The Word on ‘Willow’

Whilst awaiting “Willow,” how’s about reading the novelization?

Or maybe not.

Locus--the trade journal of sci-fi/fantasy literature--says about the book, now in stores, “(It) doesn’t stand up on its own.” The 276-page Del Rey paperback was written by Wayland Drew, based on the screenplay by Bob Dolman, which in turn was based on a story by starwarrior Lucas.

The story’s about little Willow Ufgood, a member of the Nelwyn race (they’re on the short side), who teams with an outcast warrior named Madmartigan, a member of the taller Daikini race, to transport an infant girl to her homeland.

Locus reviewer Tom Whitmore dubbed the book “a pleasant quest fantasy,” but cautioned that it “lacks something. . . . Perhaps because the visual effects of the movie are supposed to be spectacular the plot is a little thin. Perhaps it’s just that the characters are a little too common.”

He was, however, won over by Madmartigan the knight (who’ll be played by Val Kilmer) and the sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes). And the novelization succeeded on another level: “I tell you it definitely makes me want to see the movie.”