Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THE CLONE WARS (Spoilers)

Humans made the rules in the galaxy, so Jabba the Hutt felt morally obliged to ignore them all.

I don't think I've been so taken by the first line of a novel in a very long time.

I enjoyed this novel a great deal, more and more as I got deeper into the book, I wasn't really sure what to expect going in, was Karen Traviss going to do some justice to what is essentially an adaptation of a kids movie? Well the answer was an emphatic yes!

Jabba the Hutt was captured so very well in this book that I think I would read an entire novel of his escapades if Karen ever decides to branch out a bit from her Mando's (Maybe with a complete Huttese dictionary ) Jabba was perfect, and I've always found authors have trouble writing the Hutts so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Asoka and Rotta are captured very well. Asoka is written perfectly, very near to the movie depiction. Yes, A little bit of angst was added with her learning about death and war, but it didn't become heavy or take away from the youthful exuberance of her character.

Anakin felt slightly off to me at times, yet at other times his sourness was captured very well. My favorite thought of his was:
Asoka saved Rotta. In the end, she saved him, I didn't. I can't save anyone even when I try.
His inner turmoil is captured quite well, he basicly beats himself up over everything. The depiction made me really feel like Anakin was a troubled soul.

Obi-Wan was written perfectly. of course, this included not getting inside his head, more through how he was viewed by others. As a great warrior and leader. I was surprised I liked him so much. Mace for his two lines was captured well too.

Loved R2D2 fretting over the Jawa's taking apart the Twilight, and Anakin giving him the old "Don't worry R2, that will never, ever happen to you."

Rex was given a real role in the book, much more significant than in the film. I thought his mentoring of Asoka was very well done, allowing both characters to shine.

For the villians......I enjoyed Assaj probably the most. Her inner sadness comes out a bit, always in thought about how she feels the Jedi betrayed her Master and her people. Also the little tidbit about the spy droid being her only friend, linked with the fact that she realizes she's being used by Dooku and feels she'll likely never be trained as a true Sith.

Dooku is alright, nothing spectacular. He has a couple nice moments but otherwise comes across a bit bland. I'd certainly be interested in a follow up story of Jabba setting the galaxies bounty hunters loose on Dooku for kidnapping dear little Rotta

Palpatine is the only really poor characterization for me. He comes across like an over the top, comic, saturday morning cartoon villian. "I'm so smart and the Jedi are so dumn", and basicly keeps repeating himself through his limited appearances in the book.

His hypocrisy toward the Jedi for only helping Rotta because its in their interests is very misplaced. If anything I would think Palpatine might praise the Jedi for making the right strategic move, rather than sitting around thinking " The Jedi are so selective about who they use their legandary compassion for "

Also the chapter openings at times stray a little to far into the OU political realm. Obi-Wan's chapter opening was great, but Dooku's added to Ventriss's added to the Killian Ranger fellow all come across as a bit unessesary and repeating the same kind of anti-jedi type view. Dooku and Ventriss are in character, but the addition of the Killian Ranger puts it over the top and simply sounds like Daala and Fett from the end of Revelation.

Overall I felt like this was a great read, a worthy addition to a fun film.

8.5/10

 

Average score: 101.25/13 = 7.79

 

I finally got to this one and it has turned out to be one of the best Clone Wars era books I've read. Traviss' anti-Jedi sentiments fit perfectly in this slight yet engaging tale. I have not seen the movie (which I can't imagine can compete with this book if it tried).

Traviss finally depicts Anakin's inner voice as no writer, save Stover, has done before. She gives a sympatheic voice to Assaj Ventress. She even lets us in on Palpatine's joke. The scene from Palp's POV pulling the wool over Yoda's eyes is delicious.

Traviss dispenses with the relentless unquestioning swashbuckling that Labyrinth of Evil often was and asks some deeper more probing questions while still keeping it quite a kid friendly tale. I can now say I like Ahsokah "Snips" Tanno. This book is about loyalty, accountability, guilt, the relevance of guilt, leadership, and of course what is deeply wrong with the Republic and their guardians, the Jedi. And get this, it never feels heavy handed.

I'm actually surprised how much there is to say about this little novel but I'll simply prune my remarks down to this number, 9.5. The only fault I could find with the book is that it is a fairly trivial plot. But Traviss does so much with it. Great work.

 

Average score: 110.75/14 = 7.91

 

Probably my favorite Traviss book since Hard Contact. I don't know what that says about me. I guess I go for the simpler storytelling than what I interpret as her books with "messages". Having seen the film, this book does much of what the other adaptation I've read, ROTS', did in expanding what we saw onscreen and giving us new angles to look at the stories. Traviss' typical tight 3rd-person POV gives a more realistic view of what occurred in the movie, bringing that darker realism Karen often provides. For the most part, the perspectives ring true for the characters as well.

My biggest problem with the book, was a similar one I had to the last two RepCom books I read in that several of the characters pick one big issue in their lives and dwell on it constantly. Anakin couldn't save his mother and can't save anyone, Ventress' life was destroyed by the Jedi, something she feels the need to remind herself every page or so, Rex is fighting for his boys, etc. I get that they have their strong feelings on these issues, but to have it brought up over and over again gets just a little repetitive.

Also, it felt a bit odd to me that Anakin thinks of Obi-Wan as just "Kenobi" these days. I can understand pretty much every other character, but Anakin? They're practically brothers at this point and it just seemed a bit more detached from Anakin than I would have expected.

Still, a well-written and pleasant read. 8/10

 

Average score: 118.75/15 = 7.92

 

8/10

It's a good book, and a good read. Better if you have seen the movie first because most of the movie is action, and much of the book focusses more on the thoughts behind those actions. It's a good split, beacue seeing action is more fun that reading it, and showinf thoughts can get old peretty fast.

I'll never get to like Anakin, no matter what he does and who writes him. I can stand him in this book, so that's worht a lot. Ahsoka, she's better in the book, too, IMO. Maybe I am just too old to appreaciate her youthful (hyper)activity.

And what can I say? ther is more CLONES in the book than in the moive. they are more important, get more page time and are just plain wonderful. I keep complaining that for something that's called Clone Wars there's not enough clones in it. There's not nearly enough of them in the book either (yeah, I am obsessed, give an old lady a break ) but it's more than in the movie.

I would have liked more plot, more twists and surprises, but considering which age CWA is aimed at ... *shrug* There's not much you can do.

My personal fangirly fave moment: Kom'rk!
Erm.

Go and read it, it complements the moviee beautifully.


On leaving out things: If you keep in mind where Ahsoka is when tehy storm the cliff, you know where she'll come up and how to save Anakin. But the beauty of the book it that it makes you forget and it comes a s nice surprise. IMO.

 

Average score: 126.75/16 = 7.92

 

Karen did a great job with this adaptation. I believe she is the first author to write about Anakin's hatred and resentment toward Hutts for enslaving him and his mother. The Clones were written well without being Mandos. Jabba was written extremely well. Obi-Wan wasn't used much. Dooku's plans made more sense than in the movie. Traviss captured the feral predator nature of Ahsoka - I doubt many other authors would have added this to her character.

I believe I would have enjoyed the novelization more if I had read it before watching the movie. The plot isn't too great and already knowing what will happen makes it even less exciting.

She cut some parts of the movie which could have added to the extremely short page count had she included them.

5/10.

 

Average score: 131.75/17 = 7.75

 

Question for mods (Havac):

Do audio books count for lit reviews? Normally, as far as SW audio books go, I'd say no due to how horribly abridged SW novels have typically been. But TCW audio book unabridged.

FYI, MF audio book is also unabridged (been on a couple recent road trips)...possibly, hopefully, a new trend? (However, TFU was abridged...didn't buy that one.)

But I digress: Are unabridged audio books eligible for a legitimate book review and rating in official lit. review threads?

 

If they're completely unabridged, I suppose so.

 

This was an excellent book

 

It's unabridged (an audio book either is or isn't).

[image=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/covers_450/9780739376829.jpg]

And here's a link.

I'll post my review/rating shortly.

Thanks!

 

I just finished this last night; very good book. My only gripe was that it's revealed early on that Palpatine is Sidious; I liked the pre-ROTS clone wars EU where it was a secret.

 

It wasn't considered a secret in pre-ROTS EU.

 

It was in the way that they didn't come right out and display it like they did here.

 

Just going to post a quick review...just a couple points really.

Vastly superior to the movie. Much better rationale for everything that happened, and it felt also like so much more of a "journey" (both the overall plot and for a few individual characters) than the movie (hard to discuss the book without comparing I guess).

Even Ahsoka was more engaging, her defiance was more believable, her personal development more apparent, and her role in regards to the development of Anakin was also more clear.

It was also really interesting to get inside the heads of the characters, particularly Anakin. Yes, we have a good guy Anakin, but the movie seemed to gloss over his inner conflicts. In this book, these conflicts are explored.

And the inner monologue of Palpatine was great too. The discrepancy between his actions and thoughts were really fun. Maybe my favorite was when he outwardly praised Yoda for his wise incite, while he inwardly mocked his keen ability to state the obvious (which was also pretty funny because Yoda did seem to do a lot of that in the prequels).

This book turned a mediocre (almost bad) story into a strong one:

8.5

 

Average score: 140.25/18 = 7.79

 

Late to the party, but oh well. The author did a fine job of novelization here and I really enjoyed her Anakin and Ventress and Dooku. Their characterizations came off well; I would have liked enjoyed a take on Obi-Wan, but a strong suspicion exists that only non-standard Jedi have her interest as a writer. If she ever takes up Qui-Gon, wow! Something to look forward to. The plot of the movie was followed in general and pieces that were omitted, such as the tea-drinking scene, perhaps would have taken away from the emphasis on characterizations that this book has. Overall, I'd give it a 7/10.

 

Average score: 147.25/19 = 7.75

 

Even later to the party .

Adaption issues aside, the book left me confused. Not about the story of course, but confused about how I feel towards it. I've watched the movie several times and enjoyed it and the book added a lot of depth, which is always nice. Karen Traviss is a good writer, there's no doubt about it. But... Yes, there are a lot of buts for me and I'm not sure where to start. If I try to make sense of them now, it's probably going to be a long review^^.

I suppose it comes down to bias - character bias vs. authorial bias. The first kind is part of the trade, it comes naturally with the territory of writing from a character's POV and it's done very well. Sometimes I just don't agree because it does not fit what we see in the movie, especially in the case of Ventress. I like that her old origin is brought up to explain her pent up rage, pain and frustration. BUT - here we have the first but^^ - half the time this is not the character we see on the screen. Her infamous playful flirtation with Obi-Wan just doesn't happen in the book. Neither is there any inclination she has any feelings for the spy droid, other than him being a useful tool. The energy in her fight with Kenobi is completely different, and it shows. In the movie, Asajj gets so hooked on the fight he can distract her from stopping Anakin flee with Rotta. In the book, it reads like HE is after her, toying with her for giggles. And when she discovers Anakin is gone her realization she got distracted is off, because she just wasn't. Also, the friendship with the droid comes out of nowhere and only seems to serve the purpose to put Ahsoka in the wrong and make Ventress the victim some more. And in this case character bias spills over into the author's personal agenda.

I had a similar problem with Anakin here - he felt off to me. He's supposed to be conflicted, yes, but half of his issues here should be old hats, even to him (especially being unwanted - wtk?). Also, the relative unimportance of Padmé was galling. She's almost never in Anakin's thoughts, and if he thinks of her it's an afterthought. And when she finally appears she's just a pawn at the edge of the action, despite saving the day. And here I thought those days, where the females can't carry a plot were beyond us...

Ahsoka was characterized very well on the other hand, she was very interesting and I liked how she was truly alien, with different reactions than a human. Also, her maturing came over as very natural, not forced or contrived. Another character whom I enjoyed was Rex (although here it became obvious the book was written before the movie existed - Rex is supposed to be blond, not bald^^). The battle scenes are the highlights of the book, hands down. They were really awesome, one felt like one was there. And not in a pleasant way^^, because battle is a messy business.

I had a little chuckle where Palpatine caught himself believing his own lies - it must be hard to keep up such a huge deception 24/7. It gave him a bit of a human moment.

And now, that I reach the villains, I come to my greatest 'but'. After reading it, there were no villains left. Asajj is a victim, Dooku only wants justice and Jabba is a conservative Hutt keeping well with his people's morals. *shakes head* I've already said a lot about Asajj, I wont repeat it about Dooku - most of that isn't what we see in the movie. Just as the addition of the relationship between Ventress and the droid seems to serve a special Agenda, so do the references to the EU (and the decisions of what is NOT referenced). Dooku spends a lot of time reminiscing about his encounter with Mandalorians on Galidraan (from the Comics about Jango Fett), but no time on the other reasons that were cited in different sources for him going over to the dark side, namely that he became what he wanted to fight after Qui-Gon Jinn was killed by the Sith... Asajj comic origin is also referenced, but NOT her obsession with Obi-Wan that does play into the movie q

 

Average score: 154.25/20 = 7.71

 

Better late then never (currently rereading it) but I'd give this a solid 8/10.

 

Average score: 162.25/21 = 7.73