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Okay, so Splinter Cell started on a bad footing. There's something that I love about the games that isn't present in a lot of spy fiction, and that's actual stealth. I loved Alias, but I hated that Bristow was always called a great agent, because she screwed up so many times! Same with other shows, other books, but Splinter Cell had, for the most part, absolute invisibility. That was its focus. Now, that's not really what happened in this book (so far, at least):
P. 15
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'I leave the property the way I came, using the shadows to mask my presence. I move like a tomcat, quiet and unobtrusive, sticking to walls and street objects. Stealth is the name of the game and I'm damned good at it.
As missions go, this one went relatively smoothly. No mission is "easy", per se. They all have their challenges. I can't take anything for granted and I must be certain that I do my job invisibly. That's what being a Splinter Cell is all about. Leave no footprints. Get in. Get out. You're done.
A Splinter Cell works alone. A remote team monitors and supports me - professionals that are damned good at their jobs, too - but it's my ass that's out there in the line of fire. Every move must be thought out as if the field were a gigantic chessboard. A single mistake can be fatal.
I like to think I don't make mistakes. I am Sam Fisher. I am a Splinter Cell.' |
I'd like to recap what happened in his mission, prior to that.
He walked in to a casino, sneaked into a closet, changed into his work clothes, climbed into an air duct, stayed there for a while until 4am, then stole into the manager's office. He then accessed the computer, there, and downloaded several files. Just as he was done, someone started to come into the room and he hid atop several filing cabinets. There he stayed while one man sat at the computer, while the other looked around. Of course, when the second man was below him, Fisher's sweat betrayed him and landed on his head, so there was a fight, where he killed the two men (it was stated in the mission objectives that he was allowed to kill, but to avoid it if possible), then, when more guards came into the room, he tried to sneak out behind them, but was caught. There was a brief fight, and then he decided to run through the main room of the casino - while it was 4am, there were still a fairly large number of civilian inhabitants (who saw him). Guards shot at him as he made his escape, and then when he was outside, he hid under a car for 15 minutes, until the guards gave up.
Now, all that's fine - I suppose. People are allowed to make screw ups. However, it gets on my nerves when they say things like 'Stealth is the name of the game and I'm damned good at it.' after having just been very unstealthy and screwed up several times. Or when they say 'this one went relatively smoothly'. Not when they just messed up a mission objective, like stay undetected and don't kill people. Or 'I must be certain that I do my job invisibly' which he didn't. Or most annoying of all 'I like to think I don't make mistakes.' He. Made. Many. Mistakes. Just. Then.
It doesn't track up. And another thing, there are several problems with the prose which I'm finding annoying. Like on p. 10:
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'I shove off the walls and pile-drive the man to the floor. He drops his Smith & Wesson along the way. For hand-to-hand combat, I exclusively use Krav Maga, and Isreali technique that literally means "contact combat." It's not so much a self-defense martial art as it is a no-holds-barred system for survival in any situation. It combines elements of Eastern disciplines, such as karate, judo, and kung fu, with basic boxing and down-and-dirty maneuvers (sic). It's taught and used by the Isreal Defence Forces, the Isreali National and Military Police, and other anti-terror/special forces in Isreal. Since its development by Imi Lichtenfeld after World War II, Krav Maga has emigrated all over the world and is now widely taught alongside other martial arts. Krav Maga isn't a competitive sport - it's a fight for your life. The whole idea is not only to defend yourself but also to do as much damage as possible to your opponent as quickly as you can.
So with Wong on the floor beneath me, I ram my forehead, goggles and all, into his face as hard as I can.' |
Let me just rewrite that passage in a way that I think would improve it drastically:
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| 'I shove off the walls and pile-drive the man to the floor. He drops his Smith & Wesson along the way. With Wong on the floor beneath me, I ram my forehead, goggles and all, into his face as hard as I can.' |
And here's why: that big chunk that I took out should not have been there. Read that top bit again, out loud. Do you read the first and last bit in a deep, tense, perhaps gritty voice? What about the middle bit? Do you read it in a flat, informative voice? The middle bit is unnecessary information that breaks the action. This sort of information could have been saved for a more appropriate time - like in the Krav Maga class Fisher takes about 20 pages later in the book - rather than in-between a fight scene. Imagine watching Die Hard, and just as Bruce Willis starts to shoot up the place, you pause it and then go on wikipedia to look up information on the history of shopping mall security practices. It's just ... *head explodes* It shouldn't have been in there.
On top of those (and other things, but I'll stick to just those two, because this is too long already), the book switches between first person present, and third person past tenses. I'm not a fan of this switch, but I've decided to be lenient on it so far.
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I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.
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. It's funny that you say 'young', though. The author is called 'David Michaels', but that's apparently just a pseudonym for Raymond Benson, who must have been around 50 when he wrote this book. According to his bibliography, he'd been writing for seven years (mainly James Bond novels) at the time of this book's release. I think that may be why. My reasoning is that people who write tie-in media (only) have a much shorter time period with which to write a book, and so they might not be afforded the time to look back, review what they've written and learn from it - whereas people who write their own original stories usually write about 1 a year, and thus have much more time for review and introspection, and overall growth of writing quality.
