Doctor Strange: Dimension War is an action packed series of adventures following Dr. Strange as he constantly battles Mordo, Nightmare, and Dormammu.

This is great for Marvel lovers who love action and battles. This follows Dr. Strange after he has been a pupil of The Ancient One for some time. With flashbacks to his life before magic this book offers a full view of the man Strange has become in relation to the man he was before. This was a fun read.

Thanks Netgalley for an ARC of the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marvel & Dreamscape Media for this Digital ARC of the audiobook of Doctor Strange: Dimension War in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read any of the Marvel comics, but yes the movies have made me a fan of MCU. Everything I know about these characters is through the movies. Hence I dont think I can judge the authenticity of this novelization / retelling of initial Doctor Strange stories in comparison to the original comics. But yes, I can definitely say that its a good nostalgia to revisit characters from the first movie. There are occasional references to Avengers and hints to Spiderman multiverse which seems cute, but also bit of Marvel advertising.

This novel had a weird structure in terms of chronology and style. Initially it felt like collection of short stories presenting Dr. Strange adventures, in each of which is faces one adversary and saves earth from him, sort of a fast track comics.. Second half it transforms into a one big story including all the villains introduced earlier in some kind of collaboration. Also, transformation of Dr. Stephen to Doctor strange is one of the mid short story, mind it its not a flashback, its an individual story. Some reviews say this is intentional, as per original comics, maybe I cant relate to it, hence found it weird.

Like all retellings if you know the original source material, it may have nothing new to offer in terms of plot and storyline. But on its own its a well executed novelization. Narration by James A Foster is excellent and the dialogue delivery and accents feels like living in the MCU.

Verdict : Good read for nostalgia OR if you are new to the character of Doctor Strange.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marvel, Dreamscape Media, Titan Books, James Lovegrove, and James Anderson Foster (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of Doctor Strange: Dimension War in exchange for an honest review. With special thanks to the original comic creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Doctor Strange: Dimension War is a novelization based on some of the original Strange Tales comics. With an episodic feel, this novel is like watching a Doctor Strange mini series and is thoroughly enjoyable. James Anderson Foster makes for an excellent narrator, bringing the perfect feel to Strange's character as he goes through some dimensional misadventures (although I love the accent, he does muffle out a bit here and there).

The main premise of the novel follows Strange after he is already an established magician. The leading adversary is Dormamu, with Mordo as his henchman, along with some interactions with Nightmare. Reminiscent of some of the events of the first Doctor Strange MCU film, it was interesting to see a slightly different approach to these villains and how Strange handles them. There is also a moment where he is taken to a different universe and helps the people there before finding his way back, which was a bit off-putting, but intriguing as well, in its own right. We (the reader) even get a funny little cameo near the end.

Despite what people are saying, as a Doctor Strange fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This novelization could work as an intro to the character or a prose exploration of world already visited by keen fans. Getting into it a bit more than other recent Marvel books of similar nature, I found it to be a fun aspect of the Marvel novelization world.

Some reviewers have pointed out this feels "episodic", like a series of small adventures cobbled together as a book, rather than a single solid narrative. There's a reason for this, it is exactly that.

Dimension War is a novelization of the first several stories of Doctor Strange comics...or more precisely, his HALF of the Strange Tales comics, so yes. every chapter is basically a retelling of a single, stand alone, comic book.

Tonally, that makes this whole book a bit weird, especially if you're familiar with the source material. On the one hand, it's a good reinterpretation, with thankfully better dialogue than Stan Lee's overblown soliloquys, and the author's translation of what was once art on panel is rather good. The narrator of the audio book is professional, clear and easy to understand, and plays the different roles well with differing accents and voices.

However, this, and other Marvel books like it, are a bit of an exercise in "Why?"

You're honestly far better off just reading the source material, as this just feels like a rehashed cash grab, well done as it is. Rather than rewriting already told stories, Marvel novels need to tell original ones. I could only recommend this is the idea of retreading familiar territory in pure prose without Ditko's art sounds good, or if you just a SUPER hard Marvel fan.

I loved listening to this audiobook as I am a big fan of Marvel and especially Doctor Strange, it was great to learn more about his universe.

As a long time both comic and MCU lover who has never read any of the novels I was not sure what to expect going into Doctor Strange: Dimension War beyond knowing what comic arc it was a retelling of. As such I had set the bar pretty low and while this was an enjoyable novel, it still somehow didn't quite meet the bar of what I expect with a novel off one of my favorite in the comics.

While all the characters who were involved in the comics in some way played a role in this story about Doctor Strange, from Wong to Dormammu, somehow they all felt a bit flat. As if the dialogue and descriptions had not been fleshed out in advance, and each chapter or situation was being written individually of the rest of the novel. This often lead to the early stages of the novel, I would say about the first half, feeling disconnected from the chapters surrounding it. At about the half way point things started to tie together and the novel at last started to feel as if each chapter was part of a novel and not a standalone serialization of a story.

On the flip side I will add that the story held my despite me knowing, per the comics, the outcome of this story and each characters part in it. The descriptions of magic and places were well done, and the narration from the POV characters when they were just thinking to themself was decently written.

I would pick this up if you love:
- Doctor Strange
- Marvel
- Prefer a novel to Comics
- Have not already read this story in the comics

Over all a novel I would recommend to those I know who love the MCU but don't read comics as a way to learn more about the characters stories.

I received an advance review copy of this book and I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own and unbiased.

Doctor Strange: Dimension War includes a story about Doctor Strange against Mordo and Dormammu. It is set before he joins the Avengers, and we get the backstory without it being an origin story.

This book didn't hit for me. I've read a few comic novelisations, and this one utilises the format change in a boring way. It still feels like a comic, trying to keep the fast action pace that just feels flat without the illustrations. Some things that are included also feel very unnecessary. One example is that Strange instantly trusts a woman because he finds her attractive, then as an afterthought, it's added that she has good vibes basically. Strange is a very perfect and flat character in this book. He used to be an arrogant asshole, and now he is so selfless and pure that all his praise comes from others. It was just boring. 

For the audiobook, the narration was fine. It's just a bit slow. I rarely speed up audiobooks, and when I do, it's 1.2. I had to go 1.5 for this one.

ARC from NetGalley:

I understand why this book is pretty divisive in the reviews, but I enjoyed this immensely.

A novelization of the first big arc of Dr. Strange comics from the 60s. Of the comics novelized here, I'd only read the Spider-Man one novelized in the epilogue but I thought that Lovegrove did an excellent job.

This particular era of Dr. Strange is very cosmic, accompanied with beautiful visuals by Steve Ditko. Turning that into the written word was not an east feat, but was deftly accomplished.

The book has a very serialized style to it, often times feeling like you are reading a cartoon show with the same villains showing up every week to get outwitted again and again. For me this wasn't a detriment as it was immensely entertaining. The back half of the book turns the story into a more focused narrative with a satisfying conclusion, leading to the earlier serialized elements coming together to form a satisfying whole.

While not for everyone, if you are a fan of goofy cosmic Marvel goodness, you'll be very happy with this one.

Kudos to Titan for continuously playing around with the novelization as a format, one of the few companies who keep the tradition alive.

<b>Narrated by James Anderson Foster
Presented by Marvel & Dreamscape Media</b>

Pretty mediocre, and minus points for the mumbling narrator.

This professes to be a 'creative novelisation' but it didn't seem all that creative to me. The episodes play out like a cartoon, where the bad guys are incompetent and constantly foiled.

It's Strange taking on Mordo and Nightmare again and again and it was just dull. It would have been better if there was a complete story here instead of multiple episodes. Or, inject a little more humour or something. It just needed something more.

That said, this would probably be a great book for young kids to enjoy, as it's not too dark and nothing is too complicated. Teens and pre-teens with an interest in Doctor Strange, Marvel and/or comics may find this to be an easy way to get into reading, and I can't fault it for that.

Don't recommend the audio, though, I'm afraid. I found the narrator's voice was so low that I was really struggling to make out what he was saying, even at full volume. There's also inconsistency with pace which was frustrating. Some of the characters were hard to tell apart, and others sounded more like a parody. This would honestly be an easy voice to fall asleep to, but as the narrator of this story, he wasn't working for me.

I'd recommend this one for younger readers, easily. For the general reading public this misses the mark a little, but fans of the Doctor Strange comics that inspired this novelisation may find it more entertaining.

<i>With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC</i>

Fans of Marvel’s Dr. Strange will be delighted to discover a series of episodic adventures featuring the Sorcerer Supreme and his entourage in James Lovegrove’s “Doctor Strange: Dimension War”. With its multiple point-of-view storytelling, the stories dispalys encounters with well-known villains, such as: Mordo, Nightmare, and Dormammu. These encounters occur in disjointed snippets, much like it happens in the comic books which focus on the same characters!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, Marvel , and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads! #DoctorStrangeDimensionWar #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning

As a huge fan of Doctor Strange, I was excited to get a chance to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of Doctor Strange: Dimension War. Unfortunately unlike many other Marvel novels, this one was sadly a bit underwhelming. Now part of that is due to the style of the storytelling feeling rather passive. Another part is due to there not feeling as if there is a cohesive overarching story. Yes, we get Doctor Strange adventures of a sort, but they are just short snippets. We see Doctor Strange coming up against Mordo repeatedly (with Strange constantly walking into traps that he should have seen coming miles away) and since they are told one after the other, it really makes you question Strange’s genius as he seems unable to learn from past mistakes. That being said as a fan of the good Doctor, I did enjoy these adventures to an extent, and it it’s not just Mordo he goes up against, there are other well known villains as well, such as Nightmare and Dormammu. The audio narration is well done as well. While I did enjoyed the book, I would say this is likely to appeal more to diehard Strange comic fans rather than casual Marvel movie fans. I’d like to thank Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of Doctor Strange Dimension War.