Opinions Wanted: reviewing former fan fic authors

[slyprentice]

I'm looking for a second opinion in regards to reviewing a book from an author who used to write fan fiction: is it poor form to mention that the author used to write fan fiction? Or that the novel that you're reviewing used to be a fic?

The reason I ask is because I just finished the second book in my 100 book challenge - The Lost Temple by Stevie Woods (the second book in the Tomcat series) - and the entire series used to be fic. In fact, other than the names of the characters, nothing much has been changed and I'd like reference that (and a few other things) in my review but then I thought that might be bad form of me.

Any thoughts on this?

Comments

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

I think you're definitely safe to mention it, then. And I think a lot of people will understand--when people turn fanfic into original work it's rarely if ever as good, because they're missing all of the character development and the readers' relationship with the characters/events. Not to mention most people are willing to give fanfic a little more slack, since it's just amateur, for-fun work.

[slyprentice.livejournal.com]

...they're missing all of the character development and the readers' relationship with the characters/events.

This was exactly what happened with this series. In the fanfic, I completely understood and believed where the characters were coming from and the connection(s) they had throughout the series. All of that was lost when the author turned it into an original work because he/she didn't bother to flesh out the (now original) characters. Even so, it was a good lighthearted read so all was not lost. :)