What makes movie tie-ins fun is the stuff that didn't appear in the film because of pacing or time or funds or whatever, but that a novel, with all the space and time in the world can easily accommodate. In this respect, while it does adhere very tightly to the film on which it's based, Man of Steel doesn't disappoint, being filled throughout with new scenes and extra dialogue, plenty of internal monologue and generously giving readers answers to questions that crop-up from the film but probably couldn't be adequately answered on-screen for all those reasons mentioned.
There are a couple of nice scenes of Clark Kent as a baby that help to show his adoptive parents coping with their new child, but the real goodies are in the fleshing out of the world of Krypton and the shifting dynamics of that world at the start of the story. We also get a much deeper insight into the motives of both Jor-El and General Zod at the start of it all, but one of the real bonuses are the continuing thoughts of Jor-El which kind of 'humanise' him in unexpected ways.
There are some nice details added in to the mix and a deft touch with the additions so that they aren't overdone and, as you'd expect from any tie-in novel, the action comes thick and fast which keeps the pacing up, and the breezy writing style is so easy to read that you'll rip through it in short order.
I'm guessing that as novelisations go this was turned around in double-quick time because it does have a ton of spelling and grammatical errors which grate a little bit, but don't really upset enjoyment of the story.
The reality is that movie tie-ins tend to appeal to the hardcore fans but given that Greg Cox is also the writer behind a ton of other novelisations including the Underworld films, Ghost rider and The Dark Knight Rises you should give it a go, it's well worth it.
Man of Steel: The Official Movie Novelisation is published by Titan Books, and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.