Author: Sophia Lowell

Publisher: Headline (5th August 2010)

Pages: 218

ISBN: 978-0-7553-7737-4

Grade: B (79 / 100)

This is the book for any fans of the hit TV show Glee, it starts (and finishes) just before the television series starts and is for all intents and purposes a prequel – giving you the backstory.

Go back with the Glee characters before the mania began, find out why Rachel started thinking of Finn as more than just a jock, when did the secret romance between Quinn and Puck begin and how on earth did the Glee club function without the Fearless Mr Schuster?

Before I begin I should point out that I love Glee (how it managed to pass by the rest of my family I have absolutley no idea), I loved the story and I especially loved the songs – many of them I preferred over the orignal (can I say that?) so approaching the book was interesting in that obviously one of the key parts of the show (the songs) was missing.

This aside I felt the book really captures the spirit of Glee, it may not be the TV series but it stood up well on it’s own ground, we start with a Glee club that can honestly hardly be called a club, if you thought it was in dire straights when the show started, it’s even worse at this stage, only four members and, well, no Rachel.

I felt the book really captured the characters – you could really here Coach Sylvester speaking with her remarks never failing to make me smile and we even see glimpses of Mr. Schuster as the seeds were being put in place for him to take over looking after the Glee Club. Overall I really sympathised with all the Glee kids, being at the bottom of the social ladder and being pushed around by certainly the Cherios and the Jocks must suck big time, but they all got on with what they really wanted to do – perform, quite inspiring really!

I really enjoyed seeing the characters life before Glee and found it interesting to see Rachel’s two Dads something which I don’t recall getting too much coverage in the show.

This all being said I was at first a little uneasy with the voice to start with, as like the show does it keeps moving to different points of view – this was only a minor problem as I got used to it after a couple of chapters and then we were off.

Glee: The Beginning was nice book, it had a story which could hold you to the end and serves as a nice way to fill in the gaps between the last series and the next. I think Glee fans (like me) would probably enjoy it more than anyone who has just passing interest in the show.

Characters: 17 / 20

Plot: 12 / 20

Ending: 15 / 20

Writing Quality: 17 / 20

Enjoyment: 18 / 20

Total Mark: 79 / 100

What does this mean? Check out my grading system.

Thanks to Headline for sending me a copy of Glee: The Beginning to review.