Only two stars, but Rae Carson's writing deserves an extra one. May contain minor spoilers.

I don't know how I genuinely feel about this. . .

Rae was improved from the previous novels but only a few hairs. She was still an irritating character.

"Even though, like Rey, Leia was descended from unspeakable evil."It depends on how one sees it, Anakin wasn't evil. He was corrupted. . . So, I do not agree with you, Rey.

Ben redeemed himself completely, so it is safe to say the sequel trilogy was his story from the beginning, and having Rey as a character wouldn't have changed it.

The battles were enjoyable. Nothing else was really memorable to mention. Character growth was achieved, but I loved the tension between Ben and Rey.

The Skywalker dynasty came to an end.

Palpatine as a clone? Wow, really? How unoriginal. . . When did he clone himself? In the clone wars? Or did he keep some of the technology of the Kaminos to clone himself later? Nothing explained or given more context of.

Palpatine was the smartest man in the galaxy . . . He would have let his clone die on the Second Death Star. (Just saying.)

Thank you, Ben Solo, for redeeming your family name.

It's interesting that the sequel trilogy took a concept from the legend Canon and changed it into this sorry excuse of a trilogy.

I am sad about the six previous movie novelizations falling under Legend Canon, and these expanded novels as Canon.

Movie novelizations based on enjoyment:

Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.
Episode 5: The Epmpire Strikes Back.
Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.
Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi.
Episode 1: The Phantom Menance.
Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker.
Episode 4: A New Hope.
Episode 8: The Last Jedi.
Episode 7: The Froce Awakens.

Now, I can broaden my universe. Hopefully, there are better novels in the Expanded Universe, which includes the new Canon novels. ( )

Great books. ( )

It is what it is. This was very closely aligned with the movie so I didn't get too much more out of the plot for that purpose, but the reader does get some details filled in. ( )

(note: review is of Marc Thompson's audio book version)t
This is a great companion to the movie - Carson does a terrific job filling in the story from the movie, and building the inner story of the characters. Thompson's performance is again excellent, vocally creating the entire cast of characters. You KNOW these voices - he really brings Carson's novel to life. Paired with the visual images from the movie, this creates an amazing extended experience of this crowning episode of the Skywalker saga. ( )

The novelization of the last film of the Disney sequel trilogy The Rise of Skywalker hit shelves four months after the film’s premiere in theaters, written by fantasy writer Rae Carson based on the screenplays written by Chris Terrio, J.J. Abrams, and Colin Trevorrow.

Faithfully following the Terrio-Abrams shotting script with elements from Trevorrow’s script tacked on where they could fit the narrative, Carson was able to add the inner thoughts of various characters to help improve the story and attempt to add details to justify the retcons and the Force power creep that just appears in this Episode of the saga. Unfortunately, Carson couldn’t figure out a way to better handle Palpatine’s return nor why he first wanted Rey dead only for her to kill him nor why he didn’t realize Rey and Ben were a dyad when he was so powerful to be a voice in Kylo/Ben’s head but not read his thoughts or understand his connection with Rey. Poe’s Force sensitivity was hinted at throughout before everyone acknowledged it at the very end which didn’t make much sense. Yet even with these negatives, Carson was able to make a better story than the film itself which to be honest wasn’t hard, but much appreciated.

The Rise of Skywalker novelization is better than the film but couldn’t answer the plot holes created by the retcons introduced in the film even though Rae Carson did her best. ( )