Books The Last Jedi by Jason Fry

Waiting the Brazil version, that will be release on march 26, 2 days after, it's the blu ray, it will be a good week.

 

I got the book yesterday and I've mostly only read the Luke and Rey parts. I did not see anything specific about that scene of young Rey looking at the ship flying off. I assume that this is when her parents sold her to Plutt, but they likely told her they were coming back and she's been hanging onto that for years.

 

It could also be that the Force vision was being metaphorical on this point. As TLJ has shown, trying to decipher them is tricky, at best.

 

Are these typos?

Page 147, 3rd paragraph from top; "Han . . . Han was about it," Luke said. "But Leia trusted me with her son ......"

Should that be "Han was against it" ?

Page 233, 4th paragraph from bottom; She willed it into her hand -- and it flew it into the air, ....

Is there an extra 'it' in that sentence (though I suppose the two 'it's could be two different things, so it would be grammatically correct, just odd)?

 

I'm only 15 chapters in, but some early thoughts. In general, this book proves that Star Wars novelizations are best written by Star Wars novelists. Most novelizations range from bland to terrible. The notable exceptions are Stover's Revenge of the Sith (still the GOAT, in my opinion), and this, which is better than I expected it to be - and I expected to like this book!

Spoiler

• Loved the prologue. It is deeply sad that Luke seemed destined for being dissatisfied with his life no matter what happened, but that seems to fit the theme here.
• ACKBAR IS BACK. This one is harder to pin down, but Ackbar is perhaps the first character I've read in both canons where he feels like the same guy. Maybe it's all the ocean metaphors.
• I'm appreciating the expanded technical and tactical discussions in this book. It is also VERY obvious why these would not have worked on-screen.
• Mr. Fry writes an excellent Rey.
• It's alarming how well this book dovetails with Cobalt Squadron. Again, to anyone listening at Del Rey, this is why you hire experienced, successful Star Wars writers for these things.
• Poe is great - a character totally in keeping with pilot characters of the EU, with a fascinating bit of self-awareness: he knows he's the hero of a Star Wars story. The best part of Oscar Isaac's performance easily translate to the page.
• I was tickled that when Rose reviewing her thoughts on Finn, she finds him cute, but distracted by a "bizarre crush on his friend." It's unclear whether the friend is Rey or Poe, and I like it this way.
• No one has convincingly demonstrated how a Starfortress bomber would fit in any Resistance hanger we've seen.
• Of course the entire crew of the Cobalt Hammer died, but it was extra painful seeing their deaths through Paige's eyes. Still, one of the rare missed beats - which Jason could not have known about just from the script - was the look of pained horror on Paige's face as she watched the bomber formation get ripped apart by TIEs.
• Poe's scene during the evacuation of the Anodyne was great, and added substantially to his arc.

 

The Luke line from the move when talking to Rey about Leia sending Ben to him is "Han was Han about it,"

 

Spoiler

Any info on Han's funeral? My book will only arrive in 2 weeks or so...

 

Here is my spoiler-free review for the New York Daily News - I loved this novelization, it was so absorbing!

 

Big interview with the Independent, and we cover a lot about the process, that prologue, and more. Including a discussion of a few things we considered/tried but ultimately chose not to do. (Pilots! Some guy named Skywalker!)

 

Here's a good write up on the connections with the novelization and other books and comics:

http://www.starwars.com/news/how-th...cts-to-a-galaxy-of-star-wars-books-and-comics

 

6 or 7 versions of the script? How different was each one? Were they all written by Rian or did other people contribute to them i.e. Lucas, Abrams, Lucasfilm Story Group, John Knoll?

 

See, you utterly wolfed it down - you ought to have literary indigestion at the very least!

 

Yeah, I loved those! Here's to hoping JJ picks up on that thread for IX!

--Adm. Nick

 

This is you Sinny:



Jason's the chef!

 

About your question. Yes.

 

I hope there's a spot for the InterLukes somewhere in the future - they sound really cool.

 

Finished last night. I literally bawled during Luke’s death scene.

I loved all the varying POVs. I’m usually not a big fan of omniscient POV, but it worked here.

Especially loved all the scenes Jason got to expand on and really get inside the characters’ heads. Can he have another Del Rey novel now?

 

Sadly, this was a disappointment. It's quite clear Jason gave it his best shot, but his aim was fatally compromised and hindered by the fact he was novelising TLJ. The one thing that would have made it far, far better is more Luke, but that just wasn't here. I was hoping for a better sense of Luke's viewpoint, but what's here is more or less what the film gives us minus Hamill's killer performance to sell it. In that respect, most of the weaknesses of the film are replicated here.

As to the fabled NR references, either it was a sentence here, another there or they were too damn subtle I missed them completely. (Quite, quite seriously - gimme the page numbers.) In this respect I can recognise that Fry's hands were probably tied by the lack of knowing whatever is being done in Ep 9, but I still feel it's a missed opportunity. Especially with regard to Bloodline, this could have paid that book off but doesn't.

The big success of the book lies elsewhere then - Luke, Rey, Holdo, Poe, Ren, Hux - they are very much as they are in the movie. Where Fry does work a good amount of magic is in character recollections:

Spoiler

Snoke's musings about the true nature of the Contingency
Poe learning to fly in the atmosphere and orbit of Yavin with his mother Shara, including flying around the Death Star wreckage
Hux recalling that the Jedi used child soldiers - he has the Imperial version
Snoke running through the list of his rivals - Brendol Hux, Sloane, Rax
Luke's adventures in the decades before were aimed at uncovering the greater truths of the Force
Snoke aided the Empire in the Unknown Regions - that demands to be expanded on, as does the greater truths he claimed to hold and wished to deny Skywalker

These were excellent and hinted at a grander tapestry that absolutely has to be developed further.

 

Should I read the regular one or the expanded one?

 

There is only the expanded one.

 

Expanded.

--Adm. Nick

 

Heck, Amazon is taking forever to ship my book.

 

Amazon UK split my order (4 books). First part has a Monday delivery date. Unfortunately Jedi is in the second part which is estimated for next Friday.