There are contradictions on purpose and some that don’t seem as intentional, which don’t help the story. Rey’s thoughts in particular about Unkar Plutt and a longer version of the scene in which Plutt offers to buy BB-8 actually go so far as to make our heroine seem greedy and rather speciesist – at least if she finds someone ugly-looking. In particular Finn came off less like a guy joking around to cope with his situation and more like someone who just doesn’t get it. It also morphed those characters in ways that make them more difficult to rally for, so if you found any of the heroes too perfect – you might enjoy them in the novelization more. I started to miss that when certain characters spoke in the book. In Star Wars movies exchanges are typically succinct. Captain Phasma also has more to say and while it doesn’t add much to the overall story, it does make her character have more of a presence.Īdded dialogue is less beneficial for the good guys. Kylo Ren, General Hux, and even Snoke have some interesting expanded thoughts and conversations. The dialogue extensions are often to the boon of the First Order.
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But after several movie viewings it feels a little odd to think of these characters as the pilot, the subject, the trooper, or the passenger. If I’d read the book first, I probably wouldn’t find it so strange. As for other adult elements, there’s only one scene that’s more graphic than the movie though and it actually makes the bloody handprint on Finn’s helmet make more sense.ĭespite third person omniscient narration, Foster often holds the characters at arm’s length. Several word choices may require a dictionary or Google on standby while you read, regardless of how big a vocabulary you have. Beyond being intended for adults, it is written at a higher reading level than the new canon adult Star Wars novels that have come before it. The Force Awakens is a movie intended to engage with a broad audience.
I was very eager to read this book because I, like many others, have fallen in love with the new characters we meet in the movie and keep finding myself wanting more time with them.
The novelization of The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster takes advantage of this opportunity in a few cases, some more effective than others. When a movie is adapted into a novelization, it’s an opportunity to expand, to linger, to bolster. We can be directly given more information about a scene that would require greater observation or looking around the frame in a movie. For one, books often get more into what goes on in a character’s head. Some of us read books and see them as movies in our mind, but books and film are two very different mediums of storytelling.