Hello everyone!
It's time for yet another book review, and I managed to finish up what I consider, at the moment, to be the best of the Star Wars movie novelizations so far.
I haven't read the lot of them YET - still working on it, there's a heck of a lot! - but I've crunched through most of the Prequels and gotten to the point where I'm actually missing a book from the lineup and have to download it before I can get to the one that a very good friend of mine has wanted me to read for ages now.
I have to admit, this all depends on what I feel like reading, of course. Some days, Star Wars just doesn't cut it for me because of some weird mood I'm in.
But I've been doing pretty well recently and I'll probably take a mini break and read something else before diving back into the galaxy far, far away, so I figured I would catch you all up on my current reading material!
Karen Traviss and her novelization of The Clone Wars are definitely worth the read, however you look at it.
Anyway, Karen Traviss seems to be an author in the Star Wars writing arena that I'll be paying a lot more attention to, because not only did I enjoy the book, I also think she captured the essence of the characters very well, in comparison to some of the hiccups I felt were present for the novelizations of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
So the story of The Clone Wars basically remains just as I put it down last week: Anakin and Obi-Wan are busy trying not to die at the hands of Separatists on a planet close to the Outer Rim when Yoda gives them the task to recover the son of Jabba the Hutt, and also delivers Anakin's new Padawan to him, Ahsoka. Obi-Wan then spends the rest of the story either trying to catch up to his former Padawan, negotiating with the bad guys, or taunting bad guys after Anakin managed his escape from their clutches. Meanwhile, Skywalker and Ahsoka actually get the little Huttlet, against all odds, get off the planet Teth he's being held on, and travel over to Tatooine to deliver him to Jabba, safe and sound, although there's also an altercation with Count Dooku along the way.
Still, all's well that ends well, and for the time being the Republic has managed to gain access to the Hutt trade routes in the Outer Rim so they can try and get the Separatists to hit the bucket there with more ease.
In the pocket book, we get to see a lot of action, condensed of course, and the gist of the characters while they spar with each other.
What I loved about Traviss' version so much is the fact that she's just SO good at characterization and letting a scene breathe so the reader has a chance to catch up with her.
We dive deep into Anakin's psyche and what he feels, his experience as a General in the Clone Wars and his double-edged relationship with Obi-Wan, whom he still wishes to please to no end but at the same time wants to throttle in a lot of instances. We see how much he doubts himself and how he hates the fact that he didn't go back for his mother before the Tusken situation, to try and save her, but we also see how he's beginning to shift some of the problems that either aren't problems or are directly his fault onto the Jedi, blaming them instead of the actual culprits, on the slippery slope that the Force presents to him.
And most of all, FINALLY, we see the conflict within him, which I've been missing quite a lot of in the previous novelizations where I felt it either wasn't quite addressed, it was rushed, or it was simply to be understood, but we never really got around to it.
Note: I still think he's a whiny, cringey character, don't get me wrong. I understand everything about the Chosen One prophecy and pressure and yada yada yada, but Anakin's problem, to me, was always that he simply DIDN'T GET what it meant to be a Jedi, because he was too old when they got him off Tatooine and into training. This of course doesn't excuse what happened and I'm not saying it does, but the thing is, when faced with certain situations, people will show their true character, especially in a pinch. Being the best and strongest is going to help you squat if you don't have the personality to go along with it; some people will be gracious and rise to the occasion. Some will fall flat as pancakes, and Anakin is in the second category for me. This doesn't mean I don't view him as a tragic character, but God damn did I want to slap him silly SO many times!
We also get to see a bunch of comedic Kenobi inserts that I can just VISUALIZE, like the one time he's speaking to one of the clone commanders and he casually flicks a droid away with the notation that it was as if he didn't like the look of it. Or how he's described as having a brash, fanfare-loud presence in the Force wherever he goes.
He's such a smug bastard, but he also does his duty to the best of his ability and struggles just the same as a lot of others - he just has the Jedi Code more firmly rooted into him.
Then of course we get to see a bit more of the motivations behind Ventress and her quest for revenge, though honestly that one was slightly funny to me. She was pissed off because the Jedi apparently let her master die AND didn't help her planet, but at the same time she isn't the biggest fan of her planet anyway and hated it with all her might. She makes for a fun sparring partner trying to erase the smirk off Obi-Wan's face though.
And most importantly, we get to see a lot of action and SPECTACULAR characterization from the clone characters, with Rex and Cody, the two commanders who work most often with Skywalker and Kenobi, not to mention that Traviss really has a good grasp of suspense and action sequences to make them both interesting and incredibly visual.
There were some minor differences from the other book - the Padmé subplot was mostly shaved to her very minimum appearance with the readers being told she worked with Jabba's uncle and the situation there to help her Jedi husband, probably in favour of getting us more into the head of Count Dooku and his reasons for doing what he's doing. There's also very little of the aftermath when it's all over, but then again you really just want to get off Tatooine as fast as you possibly can at that point, anyway.
Special shout-out to the best astromech droid in the entire galaxy! R2-D2 manages to deliver both charisma and a boatload of sass at the same time, and if you ask him nicely he'll even make pretend noises like a Separatist shuttle!
Special shout-out to the best astromech droid in the entire galaxy! R2-D2 manages to deliver both charisma and a boatload of sass at the same time, and if you ask him nicely he'll even make pretend noises like a Separatist shuttle!
All in all, however, I can safely say this is a book I will be buying in physical copy, to have against my electronic version. It's fast paced, easy to follow, witty and incredibly entertaining.
It also introduces a rule of thumb: never negotiate surrender with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ever.
Best to remember that.
xx
*image not mine
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