This book, for just being released, was very well put together. It was divided into the various sections of the 70-320 test, giving you enough information about the current topic. It didn't go more in-depth as if I had hoped it would, but it does prepare you for the exam. I only found a few grammatical & code errors, but overall, it was a well edited book.

This book is a well wriiten in depth look at oneof
America's greatest writters. We journey through
Twain'sbirth in Monroe County, Missouri, through his
boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, and the rest of his
international travels, to his funeral in New York City in 1910.

This book traces parallels between Twain's constant travels and developing writting style in a brief well written manor. The book encludes photographs and
journal entries that give us an up close look at a genious.

Adam J. Miller (Wizard@surenet.com)

Media tie-ins are the redheaded stepchildren of the fiction section. Often written in extreme haste by work-for-hire authors with no interest in the project other than the paycheck it provides. While not the poorest example of a media tie-in, Greg Cox's DAREDEVIL, a novelization of the 2003 movie hit starring Ben Affleck, exhibits all the hallmarks of a hurried adaptation of a less-than-stellar screenplay.

Authoring DAREDEVIL was surely a thankless task. The story upon which the book is based attempts to serve as an origin tale for the eponymous hero while shoehorning in a romance plotline that didn't appear until years later in Daredevil's comics continuity. Based on the writing in DAREDEVIL, Greg Cox has some skill as an author, but he falls into traps that often snare tie-in writers; unable to figure out a way to beef up the narrative presented in the screenplay, he leans on internal monologue and overly-florid prose to fill pages. Perhaps Cox did not have the time to invent original material to fill in the gaping holes in DAREDEVIL's story - media tie-ins are notorious among authors for their punishing deadlines - and if so he cannot be held totally at fault for the book's weakness, but when far better examples of the tie-in form can be found on the shelves, Cox's work simply pales by comparison. Chris Claremont's X-MEN 2, released just two months after DAREDEVIL, makes much more of a very slender screenplay.

Great fans of the film upon which DAREDEVIL is based might enjoy this novelization, but those who haven't seen the movie, or who may have picked up DAREDEVIL in an attempt to get pleasure from the book on its own merits, won't find anything about which to get excited. Instead of papering over the shortcomings of Mark Stephen Johnson's screenplay, Cox's adaptation puts a spotlight on them. Readers aren't dazzled by incredible stunt work or special effects, and they don't have a hard-driving techno-metal soundtrack to keep their pulses racing. All the readers have are words and their imaginations, and when the framework upon which the story is placed is so rickety, the characterizations so paper-thin, the author must work doubly hard to make up the shortfall. It's clear from the pages of DAREDEVIL that Cox didn't make this effort.

This is all the more disappointing due to the fact that Daredevil is a fascinating character about whom better stories have been told with even less space than in a 250-page novel. Brian Michael Bendis, in his "Underboss" and "Out" storylines in the ongoing Daredevil comic, brings real depth to the Man Without Fear, and Greg Rucka's take on the Daredevil/Elektra romance, entitled ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL/ELEKTRA, rings far more true than in Cox's DAREDEVIL.

Of course, it's difficult to blame Cox. After all, it's impossible to tell under what circumstances the novelization was written, and the DAREDEVIL screenplay is clearly a poor effort. But sympathy for the author doesn't mean anyone must feel obligated waste time with his work.

All I have to say, is thank the lord that Mark Steven Johnson can film much better than he can write. The writer of this novel was also the writer/director of the feature film which this is based.

I am a comic collector. Plain and simple. And it gives me joy when I see a comic make it to the big screen. And when one does, I buy three things: The official movie poster, the novelization, and the movie on DVD when it is available. And this is one of the few times I've wanted to take that novelization back.

The movie was great. Almost fantastic. I would defenitely have to say that the portrayal in the movie, the overall tone, made Daredevil one of the best movies of the year. But this book was horrible. It lacked detail, and proper description to create imagery, to create the movie in the readers mind. And that made the book horrible. Now, not everyone has the ability to describe something like Tolkien, but the settings were poorly described. Basically the extent of description in this book goes "the dark street. The tall man." Johnson's depiction of the film in writing is horrible, and definitely not worth the money.

Reviews are hard to write, so I'll make it short, sweet, and to-the-point.

Daredevil is a good book for what it is: A screenplay-based novel. I wouldn't put it at the top of my list for books, but I wouldn't put it at the bottom either.

This novel has more than the screenplay written. Daredevil has a sub-story which leads to the end of The Kingpin's assisstant.

For anyone that doesn't want to see the movie, but is interested in what the story of the movie is, I reccommend it. If you have seen the movie and interested in how the author makes it into his own, I reccommend it. But, for anyone who is thinking about picking it up for a good read, I beyond all, DO NOT reccommend it.

You know, typically people don't make you pay to read their advertisements. This is an exception. Each of the self-serving articles in this book is followed by a 1-2 page advertisement for the author that, not surprising, offers a service to solve the problem outlined in the article. How convenient! This book is a glorified collection of vendor-sponsored white papers.

This book was a valuable resource. Many tid bits of info that can really make a big difference for your success.