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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
3.5 stars!
The Last Jedi is my favourite Star Wars film, usurping Revenge of the Sith, so snapping up the novelisation was a no-brainer (and no, not just because there'd be more Reylo and Amilyn Holdo, who I loved in Leia: Princess of Alderaan, in it).
I greatly enjoyed reading the little details Fry has added to the universe. Admiral Ackbar gets a point-of-view, and I'd never expected to get to see through the eyes of a Mon Calamari, but here we are. A certain scene at the beginning of the movie had me tearing up, so reading more detail about that was a definite plus. Rey also has an excellent moment of reflection on the nature of the Force after leaving Kylo on the Supremacy, and we get to hear from BB-8, and through him, we learn that ships (X-wings, Corellian light freighters, etc) can have personalities, which was a fun tidbit!
What made me take off a star and a half is that I feel it could have been edited much better than it was, especially considering that it's a novelisation for such a huge franchise. Some punctuation marks are out of place, past tense spontaneously changed to present at one point, and an entire paragraph was repeated. I felt the writing style was too simplistic and sparse for my tastes, but I wasn't expecting delicious, descriptive prose from a film novelisation to begin with.
The Last Jedi is my favourite Star Wars film, usurping Revenge of the Sith, so snapping up the novelisation was a no-brainer (and no, not just because there'd be more Reylo and Amilyn Holdo, who I loved in Leia: Princess of Alderaan, in it).
I greatly enjoyed reading the little details Fry has added to the universe. Admiral Ackbar gets a point-of-view, and I'd never expected to get to see through the eyes of a Mon Calamari, but here we are. A certain scene at the beginning of the movie
Spoiler
Paige Tico's deathSpoiler
and the relationship the Tico sisters shared (Rose called her Pae-Pae and my heart developed a sad)What made me take off a star and a half is that I feel it could have been edited much better than it was, especially considering that it's a novelisation for such a huge franchise. Some punctuation marks are out of place, past tense spontaneously changed to present at one point, and an entire paragraph was repeated. I felt the writing style was too simplistic and sparse for my tastes, but I wasn't expecting delicious, descriptive prose from a film novelisation to begin with.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
I only read this book because I wanted to see if there was any details about deleted scenes and perhaps some character moments expanded upon, and there are. otherwise is it exactly the sloppily written tripe you get from these kinds of things these days.
This writer specifically comes off as so amateur in their use of language that is was quite painful at times. It also felt like the writer learned a handful of three-dollar words and couldn't help but pepper them through each chapter. Honestly, 'keening' is use so many times that it lost its weight.
keening
1- Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake
2- (by extension) An unpleasant wailing sound.
At any rate, I had a poor time reading this, the lack of actual dialogue; Any scenes with room for the author to expound upon character development, or motivation was left to inner monologues filled with typical B-movie anger, or sniping on other people leaving otherwise likeable characters in the films unlikeable- such a rookie writing choice to think that all conflict is fighting or anger towards other characters, you see this is cheap horror and sci-fi movies and novels.
This so called author had such a gift to get into Poe's head to help smooth out the edges on his growth in the story from a brash pilot with no respect for authority and strategy, to the leader he was to become at the end of the story- instead he is just a petulant child learning no lessons until the author tells us he did instead of showing.
And that is another issue I have with this- so much telling and very little showing. In a film you show by the nuance of the acting and the direction, in a novel the telling should come from dialogue and action (no not fighting, although that can be the case) but with most dialogue being used in order to just push us to the next scenes we are just on this kind of conveyor belt going from moment to moment.
And talk about fight scenes in reference to the differences between a novel and film, we have the fight in Snopes thrown room between Kylo and Rey against Knights of Red or whatever the ehll those red guards are. in the film you get to see cool stunts and sword fighting but in a novel you get boring descriptions of stunt moves that dont come off as exciting because it is just words on the page- and being that this author has spent most of the book having us somehow dislike the characters we loved in the movie by making every thought of theirs full with whine and anger, the weight of this fight... and pages of words this author used to describe the scene, well dullsville.
In the end, happy I got to learn a bit more about the deleted scenes, but as usual I sat through another novelization written by an amateur with no idea how structure, character and plotting works. Perhaps Mr. Fry, there is time for you to become an accoutant.
This writer specifically comes off as so amateur in their use of language that is was quite painful at times. It also felt like the writer learned a handful of three-dollar words and couldn't help but pepper them through each chapter. Honestly, 'keening' is use so many times that it lost its weight.
keening
1- Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake
2- (by extension) An unpleasant wailing sound.
At any rate, I had a poor time reading this, the lack of actual dialogue; Any scenes with room for the author to expound upon character development, or motivation was left to inner monologues filled with typical B-movie anger, or sniping on other people leaving otherwise likeable characters in the films unlikeable- such a rookie writing choice to think that all conflict is fighting or anger towards other characters, you see this is cheap horror and sci-fi movies and novels.
This so called author had such a gift to get into Poe's head to help smooth out the edges on his growth in the story from a brash pilot with no respect for authority and strategy, to the leader he was to become at the end of the story- instead he is just a petulant child learning no lessons until the author tells us he did instead of showing.
And that is another issue I have with this- so much telling and very little showing. In a film you show by the nuance of the acting and the direction, in a novel the telling should come from dialogue and action (no not fighting, although that can be the case) but with most dialogue being used in order to just push us to the next scenes we are just on this kind of conveyor belt going from moment to moment.
And talk about fight scenes in reference to the differences between a novel and film, we have the fight in Snopes thrown room between Kylo and Rey against Knights of Red or whatever the ehll those red guards are. in the film you get to see cool stunts and sword fighting but in a novel you get boring descriptions of stunt moves that dont come off as exciting because it is just words on the page- and being that this author has spent most of the book having us somehow dislike the characters we loved in the movie by making every thought of theirs full with whine and anger, the weight of this fight... and pages of words this author used to describe the scene, well dullsville.
In the end, happy I got to learn a bit more about the deleted scenes, but as usual I sat through another novelization written by an amateur with no idea how structure, character and plotting works. Perhaps Mr. Fry, there is time for you to become an accoutant.
4.5✨
Went between listening to the audiobook and reading it. Highlighted the crap out of this book. There were scenes where I felt I got more from the book than movie. Happy I read this! And excited for the last movie
Went between listening to the audiobook and reading it. Highlighted the crap out of this book. There were scenes where I felt I got more from the book than movie. Happy I read this! And excited for the last movie
Toward the end of the book, there is a beautiful moment between Leia and Chewbacca that brings the entire story full circle from Episode IV. The scene wasn't included in the movie and doesn't appear as a deleted or edited scene anywhere, so I'm assuming it was written for the novel. For a fan of Star Wars - and Carrie Fisher - it makes it all worth it.
It was nice to get more background on a lot of key events and characters' feelings of and during those events. Particularly enjoyed Luke, Hux, and Snoke, and the little but of Kylo that we got. Each of these answered questions I've had or proved a theory or two that I've been considering. Well, there were a couple of points where Kylo's scenes actually brought a new theory or two to mind. Rey's point of view in the movie was pretty clear, so the novel didn't add as much clarification as the others, because it didn't need to. Althouh, there were a couple od great short scenes of hers that made me very happy.
And now, to continue to count the days until Episode IX...
And now, to continue to count the days until Episode IX...
One of the best movie adaptations I have read, actually adds to the story.
4 1/2 A nice companion to the movie with nice additions of new scenes and some fun twists on a few. I really enjoyed Rose and Finn's interactions in the book as well the dynamic Luke and Rey have. Also the whole Throne Room scene. Some really cool perspectives give certain scenes a new dimension.
I saw the movie in December 2017. Although it wasn't my favorite out of the movies done by Disney (Rogue One holds that spot), it wasn't bad.
Mark Hamill does one of his best performances to date in a story line he didn't originally agree with for the character he first brought to life in 1977.
That said, I think the book was so much better. It gives a lot more detail to what was happening in the film, and explains a lot of stuff that felt "unfinished" or not plausible. You see more from Luke's side of the story, as well as what's going through other characters' heads during key points of the narrative. It puts an interesting perspective on the film.
Overall, I think the film itself is 3 stars, while I rate the book a 4.5.
Mark Hamill does one of his best performances to date in a story line he didn't originally agree with for the character he first brought to life in 1977.
That said, I think the book was so much better. It gives a lot more detail to what was happening in the film, and explains a lot of stuff that felt "unfinished" or not plausible. You see more from Luke's side of the story, as well as what's going through other characters' heads during key points of the narrative. It puts an interesting perspective on the film.
Overall, I think the film itself is 3 stars, while I rate the book a 4.5.