Look, this is a review for the novelization of the movies, so ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** (Although, if this applies to you, just go see it already…)
I’m going to preface this review by saying that I don’t typically read movie novelizations. The only one I have read before was for one of the Jaws sequels when I was a kid. Jaws 2, maybe? I vaguely remember it being about a female shark and she was pregnant, I think? There was definitely maybe a water skier on the cover. I’m not going to bother looking it up. I only read it because it was about sharks, and I had read through all of Peter Benchley’s catalogue.
Anyway, my point is I don’t really have anything else to compare this experience to, so it’s entirely possible my gripes are basically the status quo for novelizations. Let’s do this.
I’m not going to bother with a summary. As my title suggests, if you’ve seen the movie, you know what happens. This book was not a hard read by any standard. I have not read any of the author’s other books, so perhaps the somewhat clunky writing was more a product of him being bound creatively by somebody else’s vision. Where most other books will have some sort of separation between scenes, Foster switches scenes without any notice. One paragraph may end with Rey gallivanting around Jakku, and the next paragraph begins with Poe dodging TIE Fighters. Why, it’s almost like when a movie switches scenes suddenly. Oh right…
You do get a little insight into the motivations behind certain actions, and some of the character/scenes are a little more fleshed out. For instance, you see a bit more of Rey discovering her Force powers, and it doesn’t come off as much as a stage direction “[Rey discovers her mind powers while strapped to a chair randomly]” as the movie kinda sorta almost implies. There’s a bit part explaining how Poe got off Jakku following the crash; to our disappointment, he is not capable of transporting himself wherever he pleases (except straight to our hearts). Unkar Plutt shows up in a later scene, and gets what’s coming to him. So that’s nice, I guess.
For those of you wondering, we are not given any more details regarding Finn’s famous moments with TR-8R. He is given just as little attention in the book as in the movie. Captain Phasma is just as disappointingly a non-presence. Also, somewhat surprisingly, Han’s death is much more poignant in the movie. I would have thought that with literally every word ever at his disposal, Foster would have turned up the emotions. Nope.
If you have a free afternoon with nothing else to read, I suppose you could do worse than reading The Force Awakens, but I wouldn’t rush to recommend this as THE book to read anytime soon.
I need to read this because reasons, but I think the main issue here would be that I think ADF is just getting too old for the job. Is that a terrible thing to say?
The beginning of the book gave the usual “Other Works by This Author” and there were *a lot.* Like I mentioned, I haven’t read anything else from him. But I wouldn’t think it’s a terrible thing to say. I have a book on my list that I feel is mostly likely going to be my break-up book with that author. Sometimes it just happens.
I read a Star Wars book by this author as a teenager 100 years ago and I remember it being a bit clunky even then. It was before Empire Strikes Back so they were being all delicate about the Luke-Leia romance angle and there was an awkward bit
Dammit my tablet hates CBR… Why can’t I edit?
As I was saying, it was awkward because it couldn’t have Leia do any potential Force stuff and Luke was all crushing on her in a soon-to-be icky way. Novelizations can be weird, is my point.
You’re talking about Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, right? That was originally supposed to be the basis for the second movie, which ended up being scrapped when the original Star Wars blew up. It was definitely before anyone knew L&L were siblings. I remember it being very weird, and unconnected to the rest of the SW books.
That’s it exactly. I read that book so many times as a teenager. Looking back, it was clear that they told the author that he couldn’t let the romance progress so it was just awkward Luke emo nonsense. And so deliberately and obviously could not let Leia touch the magic Force rock. Even as a kid I thought it was clear they were avoiding any actual developments in character or story.
Yeah, now that you mention it, I think I vaguely remember reading the novelizations of ANH and ESB. I think this was before I realized what novelizations were. I seem to recall starting RotJ, and just never finishing it because I found it so “blah”
I just had a flashback to the early, early 80’s. I definitely remember reading Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster (maybe in middle school) because it was before the whole Luke/Leia thing was revealed and they were a couple in this particular spin-off. I hadn’t thought of that book in years and it just came roaring back. Hmmmm.
That wouldn’t surprise me. I seem to remember the “Other Works” kind of being set up on a timeline compared to the OT. Gotta love the Luke/Leia reveal. When George claims he had the whole story mapped out, you either gotta call his bluff or give him some serious side-eye.