Whenever I hear that a book that I love is being adapted into a movie, I try to be cautiously optimistic, but it always fills me with anxiety and apprehension. Books mean a lot to me, and literature is a medium that is irreplaceable. Although movies have their advantages, there’s important nuances that are unavoidably altered through the adaptation process.

I’m not saying that movies are unfailingly bad if they’re not identical to books. There’s nothing wrong with changing a story to fit your medium, and film is a wonderful medium. Studio Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” is a beautiful movie that I thoroughly enjoyed, but having read the book by Diana Wynne Jones first, I wouldn’t say they’re the same story at all. There are small differences, like how in the book the castle floats a few inches off the ground whereas in the movie it has legs, but the most impactful difference is in the characterization of Sophie, the protagonist. The book is a lot more about Sophie, her magical willpower, and her journey of self-acceptance. The movie focuses more on her relationship with Howl, crafting an admittedly better romance at the cost of a less interesting Sophie.

Good authors are recognizable for their unique writing styles, little details that give their stories that unforgettable impact. A beautiful example of this is “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, a novel set in Nazi Germany, mostly narrated from the perspective of Death. Zusak weaves words in an incredibly visceral way, with lines like, “His eyes staggered and it was so simple. The words were given across from the girl to the Jew. They climbed on to him.” Movies can do a lot of things, but the power of descriptions like that is wholly unique to literature. If it weren’t for Zusak’s writing skills this book wouldn’t be much, and that’s why the 2013 film adaptation, despite the solid acting, is mediocre at best.

And then sometimes movies are just bad and don’t even have an excuse. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is near and dear to the hearts of many Gen Z folks. It’s an action-packed, hilarious twist on mythology, full of interesting and relatable characters, a perfect recipe for some great movies, but if you ask any fan about the film series you’ll find that it didn’t turn out that way at all. The movie barely develops any of the characters, takes out a lot of Rick Riordan’s wonderful comedy, rushes everything, and changes almost every aspect of the plot besides the basic concept. It loses everything the books have that makes them so well-regarded.

The Percy Jackson situation is not a unique circumstance, so if there’s a movie you love that is based on a book, give the written word a shot. It will definitely be different, but who knows, you might like it. You might even think it’s better.