derekdavis31's review
5.0
If I were to take a shot of alcohol every time the phrase, "so weird" occurred in this book, I would be on the cusp of being blackout drunk.
Regardless of this minor irritation, this was probably the best adaptation of episode two of the series. It is odd this book was chosen to be the last book in the series, and yet here we are. I honestly did not care for this episode. It is my opinion that the episode primarily was written to add more background information to Fiona and her interest in the paranormal, especially as it relates to her website.
The premise of the book/episode is about Molly. In fact, this is almost a Molly-oriented episode, as it relates to her relationship with a rather arrogant music critic, Ty Spencer. The book really captures this personality trait well, even better than the episode did. What I really appreciated about this book is that Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso capture the essence as to why Ty is the way he is. Fiona gets some "primitive-Internet" premonitions about what is about to happen before it happens, which essentially leads into the climax of the story. It starts out with a negative review where Molly breaks a guitar string and mucks up a lyric in her song, In The Darkness (my favorite song from the show, by the way), then it leads into an audio clip sent to Fiona that plays out an argument between Molly and Ty, and then finally the premonitions show a possible bus crash (involving the beloved music critic).
It didn't occur to me until I began writing out my review that it was intentional these snippets from the future happened to occur in threes. If memory serves me well, it is eventually brought up by the creator of the show that Rick (Fiona's father) had not been behind some of the things that happen in the show, that it was the work of demons. As Ed and Lorraine Warren point out in their book, "The Demonologist," this is a common trait of demonic influence. It leads to the question if Rick was really behind sending his daughter all these glimpses into the future.
The family dynamic also comes into play in a major way in this book. Not only do we see Jack and Fiona's sibling rivalry, but it also presents readers with the idea of a "queer family" (I'm using the original definition of the word, "queer," here). While Molly, Jack, and Fi are the primary family members in the show/book, this family also includes the Bells (Ned, Irene, and Clu). The way they interact is essentially a model of family dynamics. Molly encourages Clu's possible career option of being a documentarian, and so does Jack. In a sense, she is the matriarch of this queer family. It is also shown at the end of the book when Fiona has to jump in and save Ty's life, and Ned steps aside. There are other instances that reveal the queerness of this particular family, but you can find them for yourselves if you are so inclined.
Overall, this was a very well-done adaptation, and I am very pleased with the work and detail Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso put into the book.
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I also wanted to take the time to say a few words concerning the series overall. I had first read books 1-4 before, when I was younger and the show was initially running on the Disney Channel. I was not able to get book five until last year, so this is actually my first read of Web Sight. It is very disheartening they did not continue on with the series, especially since the books do their fair share of foreshadowing with Fiona and the strong connection she has with her dad. This is probably my biggest criticism of this book adaptation. I am unsure if there were plans to continue on with the books early on; whether it was due to funding issues or the lack of authors to do the adaptations, I have no idea. However, after reading Web Sight, I think they were intentional about just doing five books and ending it there. It brings me to the conclusion that the books existed to generate a new generation of readers, and they used the show as their beginning point in doing so.
Overall, I love, love, LOVE this series and I hope someday a revival takes place!
Regardless of this minor irritation, this was probably the best adaptation of episode two of the series. It is odd this book was chosen to be the last book in the series, and yet here we are. I honestly did not care for this episode. It is my opinion that the episode primarily was written to add more background information to Fiona and her interest in the paranormal, especially as it relates to her website.
The premise of the book/episode is about Molly. In fact, this is almost a Molly-oriented episode, as it relates to her relationship with a rather arrogant music critic, Ty Spencer. The book really captures this personality trait well, even better than the episode did. What I really appreciated about this book is that Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso capture the essence as to why Ty is the way he is. Fiona gets some "primitive-Internet" premonitions about what is about to happen before it happens, which essentially leads into the climax of the story. It starts out with a negative review where Molly breaks a guitar string and mucks up a lyric in her song, In The Darkness (my favorite song from the show, by the way), then it leads into an audio clip sent to Fiona that plays out an argument between Molly and Ty, and then finally the premonitions show a possible bus crash (involving the beloved music critic).
It didn't occur to me until I began writing out my review that it was intentional these snippets from the future happened to occur in threes. If memory serves me well, it is eventually brought up by the creator of the show that Rick (Fiona's father) had not been behind some of the things that happen in the show, that it was the work of demons. As Ed and Lorraine Warren point out in their book, "The Demonologist," this is a common trait of demonic influence. It leads to the question if Rick was really behind sending his daughter all these glimpses into the future.
The family dynamic also comes into play in a major way in this book. Not only do we see Jack and Fiona's sibling rivalry, but it also presents readers with the idea of a "queer family" (I'm using the original definition of the word, "queer," here). While Molly, Jack, and Fi are the primary family members in the show/book, this family also includes the Bells (Ned, Irene, and Clu). The way they interact is essentially a model of family dynamics. Molly encourages Clu's possible career option of being a documentarian, and so does Jack. In a sense, she is the matriarch of this queer family. It is also shown at the end of the book when Fiona has to jump in and save Ty's life, and Ned steps aside. There are other instances that reveal the queerness of this particular family, but you can find them for yourselves if you are so inclined.
Overall, this was a very well-done adaptation, and I am very pleased with the work and detail Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso put into the book.
------
I also wanted to take the time to say a few words concerning the series overall. I had first read books 1-4 before, when I was younger and the show was initially running on the Disney Channel. I was not able to get book five until last year, so this is actually my first read of Web Sight. It is very disheartening they did not continue on with the series, especially since the books do their fair share of foreshadowing with Fiona and the strong connection she has with her dad. This is probably my biggest criticism of this book adaptation. I am unsure if there were plans to continue on with the books early on; whether it was due to funding issues or the lack of authors to do the adaptations, I have no idea. However, after reading Web Sight, I think they were intentional about just doing five books and ending it there. It brings me to the conclusion that the books existed to generate a new generation of readers, and they used the show as their beginning point in doing so.
Overall, I love, love, LOVE this series and I hope someday a revival takes place!
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