I discovered Ultraman and the Ultra Series when I was younger and I have kept interested ever since. So when I saw there was a novelisation (I am a bit of a collector of novelisations of my favourite shows, movies or games) and it was by Pat Cadigan I was extremely excited. I am happy to say that this didn’t disappoint.


Now I will say that when you have a novelisation of a show that had 39 episodes, 40 if you include the pre-premiere, then it’s clear that we might not get a novelisation of every single thing or every episode or we would be looking at a book that would be a lot chunkier. That said Cadigan does a fantastic job, much like she did on the Harley Quinn: Mad Love novelisation. We get a good introduction to the original series of Ultraman, the characters and the story. Perhaps a little more depth to some of the characters here and there in the novel medium with their thoughts and actions a little more explained but we obviously don’t get every single episode – it would be remise to think that possible in a standard novel, although it does leave room for more novels in the future! That said I think that the main points and episodes are covered to give a good understanding to those who may be new to Ultraman and the Ultra Universe.


Obviously so people may have wanted other episodes included or alluded to but I think generally this is a fantastic novelisation that fans both new and old alike will be able to read and enjoy. The writing and pace are perfect for the novel and genre. I found it easy to follow and engage with and keep track of what was going on (obviously I have previously watched the series but I believe this would apply to anyone).

If you are a fan of Ultraman, science fiction or Kaiju then this will be the perfect opportunity to revisit the original series – or introduce you to the series. It’s well worth a read and as inspired me to rewatch the original.

We've had some big franchises spawn out of Japan that have taken the rest of the world by storm. Godzilla is probably the first to come to mind, with Super Sentai having a foothold in the US and UK thanks to the Power Rangers adaptation. And then there's the dozens of manga and anime series that have global audiences. One franchise that, surprisingly, seems to have a much smaller following, at least here in the UK, is Ultraman. Despite being one of the biggest franchises in the world in the 80's, I had no knowledge of the series growing up, and much like Kamen Rider it seems to be one of those franchises that are extremely hard to find English subed or dubed releases of.

Luckily, for those who might not have been able to find a way of watching the original series, though some of the franchise is now available on the official Ultraman Youtube chanel, a new novel adaptation is available from Titan Books and author Pat Cadigan.

Ultraman: The Official Novelisation tells the story of Science Patrol Agent Shin Hayata, who finds himself investigating strange light up in the mountains, and find his jet over a forest lake when a sphere of light from space smashes into him, destroying the aircraft and apparently killing him. When his colleagues come to investigate his death they're shocked when a huge monster appears from beneath the lake's surface. Fortunately for them, Shin didn't die, and instead was saved by an Ultra, a being from a far off part of the universe, who was chasing the giant monster to Earth. Shin and the Ultra make a deal, to fuse together and share a body. Returned to Earth, Shin uses the powers given to him by the Ultra to become Ultraman, a hero capable of battling this monster, and many more that threaten the safety of the Earth.

If you're unfamiliar with the original series this is a good introduction to it, as it follows pretty closely to several of the episodes, beginning with a fairly faithful adaptation of the pilot episode, and summarises all of the important lore quite well. For those that have seen it, the book doesn't add a whole lot new.

The blurb promises 'An exciting modern adaptation', and it's certainly an adaptation. Does it feel particularly modern? Not hugely. And is it exciting? For me, unfortunately, no, it's not. The recent Marvel Comics Ultraman releases are new adaptations of what has come before, with new characters and old mixed together, with new lore and a deeper universe than was first presented in the original series. That is what I would expect from 'An exciting modern adaptation'; but this was simply an adaptation. It didn't feel like it added much or injected anything new into things.

Perhaps this is me knowing the source material, and thus not really having that much new to experience here, I don't know, unfortunately what I do know is that more often than not I found things kind of boring reading the book. Maybe it's me, and I hope that's the case and that others can pick the book up an enjoy it. It's a decent introduction to the franchise for sure, but some fans might find the book a bit lacking.

This is a hard book to review, since I have so much knowledge of the source material. As such I can't help but be a bit disappointed with how truncated this is as a novelization of the original Ultraman series. The big episodes are novelized here and are novelized quite well but it is sorely missing adaptations of episodes like: My Home is the Earth, The Monster Graveyard, or even episode like A Gift from The Sky.

Pat Cadigan does a good job creating this into the written word and it starts really strong with some unique aspects, unfortunately the ending feels a bit rushed. Not sure if there were chapters that got cut, because the Professor gets thrown into the mix with very little fanfare.

All of that being said, I did have a good time with this, and would defiantly recommend it to people who are a fan of the franchise as it novelizes the overall plot of the series quite well.

I received this from NetGalley for an honest review. Unfortunately , I DNF it !!
I picked this up because of nostalgia and I pretty much got an origin story which is fine but they didn’t update it.
They did exactly to the first episode (but you can watch on streaming on Pluto )that they had back in the 60s that kind of turned me off to the next chapter which is pretty much in the same sequence, and then I just gave up this card.
I’ve always loved. I’ve always wonder how this character will be when updated story with today’s technology.

And I know it said into the description Adapting the classic Ultraman series from the 1960s, experience this bold take on Earth’s iconic defender! just figure they would do a play-by-play.