Reviews

An excellent novelization of the animated movie ‘Star Wars The Clone Wars’ that takes place between Episodes 2 and 3. Because it’s a book, you get more of the thoughts and feelings of characters than you do in the movie. For instance, we see how much Anakin’s mother’s death still haunts him and how much he resents the Jedi for not doing enough to save her from slavery, which just continues to burrow deeper as he can’t and won’t talk about it with anyone. He also resents how, despite being told he’s the Chosen One, the Council wants very little to do with him, ostracizing him from the Jedi to which others are quick to take advantage of.

In this book, we also get to learn more of Ventress’s backstory which is never fully delved into in the movie or the show. She is interesting because you get to see how the Jedi oftentimes make their own enemies by simply sitting back and doing nothing when people are crying for help. There is also great effort to humanize the clones. They might all be based on one man but they are all different people, with their own thoughts and feelings.

Overall, the story follows the movie, so you’ll recognize all the main plot points, Jabba’s son is kidnapped by Separatists in an attempt to turn the Hutts against the Jedi and Republic. But will definitely keep with you is all the little things that amount to something larger in the long run of the Clone Wars and Anakin’s eventual turn to the dark side. I would definitely recommend.

al_v_98's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

darei3ear's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

phoebejeziel's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Ugh... I love my boys ❤️

I literally don't even care that I've already seen the shows (and am now rewatching the clone wars), seen the Star Wars clone wars movie multiple times, rewatched the prequels a million times... I will never get enough of this era or seeing more of Anakin's POV. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!!

I mean... what is there to say??? If you love the show and the movie, this is a good read. It follows the move really well, but as always the books are able to expand and elaborate on some things you just can't in the show/films. There's a lot of inner dialog and reflection that I just love because I love to be inside the heads of my favorite characters. We get a lot of Rex and Anakin in this one, which is always so fun.

I've read Anakin's POV in enough books now that none of it is new, but I just love to see him angst and brood. 🤣 what can I say???

Lots of great moments in this book. From Rex pondering about the war and watching his brothers die, to Anakin's true thoughts and feelings regarding risking his life and his men's lives in order to save a Hutt, to his brushes with the darkside... Loved this so much!! I am excited to get into the other clone wars books Ms. Traviss wrote.

mysta's review

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4.0

See, now this is what I was hoping for from the Attack of the Clones novelization: a novel that gives you more than what you could see for yourself on the screen (and is also well-written and presumably smooths over any of the awkardness the Star Wars movies are so prone to rather than somehow making it even more awkward).

Admittedly, I haven't actually seen the movie this was based on. I did watch the clone wars series, but I had no idea there was also a movie until right now and assumed this was based on a series of episodes I'd completely forgotten, so I can't judge how much was added or changed, but there was a lot of wonderful character insight that I don't think would ever come across in a movie. Every single viewpoint character, including (maybe especially) the villains, were interesting to read about. In particular, I love that Jabba was elevated as a character from a one-dimensional mafia-gangster stereotype to a being with emotions and intelligence and even a sense of morals (if somewhat different morals from our own). I would never have thought that to be a feasible task before reading this novel, to be be perfectly honest, but here I am, almost wishing I could know more. My only major complaint about this book is that some of the quote choices at the beginnings of the chapters were... odd, to say the least. But that's easily overlooked. I also found Obi-Wan being described as eager to go into battle strange, but he plays such a minor role that it was really only momentarily distracting.

Unlike the Attack of the Clones (and, to an extent, the Phantom Menace) novelizations, this feels like it was written by someone who cares a great deal about the source material and has put significant thought into how the characters think and feel and why they behave the way they do and make the decisions they make. Though I'm working my way through the Star Wars novelizations, I don't read a lot of novelizations in general (because like book-to-screen adaptations, they usually aren't as good as the source) but this one was an absolute joy to read.

roblucas's review against another edition

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5.0

Surprisingly good. I was expecting it to be a little wishy-washy, like some film to book adaptions tend to be.

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