Star Wars, Episode II - Attack of the Clones Review

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(More customer reviews)R.A. Salvatore is pretty much accredited to re-launching the stagnant Star Wars novels with Vector Prime (the first novel in the continuing New Jedi Order series) and killing off Chewbacca. With his style of writing, and previous work within the Star Wars universe, it was probably pretty easy for Lucasfilm to get Salvatore to pen the second movie.
I won't bore you with what you already seen in the movie, but I do believe that the novel of Attack of the Clones is required reading for all Star Wars fans, as it fills in many blanks that seemed to be missing from the movie. It also ties the spanning years between Phantom Menace and AOTC. Actually the reader won't even recognize the start of the movie until he is in chapter 5.
The first four chapters explains where Obi Wan Kenobi and a 10 year older Anakin Skywalker have been up to. We are also introduced to Padme Amidala's family back on Naboo and learn much more on how she became a queen. The detailed conversation between Padme and her sister (never seen in the movie) are a great set up on how she eventually falls for Anakin.
Also we learn how Shmi Skywalker was abducted by the Tusken Raiders, and much more origin information is given on Beru and Owen Lars (Luke's eventual uncle on Tantooine) and the dynamics of the Lars/Skywalker connection.
Throughout the remaining novel the reader is treated to more bonus material (much of which was indeed filmed, but hit the cutting room floor before release) that seems to open your eyes to the bigger political picture of that famous galaxy far, far away. Questions such as: Who were the lost 20 Jedi? How did Dooku ascend to power? Why Jango had Boba created, and how was young Fett trained? How did the Separatist factions begin? It was this great filler material which earned 4 stars for me.
However, there were a few drawbacks. Salvatore seems to rush through many of the epic battle scenes....I realize reading a novel is not the same as seeing your favorite characters and millions on CGI effects in a theatre, but I felt cheated reading the Obi-Wan/Jango Fett confrontation, the chase scene in the skylines of Courascant, and most of all the very rushed feeling of the climatic battle. I couldn't shake the feeling that Salvatore was rapidly approaching the 300 page mark, and hadn't got to the main battle at the arena on Geonosis so he had to rush the writing taking a lot of steam and strength out of what should have been the mother of all battles for the book. After that, the remaining plot points were only given a paragraph or two to be wrapped up, end of book. This should only be worth three stars, as it could have easily been expanded properly with another 30-40 pages.

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