I really like these last 3 Star Wars books. VII, VIII, IX. ( )

It's a great retelling of the film, but doesn't offer too much else in terms of content. It also doesn't help that the prologue is so great that overshadows the entire novel. ( )

NERD ALERT! T-85 X-wing with cloaking device. NERD ALERT!

It probably isn't until the final third of the novel that I started to enjoy Fry's adaptation of the film. Little things like filling in the last-ditch speeder plan on Krait (take out the cables used to tug the canon) are what make novelizations of the films' enjoyable.

My only wish is that there was more of this throughout the novel. Much like all the other post OT novels in the Disney era, the opportunity to flesh out canon is rarely taken up for fear of stepping on the toes of the next movie. Ironically, this wasn't the case during the prequel movie period when you actually had the sense that writers were given ancillary characters and topics to fully flesh out.

It's a shame that Fry didn't really get the leash removed as he probably could have done an even better job filling in the blanks for hardcore fans. ( )

The novelization of the middle film of the Disney sequel trilogy The Last Jedi hit shelves four months after the film’s premiered in theaters, written by long-time Star Wars author Jason Fry based on the script by Rian Johnson.

Following the outline of the script faithfully, Fry attempted to bring sense to the story by clearing up the plot holes and give better descriptions of characters than what the finished film displayed. While Fry tries to give a credible background to Luke Skywalker’s self-imposed exile, it didn’t really feel it was the same Luke who saved his father decades before. No explanation is given why Leia doesn’t order the bombers not to proceed nor why Hondo decides not to give hope to Resistance fighters by giving them the outlines of the plan nor why the escape pods weren’t used as a distraction. Fry does make Rose Tico more of a rounded character and he’s able to give some insight into Snoke though he’s still just a device. The disconnected chronology of Rey on Ahch-To over the course of days and the Resistance’s flight from the First Order over the course of hours—as well Rose and Finn’s journey happening in that same time frame—did not make sense even though Fry tried to write around it as best he could.

The Last Jedi is a novelization that was an attempt to adapt a poorly written film to the page that Jason Fry was able to improve a little but couldn’t overcome the source material. ( )

This really picked up in the second half. Enjoyed the scenes between Rey and Ren, especially, and thought the author added a lot to those scenes, and especially the conflict between Ren on whether to stay dark or go back to the light. I am neutral on the whole shipping debate. Personally, I have always pictured them as siblings, but don’t really have a dog in that fight.

I also found it interesting at the VERY very end where it was included three times that the caretaker aliens said that Rey was Luke’s niece, according to Luke. Apparently, this wasn’t part of the movie. And like, maybe Luke just said it as a lie, or said it offhandedly… but I found it curious…

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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