Star Wars: Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

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: 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: Not a supplement to the film -a substitute!
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: Batting less than 1.000.....
Review: I think I've read just about everything Mr Salvatore has written. Demon Wars, Drizzt and Wulfgar, Vector Prime... Salvatore is simply amazing. His detail with weapons, fighting techiniques, strategies, character development, story telling. This guy CAN do it all. Terry Brooks did an excellent job with Episode I, he really made the movie/story enjoyable for me. I was so excited when I read that Salvatore would be writing what was to be potentially the darkest chapter of Star Wars....

... then I read the book. I'm sorry, Bob, but this novel was terrible. You had a few good parts, but you rushed the entire 2nd half of the book. All of the fighting scenes, Force battles, military strategy... what happened? This was not Salvatore's normal writing style. I was very dissapointed with the Episode II novel.

Rating:
Summary: Poor novelization
Review: I was immensely disappointed after reading this book, considering the high hopes that I had achieved upon reading "The Phantom Menace" novelization by Terry Brooks.
The main reason for my disappointment concerns the lack of detail described within this books' pages. A previous reviewer, one who I wished I had read before purchasing this book, was correct when he described these writings as if the author typed away a direct translation of the movie while viewing it. In other words, whatever action was going on-screen was quickly typed down with no further input into the thoughts or reasons behind the actions, as if the time alloted to writing was the same to the time on each scene. This is extremely infuriating when one considers that a novelization of a movie is theoretically made to further enhance the universe of the movie, not just mimic it. There are no restrictions in what can be written down onto a blank page, as opposed to the limitations of being able to only see and hear a movie and having it be roughly two hours.
For example, one of the scenes that is most poignant in the movie that simply deserved to have more input allowed in the book is when Anakin confers with Palpatine in his chambers. I was hoping so much to have "deleted dialogue" included in this scene, or perhaps some reference into the mind of Anakin as to why he has so much respect for this man and vice versa with Palpatine, but none was given. In the book it was simply a play-by-play description of the movie scene, down to the curt dialogue and eventual cut to the next scene.
Another important scene is the final duel with Count Dooku. In Terry Brook's description of the final duel in "The Phantom Menace", we are given insights into the feelings and thoughts of the characters as they battle one another: Obi-Wan wondering for example why this duel is taking so long, or Qui-Gon's sudden rage after Darth Maul kicks Obi-Wan off the platform. The duel as told by Brooks is an impressive rehashing of the movie duel, but with so much more candid description it almost feels like you are inside the scene. Not so in the case of Salvatore's description of his final duel. It lasts pretty much all of 4 pages, the Anakin duel and the Yoda duel lasting about a meager 3 paragraphs each. So much could have been given into the insight of each important character's minds: Dooku's regal cockiness, Obi-Wan's feeling of being overwhelmed, Anakin's eager machismo, or Yoda's regretful revenge, yet nothing was presented except a direct translation of the movie. Much of this writing manner occurs throughout the rest of the novel.
I must reiterate that I was extremely disappointed with this novelization. This is one example here watching the movie might actually drive the viewer deeper into its universe than the book. The only reason for the 2 stars is the inevitable "deleted scenes" described in the novelization, something that saved this review from becoming a complete thrashing.

Rating:
Summary: Star Wars Episode 2 Attack Of The Clones
Review: I was immensely disappointed after reading this book, considering the high hopes that I had achieved upon reading "The Phantom Menace" novelization by Terry Brooks.
The main reason for my disappointment concerns the lack of detail described within this books' pages. A previous reviewer, one who I wished I had read before purchasing this book, was correct when he described these writings as if the author typed away a direct translation of the movie while viewing it. In other words, whatever action was going on-screen was quickly typed down with no further input into the thoughts or reasons behind the actions, as if the time alloted to writing was the same to the time on each scene. This is extremely infuriating when one considers that a novelization of a movie is theoretically made to further enhance the universe of the movie, not just mimic it. There are no restrictions in what can be written down onto a blank page, as opposed to the limitations of being able to only see and hear a movie and having it be roughly two hours.
For example, one of the scenes that is most poignant in the movie that simply deserved to have more input allowed in the book is when Anakin confers with Palpatine in his chambers. I was hoping so much to have "deleted dialogue" included in this scene, or perhaps some reference into the mind of Anakin as to why he has so much respect for this man and vice versa with Palpatine, but none was given. In the book it was simply a play-by-play description of the movie scene, down to the curt dialogue and eventual cut to the next scene.
Another important scene is the final duel with Count Dooku. In Terry Brook's description of the final duel in "The Phantom Menace", we are given insights into the feelings and thoughts of the characters as they battle one another: Obi-Wan wondering for example why this duel is taking so long, or Qui-Gon's sudden rage after Darth Maul kicks Obi-Wan off the platform. The duel as told by Brooks is an impressive rehashing of the movie duel, but with so much more candid description it almost feels like you are inside the scene. Not so in the case of Salvatore's description of his final duel. It lasts pretty much all of 4 pages, the Anakin duel and the Yoda duel lasting about a meager 3 paragraphs each. So much could have been given into the insight of each important character's minds: Dooku's regal cockiness, Obi-Wan's feeling of being overwhelmed, Anakin's eager machismo, or Yoda's regretful revenge, yet nothing was presented except a direct translation of the movie. Much of this writing manner occurs throughout the rest of the novel.
I must reiterate that I was extremely disappointed with this novelization. This is one example here watching the movie might actually drive the viewer deeper into its universe than the book. The only reason for the 2 stars is the inevitable "deleted scenes" described in the novelization, something that saved this review from becoming a complete thrashing.

Rating:
Summary: Star Wars Episode 2 Attack Of The Clones
Review: If you love the movies and love to read get the book. Star Wars Episode 2 by R.A. Salvatore is a pretty good book. He did a good job on translating the movie into an interesting book.
Episode 2 is the movie after episode 1 so if you haven't read or saw the movie I would do that first. The story starts off with a dream that Anakin Skywalker had. It was a dream of his mother dying. It later has Anakin's mother Shmi and her point of view on the planet ?tatooiene?. This part of the book was not in the movie and I found that it filled up the empty spots in the movie. There are also many other parts in the book that aren't in the movie. You also get to read the characters feelings in side and what they are thinking. A cool part in the book is where it has Boba and Jango fett hunting which was very interesting. You get to figure out why Jango Fett wanted an unaltered clone.
Overall it was very good and it had great story line. The only negative thing was that I felt it lacked organization. The book often jumps to ideas to ideas without you realizing it. So if you're into Star Wars and want to know more, get Attack Of the Clones by R.A. Salvatore!

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't tell you much beyond the movie
Review: Other than a few extra scenes featuring Shmi Skywalker and Padme with her family, this book doesn't go much beyond the movie. Maybe I wouldn't think this if I had read the book first. Then again, I have found that other Star Wars novelizations have given some added perspective to what you see on the big screen. The action sequences didn't translate that well onto text so without more in-depth characterization, I think the novel is lacking.

Rating:
Summary: Bob scores again!
Review: To put it as basically as possible, this is the novelisation of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones", based on the story and screenplay by George Lucas, as told by fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. The novel based on the previous movie, "The Phantom Menace" was written by fellow fantasy writer Terry Brooks, and I'm not entirely sure why he was not enlisted to continue creating the books for this on-going saga. Unless he was busy with his own work, it was a big mistake not to have him also write "Attack of the Clones", not just because of his clear, concise writing style, but simply because when he wrote "The Phantom Menace" he added little details and hints that I expected him to follow up in the next two books.

In his place, Salvatore does an adequate, but hardly exceptional job. Let's face it, neither one could be called a truly great novelist, but Terry Brooks had a simple yet detailed style that perfectly matched the Star Wars genre, exploring several of the ideas (the nature of the Force, the beginnings of Anakin's fall), simplifying the somewhat complicated and politic-driven storylines, and beautifully creating the visual splendour of the movie in his articulate detail. Salvatore does little more than recap what happened in the previous book, add some background scenes that were not present in the movie (such as Shmi Skywalker's kidnap and an episode set at Padme's family home) and transcribe all the dialogue of the movie into written form. There is no personal touch, no deeper insights into what makes these characters tick, and no understanding presented on who all these political parties, diplomats, senators and governments are and what they actually want. The prequels are a lot more complicated than the simple goodie/baddie format of the originals, and whilst Brooks sorted me out on all the opposing groups, Salvatore didn't quite unravel the plot lines satisfactorily.

But this isn't to say that I wasn't completely baffled by all that was going on: for the few that don't know "Attack of the Clones" is set ten years after "Phantom Menace." Anakin is now twenty, studying under the mastery of Obi-Wan Kenobi against a backdrop of political turmoil. The Republic is facing a crisis as more and more systems abdicate from its leadership to join a Separatist movement under the belief that the Republic is corrupt. The nervous Republic is now at a milestone: to create an army to defend itself, or to try and keep the tentative peace between the two factions. On the Republic's side is Padme Amidala, no longer Queen of Naboo, but the planet's diplomat to the Senate, and the Jedi Council, both of whom reject the idea of a Republic army and instead support a peaceful resolution.

But after an attempt on Padme's life, the two Jedi are once more brought back into her life and assigned to insure her protection: Anakin to accompany her back to her home planet, and Obi-Wan to investigate the scanty clues provided to them via the assassin that narrowly failed in taking Padme's life. Whilst Anakin and Padme explore their own romantic inclinations toward each other, and Anakin grapples with nightmares concerning his mother, Obi-Wan is discovering a clone army that was seemingly ordered by a long-dead Jedi, a bounty hunter that served as the DNA donor, and the heart of the Separatist movement lead by the mysterious Count Dooku that suggests the Dark Side is at work.

Just as in the movie, the weakest part of the story is the truly awful love story between the two protagonists. Salvatore had the opportunity to improve the insipid dialogue, but unfortunately we're still left with lines such as "I'm haunted by the kiss you never should have given me," and "I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life." Urgh. On the other end of the scale, the highlight of the movie were the remarkable special effects and battle sequences, which are inevitably more fun to watch on the screen then to read about in the book. Salvatore must realise this too, considering most of the action packed third-act is dealt with swiftly in the book, without much detail or description.

As mentioned, there are other sequences of back story that are reasonably interesting, such as the details of Shmi's kidnap, but I couldn't help but feel that in Brook's hands, these would be more poignant and meaningful. In his version of "Phantom Menace" he would often add in bits of detail that were there either for intrigue alone, or as a small nugget of information that would be mined later on - for instance, he described a scene in Anakin's youth that had him tend to a wounded Tusken raider. Salvatore mentions it in his book (testifying that at least he read the previous installment), but doesn't go any further with it than that. I couldn't help but feel that Brooks had plans for this little sequence - perhaps it would have added to Anakin's fury, or left him vowing never to help untrustworthy strangers. There are other moments of foreshadowing or clarifying in Brooks's story that just isn't captured here.

All I can hope for is that they reclaim Terry Brook's to write Episode III, for as it stands, "Attack of the Clones" is an okay read and clear-cut novelisation, but does nothing to extend the story, universe or saga in any interesting, original way. Maybe I'm being a mean. Salvatore had a job to do, and he did it, making this a good book for young readers to better understand the movie-story. I just wanted a bit more.