Heroes: Saving Charlie: A Novel
Written by Aury Wallington; Story by Jeph Loeb; based on the series Heroes created by Tim Kring

I waited for this book to be released in the Philippines for a long time. I have been checking out the bookstores since January, and when I saw this last February, I immediately bought it, set aside all other books I am reading, and started reading this.

The book is based on the hit television series Heroes, with a central story revolving around the characters Hiro Nakamura, a time traveler, and Charlie Andrews, a waitress whose main character is infatuated but destined to be killed by the “Brain Man.” In the Heroes – Season One episode “Seven Minutes to Midnight,” Hiro tells his best friend that he wants to prevent Charlie’s death by traveling to the past — one day before the incident — but he missed by six months! After the episode “Six Months Ago “, we saw that Hiro failed his mission with the look of desperation.

The story of Hiro and Charlie in those six months is chronicled in this book. We see how their romance blossomed and the relationship between Hiro and his father, Kaito, via Hiro’s flashbacks. This is not your ordinary science fiction book. It is a romance novel.

After reading the novel, it is below what I expected from a science fiction or romance novel. As a science fiction novel, I hoped that the effect of time travel would be explored, at least in the Heroes universe. The explanations through examples from manga, American comics, and movies fell flat for me. As a romance novel with the male as a point-of-view character, the story fell flat, too. (Sorry, my exposure to romance novels is from Nicholas Sparks novels, and his male characters spoil me.) The deep emotions Hiro felt (claiming he is in love with Charlie) did not come across the page, although I felt his excitement and overall infatuation. As a media tie-in book, my only problem is the last part. All the Hiro-Charlie scenes in the episode “Six Months Ago” were reworked to fit the novel, but those reworkings made sense, and I would like to thank the author for that, although I am not recommending this book for the continuity buffs. The ending fell flat, as some events were just mentioned, and it should have been told.

Overall, this book is recommended for Hiro/Charlie shippers like me. But for the serious Heroes fans, read the Heroes, Volume One graphic novel instead.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars out of 5

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: https://promdigeek.blog/2008/03/09/heroes-saving-charlie-a-novel/
: http://icheb.multiply.com/reviews/item/21