Book Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
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| Cover art by Drew Struzan. (C) 2015 Del Rey/Random House and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) |
Though Lucasfilm's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, allowed Del Rey to release the e-book edition on December 18, 2015, the same day of the film's theatrical release, it asked the publisher to delay the publication of the hardcover for a few weeks. Disney feared that if it followed the long-standing tradition of releasing the novelization of a Star Wars film before the theatrical premiere, fans would leak the film's plot - especially the "big reveals" that Abrams strove to keep secret - all over the Internet.
However, Disney-owned Lucasfilm paid tribute to the literary history of the franchise when it assigned Foster to adapt the script for Star Wars: The Force Awakens; in 1976, Charles Lippincott, Carol Titleman, and George Lucas hired the up-and-coming author to ghost-write Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, the first book set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." (The novelization of the first Star Wars film, credited to Lucas, was in book stores in late November of 1976.)
More than thirty years ago, Star Wars burst onto the
big screen and became a cultural phenomenon. Now the next adventures in this
blockbuster saga are poised to captivate old and new fans alike—beginning with
the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And alongside the
cinematic debut comes the thrilling novel adaptation by New York Times
bestselling science fiction master Alan Dean Foster.
Set years after Return of the Jedi, this stunning new
action-packed adventure rockets us back into the world of Princess Leia, Han
Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker, while introducing a host of
exciting new characters. Darth Vader may have been redeemed and the Emperor
vanquished, but peace can be fleeting, and evil does not easily relent. Yet the
simple belief in good can still empower ordinary individuals to rise and meet
the greatest challenges.
So return to that galaxy far, far away, and prepare yourself
for what happens when the Force awakens…- Publisher's blurb
"First comes the
day
Then comes the night.
After the darkness
Shines through the
light.
The difference, they
say,
Is only made right
By the resolving of
gray
Through refined Jedi
sight."
―Journal of the
Whills, 7:47
Star Wars: The Force
Awakens is set 30 years after the events shown in Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Emperor Palpatine
and his infamous henchman Darth Vader are dead, but the remnants of the
Galactic Empire still haunt a war-torn galaxy under the banner of the First Order.
The former Rebel Alliance, now known as the New Republic, finds itself covertly
backing a group of freedom fighters called the Resistance.
In this time of crisis, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, has
disappeared. His twin sister, Leia Organa, knows that Luke is the only hope for
the revival of the long-dead Jedi Order and the restoration of peace in the
galaxy. Desperate to find her brother Leia recruits crack Resistance
X-wing pilot Poe Dameron and his astromech droid BB-8 on a secret mission to
find any information that leads to his whereabouts.
In Tuanul, a village on the desert world of Jakku, Poe
acquires a partial star map from the legendary adventurer Lor San Tekka. But before he can take off with BB-8 aboard their X-wing, First
Order stormtroopers led by the fearsome Dark Side adept who calls himself "Kylo Ren" arrive. Ren kills Tekka when
the old man refuses to divulge the location of the star map, which is now in
BB-8’s memory banks. At Ren’s command, the stormtroopers kill almost everyone
in Tuanul and capture Poe.
Things look dire for the Resistance pilot, now a prisoner
aboard the Star Destroyer Finalizer. But FN-2187, a stormtrooper with a
conscience, rebels against the First Order and helps Poe escape aboard a TIE
fighter. The two men become friends, and Poe gives the former trooper a new
name – Finn.
Meanwhile, on Jakku, BB-8 encounters Rey, a young scavenger
who lives in a derelict Imperial walker. Rey was separated from her family at a
young age; as a result, she has developed several skills that enable her to
survive, including starship mechanics, fighting abilities, and a knack for
flying. Rey and BB-8 later meet Finn, who was separated from Poe during
their escape and is now on the run from his former First Orders. Eventually,
this motley group escape from Jakku aboard an old Corellian starship – the Millennium
Falcon.
Along the way, Rey, Finn and BB-8 encounter the former
owners of the battered freighter, Han Solo and Chewbacca the Wookiee. Han looks
as though he’s been through hell and back over the years, but he’s still the
wisecracking scoundrel who helped the Rebellion destroy two Death Stars and
defeat Palpatine’s Empire. Together with Rey, Finn and other members of the
Resistance, Han and Chewie join the search for Luke Skywalker and the fight
against the evil First Order.
My Take
Like J.J. Abrams' wildly successful 2015 film, Foster's novel takes readers back to the galaxy far, far away created by George Lucas over 40 years ago. And, as expected, it follows the plot of the Kasdan-Abrams-Arndt screenplay closely, although savvy fans know that there are differences between Foster's novel and the movie version of Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
After an epigram taken from The Journal of the Whills (a nod to the author's work on Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, which has a preface presented as an excerpt from "The First Saga, Journal of the Whills), Foster establishes the precedent followed by Jason Fry in the novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi: For the first time in a Star Wars film novel, he quotes the crawl from The Force Awakens.
Luke Skywalker has
vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of
the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been
destroyed.
With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia
Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and
gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.
Leia has sent her most
daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a
clue to Luke's whereabouts....
After this nice creative touch, Foster starts the novel with a divergence from the film. Before he describes the arrival of Kylo Ren and the First Order's stormtroopers on Jakku, we are first given a glimpse into the thoughts of General Leia Organa. In the book's first two pages, Foster expands on the title crawl's summary of Leia's need to find her brother, Luke Skywalker, and adds some insights into the film's back story regarding the galaxy-wide political and social unrest that led to the rise of the First Order.
It's not a complete history of the post-Battle of Endor galaxy, but Leia muses on the hard truths she learned at the end of the Galactic Civil War: many of the inhabitants on worlds ruled by the now-fallen Empire are apathetic and don't care what type of regime they live under. While many want freedom and justice, most simply want to be told what to do. In addition, Leia thinks about her legacy as Darth Vader's daughter, the lingering grief she still feels over the destruction of Alderaan, and her present role as leader of the Resistance.
There are quite a few other differences between the novel and the source film, though thematically Foster's version is close to Abrams' cinematic vision. Some, which readers may recognize if they watch the Deleted Scenes feature on the Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens Blu-ray or DVD set's Bonus disc, are based on scenes that were filmed but not used in the finished movie.
Other differences stem from the fact that Foster was given an earlier draft of the script that was revised during the principal photography stage or even in post-production. Still others are due to the writer's creative choices; Alan Dean Foster, after all, is an award-winning novelist and has earned the right to add a few details of his own.
Some, like a particularly violent encounter between Rey, Han, Chewie, BB-8, and the greedy Unkar Plutt and his gang at Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana, can be used to "explain" why a character did something in the film that seemed to come out of left field.
Others, like Rey meeting Poe at the Resistance base after the "map to Luke Skywalker is complete" reveal, clash with the movies' established canon. (Rey and Poe don't meet onscreen until late in Star Wars - Episode VIII; The Last Jedi. Oops.)
Still, Foster has been writing science fiction (adaptations and original works) for nearly 50 years, so a flub or two don't mar this fast-paced but detailed novelization. The prose is elegantly simple, crisp, clear, and infused with fun, excitement, and good characterization throughout the novel's 260 pages. Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes readers on an intergalactic Star Tours ride that doesn't let up from start to finish.
Clearly, the Force is still with the first writer to pen both a canon and a Legends Star Wars novel!
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