BOOK REVIEW:
Fans of Hannibal Lector just can’t get enough of Mr
Cannibal and when there’s a demand, it will be darn
foolish not to supply. So Thomas Harris, the man behind the
creation of Hannibal Lector is back with another tale of the
serial killer that many have grown to love.
This
time we are back to how it got started. What the fans have
been clamoring for! This is where we get to see how Hannibal
acquires the hunger for human flesh and this is where Hannibal
got “tutored” into the art of killing. If you
had such expectation, you probably will be disappointed. In
fact it felt like it was milking all it’s worth of the
namesake and left nothing for the soul.
The
revenge theme involving cannibalism is a fairly interesting
one but it’s really hard to imagine the calm and collected
Hannibal as one who goes on a rampage. It was a tragic incident
that drove him to his killing ways but it doesn’t give
credible accounts for his unique liking of devouring human
body parts. Often or not, I wonder if this is the Hannibal
Lector that I knew from the past.
There
were plenty other things to nitpick but to sum it up, it work
well as another serial killer book but a horrible way to “start”
the Hannibal franchise with it. It almost felt like the author
forgot the essence of his own character and came up another
character that bears the same name.
CHOICE XCERPT:
“Hannibal looks at the painting he took from his mother’s
hands and knows the past was not the past at all; the beast
that panted it’s hot stench on his and Mischa’s
skins continues to breathe, is breathing now. He turns the
“Bridge of Sighs” to the wall and stares at the
back of the painting for minutes at a time. Mischa’s
hand erased, it is only a blank square now where he projects
his seething dreams.
He
is growing and changing, or perhaps emerging as what he has
ever been.”
VERDICT:
For
someone who loves the Hannibal character in the first three
installments Lector’s saga, this prequel just didn’t
ring true to his form. One might argue that it’s the
formation of what eventually became the slick murderer but
it’s really hard to connect this Hannibal from Hannibal
Rising to the other three. It makes a good revenge tale but
just not an adequate start up to a character that was so well
loved.
Perhaps
it would be better to leave the history of Hannibal Lector
as a mystery.
 
Review
by Richard Lim Jr
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