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A review by moonprismbooks
Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
4/3/2023: This book still destroys my soul like the first time reading it
—
5/11/2022: Re-read because I love this book and wanted to listen to it via audiobook. The PAIN. My TEARS. This book will be a favorite forever. I will never get over how beautiful this writing is. The raw emotions you feel coming off the pages. The tragically beautiful story brought to life even more.
—
“All things die, Anakin Skywalker. Even stars burn out ...”
Just when I thought ROTS couldn’t be anymore painful, I read the novelization. It’s just as painful as the movie. Maybe even more at times because of the way certain scenes are portrayed and written. Matthew Stover did an phenomenal job in that aspect. He brought the emotions of the story off the page through his words.
I loved that the political aspect of the plot was added more in the novel. It really made the story even better. The narrative created by Palpatine that the Jedi Council and Senators were working together to overthrow him. It made his deception and manipulating of Anakin even more painful to watch. He truly led him to believe that his own wife was a traitor of the Republic.
Reading the novelization gives an even more inside look and feeling at how lost and pained Anakin truly was. How manipulated and twisted Palpatine made his thoughts to bring him to the dark side. And how he still was lost and pained even more once becoming Vader. It never went away, it just got worse for him.
I liked how Stover had sections dedicated to introducing these characters we know and love. Again his writing just flowed and gave off a whole new outlook on the characters. My favorite for this was Anakin because Stover brought his a full circle ending it after he becomes Vader:
“This is Anakin Skywalker:
The most powerful Jedi of his generation. Perhaps of any generation. The fastest. The strongest. An unbeatable pilot. An unstoppable warrior. On the ground, in the air or sea or space, there is no one even close. He has not just power, not just skill, but dash: that rare, invaluable combination of boldness and grace.”
“This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever:
The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain.
The light burns you. It will always burn you. Part of you will always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chew up on your flesh.”
The concept of the dragon following Anakin the entire novel was so fascinating. It really brought something to the story especially once he becomes Vader: “You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader’s blood. You remember the furnace of Vader‘s fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth—”
“And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. There there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.
That it was all you. Is you.”
The last chapter was absolutely heartbreaking to read. Stover really brought the story to it’s closure in such an emotional way:
“In the end the shadow it was all you have left. Because the shadow understands you, the shadow forgives you, the shadow gathers you unto itself—
And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame.
This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker.
Forever...”
Again, having that more insight to what Anakin/Vader really was thinking, you see he is in this suit already, but he’s realizing in the moment where he could have saved Padmé he allowed this Sith persona to take over and make him selfish and think of only himself and not why he started all this. The way this was portrayed makes it even more heartbreaking knowing how long and how much Anakin/Vader suffered for proceeding ROTS until his redemption arc in Return of the Jedi.
I didn't know I could fall more in love with this tragic story, but Matthew Stover helped make that possible.
—
5/11/2022: Re-read because I love this book and wanted to listen to it via audiobook. The PAIN. My TEARS. This book will be a favorite forever. I will never get over how beautiful this writing is. The raw emotions you feel coming off the pages. The tragically beautiful story brought to life even more.
—
“All things die, Anakin Skywalker. Even stars burn out ...”
Just when I thought ROTS couldn’t be anymore painful, I read the novelization. It’s just as painful as the movie. Maybe even more at times because of the way certain scenes are portrayed and written. Matthew Stover did an phenomenal job in that aspect. He brought the emotions of the story off the page through his words.
I loved that the political aspect of the plot was added more in the novel. It really made the story even better. The narrative created by Palpatine that the Jedi Council and Senators were working together to overthrow him. It made his deception and manipulating of Anakin even more painful to watch. He truly led him to believe that his own wife was a traitor of the Republic.
Reading the novelization gives an even more inside look and feeling at how lost and pained Anakin truly was. How manipulated and twisted Palpatine made his thoughts to bring him to the dark side. And how he still was lost and pained even more once becoming Vader. It never went away, it just got worse for him.
I liked how Stover had sections dedicated to introducing these characters we know and love. Again his writing just flowed and gave off a whole new outlook on the characters. My favorite for this was Anakin because Stover brought his a full circle ending it after he becomes Vader:
“This is Anakin Skywalker:
The most powerful Jedi of his generation. Perhaps of any generation. The fastest. The strongest. An unbeatable pilot. An unstoppable warrior. On the ground, in the air or sea or space, there is no one even close. He has not just power, not just skill, but dash: that rare, invaluable combination of boldness and grace.”
“This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever:
The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain.
The light burns you. It will always burn you. Part of you will always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chew up on your flesh.”
The concept of the dragon following Anakin the entire novel was so fascinating. It really brought something to the story especially once he becomes Vader: “You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader’s blood. You remember the furnace of Vader‘s fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth—”
“And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. There there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.
That it was all you. Is you.”
The last chapter was absolutely heartbreaking to read. Stover really brought the story to it’s closure in such an emotional way:
“In the end the shadow it was all you have left. Because the shadow understands you, the shadow forgives you, the shadow gathers you unto itself—
And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame.
This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker.
Forever...”
Again, having that more insight to what Anakin/Vader really was thinking, you see he is in this suit already, but he’s realizing in the moment where he could have saved Padmé he allowed this Sith persona to take over and make him selfish and think of only himself and not why he started all this. The way this was portrayed makes it even more heartbreaking knowing how long and how much Anakin/Vader suffered for proceeding ROTS until his redemption arc in Return of the Jedi.
I didn't know I could fall more in love with this tragic story, but Matthew Stover helped make that possible.