Star Wars: The Force Awakens (A Junior Novelisation) by Michael Kogge - Review

I have been on a major Star Wars kick recently (well more than usual anyway), I think after this review, I have another 3 or 4 Star Wars related books on my to review list! Before I get into my review though can we just appreciate the simplicity and beauty of that cover. Kylo Ren's lightsaber is my current favourite lightsaber, so to have it as the focus on the cover is perfect. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy. Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke's whereabouts...

My Review

This book does exactly what it says on the tin and is an accurate novelisation of The Force Awakens film. There are a couple of minor added scenes that helped pad out a few things, but nothing that was game changing. I particularly liked the added scene with Finn at the beginning giving him a bit more background and a reason why he was so important to Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren. 

The writing was very good and though you can tell it is aimed at younger readers, the story and language used has not been babied. The only thing that did make me chuckle at one point was the line "Captain Phasma stood with a gaggle of generals...", gaggle seems such a funny word to use and to me lessened the importance of a group of high up military personnel. If the author didn't want to just use group, they could have used muster which would have fit far better. 

I'm not going to say too much about the story as those of you who've seen the film know it anyway and those of you who haven't seen it but may want to, I'm not going to be the person who spoils it for you. The only thing that I want to mention is because I picked up on it in the book but not the film (so I totally need to watch it again for scientific purposes), when Rey and Finn met up with Han Solo and Chewie, they are asking if they were the ones that fought with the Jedi council and whether the force was real or not. Finn (in the book any way) seems surprised by it all, but surely he's aware of Kylo Ren's powers if nothing else? What does he think his powers are? Even if he only finds out about them on Jakku when Kylo does something pretty darn badass, he surely must think its the force? If you know or I've missed something in the book do let me know! 

The story to me was just as good and as exciting as the film and I even cried at certain parts, even though I knew they were coming. In fact one bit I actually felt was even more emotional in the book than in the film which a pretty impressive feat. 

Overall a really great novelisation of the film and one I really enjoyed. 

I gave the book 5 stars. 

About The Author

Michael Kogge is an American screenwriter and author who has written for several Star Wars projects, including the Star Wars Adventure Journal, Star Wars Gamer magazine, Hyperspace, Star Wars Insider magazine, and the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire roleplaying game. He has also authored a series of Star Wars Rebels chapter books, adapting episodes from the show's first season.

Lost In Space - My Review of Star Wars: In the Shadow of Yavin, Vol. 1

I have always wanted to try some Star Wars literature, so when I saw Star Wars: In The Shadow of Yavin Vol. 1 by Brian Wood at the library, I made sure to pick it up.

This book is timed just a few weeks after Episode IV movie ends and we're following the story of the Rebellion trying to find a base and further their challenge to the Empire. We see the fan favourites, Leia, Luke, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewie and others and yet, their characters fall flat. Wood has failed to capture the personalities that the real life actors put into their characters. None of them seem quite right, a bit like a bad imitation.

The artwork for this book is good, but I wouldn't say that it was exceptional. The ships were definitely the best looking things on the page.

As to the story itself, I think there is a very good idea of a story, hidden in there behind all the blocks of text. There could have been drama, there could have been suspense, there could have even been some mystery and intrigue, but again it all just seems so lifeless. I KNOW I am comparing this to the movies, but when you are writing something that is to fill in the gaps between movies, then your characterisation and storytelling need to be on point.

Added at the end of the book was a mini story between Boba Fett and Darth Vader (I believe set before Episode IV) and it felt almost like an apology for the rest of the book. Sadly, this added nothing and I barely ended up skim reading it because I was so glad to be finishing the book. This should have taken me a couple of hours to read, but it took me days as I kept picking it up and putting it down because I just was not enjoying it at all.

Overall I was extremely disappointed with this, I will be trying other Star Wars literature, but I will not be continuing with this series.

I started reading this book on the 31st of January 2015 and I finished reading it on the 6th of February 2015
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads