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Bloodshot - The Official Movie Novelization
The official novelization to the hotly anticipated movie, Bloodshot, based on the bestselling Valiant comic series and starring Vin Diesel, Guy Pearce, Sam Heughan, and Eiza Gonzalez, and directed by Dave Wilson.BEING A HERO IS IN HIS BLOOD.After he and his wife are murdered, Marine Ray Garrison is resurrected by a secret team of scientists. Enhanced with nanotechnology, he becomes a superhuman, biotech killing machine - "Bloodshot" - without any memory of his previous life.But some things can't stay buried, and Ray refuses to back down when his memories begin to surface. Haunted by the face of his family's killer, he will stop at nothing to take his revenge. And discovers a conspiracy going deeper than he could have possibly imagined... CONTAINS EXCLUSIVE SHORT STORY 'INTO THE FIRE'
- GenresScience Fiction
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 4, 2020
8 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Gavin G. Smith
23 books102 followersGavin Smith was born in Dundee in the same year that Iron Butterfly recorded Inna-Gadda-da-Vida. He has also lived in Camberley, Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Hull, Leamington Spa and is currently living a near feral existence in Leicester (if you see him in the streets he will write science fiction for sweeties). Anyone who has been to any of these places will understand why his fiction is like it is.
He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.
He likes to travel and dive when he can afford it and in his free time he enjoys getting the s**t kicked out of him whilst practicing Silat. He is hoping that his books do well so he can buy a motorbike.
He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.
He likes to travel and dive when he can afford it and in his free time he enjoys getting the s**t kicked out of him whilst practicing Silat. He is hoping that his books do well so he can buy a motorbike.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 1, 2020
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest, I hadn't heard about this film until I got a copy of the book.
I really enjoyed this. Novelisations sit in this strange space where they can go either way, but this is an especially good one and actually, I quite want to see the film now. You can clearly see where each cinematic shot would go and it's written in quite a cinematic way, with big descriptions and sometimes it feels like a shot-by-shot breakdown. But this kept the pace up and kept it interesting.
They have managed to make our main character, Bloodshot, more 3D and while the backstory is lacking (for good reasons) you start to feel a sense of camaraderie with him and the want to know his backstory is overwhelming at points. Plus I didn't expect some of the things that happened!
What actually really stood out for me was the bonus story at the end, where you see the recruitment of one of characters that appears in the main story. This was fascinating and actually I read this part the quickest as I was enthralled by this story!
This is a novelisation that is definitely worth reading.
I'll be honest, I hadn't heard about this film until I got a copy of the book.
I really enjoyed this. Novelisations sit in this strange space where they can go either way, but this is an especially good one and actually, I quite want to see the film now. You can clearly see where each cinematic shot would go and it's written in quite a cinematic way, with big descriptions and sometimes it feels like a shot-by-shot breakdown. But this kept the pace up and kept it interesting.
They have managed to make our main character, Bloodshot, more 3D and while the backstory is lacking (for good reasons) you start to feel a sense of camaraderie with him and the want to know his backstory is overwhelming at points. Plus I didn't expect some of the things that happened!
What actually really stood out for me was the bonus story at the end, where you see the recruitment of one of characters that appears in the main story. This was fascinating and actually I read this part the quickest as I was enthralled by this story!
This is a novelisation that is definitely worth reading.
February 14, 2020
Novelisations occupy a weird space when it comes to books. They're rarely the best example of an author's work as they're hamstrung by having to adhere to someone else's plot and characters, but they can be excellent pieces of entertainment in their own right, even when they're novelisations of films based on 90s Wolverine knock-offs.
Gavin Smith did a great job fleshing out a character that I feel will seem a bit one-dimensional when the film eventually hits cinemas. While the plot went pretty much where I expected given the trailers and source material, the book itself was an action-packed romp through a variety of locales, which was exactly what it needed to be.
Harting felt like Guy Pearce at his slimiest, and Dalton was a dick. I look forward to that being reflected in the film itself!
Gavin Smith did a great job fleshing out a character that I feel will seem a bit one-dimensional when the film eventually hits cinemas. While the plot went pretty much where I expected given the trailers and source material, the book itself was an action-packed romp through a variety of locales, which was exactly what it needed to be.
Harting felt like Guy Pearce at his slimiest, and Dalton was a dick. I look forward to that being reflected in the film itself!
February 14, 2020
An exciting page turner; I highly recommended for anyone who enjoys action, thrillers, cyberpunk, superhero, etc. I’ve read a few Bloodshot comics, I thought this novel was a solid adaptation. Gavin has written about nanite powered killers in other stories, which he brings to his take on this fun story. Having seen the film trailer, I think this novel enhanced my interest in the film, and is an effective way of bridging the gap between the comics and the forthcoming movie. The writing allowed me to see either version of the character, nothing felt jarring; each piece of art is its own thing.
The story felt both classic and fresh. Entertaining, whilst I guess many people would score it a solid 3 or 4, since I thoroughly enjoyed it and kept reading, I’m scoring it a 5 :-)
The story felt both classic and fresh. Entertaining, whilst I guess many people would score it a solid 3 or 4, since I thoroughly enjoyed it and kept reading, I’m scoring it a 5 :-)
July 25, 2021
I liked hearing Diesel's growly drawl in my head as I was reading Bloodshot's thoughts and words, that was nice.
Was a time I tried reading Wonder Woman movie novelisation, it was such a bland something...and that was before I'd seen the movie...which wasn't too bad, just not inspiring enough for me. The movie, not the book. I dropped the book like hot...amala and moved on.
Anyways. This novelisation surprised me. Saw it in library, cracked open the first page and the descriptions immediately grabbed me. Simple fun. Me like.
We heard a lot of people's thoughts. Not bad.
The ending seemed to fail though. And that was because the blurb promised us "a conspiracy going deeper than he could have possibly imagined".
Meh. 3 stars.
Author writes well though, I'll give him that.
Was a time I tried reading Wonder Woman movie novelisation, it was such a bland something...and that was before I'd seen the movie...which wasn't too bad, just not inspiring enough for me. The movie, not the book. I dropped the book like hot...amala and moved on.
Anyways. This novelisation surprised me. Saw it in library, cracked open the first page and the descriptions immediately grabbed me. Simple fun. Me like.
We heard a lot of people's thoughts. Not bad.
The ending seemed to fail though. And that was because the blurb promised us "a conspiracy going deeper than he could have possibly imagined".
Meh. 3 stars.
Author writes well though, I'll give him that.
July 9, 2020
449 - 2020
February 3, 2020
As it's own sci-fi novel, it's fine, but as an adaptation of an obvious effects-driven script, it succeeds where it can in adding extra details to bulk up the story beyond just the surface level. Recommended for fans of the comic, or the movie.
April 1, 2020
Originally published in BORG magazine.
Advance review--Bloodshot, the novelization–The next evolution of cyber-science super-soldier arrives ahead of big-screen debut
Review by C.J. Bunce
You still have a month before visual effects artist-turned director Dave Wilson’s Bloodshot movie arrives as the next cyborg superhero from Marvel Comics to hit the big screen. But if you want to get a jump on your friends, there’s Bloodshot: The Official Movie Novelization, just released from Titan Books, a great read for fans of all things borg. Readers will be pulled inside the story of Ray Garrison, a slain special ops Marine, who is resurrected thanks to Dr. Emil Harting, a (mad?) scientist who is perfecting his use of nanotechnology and cybernetics to create an unstoppable squad of super-soldiers. Written by Gavin Smith and based on the Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer screenplay, Bloodshot creates the next step in the evolution of cybernetic technology stories that began with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, mixing the rage of The Punisher with the impact on the human psyche and dehumanization of turning from man to cyborg, as we’ve seen in stories like RoboCop (who was inspired by Judge Dredd and Marvel’s Rom).
As for the Marvel universe in film, Bloodshot is poised to stack up neatly beside the lab-created Hulk, the merger of body and “something else” of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the mission and science of Captain America, Wolverine, and Deadpool, the determination of Cable, and it’s a fitting follow-up to the half-man/half-monster movie, Venom. That’s a lot of Marvel characters with similar struggles, and there are certainly more, Marvel characters with the same vintage of origin story–an unlikely or involuntary super-soldier–so how do you spin this key Marvel trope in a fresh, new way? As Smith, Wadlow, and Heisserer have done it, you go back to the human condition, and look to what has come before.
Read the entire review here at BORG.
Advance review--Bloodshot, the novelization–The next evolution of cyber-science super-soldier arrives ahead of big-screen debut
Review by C.J. Bunce
You still have a month before visual effects artist-turned director Dave Wilson’s Bloodshot movie arrives as the next cyborg superhero from Marvel Comics to hit the big screen. But if you want to get a jump on your friends, there’s Bloodshot: The Official Movie Novelization, just released from Titan Books, a great read for fans of all things borg. Readers will be pulled inside the story of Ray Garrison, a slain special ops Marine, who is resurrected thanks to Dr. Emil Harting, a (mad?) scientist who is perfecting his use of nanotechnology and cybernetics to create an unstoppable squad of super-soldiers. Written by Gavin Smith and based on the Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer screenplay, Bloodshot creates the next step in the evolution of cybernetic technology stories that began with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, mixing the rage of The Punisher with the impact on the human psyche and dehumanization of turning from man to cyborg, as we’ve seen in stories like RoboCop (who was inspired by Judge Dredd and Marvel’s Rom).
As for the Marvel universe in film, Bloodshot is poised to stack up neatly beside the lab-created Hulk, the merger of body and “something else” of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the mission and science of Captain America, Wolverine, and Deadpool, the determination of Cable, and it’s a fitting follow-up to the half-man/half-monster movie, Venom. That’s a lot of Marvel characters with similar struggles, and there are certainly more, Marvel characters with the same vintage of origin story–an unlikely or involuntary super-soldier–so how do you spin this key Marvel trope in a fresh, new way? As Smith, Wadlow, and Heisserer have done it, you go back to the human condition, and look to what has come before.
Read the entire review here at BORG.
August 22, 2020
I was pleasantly surprised by the film of Bloodshot. I’ve steered away from comic book films over the past couple of years, as I feel like they’re dime a dozen and getting a bit tiresome now. Bloodshot gave us a tale along the lines of The Punisher, The Matrix, Memento, Shutter Island and X-Men.
The novelization doesn’t work in my opinion, because the film is so tech and action heavy. The author, while he’s done a good job, has gotten bogged down in all the details, whilst not really adding that much to the story.
There’s rarely much more background given to the characters, and by the time I’d finished the book, I wasn’t bothered about reading KT’s story. I may return to it however.
The author manages to slip bits of deja vu into the storyline, which may not have been obvious on screen, but once you know the story, become more clear on the page.
The author falls foul of repeating huge chunks of text as well, as Ray/Bloodshot (Vin Diesel) flashes back to various events from the first part of the book. While these may be mere flashes on screen, these are repetitive paragraphs of italicised text, which come across as a bit of lazy writing. There are better ways of harking back to earlier events and the author resorted to the lazy way.
There are some minor changes, particularly in the lead up to the finale, and some scenes which were cut from the final script/film, due to running time or slowing the flow of the story. There are some brief inner thoughts from some of the characters, and a slight insight into why Jimmy Dalton (the always gorgeous Sam Heughan) is ever so slightly crazy.
The book is 271 pages long, with a short story based around the character of KT (the Rachael Leigh Cook lookalike Eiza Gonzalez) taking up to the 335 pages in total. I think it would have been nice, instead of just dedicated a (fairly lengthy) short story to just one character, to split it up and give us more of a back story to the other characters. Perhaps this was more for the people who weren’t familiar for the comic books, like me.
Towards the end, I did find myself skimming, I hate to say it. The action scenes do tend to drag on a bit and the film feels much better paced, than the novelization.
I think, for me, if you’ve seen the film, I would steer clear of the novelization. There’s nothing much that the novelization adds to the film, which has scenes that will take your breath away. I just found myself a little bored by this and not one I would recommend.
The novelization doesn’t work in my opinion, because the film is so tech and action heavy. The author, while he’s done a good job, has gotten bogged down in all the details, whilst not really adding that much to the story.
There’s rarely much more background given to the characters, and by the time I’d finished the book, I wasn’t bothered about reading KT’s story. I may return to it however.
The author manages to slip bits of deja vu into the storyline, which may not have been obvious on screen, but once you know the story, become more clear on the page.
The author falls foul of repeating huge chunks of text as well, as Ray/Bloodshot (Vin Diesel) flashes back to various events from the first part of the book. While these may be mere flashes on screen, these are repetitive paragraphs of italicised text, which come across as a bit of lazy writing. There are better ways of harking back to earlier events and the author resorted to the lazy way.
There are some minor changes, particularly in the lead up to the finale, and some scenes which were cut from the final script/film, due to running time or slowing the flow of the story. There are some brief inner thoughts from some of the characters, and a slight insight into why Jimmy Dalton (the always gorgeous Sam Heughan) is ever so slightly crazy.
The book is 271 pages long, with a short story based around the character of KT (the Rachael Leigh Cook lookalike Eiza Gonzalez) taking up to the 335 pages in total. I think it would have been nice, instead of just dedicated a (fairly lengthy) short story to just one character, to split it up and give us more of a back story to the other characters. Perhaps this was more for the people who weren’t familiar for the comic books, like me.
Towards the end, I did find myself skimming, I hate to say it. The action scenes do tend to drag on a bit and the film feels much better paced, than the novelization.
I think, for me, if you’ve seen the film, I would steer clear of the novelization. There’s nothing much that the novelization adds to the film, which has scenes that will take your breath away. I just found myself a little bored by this and not one I would recommend.
March 2, 2020
I'll admit that I only wanted to read this book so I could see if it'd make me excited for the film that is hitting the cinemas soon. Unfortunately, the book did not do that for me. The book, however, was an alright, but fun, read. It packed a lot of action, and the pacing was quick from the start. The basic story is pretty much what you'd expect about a former mercenary that dies, then gets resurrected, and goes on a journey to reclaim his humanity and life from an evil corporate overlord. What I did like about the book is there is not a lot of fluff within the text. The chapters are short, which feels like you make a lot of ground during the reading process. I'm not familiar with the graphic novels, so I cannot compare the faithfulness of this adaptation. After reading the book, however, I am interested in scoping out the graphic novels because I feel like the character and story fits better in a visual medium.
February 15, 2020
Well that was a wild ride!
This is one of the better novelizations that I’ve read recently. Really got into the characters and the world. I feel like the characters were more defined here than what we’ll get once the movie comes out since a lot of character work is in everybody’s head. For the most part I was able to follow the action and stayed intrigued for what came next. It had a good pace.
This also included a short prequel story about the character KT. It lasted a tad longer than it needed to but it was cool getting to know her more. Not a spoiler, but I don’t remember her sexuality talked about in the main novel, but here it’s implied that she’s bi I believe. Cool!
This made me very excited for the movie.
This is one of the better novelizations that I’ve read recently. Really got into the characters and the world. I feel like the characters were more defined here than what we’ll get once the movie comes out since a lot of character work is in everybody’s head. For the most part I was able to follow the action and stayed intrigued for what came next. It had a good pace.
This also included a short prequel story about the character KT. It lasted a tad longer than it needed to but it was cool getting to know her more. Not a spoiler, but I don’t remember her sexuality talked about in the main novel, but here it’s implied that she’s bi I believe. Cool!
This made me very excited for the movie.
March 3, 2020
I’m a fan of Gavin G. Smith’s work, so I was very interested to see what he would do with the Bloodshot novelisation. And it’s brilliant. Speeds along at a cracking pace, and is full of thrills, spills, and bellyaches. In a relatively short novel, the characters are clear, the story is sharp, and the action is gloriously entertaining. The movie, when it comes out, has a lot to live up to. Good luck, Vin!
Interestingly, I’ve never read the Bloodshot comics, but Smith’s book has inspired me to check them out.
Interestingly, I’ve never read the Bloodshot comics, but Smith’s book has inspired me to check them out.
February 15, 2020
Mr. Smith did some interesting things with the character Bloodshot. I'm wise enough to know that novels, comics, and movies often interpret characters in different ways. This novelization had enough differences to make the book different and familiar. I can only hope that they continue this new series of novels beyond the movie. I'd like to read where they go. Good stuff, Maynard.
March 22, 2020
Excellent.
I typically read the novelized versions of movies first so that I can compare the quality of the movie to the plot. This book was excellent. Flowed pretty well. Looking forward to the movie.
I typically read the novelized versions of movies first so that I can compare the quality of the movie to the plot. This book was excellent. Flowed pretty well. Looking forward to the movie.
April 20, 2020
An interesting read that follows the movie and adds atmosphere and characterization.
April 30, 2020
This is written really well as a film adaptation. You can very much picture the action on screen and it made for an enjoyable read, fast paced and fun.
November 28, 2020
Well written and (frankly) bigger words than I expected for a superhero piece (although none outside of my command).
Graphic, not for kids.
Graphic, not for kids.
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February 3, 2022Discussed on the pod with guest Gavin G. Smith (author of the book!)
https://anchor.fm/authorizedpod/episo...
https://anchor.fm/authorizedpod/episo...
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews