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Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman
A novel of heroism and danger which takes readers deep into the private lives of Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Superman.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
293 books3,596 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 27, 2016
Sadly it wasn't a reading more powerful than a locomotive
This is a prose novel based on the TV series of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman".
A CAMPY SHOW BUT STILL A PHENOMENON AT ITS TIME
Back then, in 1996, I was glad to get this novel in its hardcover edition.
At that moment, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was one of hottest TV shows on air, making Teri Hatcher in one of the first "queens of internet" since she was leading searches of pictures of her at that time.
Since I am always being a fan of Superman, I was hooked to the TV show at once.
Sure, the TV show was campy, even taking account that we were already in 1996, but still it was a fun show to watch. And even later I got the whole 4 seasons on DVD.
THE NOVEL DIDN'T REACH ITS POTENTIAL
This novel is set at some point in the middle of the third season, due Lois already knew the secret identity of Clark.
The actual publishing date of the book located it between 3rd and 4th seasons but you have to consider that writer take a while to write the novels so, the book wasn't able to be published before, however definitely is set at some point of the third season of the TV series.
The novel isn't as good as I could expected, okay, the TV show wasn't too brainy but still the book wasn't so much entertained or engaging to be read with enthusiasm.
HOWEVER, STILL WITH GOOD THINGS
Still, there were some good things about the novel like a scene where Superman is flying to Russia to avoid a disaster and it's explained how he manages to orient himself to avoid reaching the wrong destination and also being able to get back to Metropolis. It's something silly, I know, but still it was cool to explain details like that in the story.
Meanwhile, Superman is away, another disaster happens on Metropolis.
A building collapses and Lois had to put her life on risk to rescue some trapped children.
The rest of the story deals on the reporter investigation of Lois & Clark to determine who was behind the collapsing of the building.
If you are fan of the TV series, this book still is a cool item for your collection but certainly as reading material, it could be better developed.
This is a prose novel based on the TV series of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman".
A CAMPY SHOW BUT STILL A PHENOMENON AT ITS TIME
Back then, in 1996, I was glad to get this novel in its hardcover edition.
At that moment, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was one of hottest TV shows on air, making Teri Hatcher in one of the first "queens of internet" since she was leading searches of pictures of her at that time.
Since I am always being a fan of Superman, I was hooked to the TV show at once.
Sure, the TV show was campy, even taking account that we were already in 1996, but still it was a fun show to watch. And even later I got the whole 4 seasons on DVD.
THE NOVEL DIDN'T REACH ITS POTENTIAL
This novel is set at some point in the middle of the third season, due Lois already knew the secret identity of Clark.
The actual publishing date of the book located it between 3rd and 4th seasons but you have to consider that writer take a while to write the novels so, the book wasn't able to be published before, however definitely is set at some point of the third season of the TV series.
The novel isn't as good as I could expected, okay, the TV show wasn't too brainy but still the book wasn't so much entertained or engaging to be read with enthusiasm.
HOWEVER, STILL WITH GOOD THINGS
Still, there were some good things about the novel like a scene where Superman is flying to Russia to avoid a disaster and it's explained how he manages to orient himself to avoid reaching the wrong destination and also being able to get back to Metropolis. It's something silly, I know, but still it was cool to explain details like that in the story.
Meanwhile, Superman is away, another disaster happens on Metropolis.
A building collapses and Lois had to put her life on risk to rescue some trapped children.
The rest of the story deals on the reporter investigation of Lois & Clark to determine who was behind the collapsing of the building.
If you are fan of the TV series, this book still is a cool item for your collection but certainly as reading material, it could be better developed.
April 7, 2020
This is an original story set in the framework of the campy Lois & Clark television series, not any of the comic book or movie series. It's set in the period after Lois has learned Clark's identity, but before the events of the final season. The story is more serious and less campy than what they presented on television, and is a well written and self contained adventure. It's also, inevitably, a little on the sweet and cute side, but that's okay... sometimes the world sucks and you need a little sweet and cute. Up, up, and away...
July 24, 2017
This took me so much longer than it should have to read this.
I liked the ideas behind it, there where interesting concepts.
But to me there were more words than there was actual story. The author repeated themselves so much and I found it hard to stay focused on the book because nothing would happen for long stretches of time, they'd just be thinking about their feelings and repeating the same things.
I have read and enjoyed long-winded stories before, but those I always felt had a purpose behind the endless words, not so much here.
Like I said, I liked a lot of what was put forward, but it just fell short for me. Some of the logistics in Superman's powers and how both him and Lois went about getting the information and things they needed where good touches that you don't necessarily see in the comics. A lot of it was interesting and brought something new to the table.
The ending also felt really abrupt.
I liked the ideas behind it, there where interesting concepts.
But to me there were more words than there was actual story. The author repeated themselves so much and I found it hard to stay focused on the book because nothing would happen for long stretches of time, they'd just be thinking about their feelings and repeating the same things.
I have read and enjoyed long-winded stories before, but those I always felt had a purpose behind the endless words, not so much here.
Like I said, I liked a lot of what was put forward, but it just fell short for me. Some of the logistics in Superman's powers and how both him and Lois went about getting the information and things they needed where good touches that you don't necessarily see in the comics. A lot of it was interesting and brought something new to the table.
The ending also felt really abrupt.
February 9, 2010
Ok totally putting this on my "Read" list because of the pure cheesy memories it brings back. I rated it 2 stars because honestly I couldn't tell you details about the story (even reading the description didn't jog any specific memories.) Hellooo I read it back in the late 90s.. when the show was still on the air. When the ORIGINAL FoLCs chatted into the wee hours of the night on IRC, ahh memories. If for some reason you're new the show NOW (eh?) and want to absorb more L&C, sure read the book. It's good for the fans. Then check out the older fanfic from when the show was on air.
January 13, 2016
This was a decent Superman novel, but didn't capture the style of the Lois & Clark TV series at all.
June 19, 2017
I bought this book, thinking it would be a nice clean romance because, I was in the mood for something a little different. This book was very boring. It was clean, but I wouldn't call it a romance, this is proof that you don't judge a book by it's cover. It told the story of Lois Lane and Superman separately. It had a lot of adventure describing in vivid detail, Lois Lane's saving children from a building crashing down. Superman saving lives in Russia because a dam broke. For 283 pages you get to enjoy less than one full page of romance between Lois and Clark. This book actually contained more Romance between Lex Luther and Lois Lane, in the small amount of time Lois went to prison to interview Lex. Let's just say, after reading this book I was quickly reminded why I generally don't read fiction, (Boring).
April 14, 2007
I have had this book on my shelf for over four years and just now picked it up and read it completely. I approve of the premise - of an event in which Lois becomes a worldwide hero, thus testing her relationship with Clark - I can't say I liked the execution. I know that Cherryh is a very popular science fiction writer but I hope that her other books are better written. She's a big proponent of telling rather than showing and the large amounts of rather redundant character introspection that littered the entire book annoyed me. Overall, I found the book rather boring.
May 25, 2025
I enjoyed the TV series that this was based on, so I tracked down a second hand copy of the novel. It's presumably set sometime during season 3, because Lois and Clark are engaged but not married yet. More specifically, I think this is set before the "frog clone" story.
The cover is a generic promotional photo, i.e. it's not taken from a TV episode but it also has nothing to do with the story. I can see why they wanted to use a photo of the actors (to emphasise that this is a tie-in to the TV series rather than being based on the comics), but it's a pity they couldn't find something a bit more specific.
I read most of this while I was sitting in a hospital waiting room (to avoid draining my phone battery), and it held my attention. I think my main problem is that some of the ideas are good on their own merits, and they would work well for some version of a Superman story, but I don't feel that it's really a good fit for the TV series.
For instance, one scene in the book says that Superman doesn't really have "X-ray vision"; that's what Lois calls it in her articles, but the way the author describes it sounds more like Daredevil's radar sense. However, the TV episodes always portrayed it as actual vision, and I'm pretty sure there were moments which relied on him seeing what was there (e.g. reading the timer on a bomb).
More generally, the author makes an effort to take Superman's powers very seriously, e.g. he's careful about how fast he moves to avoid causing damage and he uses landmarks when he flies between continents. That's fine, but the TV series had him flying over to China to pick up food which was still warm when he got back to Metropolis. Maybe that's not realistic (thinking about wind chill etc.), but I'm happy to suspend my disbelief.
Ultimately, I think the TV series was always about the personalities more than the powers. There were some scenes that made me laugh (e.g. with Tempus) and other scenes that made me cry (e.g. when Martha Kent was talking to Lois about having another woman she could confide in). The first Kryptonite episode is one of my favourite episodes of any TV series, because of the scene where Clark gets threatened with a gun (without his powers). However, I didn't have those reactions to anything in this book.
The cover is a generic promotional photo, i.e. it's not taken from a TV episode but it also has nothing to do with the story. I can see why they wanted to use a photo of the actors (to emphasise that this is a tie-in to the TV series rather than being based on the comics), but it's a pity they couldn't find something a bit more specific.
I read most of this while I was sitting in a hospital waiting room (to avoid draining my phone battery), and it held my attention. I think my main problem is that some of the ideas are good on their own merits, and they would work well for some version of a Superman story, but I don't feel that it's really a good fit for the TV series.
For instance, one scene in the book says that Superman doesn't really have "X-ray vision"; that's what Lois calls it in her articles, but the way the author describes it sounds more like Daredevil's radar sense. However, the TV episodes always portrayed it as actual vision, and I'm pretty sure there were moments which relied on him seeing what was there (e.g. reading the timer on a bomb).
More generally, the author makes an effort to take Superman's powers very seriously, e.g. he's careful about how fast he moves to avoid causing damage and he uses landmarks when he flies between continents. That's fine, but the TV series had him flying over to China to pick up food which was still warm when he got back to Metropolis. Maybe that's not realistic (thinking about wind chill etc.), but I'm happy to suspend my disbelief.
Ultimately, I think the TV series was always about the personalities more than the powers. There were some scenes that made me laugh (e.g. with Tempus) and other scenes that made me cry (e.g. when Martha Kent was talking to Lois about having another woman she could confide in). The first Kryptonite episode is one of my favourite episodes of any TV series, because of the scene where Clark gets threatened with a gun (without his powers). However, I didn't have those reactions to anything in this book.
October 7, 2023
*3.5
After finally, what feels like forever, I have finished this book!
Don't get me wrong, there was nothing bad about this book, even if some story elements got a but dull to read, I've just been having a terrible time focusing on any physical reading. Once I finally started to give the book the time and attention it deserved, I was left feeling very appreciative that I stuck through it.
Just like the series, it characterises Lois and Clark in such a perfect way that just seeing how they interact with others and themselves, made me feel warm amd fuzzy inside that someone (or multiple someone's) actually undertand and appreciate the characters they are trying to portray.
You could definitely read this book with having watched the show, as it's a pretty standalone story and if you had any context to any superman stories, you could enjoy.
That being said, Lois and Clark is one of my favourite superman adaptations and while the story did lull here and there interest wise, it was a great read and I would highly reccomend it to any superman fan!
There were so many small moments in this book that made me truly appreciate it but there was one line that truly stuck in my brain the whole time, that made me go... yeah they really get Clark.
Clark just visiting a busy hospital as superman after an event was talking to a busy receptionist who, even though was talking to superman, still had him follow the visitation procedures and then it said this; "This woman deserved a bouquet. He decided a rose was going to end up on that desk, out of his reporter's salary." (Pg. 132)... Now call me a sap but that just makes me feel all giddy inside. Superman is such a kind and caring soul (not to mention the impossibly strong willed Lois Lane who can hold her own and coincidentally was actually more interesting to read from her perspective haha) and if that's not the hope that lies within humanity, at it's core? Then I don't know what is.
After finally, what feels like forever, I have finished this book!
Don't get me wrong, there was nothing bad about this book, even if some story elements got a but dull to read, I've just been having a terrible time focusing on any physical reading. Once I finally started to give the book the time and attention it deserved, I was left feeling very appreciative that I stuck through it.
Just like the series, it characterises Lois and Clark in such a perfect way that just seeing how they interact with others and themselves, made me feel warm amd fuzzy inside that someone (or multiple someone's) actually undertand and appreciate the characters they are trying to portray.
You could definitely read this book with having watched the show, as it's a pretty standalone story and if you had any context to any superman stories, you could enjoy.
That being said, Lois and Clark is one of my favourite superman adaptations and while the story did lull here and there interest wise, it was a great read and I would highly reccomend it to any superman fan!
There were so many small moments in this book that made me truly appreciate it but there was one line that truly stuck in my brain the whole time, that made me go... yeah they really get Clark.
Clark just visiting a busy hospital as superman after an event was talking to a busy receptionist who, even though was talking to superman, still had him follow the visitation procedures and then it said this; "This woman deserved a bouquet. He decided a rose was going to end up on that desk, out of his reporter's salary." (Pg. 132)... Now call me a sap but that just makes me feel all giddy inside. Superman is such a kind and caring soul (not to mention the impossibly strong willed Lois Lane who can hold her own and coincidentally was actually more interesting to read from her perspective haha) and if that's not the hope that lies within humanity, at it's core? Then I don't know what is.
March 3, 2018
I’d say it’s closer to 3 stars then 4. I went higher because of my love for the show. It was really good and I enjoyed it but I wish it had more of the humor that made the show so good and also it had very little Lois and Clark together scenes. It’s called Lois and Clark. They’re partners in life and at work but the spend most of the book is different parts of the world. That really takes away from the things that I love. Like seeing them together and enteracting. Wether as Clark or Superman I love seeing him with Lois. Anyways, its still pretty good and if you liked the show its worth giving a try.
December 11, 2024
This Superman & Lois novel was very good. I should expected that since SF pro C.J. Cherryh is the author but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless. Unlike other Superman novels I have read, C.J. Cherryh went into extensive detail to explain how Superman would use his powers to address a complex civil engineering problem, and the very real limitations he had to work under. She also gave Lois a very active role in the overarching storyline so that she really was an equal partner with Superman to overcome the problems they faced. A very enjoyable read.
January 11, 2025
So fun and campy. An absolutely beautiful understanding of Clark and Lois as characters and a really interesting discussion of how they make life harder and easier for each other. They're so in love it's the sweetest. 3.3/5
October 26, 2018
This was really enjoyable and gave a psychological depth to both Lois and Clark that the show most often did not.
February 13, 2020
It was okay. Did not care for the author's style, but it started to get good towards the end
May 10, 2023
It was pretty good but it kinda spoiled the show for me
April 15, 2024
Did not finish
July 15, 2014
Lois & Clark is an adaption of the 1993-1997 American TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of a Superman, with Teri Hatchet and Dean Cain in the respective lead roles. Set sometime between seasons three and four, the titular characters are engaged with Lois in full knowledge of Clark’s alterego, while arch villain Lex Luthor is in jail.
Cherryh picks up Lois’s voice very well, as well as Clark’s, Perry’s and especially Lex. Superman is less recognisable. He does a lot of shouting orders which isn’t in his TV nature. We must remember this is a treatment of the Warner Bros. series specifically.
Some of the show’s nuances are also well translated, such as the billowing of Lois’s curtains; an iconic image. Cherryh respects the series continuity and tips her hat to a few previous storylines.
Strangely, there is no villain to speak of for almost the entirety of the book. Lois saves a kid from a collapsed hotel and wants to know why it collapsed, with most of her woes coming from her cut knuckles or the enthusiastic press pack. Superman, meanwhile, isn’t even there. He’s off dealing with a dam and a Granny in Russia in what are truly mind numbing sequences.
Coupling the lack of villain (i.e. threat or indeed plot), Lois and Clark are constantly reflecting in pages-long introspective mental monologues that often rehash the same old ground. It makes for very slow, very dull reading.
Russian rivers aside, Superman has little to do with this story. Lois and Clark have few scenes together. Nothing much happens for most of it, while we listen to the same boring drivel again and again. If books were rocks, this one would be Kryptonite.
Cherryh picks up Lois’s voice very well, as well as Clark’s, Perry’s and especially Lex. Superman is less recognisable. He does a lot of shouting orders which isn’t in his TV nature. We must remember this is a treatment of the Warner Bros. series specifically.
Some of the show’s nuances are also well translated, such as the billowing of Lois’s curtains; an iconic image. Cherryh respects the series continuity and tips her hat to a few previous storylines.
Strangely, there is no villain to speak of for almost the entirety of the book. Lois saves a kid from a collapsed hotel and wants to know why it collapsed, with most of her woes coming from her cut knuckles or the enthusiastic press pack. Superman, meanwhile, isn’t even there. He’s off dealing with a dam and a Granny in Russia in what are truly mind numbing sequences.
Coupling the lack of villain (i.e. threat or indeed plot), Lois and Clark are constantly reflecting in pages-long introspective mental monologues that often rehash the same old ground. It makes for very slow, very dull reading.
Russian rivers aside, Superman has little to do with this story. Lois and Clark have few scenes together. Nothing much happens for most of it, while we listen to the same boring drivel again and again. If books were rocks, this one would be Kryptonite.
November 19, 2008
Nialle and I found this in the basement of the shop when we were cleaning it up for the flood. I started reading it then and couldn't get through it, and now that I've been watching L&C all week, I picked it up again. I'm pretty sure I've read better L&C fanfiction, which is saying a lot because pretty much any fandom pre-LiveJournal was full of crap.
June 24, 2013
A sweet take, but essentially an adventure in the engineering of water.
December 4, 2013
3 stars guys? Seriously? I really like this because it went where later TV shows followed. I was worried about it and was not let down by the author though.
August 5, 2014
Another pick up to a TV series. Good read and helped stay true to the characters made famous throughout the years.
Read
April 30, 2019I have the german edition.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews