My experience with Mortal Kombat begins from my childhood. I was a huge fan of the original games, even though I was atrocious at playing them. If you picked up this book thinking that it would tell the tale of the video game, then you'll be disappointed. The novel tells a different story than what's in the original video games. I honestly cannot say if it follows the movie more closely because it's been so long since I've seen it. The characters felt very cheesy--from the ways that they were described to the words they spoke and even their actions. Their powers and abilities were woven in to fit with the plot, which I didn't necessarily mind. However, I did feel that it took away a bit of the appeal from quite a few of my favorites. The plot was very simple and predictable. The action scenes were described as if they were pulled directly out of he game, making it feel less fluid and a bit bland, like it was trying too damn hard. Overall, the novel is good for nothing more than an cheap, nostalgic thrill. My rating for it would have been 3 stars, but I bumped it up to 4 stars because the book incorporated the unbelievable cheesy aspects of the original games quite wonderfully in the short piece. I also quite loved the nostalgic factor, that's why I'm making it a fav as well. I recommend this book to any fan of the original video games because I feel they'd get the kick out of it at best, so long as they don't start reading MK with any actual expectations.
