Glee: The Beginning: An Original Novel by Sophie Lowell

Description

Calling all Gleeks!
Get more of your favorite characters in this official Glee prequel!
All great performances deserve a warm-up! Enroll early at McKinley High--before New Directions was even a glimmer in Mr. Schuester's eye. When did Rachel first decide Finn was more than just a jock? When did Puck and Quinn start their secret romance? And how did the fledgling Glee Club fu ...more Calling all Gleeks!
Get more of your favorite characters in this official Glee prequel!

All great performances deserve a warm-up! Enroll early at McKinley High--before New Directions was even a glimmer in Mr. Schuester's eye. When did Rachel first decide Finn was more than just a jock? When did Puck and Quinn start their secret romance? And how did the fledgling Glee Club function without a fearless leader? Hint: It wasn't exactly a perfect melody.

Break out the gold stars and refill the slushies: It's time to find out what happened to all your favorite characters before the show-mance began.

Review

Glee: The Beginning describes the lead-up to the pilot episode. It is a glance into the minds and lives of Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Puck, Artie, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt before Mr Schuester became director of the glee club. We really do get the know the characters better and their personalities mostly stay true to the television series.

However, there are a few continuity errors. I had always assumed that Rachel, Tina, Artie, Kurt, Mercedes hadn't been in the glee club prior to the pilot. I just thought they were complete strangers and eventually became friends. Conversely, in Glee: The Beginning, the four excluding Rachel are very friendly with each other- Artie even speaks of harbouring feelings for Tina, and Mercedes and Kurt are BFFs! Maybe I haven' t been watching the series close enough but I was so certain that they had never been members of the Glee club before. After all, they do have to audition to be members.

Regardless of those, I did enjoy the book very much. It really was like watching the TV programme- the characters were written that well! I could just imagine the Sue Sylvester of the prorgramme delivering the one-liners Lowell came up with for her in the novel. I would have liked to see a bit more of Sue but I hear there is a sequel so hopefully there should be more laugh-out-loud moments due to her wit, in that.

Lowell is obviously a huge Gleek since she can get into the characters' heads so easily! Rachel, Finn and Quinn were probably the most developed characters while Tina and Artie were a little nondescript. There were a lot of references to things we have come to know about the characters, showing how well Lowell knew each individual's personality. For example Rachel remained very positive and strong, Tina's desire to emulate Lady Gaga started, Artie started to crush on Tina and Emma Pillsbury was as mysophobic as ever.

To appreciate and enjoy this book you have to be a die-hard Gleek. Luckily, I am. So my opinion of Glee: The Beginning? It was awesome.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to Headline for sending it!
Who else can't wait for Season Two to start?

If you would like the chance to win not only Glee: The Beginning: An Original Novel, but the first season on DVD as well, then go here.