The Phantom Menace: Star Wars: Episode I

Areived in good condition and on time

And this is not a back handed way of belittling the movie; I think the negative reviews are misguided. But Terry Brooks, the author produced a work of art from the screenplay & script. His prose is smooth, engaging, colorful, & insightful, giving depth to the story. This is not Thomas Mann – after all, it’s science fiction – but I want to read more of Brooks, an author I’m not familiar with. For example, “It was quiet in the swamps as well, the perpetual twilight hushed and expectant beneath the vast canopy of limbs and vines, the surface of the mire as smooth and unbroken as glass, the reeds and rushes motionless in the windless air….” That’s what literature can do that movies cannot & it’s what I mean by giving depth. Not just atmospherics, but nuances of meaning & intent among character interactions, which cannot be conveyed by even the most gifted actors sometimes. So the book is worth reading; you’ll see more on viewing the movie a second time, too.

While I am familiar with the story of the Phantom Menace, the novel did include enough details and additional scenes to make it interesting. Author Brooks did an admiral job describing the details. He even made the pod racing interesting, despite being my least favorite screen in the film. I read/listened to this book using immersion reading. The audio book did not feature either Marc Thompson or Jonathan Davis. It featured a new voice, Alexander Adams. Adams approached these from a more traditional, straight forward approach, reading the text and doing a few character voices. His Jar Jar was quite good and the narration was pleasant. Not much in the way of extra scenes, but the book does include a mini interview with the author and a great short story from James Luceno about Maul and a timeline of Star Wars books along with samples from books in different eras.

Looks good. Christmas present so have not read but no writing on the pages. Nice slip cover of Darth Maul.

While Episode I is far from a great film, Terry Brooks does a terrific job putting this story into words. In comparison with the novelizations of Episodes II and III, it is not quite as strong, but that does not diminish what a joyful experience reading this book can be. It adds depth to the characters (which is much needed due to their stiff portrayals in the film). The novelization also helps put flesh on and reason onto the socio-political conflict that is central to the story (whereas the problem is convoluted at best in the movie). The book’s strongest points are the way it helps the reader get into the heads of the characters–young Anakin and Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in particular. Episode I was ambitious in all that it tried to accomplish. Unfortunately, only so much can be achieved in the time-span of the film. The advantage of reading the story in this format is that there is much more time and page-space to work with. Brooks is able to introduce Anakin far earlier in the book, helping establish him as a main character with whom the reader should empathize. Qui-Gon receives his due in this book as well. He is firmly placed as a strong-willed Jedi who sets his own agenda, and his ideological conflict with his apprentice and the Jedi Council works to propel the drama forward. I genuinely smiled throughout the reading of this book, enjoying the story without the cynicism that is difficult to shake when watching the dated CGI. The best part – you can give the characters new voices in your head while you read and put your imagination to work as you enjoy a story that is much better as a book. You can even play Duel of the Fates and the march of the Trade Federation while you read to spice things up if you like.

I’m going to come right out and say it without a lot of puttering around: I was disappointed by this book. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it for what it was, but it left a lot to be desired for me. I go into novelizations expecting more depth and substance to the cinematic counterpart, and occasionally slightly better dialogue and expansion on pivotal events. That’s not the case with this one. The biggest problem I had was the dialogue; nearly every spoken line was taken directly from the film. Read: cringeworthy (Anakin’s especially, just as in the movie). I will admit that it was better to read it than hear it, so maybe that’s why I was able to not roll my eyes as much. The book also suffers from repetitive descriptions. Do we really need to be told every other page that Panaka and Windu are dark-skinned? Or that Jar Jar has a “billed face”? Or be reminded of the characters’ full names each time the scene changes? I may be speaking out of bias (because I’ve come to adore Qui-Gon and Padme), but I also felt that a few key scenes were glossed over too quickly. The rift between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan when the Master decided to train Anakin, Qui-Gon’s death and its impact on Obi-Wan and Anakin, and Anakin’s separation from the mother he loved so fiercely; both were extremely important, yet with a few words they were over and done with, each character seemingly fine with life mere moments after the events. Obi-Wan at this point is still very much a slave to his emotions and that feeling of betrayal was something significant for him, even when Qui-Gon explained that he thought his Padawan ready to become a Knight. It also would have been nice to have seen Obi-Wan have more time to get a handle on his rage and grief at losing his Master and life-long friend, or to give Anakin a few paragraphs of struggling to overcome his separation anxiety from the only life he’d ever known and the only person he’d ever loved. Speaking of moving too quickly, I still don’t like how fast Anakin’s and Padme’s relationship developed. Paralleling Rose and the Doctor’s shift in affections changed in Doctor Who, one moment Anakin and Padme are friends, the next they’re in love? I understand the love-at-first-sight motif and the love-stronger-than-anything device and their prevalence within Anakin’s life story, but this book did nothing to ease that transition that made me scratch my head during the film. Although I do have several complaints, there are a few good things that I did like. My dislike of Jar Jar was lessened thanks to Brooks going deeper into his emotions and insecurities. I also greatly enjoyed Maul’s appearances, brief as they were, because of the further insight afforded to him; I never really felt connected to him during the movie, so it’s through the books that I’ve come to like him. Brooks didn’t disappoint me on that front. Overall I felt that this particular attempt at a novelization fell short of what it could have been. If it had been given twenty additional pages of insight into the various characters and the emotional trauma they were subjected to throughout the story I would have rated it higher. I don’t know how much of that was because of contractual obligations or simply Brooks’ style, but in the end it doesn’t matter; this was a mediocre adaptation at best, sad to say.

Great book for teens and adults

ottimo

What an amazing novelization by Terry Brooks! This story goes from a steaming pile of poodoo to an intriguing and enthralling story. Characters develop character! Action has meaning. This is what the original movie should have been.

It compensates 100% what the film lacks. Getting a good insight of the characters' feelings regarding the development of the plot.

Good

始めはスターウォーズだし、文とかは適当なのかと思ったら中々本格的で良かったです 買うのに迷ってる人は迷わずクリック!!