Now, With 30% More Literacy!

Trying something a little different today. That's right, it's a review of an actual book! Well, technically it's a book based on the script and screenplay for Star Wars Epsiode 3, but still, it's a book!

Here we see a truly lovely cover. Now, I'll be upfront about this; I haven't seen the movie, and unless someone else rents it, I doubt I will anytime soon, what with my lack of premium movie channels and all. I have to say though, that was quite a twist at the end, and I don't want to ruin it for anybody, but Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader. Wow.

Ok, seriously, this was quite good. One thing I have to say I liked a lot was that book gives you a feel for nuances you might not get in the movie, either due to direction or acting limitations or whatever. Example: during the Kenobi/Skywalker vs. Count Dooku, you have sort of an inner monolouge from the Count, where he's thinking about how he recognizes the fighting styles the two Jedi are using, and what characterizes them, and how easily he can defend against them. Then part way through, he notices that they've shifted styles, and that things are getting a bit tricky. I just doubt the movie would have conveyed that. There's also a lot of good inner monologue that gives you a hint of what the characters motivations are, especially Anakin's state of mind as it seems like everyone (Padme, the Jedis, Obi-Wan, Palpatine) wants something from him, and they all expect him to do it, because he's the "chosen one". Basically for much of the book, he seems to be in that state Batman was in briefly in Infinite Crisis 3, just being crushed by the pressure. Only problem is, Annie doesn't have Bats' will.

The book doesn't mirror the movie exactly. It focuses almost entirely on Anakin and Kenobi, so you know that Yoda goes to the Panet of the Wookies, but no time is wasted on what happens there. The writing - especially in the Anakin/Padme scenes - can be a little barf-inducing, but there are also a lot of nice moments, like when Yoda fights Palpatine:

This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known. . .

just -
didn't -
have it -

See, that's simlutaneously overdone, and cool! I think ultimately, and it's an advantage books naturally have over movies, is that when the writer relies on your imagination to visualize what he's saying, you see it more clearly. Your mind can clearly show Anakin's inner torment, or Kenobi's calm, because your mind presents it in a manner you recognize. So, good book, goes pretty quick for 451 pages, if you have nothing better to do, and I didn't.

Cripes, I feel like I'm on Reading Rainbow.