Rating: 
Summary: "Kamylla" formerly of World Trade Center NYC
Review: There is no doubt that Terry Brooks is a talented, intelligent writer to give him less stars than 4 would demean his standing in the best of the STAR WARS writers. Any STAR WARS fan would do himself/herself a disfavor by not adding this book to his/her collection. The "plot" and its characters engage and complement each other's purpose. Although I still favor the "Trilogy, Episode 4/5/6", it is without doubt good to be "educated" about the background leading up to Anakin's growth and fathering two Jedi - Leia and Luke. However, one negative about Terry Brooks - his rude website staff leaves nothing to be desired - not even one "star"; a blooper gong would be more like it. Even the scifi and forcenet site staff (though very nice) have been instructed that if any books get sent to Terry Brooks for autograph, he will immediately dispose of them in the "trash", never mind that a person offers to pay the return postage for the package mailed to him, and never mind that the fan collecting the books for pleasure and no other gain cannot physically "get" to Terry Brooks STAR WARS signing. Who is he to set himself above all other STAR WAR authors, who are cooperative, kind, helpful, friendly, and REALLY appreciate their fans. Terry Brooks does an injustice to the Lucas Film family image in his negativity, passed on to his website staff.
Rating:
Summary: I Spake! therefore I am. 3.5 stars.
Review: This is a review of the unabridged audio book. Alexander Adams is doing much of the reading for the prequel books and does a great job. If you love SW and drive a lot like me, then you'll want to purchase this audio book.Like most people, I grimace at the mention of terms like "chosen one" and "medichlorians". By itself, this was an incomplete and partially unsatisfying movie. But when one reads the books that surround the events in TPM then revisits TPM one developes a greater appreciation of this book and movie. The book has a few things that fill in details left out of the movie, so I strongly recommend reading the book to fans of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A perfectly adequate novelization of the film
Review: With the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith only months away, it seems like a good time to begin preparing myself for the new film. While I did not judge Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as harshly as many Star Wars fans did, there can be no doubt that the film paled in comparison to the force of the original trilogy. Even as a six-year old child, everything about the first Star Wars film in 1977 seemed seared into my memory, and it somewhat saddens me to know that the children of this generation, after seeing The Phantom Menace for the first time, will never know the power and obsessive joy that the original Star Wars trilogy invoked in the children of my generation. Frankly, after two viewings of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace a few years ago, only bits and pieces resonate in my memory, and I really do need to review the people and events of this film (as well as Episode Two: Attack of the Clones) before I feel ready to see Episode Three.
The powers that be certainly found an illustrious author to transform George Lucas' screenplay and story into novelized form. I've been a fan of Terry Brooks ever since reading The Sword of Shannara as a child, and Brooks has done a thoroughly professional job with this novel. Everything that happened in the film is described with great discernment, the furious action of intense scenes such as the battle between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul is vividly rendered, the moments of light humor are translated expertly to the page, and the emotional aspects of the plot, especially those concerning Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, are drawn in tender yet meaningful strokes. This is truly a commendable and faithful novelization of the film.
Unfortunately, the problems of Lucas' story are also faithfully captured in this novelized retelling. These characters just do not fire the imagination in the way Luke, Han, Leia, and Darth Vader did. I consider only two of these characters to be truly strong ones: Anakin and Padme, and unfortunately, events of the future serve to diminish them in different ways. I love Padme, though, and she is every bit the future mother of Luke and Leia, a queen and a fighter who will risk anything for her people. That being said, I must say that Anakin (and I swear I will never get used to the future Darth Vader being referred to as "Annie") isn't everything I thought he should be. He's an extraordinary child, of course, thanks to all those midi-chlorians coursing through his blood, but I do not think his background as we learn it here provides for an acceptable future embrace of the dark side. So much is made here by the Jedi Council - and Yoda in particular - of the dangers represented by the child's anger, but I don't see such anger in a slave boy who loves his mother dearly and seems to get by pretty well indeed on his own. It may be wrong of me to criticize a story based on incongruities I see arising in a later installment, but I just don't think George Lucas (and thus, by implication, Terry Brooks) satisfactorily showed me how this dear, brave boy will soon become the exasperating young man we see in Episode Two.
The only other thing I would say about this perfectly satisfactory novelization is the fact that it really adds nothing to the film itself. Oftentimes, a novelization will add depth or better understanding to the film it is based upon, but that really isn't the case here. Questions I had about the movie (the true essence of Senator Palpatine, for example) were not threshed out in the book. In terms of refreshing my own memory of the story in preparation for the upcoming theatrical release of Revenge of the Sith, I could have saved myself some time and merely watched the film again.
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