Mortal Kombat: A Novel

by Martin Delrio, Kevin Droney

Once every generation, the tournament is the ultimate martial arts competition in which mortal warriors must fight against many supernatural opponents to defend the earth from evil forces.

Now three young mortals have come to compete in the tournament.

They are Liu Kang, raised as a fighting monk; Johnny Cage, an American movie star; and Sonya Blade, a beautiful U.S. Special Forces agent who seeks revenge on her deadly enemy Kano.

With the help of the immortal thunder god Rayden, the mortals must conquer their inner fears to defeat Goro, the four-armed warrior prince, and save humanity from the dreaded sorcerer Shang Tsung.

With over a dozen exciting photos from the hit movie!

Genres: Fantasy, Video Games, Collections, Action, Science Fiction Fantasy

216 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 15, 1995

About the author

A pseudonym used by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's a perfect example of how to make a shitty novelization of a movie. I couldn't even stomach enough of the book to finish it, but I skimmed ahead to see if I was missing out on anything worthwhile (spoiler: I wasn't.)

This might literally be a word-for-word ripoff of the Mortal Kombat movie it's based off of; there's no originality in the writing whatsoever. It's like someone is telling me what happens in the movie EXACTLY how it happens, with absolutely no creative liberties taken. Not to mention that movie scripts translate horrendously into novel format.

If you want a worthwhile original Mortal Kombat novel, then read the one by Jeff Rovin. Rovin's Mortal Kombat novel explores the MK universe in an interesting way that has never been touched upon in any of the video games or movies, making it a truly unique experience.

Avoid this one unless you are a huge Mortal Kombat fan and are just THAT compelled to read it (but even in that case, I'd advise that you don't).

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good adaptation of the movie. Lots of extra stuff. Very fun!

[DragonAthtor · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, first I read this as an early teen, and it expanded well on the movie-better than most of its genre. What I found excellent about this book was how well it described the fight scenes. It was the first book I read that talked about the moves, the entire fight itself with such detail, and so, I still find it holds a special place on my shelf for that alone. I haven't come across a lot of books that really take you through a fight without boring you to death or skimming over the minutiae (I'm not saying they aren't out there, I simply haven't read them yet). So for that, I am grateful to this book. It opened a door in my writing to another area of skill.

[Bookworm Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its mk....I'll rate 5 stars.

Very similar to the movie but still different. Most fight scenes are different. Art lean is a much larger character...much.

Goro had respect and almost a soft spot and shang seemed much more foofy

[Harry Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took a week off this week and for reasons best known to myself I decided to read two Mortal Kombat novelisations. (Who am I kidding - I'm hyped about the new movie so was passing the time before it was released in the UK).

Whereas the first I read was an adaption of the game's loose lore (at the time) this is a straight adaptation the first movie's script, with the usual discrepancies that are part and parcel of the form. For example, Johnny Cage's extended fight with Scorpion and Liu Kang's fight with Reptile - both of which were additions in re-shoots - are not present here. Also, in an obvious attempt to increase the word count there are a number of scenes which feature side characters Jax and Art Lean spinning their wheels until their big scenes from the movie arrive.

Having read more Mortal Kombat novels in my lifetime than I ever thought I would, it is obvious that a big problem with translating fights to the page is how little space they take up. Here, the tournament begins about 60% in, and fights last a fistful of paragraphs.

Consequently, it feels like the novel skims over the good stuff but at the same time I don't really know how you'd stretch the fights out, and nor would I won't to reach page after page of pow after pow.

Despite these misgivings it's just the sort of thing you'd expect: a perfectly digestible companion to a beloved cult movie and (and its characters) that you can easily read in a few hours.

[Bryan House · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love novelizations of movies and I go into them with a completely different reading experience
typically novelizations of movies arnt the best and that is the EXACT reason why I enjoy them

A little tacky experience, how fun!

But this book was just... boring...

SHOUT OUT TO ART LEAN - bring him to the video games please

Poor Art. He was MVP of the book for sure

[Drew Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a blast. The 1995 movie will always hold a special place in my heart, and this book is a really good adaption of it. Some of the fight scenes are different, which I believe is reason enough to read this. Out of all the fights here, only 2 of them are better in the film adaption. We have characters not even in the film, which I was surprised
to see. You will also learn a lot more backstory on some of the characters. One such example is Sonya’s partner. When Sonya and Kano fight in the movie and Kano mentions killing her partner, well, you learn the backstory on that. It definitely made the rivalry between the two much more significant. Another character you learn much more about is Art Lean. He is a major character in the book, and you learn more about who he is and how he got invited to the tournament. Overall, this was a hell of a lot of fun to read. If you enjoyed the movie, pick this book up! After finishing it, you will have a whole new perspective on the movie. 5/5

[Steph]

Wow, Art Lean really had a much bigger role in the novelization than I expected. I’m glad that got cut out the movie. Was this good? I mean, no but as a Mortal Kombat fan & someone who still likes the 1995 movie it was fun to see some additional scenes…aside from the Art Lean stuff.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this movie when i was a kid. So reading this and reading the lines i already know the exact scene and facial expressions. But this book is nice little read. Jax has more time in the book rather than his 15 seconds in the movie.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I prefer movie.

[Erika Horwath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random pick but actually did enjoy the change of pace... Easy, quick read but enjoyable, exciting and imaginative imagery. Now to watch the movie and the recent remake :)

[Some Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel is based on the movie. Usually, movies based on novels end up as ugly versions of the novels (of course, with a few exceptions). Now, if it was the other way around, that is, movies are novelized, it seems to be as bad as the first case, if not worse. As a huge fan of the video game series and its lore, I didn’t like the book whatsoever. Maybe I would’ve liked it when I was 15 years younger (in my teenage years) and/or I was newly introduced to the series. An article in the MK Wiki can be ten times more entertaining than this poor adaptation.

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a movie novelization, this was a fantastic book. The writing is rich and vivid and had me hooked all the way through. Droney goes into a lot of detail to describe things, but it never feels dry or like it goes on for too long. I'm actually interested in checking out some of his other works now, the guy is a fantastic writer.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Mortal Kombat franchise can be experienced in any number of ways. There are soon to be 11 iterations of the video game, there have been a couple of films, multiple TV series and at least one song, and one book. Out of all the choices I think you will find the games, the song and even the films more rewarding than this.

[Kj Bartell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book to read. I really enjoyed reading Mortal Kombat. The entire time I was reading it, took me three days to read it as it is an easy read, I kept picturing the movie as I read the book. I really liked this book and it complements the movie.

[~Lyn~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love mortal kombat stories and the games... ^^
Mortal Kombat satisfies you with some combination of ninjitsu and kung fu..

[Michael Coates · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting when I was like 12. It was awesome!

[Johnnie Sparrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this book after playing the game i wanted to know more about the characters this helped me figure it out

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh man, I loved this book when I first read it...I was 11. I'd be embarassed to even look at it now. I'm sure it's just awful.

[Leanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was terribly written the entire way through. Though to be fair, I didn't expect it to be anything else.
And it was entertaining, in an incredibly cheesy way.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too bad for a novelization.

[Nima Yousefi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best novelization of a movie based on a video game ever written.