!I am also thankful that the anguish during my Supernatural withdrawal helped me ignore the reviewers who rated this story less than 2 stars, because it was actually pretty good!I was surprised at the flow of the story which very much felt like a real Supernatural episode with the boys doing all the Winchester-y things you'd expect them to do. Even the characteristic humour element was scattered in where appropriate and I actually laughed out loud a bit just as with any of the episodes.In Nevermore (Supernatural, #1) the guys find themselves involved with investigating a local rocker's haunted house and with Sam paying a visit to the historic Poe Cottage in the Bronx, though the rocker does not tie-in to the Poe-inspired killings.I found much amusement with the little detail of the boys being prompted to take on the first case as a favour to Ash.It was really cool to see a modern supernatural drama, with the protagonists that do quite a bit of investigating themselves, bring in a touch of classic especially since Poe is credited with having invented the detective fiction genre with tales like "Murders in the Rue Morgue" before the genre was really identified.I didn't really feel a complete lack of characterization as noted by other reviewers and that may be because I did understand that these tie-ins are meant to be a supplement and that you're supposed to already know Sam and Dean's character... and yeh maybe there were a few out of character components, but for the most part it flowed.In my opinion, it was entertaining and I thought it was especially hilarious that Bronx parking is just beyond Dean and he is forced to let Sam drive the Impala.My summary -PROS: There was a strong female character, Murphy, she was cool and i was glad to see the author pen in a character that could really fit in well into the Supernatural verse. The story can stand alone and was a quick-read but can also be perfect for pleasure-reading at a slower pace as well, and I can easily see non-Supernatural fans enjoying this just for the "paranormal" mystery aspect.CONS: My biggest complaint is that Dean is described with blue eyes and Sam with brown eyes - both of which are incorrect and made me frown and uggh out loud, like really uggh! WTH, how could this important detail be so carelessly misrepresented?! That cost a star! Another major discontent was that bar scene when Dean had to pee. Dean has good manners and I just really think he would have washed his hands, so I felt that was out of character. There was also the thing with the rocker host's coffee - i felt letdown that nothing ever happened with it, what made it so damn good? For awhile I thought that surely with all the describing of the quality of the coffee that it would tie-in somehow or did i miss something?WHAT I LIKED BEST: I REALLY loved that Dean got to have fun with the classic rock albums while doing research at the rocker's home. It was just nice to see him let loose since he doesn't allow for it very often and that was definitely in tune with the sort of exceptions he'd allow himself to make.On the whole, I personally found this story an enjoyable read, a surprisingly good addition to the Supernatural mythos and I definitely now will be reading the rest of the media tie-ins, oblivious as i make the transition from hardcore fan to utterly obsessed, and yes there is a difference. In all seriousness though, if you miss the early seasons "feel" I do suggest giving this book a shot, it was good original fiction - and it was fun!

I like how the story was related to the TV series and throughout the story you really knew the characters

The boys help a rocker who has a ghost and they’re finding a guy using Edgar Allen Poe’s work to kill.I’ve seen a movie about the Edgar Allen Poe murders. This book was better than the movie

To read

As part of my birthday presents this year, I acquired the first few Supernatural novels, which are written by various authors. The first, Nevermore, is written by Keith R. A DeCandido. It's set specifically between "Crossroad Blues" and "Croatoan," as is the next one, "Witch's Canyon." Below be spoilers, so strap in.The story starts promisingly enough with two frat boys in New York, New York murdered via orangutan (seriously). Cut to our boys on the road, hearing about a haunting in New York from Ash and Ellen. (It's November 2006, and everyone's still alive. This is a nice time in series history to explore. :) ) Sam noticed the orangutan murder as well as another person being killed by being bricked up behind a wall, and thinks there may be something going on involving Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. Sam and Dean arrive in New York (and Dean hates East coast traffic as much as I do, heh) and visit Ash's friend. Then they pay a visit to the zoo the murderous orangutan escaped from, asking their handler, Claire Watson, about what actually happened. Apparently someone hopped the poor monkey up on amphetamines. The monkey is still alive, and he's named Dean--cute.They decide to stay with Manfred Afiri, Ash's friend with the spirit problem--his house is full of '70s music paraphernalia so you just know Dean's in Heaven. Unfortunately the cover band Manfred plays for isn't terribly good. :( Shenanigans occur; Sam discovers a mousy Poe fiend who may be the killer they're looking for and Dean does some research on a resurrection ritual invented by a bitter (fictional) rival of Poe, Perceval Samuels. When Sam and Dean start digging at a crime scene, they're caught by detective Marina McBain. She doesn't arrest them because she knew their dad.Manfred's spirit is an ex-girlfriend, Roxy, who is mad at him for not loving her enough.(Well, actually she's mad because one of his bandmates killed her, but we don't learn that until later.) Sam and Dean have some difficulty identifying her and even greater difficulty locating any remains, so they need to get creative in how they deal with her. Meanwhile, the Poe murders keep occurring; they team up with the Poe fiend (a man named Arthur Gordon Pym, who is also an amateur hunter) to stop the final murder needed to perform the resurrection ritual and apprehend the killer. The killer takes Pym hostage to be the final sacrifice in his resurrection ritual; Sam, Dean and Marina rescue him and capture the killer. Open-and-shut case. Nothing more to see here.Part of the reason I picked these up is because I wanted to see if there were any deviations or additions to the series that couldn't be gleaned from the episodes themselves. There's not much of that here, but I liked getting some details on how Bobby helped Dean track down the parts to fix the Impala in season 2. The boys also get caught by the cops, so this ties into the law enforcement arc quite neatly. Unfortunately, they can't actually be brought in by the cops, so there's a bit of a handwavium involving the detective who catches them: she knew John Winchester and is part of a small network of law enforcement who know that supernatural things exist. Apparently John killed a dragon in New York? Victor Hendricksen does get a brief, very in-character cameo near the end. The author also seems to be confused about Sam's Stanford history; he never actually went to grad school, remember? He scored great on the LSATs and had an interview, but he didn't go. This author seems to think he did, for at least a year. (He may be referring to Sam's undergrad degree, which was prelaw, but I don't believe this is mentioned specifically. Anyway, those parts were a bit confusing and seemed off.)Complaints/pet peeves: Calling their dad's journal a "notebook" is...no. Just, no. I despise the east coast, east coast accents, big cities, pretentious attitudes, etc., and this is set in the Bronx. So, kinda tough to get through in places, especially the extended sports team discussions. There is a reason so much of the show is set in America's heartland, Chuck damn it, and I prefer to be closer to home for these adventures, thanks.Overall? Fine. Interesting enough, though far from great. I will be picking up the next one.