The Lost Chronicles: The Official Companion Book - Mark Cotta Vaz

I have to admit to being a huge fan of 'Lost', I have been hooked ever since the first episode! When the first series finished I heard that they were releasing an official companion book for the series. Well I just had to have this! It's a brilliant book and covers pretty much eveything, it includes in depth interviews with the cast and crew, high quality picures, an episode guide and lots more. Not to forget that there is a a free DVD of the pilot episode, so that makes the book definitely well worth the money!!

For those of you who are not familiar with the show, it's about a group of 48 plane crash survivors who are stranded on a desert Island in the South Pacific. They are have to work together in the hope that they will get rescued. They soon realise that the Island they are on is no ordinary Island, there are polar bears, strange noises coming from the jungle and a mysterious looking hatch hidden in the ground. They have to ask themselves...where are they?

There are lots of different sections in the book and each section is about something different in the show. Here are some of the different sections that are included in the book.

THE LOST HISTORY
This section talks about the history of the show, how they first came up with the ideas for the show and how things first got started. There is a brilliant page on the visual effects and how they filmed the scene where the plane broke up in mid air. There are also fantastic pictures of the plane wreckage and they talk about how they managed to get the plane onto the beach.

SURVIVOR STORIES
This section is basically the character profiles. There are 2 character profiles on each page with some basic information, the producers are clever not to give too much away as their stories are later to be revealed in flashbacks in the show. The rest of the pages in this section are about the cast and how they were picked to be on the show and what it's like for them to be working on such a huge television show.

THE BIG SHOW
This section is mostly about the crew, they talk about how they film the show and put together a single episode. They say that making an episode is like making it three times, they write it, shoot it and then edit it. It's very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes and how it all comes together in the end.

THE LOST MYTHOLOGY
In this section is a brilliant interview with Ian Somerhalder who played Boone, he was the first character to get killed off. Ian talks about what it was like to live and work in Hawaii and how he felt when he got the call to tell him his character was going to get killed off.
The next lot of pages include some secrets from the show and they talk about the mythologies to do with the show.

Q&A JJ.ABRAMS AND DAMON LINDELOF
This is another fantastic interview, this time with the show's creators. They talk about what it's like to work with each other and how they both come up with ideas for the episodes. They talk about the idea of having flashbacks and how they are very important in Lost.

DREAMING IT UP
In this section there is a script from the show, and the producers talk about the Pilot episode and the changes they had to make for it. For example, Jack (Played by Matthew Fox) was originally going to get killed off and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) was planned to be the heroine of the show. However they had to decide against this in the end as they knew that the audience would begin to like Jack and then when he got killed off they would then resent the show.

THE LOST DIARY
This is the all important episode guide, however it is written in a different way to what you would normally expect in a companion book. It's written as if it were a diary by a survivor. They are quite detailed, but they don't give away every single thing that happens in the show.

WARRIORS OF THE WILDERNESS
Finally the last section is about the making of a single episode, this is a very interesting read, it gives you insight into how they atually make an episode...a lot of hard work goes into it and the result is a brilliant TV show!

This is a fantastic show and a must have for all fans like me! If you haven't finished watching the first series then I suggest you do that before buying this book as there are a lot of spoilers in it!!