V for Vendetta was originally a comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd which was later adapted for film with a screenplay by the Wachowski Brothers.
This is a dystopian tale set in London, where the ruling party Norsefire has eliminated all opposition by placing them in concentration camps. The story begins when a young woman, Evey Hammond, who works for the state-run television station, is attacked by the secret police. She is rescued by "V", an enigmatic vigilante who wears a mask to hide his identity. V then takes over the tv station to broadcast his plans for revolution: he asks the British citizens to join him outside the Parliament building in one year on November 5 to watch its destruction and take a stand against the government.
Next, V takes Evey back to his lair, but she doesn't stay once she finds out he has been killing government officials. Escaping, she finds safety at her boss's home, where he Gordon Deitrich reveals his subversive artifacts, items which the government is unaware of. Within days he performs a satire on television and the police raid his home. Captured after the raid and tortured, Evey develops new reasons to be loyal to V. She considers whether to help him with his plans to stage a revolt on November 5th before the House of Parliament and the British citizens.
The original comic book series V for Vendetta was published between 1982-1989 and was released in 10 issues. Though the setting for the film and this audiobook is in the 2030's, the comics were staged for the 1980's through the 1990's. Alan Moore, who contributed the writing for the series also wrote the comics the Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Alan considers himself an occultist, a ceremonial magician and an anarchist.
This novelization, based on the graphic novel, was written by Steve Moore.
"Outstanding! This is a novel based on (or a novelization of) a movie. The movie is based on a graphic novel (high quality comic book). I have listened to the audiobook of "V" a couple of times. I saw the movie first, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it enticed me to read (listen to) the novel. I was not disappointed. Now I want to watch the movie again as I've read that the book follows the movie dialogue closely. That is fine, but this novel is not an after-the-fact description of a movie. It includes that but is so much more. Like many novels written before a movie it gets into the heads of the characters, describing their thoughts and internal conversations. The book gets philosophical about the events occurring. It has depth of meaning. IMO it's as good as if it was written before the movie. Story-wise both the book and movie are a great near-term futuristic, collapse of democracy, extreme totalitarianism reigns plot. I highly recommend them. Read other reviews for more story-line to pique your curiosity."
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Johnrh (5 out of 5 stars)