Enter the Dragon

by Mike Roote

Every kind of evil is being planned in the secret lair of Mr Han, International magnate of crime. Only Lee, indomitable student of the ancient Martial Arts of the Orient, can crack the defences of the mysterious island deep in the China Seas, and confront the renegade Han and his army of trained thugs. A savage struggle to the death is the climax of this explosive Kung Fu novel, as Lee chops, hacks, kicks his way to victory.

Genres: Martial Arts

165 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee, a trained man, spiritually unified with the Way, his body refined by practice and mediation into a powerful deadly weapon but deep respectful humility to his opponents. When he has an opportunity, he does not hit, It hits by itself. Lee is the epitome of the Shaolin Monk. Han had defiled the temple and Lee needed to extract punishment. Lee's younger sister equally skilled in martial arts is killed by a gang but she is still able to plunge a knife into a mouth, teeth smashing, crunching, jaw cracking. Evil Han had built a fortress on an island, beautiful girls, luxurious surroundings, a place where drugs are dispatched and girls sold into slavery. Han holds a martial arts tournament every 3 years. Lee will work with an agency called F.A.D.E. Lee is able to fight without fighting. His superior martial skills with allow him to kill his sisters murderer. Lee's strength will lead him to fight Han with one arm amputated, a bear claw now is used as a deadly weapon, steel with hair, it strips Lee's ribs, strip marks visually appear. A classic movie with a book happy to have in the collection.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not really a big fan of movie novelisations. When they add to the film and take it in new directions they’re great (think Shaun Hutson’s The Terminator) and when they’re just as scary and affecting as the film they’re great (think Alan Dean Foster’s Alien). Unfortunately the majority of novelisations are just slavish copies of the movie, written on the fly to make a few bucks. Enter the Dragon is one such book.

There’s one plus about this book: it’s short. I read it in a couple of sittings and it took me maybe an hour and a half. So I didn’t waste too much time on it. That’s great, because this really is dead-head reading matter: the plot of the film is a straightforward revenge-style story with plenty of action. Little time was spent on characterisation or scripting but that didn’t matter, because John Saxon and Jim Kelly are standing around looking cool, and Bruce Lee is kicking absolute ass in fantastic fight scenes.

So in essence we’re left with a book with a lightweight story and lots and lots of action. There are lots of ways to describe physical fighting, but Roote has gone for the detailed, blow-by-blow type of account; it really seems as if he’s watched the movie noting down every kick and punch. Unfortunately, this translates to fight scenes in the text which are laborious and tiresome, no matter how much purple prose the author attempts to tie them up in. It takes a master to create exciting physicality – look at the battles in Gemmell’s work, for instance – and Roote is more of a blue-collar worker.

The resulting concoction of cheesy dialogue, dated fashions, mundane fight scenes, occasional blood spurts and meandering plot make Enter the Dragon a novelty item for fans only.

[Tom Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

ENTER THE DRAGON by Mike Roote (Leonore Fleischer, according to Hawk’s Author’s For Book Collector’s, 1992 edition). A novelization of the popular action film starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, and Jim Kelly: Han is gathering martial artists for his tournament on an island near Hong Kong. Roper (Saxon), Williams (Kelly), and Lee (Bruce Lee) have received invitations. At the Shaolin Temple the Master has suggested that Lee accept the invitation, as Han has dishonored the Shaolin temple. Then Lee learns there is another reason he must attend; Han’s men were responsible for his sister, Su Lin’s death three years ago. Braithwaite, head of F.A.D.E. offers help if Lee discovers unlawful acts on the island. The problem is, there is an army of martial artists under Han’s command, and one man may fail if acting alone. There is a girl all ready on the island, placed there by F.A.D.E., Mae Ling, but she has not been heard from. Lee must find her, and maybe get assistance from Williams and Roper, if they are not recruited into Han’s army. This novel followed the film fairly closely, but not totally. Many of the fight scenes in the film were different from the book, as were many other things. But it was a fun book, even if I knew the outcome from the movie beforehand. I was curious about some of the names in the story. They almost tie in with another series, THE GIRL FACTURY, featuring Su-Lin Kelly, but the author of that series remains a mystery, as far as I know. The author’s name (Robert Franklin Murphy) isn’t listed in Hawk’s 1992 edition. Roote and Murphy were both writing during the same time frame. Just curious.

[Graduated Cylinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novelization of Bruce Lee kung fu classic follows the movie quite closely. It was quite entertaining to read. The main flaws are the same as in the film. What happens to secret agent Mei Ling is again left unknown. The main difference is the end battle, in the book there is no mirror hall. Also Han's Chinese henchman Bolo (in the film performed by Bolo Yeung) was changed to Turk.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not proud of it, but I read - and enjoyed - this back in college, during my big Bruce Lee days.