Really quite prescient given the current political climate (and quite by accident I read it the week before November 5th). Lots of the political ideas appear to have been used, or in progress, by both the US and UK governments; it paints a scary picture of what could happen. The political is but one side of this novel however, the story of V and Evie is a compelling one, echoes of Beauty and the Beast to it, and the end goal is both personal and a benevolent and magnanimous act for the people of the country. Its all quite romantic and fictional of course, I doubt such a plan could work today.

Overall, not a bad book. Thankfully i had seen the movie a few times before, so i had the ability to envision in my mind where they were in the movie when it came to the book. As far as i can tell, they stuck to the movie material, then again i could be wrong. I kind of wish that the author has maybe chosen a different method of doing diffeeent voices, or at least maybe brought in a co-reader or something, because to be honest i didn't enjoy it when it came to voice Evey's lines. There were times where it definitely sounded like he was either struggling or forcing it when it came to sounding like a girl. I'm glad that they stuck to the ending instead of doing something different. Again, overall i enjoyed the book, and given some time, I'll probably go back and re watch the movie.

The movie "V for Vendetta" (2005), based on the 1982 homonym graphic novel, written by the iconoclast Allan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, deals with injustice and redemption, and its symbolism still reverberates today. Much has been written about the original story, the film and the differences between them. A less explored theme is the plot's timeline. Unlike Moore and Lloyd's work, the film is richer in chronological elements, which allows us to identify, as we shall see, at least two inconsistencies.
The film's events start on November 5 of a year and end twelve months later. In the meantime, summer corresponds to the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks against St. Mary’s school, a water treatment plant called Three Waters and a London subway station.
Experiments on human guinea pigs at Larkhill prison began on May 23. On August 18, 36 out of the 48 original guinea pigs had already died. On September 18, there was a single survivor, V (Hugo Weaving). On November 5, Larkhill explodes. The terrorist attacks occur after the prison is closed.
Valerie (Natasha Wightman) was born in 1985. She disclosed her sexual orientation in 2002. She met her partner Ruth (Mary Stockley) in 2015. She didn't felt compelled to hide her lesbianism until 2018. Detained in Larkhill, she recalled that Sutler (John Hurt), then Undersecretary for Defense, had ordered the closure of the subway stations.
The Norsefire party became relevant in +/– 2018. Valerie was arrested after that. At some point, she was sent to Larkhill, where she died. Subsequently, the prison was destroyed by V. For the next twenty years he prepared his revenge plan.
Consequently, the terrorist attacks occurred six years after the destruction of Larkhill (20–14). That same year, Norsefire became hegemonic. Sometime later, Evey's parents (Natalie Portman), then aged twelve, were arrested. She spent five years in the reformatory. She was +/– 25 when she met V.
Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) had been a party member for 27 years. Assuming it started when the party gained prominence, the destruction of the parliament occurred in +/– 2045 (2018 + 27). Larkhill's destruction occurred in +/– 2025 (2045–20). The Norsefire’s attacks and victory occurred in +/– 2031 (2025 + 6).
The first inconsistency lies in Valerie's reminiscence that the metro station had been closed. This, however, occurred after the attacks – that is, after Larkhill’s closure, when she was already dead. The second refers to the information that the terrorist Rookwood had died twenty years earlier – therefore, before the attacks he was responsible for.
Finally, it should be noted that this text does not intend to belittle the work of James McTeigue, the director, and the Wachowskis sisters, the screenwriters. The inconsistencies are punctual and could have been remedied with minor revisions. It only reflects the effort by someone fascinated by both the graphic novel and the film to organize his own ideas about this topic.

2 1/2 stars.

While the plot idea itself was intriguing, there was so much narration that, when the story ought to have been tense and engaging, more often than not, it was just boring. Worse, Evey is in every way a flat and lifeless character... I think now I'll just do what I should have done originally--watch the movie this novelization was based on--and maybe give the graphic novel that was based on a go sometime soon, too.

I remembered that I liked the screenplay more than the novel...

I came into this book after having watched the movie, albeit about 10 years before. I was and still am a fan of the movie, so I did have some expectations going in. I was worried that it would be just a retelling of the movie and although it sort of was, it also added to it immensely. I loved how the author went into the minds of the different characters and described the events in such a way that made me appreciate the movie even more.

For someone who hasn't watched the movie, I would recommend reading the book first and then watching it because the book does add that extra layer of what's going on in people heads that is almost impossible to explicitly portray in a movie. However, I do think that the movie was superior with the action sequences and overall atmosphere, although the latter could be debatable.

Either way, the world is a great dystopia in the sense that it feels plausible and the sense of hopelessness is really tangible. I also enjoyed the characters, especially since the focus shifts among three of them which let's you experience their growth thoroughly throughout the book. Writing was also superb and engaging, especially considering it followed the movie scene by scene.

I was very tempted to give this the full five stars, but the lacklustre action sequences and the lack of anything really new, kind of let me down a bit.

I really enjoyed this book and I need to see the movie again sometime (it's been a while). There's the whole idea of rallying against a fascist, oppressive government. The government uses people's fear of others - foreigners, Muslims, gays, etc. that hits a little too close to home. As traditionally oppressed groups are allowed the same rights as the "ruling class", those in power become more and more afraid that they will lose that power. I had a whole diatribe written, but decided to delete it and stick to the book. I tend to get carried away with these things.
In any case, it's a great story, well written and, in my case, read by Simon Vance (one of my favorite narrators - he read the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series).

This is essentially an easy book to sum up:

The good: The author does a wonderful job of picking the right word to convey the impressions previously conveyed visually in the movie and graphic novel.

The bad: This REALLY is just a novelization of a movie so why spend eight hours listening to the audio book when you can just re-watch the movie.

While I haven't kept track of the movie novelizations I've read in the past, I have a generally good impression of them since novels can give greater depth to a story. That's not the case here. While there is some depth added, it is so minimal as to be irrelevant. Essentially I felt like I understood the Chief Inspector's ASSISTANT somewhat better thanks to the book but all the main characters were as portrayed in the movie. That is due in part to the wonderfully expressive performances by the actors in the movie but then that's just another reason to re-watch the movie than read this book.

Given the restrictions placed on the author I am impressed with his wordsmithing. The basic story is wonderful and the author stayed true to that and I don't regret taking the time time listen to this book. I won't ever re-listen to it, however, since watching the movie is a justifiable alternative. In fact my biggest take away from this book is that I should look for more Steve Moore books to read.

Bottom line: Good book but doesn't add anything significant to the story told by the movie.

I found this quite a difficult read.

So if you've seen the film V for Vendetta, you already know this story. I purchased this book in audio form based on the assumption that it was a novelization of Alan Moore's graphic novel, and while it isn't, it does provide some details that further fill out the plot of the film that are borrowed from its inspiration. The enhancements and clarifications made to the plot of the film are welcome, as is the insight into the internal thoughts of various players in the drama. Moreover, it is about as good a novelization of a film as I've ever read, which probably means very little, but it remains so. For what it is, this book is well-written and faithfully translates the content of the film with enough extra to make it worthy of finishing.

One of the best book ever ! V for Vendetta is just one of that stories which is almost impossible for you not to stop and think about it or at least feel something deep after reading.
I just love this book, specialy after watching the movie, because now i could take as much time as i want in order to "decipher" each one of the striking phrases mentioned by the characters.
You'll find good action, police investigation and a beautifull love story in here but not only that - there's also the best of philosophical thought and human condition presented in a very honest, sweet and inspiring way without being melodramatic at all.
I stongly recommend this book !!

A great adaptation of the comics, and a great narration (marred only by age - the 2006 Audible recording was very "muffled" for lack of a better term)