What i remember about episode III is Lucas asked Stover to tone it down.
That part about the dark being a living thing.
Have not read the book in ten years so i cannot say its significantly better than the film, but i once thought so.
It does explain that Count Dooku being killed was Anakin's first premeditated murder that he just lost control with the sand people.
I don't recall the movie giving motivation to Anakin's actions and getting in his head the way the third novelization does.
That he would kill the whole galaxy and all its people to save Padme.
In the movie he looks just like an idiot who was duped.