It's taken me way longer than I expected to post here. I wrote down reviews as I went but I kept moving on to a new book and saying "oh I'll post after that." Well, enough is enough. Sorry for the wall of text. Here's what I've been reading for the last four months.
DominicCobb said:
Now I'm on to Attack of the Clones. Let's see how this goes. I'm only a few chapters in and author R.A. Salvatore is already twisting himself into knots trying to explain this assassination plot. Novelizing Lucas's screenplays must be a hard job.
Finished Attack of the Clones and it was actually sort of enjoyable. Salvatore tries his hardest to make everything make sense - and it almost does. A lot of the book is spent on the romance to make it more believable. At times it seems like an impossible task but Salvatore manages it better than the movie does, mostly by concentrating on Padme. Anakin is not as much the focus, which might be for the best. The movie's portrayal of him is wildly inconsistent but the book somehow manages to alleviate that whilst also making Anakin likeable. Unfortunately the only way to do that and stay true to the script was to have Anakin be a sort of overgrown child, which works in an endearing sort of way but ultimately is not who the future dark lord should be.
Thankfully James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil, the next book I read, might actually have the best portrayal of Anakin Skywalker I have seen, book or otherwise. Luceno's Anakin has personality; he's dryly sarcastic, he's a clever soldier, and a good friend. What's most interesting is his grasp on the force. He's already calling on his rage and his fear, even before he turns to the dark side, and it's helping him win the war. This in my mind is a crucial step towards his turn, yet is not something shown in the films. I do wish there had been some way to bridge the gap of the naive Anakin of AOTC and the confident Anakin of this novel. I read an excerpt of Jedi Trial, which takes place in between the two, but it sucked so I didn't bother with it.
Anakin isn't the only commendable part of LOE, however. The whole book is just a fantastic adventure, and really a lot of fun. There's weight too. Luceno clearly knows his canon (more than I) and works in some interesting character motivations for Dooku and Grievous. If I have a problem with the book it's that the fact that Palpatine is Sidious is made rather obvious, even though it's supposed to be a mystery. The other thing is, by the end, you realize this story is really just an extended prologue for ROTS, rather than its own thing. I didn't really mind though. All told this is the best EU novel I have read so far.
Well, that's if you don't count novelizations as EU novels. Because Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith is without a doubt the best Star Wars novel I have ever read. Right from the start he hooks you in and doesn't let go. To say that this book is better than the film is a colossal understatement (and I actually quite like the film). I do wonder how much of this greatness belongs to Lucas. The novel is apparently based on an early draft, and Lucas's first cut of the film was supposed to be four and a half hours long. So it's entirely possible that a lot of this came from Lucas, and certainly it does seem like Stover is expanding a lot on things that Lucas set up, even if the former has to provide pay off where the latter didn't. But, at the end of the day, Lucas's cut of the film is what it is, and it does not stand up to this. (Stray observation: I estimate about 5% of the dialogue in the novel is actually from the movie.)
The result is a much more fulfilling story across the board. While reading I felt like I was just constantly saying "yes! yes!" Stover does not let any opportunity go. But good storytelling is not just about plot and character. Stover also brings a fantastic and immensely engaging prose style. It's maybe a little too effusive in parts near the start, but when it really sets in you love it.
The one could-have-been-better is, again, Anakin. To be clear, I think Stover nails him for the most part. Stover's goes piece by piece through the lead up to and the actual turn to the dark side, and it really works, a hell of a lot more so than in the movie. Towards the end though, I do wonder if he took a sort of short cut and fell back a bit on the naive Anakin characterization. While it is consistent with a lot of the other portrayals of Anakin, and while he does need to be tricked by Sidious to some extent, I think it would have been more powerful if Anakin was more fully aware of what was going on and more consciously joined the dark side and forsook the Jedi order. As it is, it still works, but I feel like there was room for more consistency with the ever confident Vader of the OT.
Speaking of Vader, next up for me was Luceno's Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. I knew going in that people had criticized this book for not focusing enough on its titular character and I'd have to agree. Not that I mind the idea of focusing on new characters, but ultimately those new characters are not all that compelling. The best parts are with the characters we know, specifically Organa trying to not to get on the Empire's bad side, Tarkin fitting into his new position very well, and of course Vader dealing with a basically a brand new life, which is really the highlight. Overall it's a pretty quick and enjoyable read but sort of forgettable and not completely satisfying, like the last two books (which supposedly make up the "Dark Lord Trilogy" with this one).
I then moved on to Alan Dean Foster's original Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, the novelization that started it all, really, book-wise. I must say for a book that came out even before the film itself, it fits surprisingly well into the franchise's canon. This an immensely enjoyable read. Like when I read Marvel's adaptation of the film, I found myself just so happy to be consuming my favorite film in a new and exciting way. It's basically the same story I know and love, with some little differences and additions and quirks (droids are styled as 'droids, something that also occurs in Daley's Solo books and Foster's other SW book, more on those later), but it's those variations that make the story all the more entertaining. I don't often reread books but I feel I will with this one.
Next comes the book that actually kicked the EU into gear, Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I know this one gets some flak from fans because of Luke's romantic feelings for Leia and it just generally not being like other SW stuff, but I really liked it. It really isn't much of a Star Wars book. You've got the Empire, the Rebellion, the Force, Luke, Leia and the droids of course - and the characters are portrayed pretty well - but the tone of the story isn't quite right (also, it's like Foster kept forgetting R2 and 3PO were even there, they basically do nothing; seriously there are two new species who speak different languages and the translating jobs go to just about everyone but 3PO it seems). It's a little bit more mature and pulpy than usual. The story itself could easily be a SW one but the way it's written makes it seem more generic sci-fi/fantasy. Doesn't have quite the right SW feel to it. Still, it's a very cool read and pretty short too so nothing lost there.
I was sort of going in chronological order but I also was concurrently reading Brian Daley's Han Solo At Stars' End. I sort of forgot to write about it when I finished so I'll just put it here at the end. I'd just like to say this is a fantastic book. Fun, fun, fun from start to finish. It's not typical SW, but it's sort of exactly what I would hope for from a book about Han Solo. Light and tight and lean and mean. If I had one qualm is that The Authority seems sort of redundant as a power in a galaxy controlled by the Empire, but that's easily over looked. A great space adventure for those looking for one. I really want to read the other two Daley books but I think I'll save them for later and focus on books about the main storyline.
Up next, The Empire Strikes Back!
