Book Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster (Barnes and Noble Exclusive Edition)

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Star Wars Fans!

  Welcome to another Star Wars book review. No, I cannot help myself; I am obsessed lately with Star Wars. This time around I read the novelization of a little movie out now called The Force Awakens.

   Based on the original shooting script, this adaptation features scenes that were eliminated from the film's final theatrical cut. It has been said by sources that the Force Awakens originally had a running time of over two and a half hours. Last minute decisions reduced the film to the current two hours and fifteen minutes that is in theaters now. Although the cuts were small, they did offer more insight into the film's story. Please be warned that spoilers will occur in this review.

  The Force Awakens occurs thirty years after the Battle of Endor, as depicted in Return of the Jedi. It sees tough times in the galaxy far, far away. The Empire is gone, and the Rebellion is now the New Republic. But this political machine is not centered on Coruscant as the it was in the past. Its capital rotates on a voting basis, and is currently hosted by Hosnian Prime in the Hosnian system. Also there reside the Republic’s small military forces. The remaining Imperials have merged with the New Republic under a Galactic Concordance, and have shown no signs of rebelling. But what the New Republic does not know is that the Empire had fractured, and many of the remaining forces fled to the outer reaches of space. It is there that they began to rebuild the Imperial Forces, but now under the banner, the First Order.

  

  Leia Organa, long-time Rebellion leader, has taken up arms against the newly emerging First Order. She has brought together her old comrades, including former Rebels Nien Nunb, Admiral Ackbar, and Ematt, former leader of the Rebel recon group, the Shrikes. Together they have amassed an army of soldiers and pilots that are ready to counteract the First Order. But the senate will not hear Leia's worried pleas. They believe that the signed accords have stopped the First Order from building weapons of destruction. Whether in league with the First Order or plainly scared, the New Republic leaders refuse to take Leia seriously. And even worse, Leia's son, Ben, has gone over to the Dark Side. He and his Knights of Ren have massacred her brother, Luke's, new Jedi-in-training and have destroyed the academy. This is all in the name of the First Order and Supreme Leader Snoke, a powerful Dark Force Wielder. Ben is now Kylo Ren. And her husband, Han Solo, has also vanished, back to his old smuggling ways. Leia is a woman on the edge, but manages to hold the Resistance together. Luke has long-disappeared, but a map that has been separated into two parts shows where he is. The First Order has the larger piece, and the Resistance has the second piece hidden in a droid named BB-8. 

Along the way we are introduced to many new characters:

•  Rey: a young woman who was abandoned by her parents on the desert planet of Jakku many years prior. She combs the wreckage from the Battle of Jakku to find salvage to pay for rations to stay alive. Soon she realizes that she is a powerful Force sensitive individual, with a connection to the salvaged lightsaber of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. But who are her parents? 
• Kylo Ren: son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, he leads many First Order Forces into battle.  He struggles between the light and dark side of the Force, and is a man filled with a fury that he sometimes cannot control. He vows to continue what Darth Vader had begun, idolizing his grandfather.
• Finn aka FN-2187: a Stormtrooper that has defected from the First Order. He proves to be a integral part in the Resistance's fight against the First Order.
•  Poe Dameron: the brave son of famed Rebel pilots, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron. Poe is an ace pilot in his own right, and he is leader of the Resistance's X-Wing forces.
• Maz Kanata: a thousand year old Force Sensitive individual. Short of stature and big on attitude; she has seen the struggle the Galaxy has faced over the millennia. She has recovered the Skywalker lightsaber from Bespin, and has hidden it deep in her castle. She is not forthcoming with how she acquired the artifact, but is adamant that Rey have it. What does she know?

   I will refrain from continuing the story of the film, since this is a film novelization. I will now focus on what is different in the book.

  Some Extended and New Scenes-

1.     Rey almost sells BB-8 to Unkar Plutt: in the book Rey actually negotiates with Ankur Plutt for 100 ration packs for BB-8. It is in the last seconds of the transaction that she rescinds her offer. She even leaves her promised ration packs in the window.

2.     Unkar Plutt follows Rey to Takodana: in one scene Rey is confronted by Unkar Plutt at Maz Kanata's palace. He manhandles her, threatening her life. But Chewbacca comes up behind him to help. They scuffle, and the Wookie ends up pulling off Plutt's arm. 

3.     Rey's vision: Rey appears in the hallway of Cloud City, and also sees Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader battling.

4.     Leia sends an emissary to Hosnian Prime: Leia sends her personal envoy, Korr Sella, to speak with the senate leaders about the First Order. She can be seen on the balcony in the part of the movie where Starkiller base destroys the Hosnian System. 

5.     Poe survives the TIE Fighter crash: Poe awakens on Jakku, thrown from his and Finn's crashed TIE Fighter. He encounters a scavenger and a band of robbers. He helps the little alien defeat the robbers.

6.  See-Threepio talks to Artoo-Deetoo: in this scene, C-3p0 laments that in preparing BB-8 for his mission, he forgot to activate the droids homing beacon. It is a fun and often hilarious monologue from the golden protocol droid.

7.   Rey and Finn’s Snowspeeder chase: in a scene that was cut from the film, Rey and Finn steal a snowspeeder to get to their destination on Starkiller Base. Two Snowtroopers spot them and take up pursuit. It is a fast-paced chase that is actually quite thrilling.

8.  Rey hears Snoke’s voice: During her lightsaber battle with Kylo Ren, Rey hears Supreme Leader Snoke’s voice in her head. He tells her to give in and kill Ren. She refuses. 

  I read this in part with the audiobook read by Marc Thompson. The actor’s portrayal of Han Solo, See-Threepio, and Admiral Ackbar were uncanny. He even nailed Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma perfectly. I never leave an audio presentation by Marc Thompson that I do not like. He is an expert narrator that I hope is employed by Disney-Lucasfilm for more book readings.

 I also purchased this book at Barnes and Noble, where they have an exclusive edition featuring many color pages of behind the scenes photos. I thought this was a nice addition to the book’s release. Kudos to Barnes and Noble for enhancing the reading experience.

    All-in-all this novelization was like watching the movie again for me. I enjoyed Foster’s writing, but it seemed to linger at times on the first act, leading to the third act to be somewhat rushed. The second act was very carefully presented, making the destruction that Starkiller Base rained upon the Republic more terrifying than portrayed in the film. I felt that the novelization could have been about a hundred pages longer, being only 260 pages.  As much as I like Foster’s writing, I felt the book was too short and the writing was rushed in the third act. I give it three out of five stars. 

Feel free to leave comments below, and tell me what you thought of the book.

Because there is always time to read,
Xepherus3

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All written content (c) Copyright 2016 by Thomas Bahr II

Cover photo (c) Copyright 2015 by the publisher