KRULL.

by Alan Dean Foster

It descends from space...
THE BLACK FORTRESS raining death and destruction upon the planet KRULL

Who will rise to defend the people?
Who will defy the red-eyed Beast who dwells within the Fortress?

Colwyn, who is armed with the magical Glaive. Colwyn, abetted by a band of newly freed felons; a Cyclops with a sorrowful secret; the magician Ergo, small in size but great in heart; an aged Seer; and a brave young boy.

Colwyn, whose betrothed is the captive of the Beast and fighting desperately to resist his loathsome embrace...

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In, Ebooks

237 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in the Dawn Times, there was no such thing as Blockbuster Video. (Well, OK, there's still no such thing as Blockbuster Video ...) If you missed a movie in the theater, your options were twofold: Hope that it might be shown (edited and commercial-filled) on broadcast television (and again, if you missed its scheduled broadcast, you were out of luck), or read the novelization and hope that might recapture at least some of the magic.

Alan Dean Foster, in addition to his own fiction, had quite a nice sideline in writing movie novelizations -- I remember seeing his name in many places on the shelf. (He also wrote the novelization I read literally until the cover fell off and it's now held on with scotch tape -- Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, although George Lucas' name was the one on the cover.)

Krull is kind of a platonic ideal of a 1970s/1980s movie novelization -- it doesn't really expand on the story from the film; it essentially retells the story that you presumably had seen in the theater, possibly with slightly tweaked/expanded dialogue and with additional descriptive passages and other connective tissue as needed. Which on the one hand, that's kind of a shame in this case -- Krull isn't necessarily a good movie (although it's entertaining and I love it), but it at least implies a larger and more interesting world that has never been more fully explored. But as a recreation of the theatrical experience in book form, this is perfectly cromulent.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a perfectly fine (if unremarkable) novelization of a perfectly fine (if unremarkable) science-fantasy film. Foster fleshed out the story to book length by adding some background to the ensemble of characters, and adding quite a bit of humor via the shape-shifting Ergo the Magnificent. I never felt the urge to read the book or watch the film again, but they were fun at the time.

[Annu Marie Gu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am obviously biased. I grew up watching the movie and think it's the cat's pajamas. Then I learned it was a book and had to get my mitts on it. I was impressed with how faithfully the movie stuck to the novel, but I also know this isn't the finest piece of literature out there.
The world of Krull is threatened by an alien invasion. After the dastardly alien villain kidnaps Colwyn's bride and kills his father, it's up to him, a band of prisoners, a gooseberry-obssessed shapeshifter, a depressed cyclops, and a know-it-all yoda-type old man to save the day. What's not to love? Five stars? Heck yeah!!!

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the film as a kid and really enjoyed the healthy dose of nostalgia. This is a fun read with some well rounded characters (Ergo being a personal favourite) and a simple, easy to follow plot.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bad novelization of an even worse movie. It was awesome.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure, it's generic and silly--exactly what you'd expect from the novelization of a cheesy 80's fantasy flick--but overall I kinda enjoyed it. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on world-building and character development, the screenwriter felt it important to provide as many scenes as possible with the unfunny comedic sidekick, Ergo the Magnificent--a character who never contributes much to the quest, except to save the life of another non-essential character. The storyline is extremely contrived and, overall, makes very little sense. Still, it offers a degree of fun for those of us who are nostalgic for this kind of stuff.

[Felicity Keane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both the book and the film serve as a reminder that the power of love is best depicted as a fireball to the face.

[Jen Ellwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugely nostalgic. My boyfriend took me to an antique book store a couple months ago and I just HAD to get this book. This movie was one of the most prominent and impactful movies of my childhood, and at the time it was one of my dad's favorite films. We watched them together when mom was working nights at Barnes and Noble. I still remember cuddling with Dad during the scary parts. Times like those were the only few times he gave me physical affection and comfort.

'Krull' was pretty spooky to seven year old me. The swamp scene and the quicksand deaths were the stuff of my nightmares. The sound design of the laser guns and dying squeals of the monsters were superb. The cyclops' death towards the end was the saddest part, for me. Alan Dean Foster did a spectacular job putting this movie into words, and giving the characters such depth in such a short time with fast pacing. I've always thought the glaive was such a cool, unique, different weapon, and the way the film and novel combines elements of sci-fi and fantasy is incredibly clever.

Alan Dean Foster did this movie great justice in his novel companion. It brought back so many memories to me, and it helped me recall how and why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place.

[Kent Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot better than I expected. I feel it stands on it's own as a fantasy novel without the 'movie novelization' tag. I don't recall even liking the movie too much but the book has me wanting to rent it again.

[Mike Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it OK but was somewhat disappointed. The movie was cute but I hoped the novelization would flesh out some of the weaker elements of the movie. Turns out the novelization is virtually identical, and in a few spots even weaker. I've read some really good novelizations by Foster but this was not one of them.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a bad movie & book. Foster had nothing to work with here - he often novelizes movies. Generally he's entertaining, this wasn't. His writing is about the same, it's just a boring, poorly done S&S story.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to say? I have good memories of when I read this book which was recommended by my brother. We watched the movie first then borrowed the book from the library.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

I'm finally going through my physical tv, film etc. tie in library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.

I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)


First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It only gets 3 stars and I only read it because this was a childhood favorite movie. The book is a novelization that is barely a step up from the script and really dialed in (especially at the end). But as a popcorn memory it was fun.

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yup, book reads just like in the movie :-)

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novel that became a very popular movie.

[andreas Luneborg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheese, utter cheese.

[Rogerio Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Couldn't put it down. Many lessons to be learned from this one. I love Alan Dean Foster.

[Alessandro Amici · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non male, non eccezionale ma una lettura piacevole.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgia makes me give it a 4. In reality, it's probably more a 3. Simple book, entertaining.

[Collin J Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun reading this one too! Foster makes these so easy to read through. And i enjoy the way he adds to the experience, getting into the heads of the characters in a way the film doesnt.

[Raymond James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A standard sci-fi fantasy adventure with some dark twists. One of childhood favorites, thou.

[Aaron Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this back in '83 before the movie came out. This is the book where I realized movies rarely live up to your imagination when reading.

[ClaireBear Spraggon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was alright. Bit of nostalgia.

[Weirdo Weird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly I loved the novelization of this movie. I didn't even know it was a movie till years after reading the novelization.

[Massimo Penazzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dire che questo romanzo è migliore del film di "serie B" da cui è stato tratto, non sarebbe un gran complimento. Fatto sta che Alan Dean Foster sa il fatto suo, e ci scodella un'opera avvincente, molto ben scritta, e che sa tenere sulle spine dalla prima all'ultima riga.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having already read three of Foster's books I opened this one expecting something less than Pulitzer prize winning writing. As a fan of the 1983 heroic fantasy movie of the same name I thought I'd give it a try but sadly it failed to live up to the movie.

The world of Krull is under attack by a mysterious creature called 'The Beast' which commands an army of merciless warriors named 'Slayers'. Our hero, Prince Colwyn, goes on a quest with a motley band of men to defeat the Beast, save Krull from destruction and rescue a beautiful princess. Pretty standard stuff but the movie is very exciting and great fun.

Krull is not the worst of Foster's I've read (that dubious accolade most likely belongs with 'The Black Hole') but it was still largely awful.

He managed to make the story boring with little or no character development. Very disappointing and should be avoided especially if you are a fan of the movie.

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for several reasons, the main one being that I'm a big fan of the movie and feel it does't get it's due. Also I really like novelisations because often you get a lot more detail and even some scenes that were not in the movie and that is certainly the case here where the situations are more fleshed out as well as there being a lot more additional dialogue between the characters that really brings them to life. This really helps in the case of the relationship between Prince (and then King) Colwyn and the Princess Lyssa who in the movie fall in love at first sight but here their love seems a bit more real.
Alan Dean Foster may be the king of novelisations and for good reason - he's really good. The story flows effortlessly and keeps your attention from beginning to end. A short book but worth the read if your a fan of the movie.

[Mars · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because I thought this was going to be about Krull the Conqueror (who turns out to actually be Kull. Oops.). It's a story of an alien invasion, except that it's pure fantasy (no sci-fi elements except for the extraterrestrial origins of the aliens), there's a silly love-at-first-sight-and-forever bit (which is sort of kind of explained away by the plot, but...), a bunch of plot holes (there is the Beast, and "nobody who saw it lived to tell about it", yet they know what it is and where it lives and a number of other things about it...), and in general it's so strung together and pointless that... actually, that's about it. Just strung together and pointless. Also featured no Kull.