Book Review: Splice: The Novelization by Claire Donner
Title: Splice: The Novelization
Author: Claire Donner
Release date: August 20th, 2024
I’ll be the first to admit that over the last few years, I’ve not read many novelizations. Actually, that might better be stated as I’ve not read any. I can’t think of a single one, nor do I see any on my Goodreads page. I’ve read a lot of books that became movies, but movies that became books? Zero. And I’m not counting books like ‘William’ by Mason Coile or ‘All the Fiends of Hell’ by Adam Neville etc. Those books that started life as a screenplay only to become a novel in their own right after not being filmed for whatever reason.
When Encyclopocalypse Publications announced this one I was equal parts excited and intrigued. ‘Splice’ has long been one of my personal favorite movies. Released in 2009, I went in blind, and was completely blown away by the strange story that unfolded. And I’m not ashamed to admit that the movie has stuck deep in my subconscious and influenced a number of my own books. ‘Mastodon,’ ‘Jane: The 816 Chronicles,’ and ‘The Stranger’ all have come from various aspects of ‘Splice’ that resonated with me and pushed my mind in one direction or another.
With the news of this one arriving, I was excited to see the nuances that film can’t demonstrate play out, but I was also intrigued to see how the visuals my mind had stored translated onto the page.
After I bought the book, I tossed around the idea of re-watching the movie before reading it, but ultimately I decided to wait, wanting the book to hold up on its own merits and now have me comparing it unfairly as I read.
If you’ve not seen the movie before, beware as there may be some spoiler-ish stuff ahead!
What I liked: The story follows geneticists Elsa and Clive, who are also a couple. They’re trying to synthesize a protein that would allow them to unlock the secrets of pharmaceuticals. If they’re successful, the company they work for would be able to create a whole lot of products that would aid the wider world.
As they progress, setbacks mount and with the pressure of a huge presentation looming, nerves get frayed and failures arise. It’s within that framework that they create a new species – a mix of science and genes – that rapidly grows into a humanoid creature.
Donner does a wonderful job of keeping the story engaging, even through the beginning ‘science’ based scenes. These could’ve easily dragged or stalled any forward momentum the story had, but Claire deftly gives us the building blocks of Clive and Elsa’s characters, their relationship and a few secondary characters too.
Once the new creature arrives, Donner kicks things into overdrive and as this creature grows – and given the moniker ‘Dren’ – we see the subtleties of Clive and Elsa’s worlds collide and those things unsaid come bubbling to the surface.
It made for some harsh moments, some introspective questions for the reader and ultimately sets the book up for the last quarter when the shit hits the fan. Donner does this perfectly, fleshing out the surface-level aspects of the script and giving it wonderful depth and masterfully brings the images on the screen into vivid HD level descriptions.
The ending remains as powerful, poignant and repulsive as ever and if you read through the closing moments – or watch/re-watch it – and don’t squirm, kudos to you.
What I didn’t like: The only jarring thing I found from reading this was that the Clive and Elsa characters mood shifts between how they start to how they finish felt very abrupt, very quick and not teased out and then occurring. It could be a case of sticking closer to the screenplay in those areas than others, but I just found it to occur very, very rapidly.
Why you should buy this: This is a must buy/must read if you’re a huge fan of the film. The movie takes you to some very uncomfortable places and the book easily goes there and then steps over the line with the descriptions of things we don’t see on film.
Donner’s writing is pristine, the characters sparkle and Dren comes to life on the page lovingly and terrifyingly.
All in all, if you’re a fan of thoroughly engaging Sci-Fi/Horror done perfectly, ‘Splice: The Novelization’ should absolutely be a book you read, sooner than later.
https://www.amazon.com/Splice-Novelization-Encyclopocalypse-Movie-Tie-ebook/dp/B0CT6Z984B/
