Rating: 
Summary: This is a much stronger story as a novel
Review: "Attack of the Clones" is the novelization of the film of the same title. This is Episode Two in the Star Wars universe. In writing this novel, R.A. Salvatore had access to the film's screenplay before the movie was ever released (and perhaps even before some scenes had been filmed). This means that scenes in the novel are likely to be identical (down to the dialogue) to what we see on screen. This is the responsibility of the author, to be extremely faithful to the source material. The opportunity that a novel provides the author is giving us additional scenes that were not in the movie, but may help give a broader picture of the story and helps flesh out the characters and their motivations a bit better. "Attack of the Clones" is a stronger adaptation because of this. After an assassination attempt on her life, Senator Padme Amidala is put into the protection of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker. Padme is the strongest voice against creating a Republic Army and her death could lead the way to the creation of that army. The attempts on her life continue and Obi-Wan and Anakin now have to split up. Obi-Wan tracks a bounty hunter to a planet that has been removed from the Jedi Archives. Anakin is still assigned as Padme's protector and is to take her to her home planet of Naboo. Anakin still harbors a deep love for Padme that has only grown as the years have gone by. This is a much better adaptation than Terry Brooks' offering of "The Phantom Menace". Salvatore was able to take the weak dialogue of George Lucas and work it so that on the printed page the dialogue felt smoother and less forced. His additional scenes were absolutely pivotal and added emotional weight to the novel and made Anakin's pain (and love) more real. It did the same for Padme, which was sorely lacking in the film. This was a worthwhile adaptation and even made me interested in taking a look at Salvatore's other work.
Rating:
Summary: This is a much stronger story as a novel
Review: "Attack of the Clones" is the novelization of the film of the same title. This is Episode Two in the Star Wars universe. In writing this novel, R.A. Salvatore had access to the film's screenplay before the movie was ever released (and perhaps even before some scenes had been filmed). This means that scenes in the novel are likely to be identical (down to the dialogue) to what we see on screen. This is the responsibility of the author, to be extremely faithful to the source material. The opportunity that a novel provides the author is giving us additional scenes that were not in the movie, but may help give a broader picture of the story and helps flesh out the characters and their motivations a bit better. "Attack of the Clones" is a stronger adaptation because of this. After an assassination attempt on her life, Senator Padme Amidala is put into the protection of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker. Padme is the strongest voice against creating a Republic Army and her death could lead the way to the creation of that army. The attempts on her life continue and Obi-Wan and Anakin now have to split up. Obi-Wan tracks a bounty hunter to a planet that has been removed from the Jedi Archives. Anakin is still assigned as Padme's protector and is to take her to her home planet of Naboo. Anakin still harbors a deep love for Padme that has only grown as the years have gone by. This is a much better adaptation than Terry Brooks' offering of "The Phantom Menace". Salvatore was able to take the weak dialogue of George Lucas and work it so that on the printed page the dialogue felt smoother and less forced. His additional scenes were absolutely pivotal and added emotional weight to the novel and made Anakin's pain (and love) more real. It did the same for Padme, which was sorely lacking in the film. This was a worthwhile adaptation and even made me interested in taking a look at Salvatore's other work.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book that Someone Wroda-bout Yoda
Review: "Impossible to see, the future is." Jedi Master Yoda said these words about the future of the galaxy. If he had had the book that followed the screenplay, the future of the galaxy would have been a lot easier to see. Yoda, Senator Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker are back again in R. A. Salvatore's "Star Wars Episode Two: The Attack of the Clones" along with some other special characters from around the galaxy. The book takes the screenplay to a new level with more information leading up to the events that transpire in the future. These events are the events already known to due to the last three of the six episodes that were made before the first three. "The Attack of the Clones" will lead you to the infamous Clone Wars in a consistent step-by-step fashion. I was very surprised on how the author did not leave any moments in the movie out yet put other significant events into the book and still was able to keep the suspense alive throughout the whole book. My favorite character, Jengo Fett, was even more incredible in the book because Salvatore gave more information on Fett, as well as most of the characters. The lightsaber duel between Yoda and Count Dooku is sensational but my favorite part within the whole book is the sarcastic remarks made by the droid named C-3PO. Unfortunately for the reader, Jar Jar Binks makes is second appearance in a Star Wars novel substituting for Padme as the representative of Naboo. The love scene between Anakin and Padme still contain the cheesy lines George Lucas used in the screenplay but it seems less mellow unlike the screenplay, which I thought was great because it didn't seem to be the main focus of the book. However, this is a must read book for any Star Wars fan. If you haven't read the book and you think you are a Star Wars genius, Yoda couldn't have been more correct when he says, "Much to learn you still have".
Rating:
Summary: Well-rendered novelization
Review: "You'll be the death of me," Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi tells his Padawan learner, 20-year-old Anakin Skywalker, at one point during both film and novelization. There's much that foreshadows what we readers and movie-goers already know about the characters' future, as this second installment of the first Star Wars trilogy plays out. It's a credit to all who contributed to the story, in both formats, that we can perceive those indicators of what's coming later while still feeling suspense about what will happen next. We know Anakin, the wistful and gifted little slave boy of The Phantom Menace, will wind up as Darth Vader. What we find out - or at least begin to find out - in Episode II, is how he got there.
The flawed hero. The woman whose love can't save him, and may even play a part in his downfall. The heroic mentor, and the epic struggle of a once idealistic but now corrupt old order against the rise of a dictatorial new one. This is the stuff of classic tragedy, and the author does a good job of taking us inside the heads of the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: More insightful than the film.
Review: After reading the novelization for Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones by R. A. Salvatore, I must say I am impressed. Although watching the movie was fun in its own right, the book made more sense. Things I took for granted in the film were explained in the book in such a way that gave them new meaning--particularly the characters' motives. While the romance between Anakin and Padmé seemed forced (no pun intended) in the movie, it actually made sense in the book, as I could feel their struggle. In the Lars' garage, where Anakin tells Padmé that he murdered the Tusken Raiders, I could especially feel for him. Instead of looking like a whiny idiot, his pain was vividly described and I could almost pity him. It was also this way in the lightsaber battles--without the flashy ILM effects, the fights seemed so much more personal, and played out on so many different levels. This added insight is what kept the book fresh. The only scene I found vastly inferior to the movie was the fight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett on the Slave I's Landing Platform. Somehow having every single punch described in detail didn't add much to the story, because there was no deeper meaning behind it all. The same goes for the speeder chase. Those are the types of scenes that belong on screen.
As for Salvatore's writing style, I think it worked a lot better than Terry Brooks's Episode I novelization. Salvatore kept it more intense and insightful. However, numerous times I found he would use a word or phrase, and then, a paragraph later, use the exact same wording again. Whether this was intentional or not, I found it slightly distracting. On the positive side, I thought the pacing was excellent, although there was hardly any reason to signify chapters when so many stories were being told simultaneously in each chapter anyway.
In conclusion, if you liked the movie, you should like the book just as much, if not more. If you didn't like the movie, the book should at least give you a better appreciation for and a new perspective on it.
Rating:
Summary: Fuller richer and a little different.
Review: Elsewhere it is mentioned that GLs politics are displayed here. I am not sure that is true. In this book Capitalism is attacked and union are not as bad. I am not sure we can assume that GL is just another liberal wacko. When was the last time he made a movie in the USA or in Hollywood? He doesn't. And the reason is the union rules and the cost. I think it is likely that the lioberal politics on display here are owned by Salvatore or the editors. All that aside, this is a real interesting book to read. We learn more about characters that we meet later and we get a deeper look at young Anakin Skywalker than the movie. The have the paperback and the unabridged audio CD. The CD contains the music and special effects that we have come to expect and enjoy from a SW audio book. I only wish they would offer all SW books in unabridged format especially for the ones that are my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Ryan Liszkiewicz 2/25/05 Star Wars Episode 2
Review: I found R.A. Salvatore's "Attack of the Clones" (AOTC) to be an excellent read and far better than the corresponding movie. Salvatore widened and matured the plot. It has the detail, intelligence and beauty of language to make Episode II one of the best Star Wars stories, regardless of AOTC being perhaps the weakest movie in the series. In particular, I was captivated by the relationship between Padme and Anakin. Their issues of forbidden love, lust and commitment make AOTC the most 'adult' of all Star Wars stories. For me, this dimension was my favorite aspect of the book. I was disappointed when these themes and situations were glossed over in the movie as a cinematic footnote. In addition, the writing style for AOTC is very psychological. In other words, the reader is often inside the the heads of the main characters. I found this experience tremendously rewarding. In the movie for example, a character may do something in a two second scene but in the book, a page of internal thought may accompany such an action. This beautifully executed technique creates serious character development on a level not possible to duplicate on the silver screen. I often hear people complain about the Episode II film and my response is always to recommend the book. It is by far my favorite Star Wars book and the best read that I've had in a very long time. Beyond a supplement to the film, this could be a substitute.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie in text form
Review: I once read a review that said "The Phantom Menace" novelization was merely another cash-in for the movie, and in a way that was true. Movie novelizations don't try to tell new, exciting storylines or anything original - they exist so you can shell out more cash to read in text form what you paid money to see in theaters and on DVD. Occasionally, the better novels include deleted scenes, alternate versions, and internal character thought for added depth. R.A. Salvatore's book version of Attack of the Clones tries to do all this, yet it is still not very successful. I'm not sure what went wrong. Salvatore is a strong author - I enjoyed his other Star Wars novel, Vector Prime, immensely. Here though, he is reduced to simply writing out each line of dialogue and providing bare-bones narration for the action in between. Words are said and things are done, but none of it really resonates. Character thoughts are brief flashes that don't let you get that much deeper into their mind, and the battle scenes are written in such a way that they accurately describe what's going on without demanding or even asking for your emotional involvement. Imagine plopping Attack of the Clones into your DVD player/VCR, sitting down on the couch with a laptop, and frantically typing out the story as it appears onscreen. Afterwards you go back and drop some extra lines in here and there. The end result would be this novel. The only thing that slightly redeems this novel are the opening chapters that expand on the Shmi/Cliegg/Owen family unit. I'm almost certain that Salvatore wrote these himself, as it's too much exposition to have been put in the screenplay. Nevertheless, here the characters feel warm, real, and developed, and where Salvatore's true skill comes through. These chapters are exactly the kind of material that make a good movie-to-novel adaptation, by filling in an expanding on people we didn't get a chance to really know in the movie. If the rest of the book could've featured the same depth, I would've liked it a lot better. Die-hard fans will probably want this in their collection, just for completeness, and for the bonus storyboards included (no doubt an attempt to get people who bought the hardcover to shell out again for a few pages of new stuff). For everyone else, there's a wealth of Star Wars published material out there that is much better than this, starting with R.A. Salvatore's Vector Prime.
Rating:
Summary: book review for school
Review: i really enjoy star wars movies and i also really enjoyed reading this book. i believe it is very informative and tells the story with a great cliffhanging ending. i have read the 1st star wars book(phantom menace) and this is my second adn i though it was a good follow-up. there are so many things that are in this book that are not in the movie, so i recomend seeing the movie then reading the book to fill in any blanks you may have. well i hope i get a good grade on this, and i also hope this review was helpful to anyone who read it!!
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent adapation
Review: I was hesitant to pick it up just by the look of the cover. A standard movie book for teenagers, right? Nope. I'm one of the original fans from 1977 who grew up with the Alan Dean Foster adaption of the original as well as the marvelous Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I suppose the last Star Wars book I read was Empire Strikes Back. The original A New Hope (before it was called that) was written in a flowery style with plenty of big words, but R.A. Salvatore's telling is modern, upbeat (post 90s) with punchy prose for readers who have long forgotten about high school English lit. Some of the narrator's observations are right on the mark. For example he raises the question of what "bringing balance to the Force" truly means, even though none of the Jedi really seem to know. Especially delicious are Obi-Wan's exchanges with Anakin, which are easily passed over in the movie, but the author adds another dimension to the father-son love/hate relationship. The cut scenes found on the DVD are also here, but there is a lot more, such as a fleshing out of Shmi Skywalker and the Lars family. As one of the published reviews said, this novel stands on its own and in many ways outdoes the movie. Read it and you will find yourself pleasantly surprised.
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