So, as a rule, I'm not into novelizations, but this one almost literally fell into my lap. I am super curious about the creation of this book. I don't think Brooks had seen the movie, at least all of it, when writing. I would love to know what he had seen and what version of the script he had access to. I really enjoyed the early bits with Anakin which aren't in the film, but I wasn't in love with the way he wrote Jar Jar. His adjectives also got a bit repetitive. ( )

Having rewatched the movie, I hoped to find various things redeemed or explained here, but I mostly got a straightforward adaptation. It starts out with an additional scene or two pre-Start-of-Movie with Anakin, and then more or less proceeds how the film does. There’s some occasional added characterization, which helps. It explains a little more of where Qui Gon is coming from—a non-character in the film, also sort of the protagonist—as well as his padawan Obi-Wan. Anakin continues to be a boring, amiable little boy in the book but with one or two added dream sequences in which he worries about his family. That sets up Episode 3, I guess. All in all, an okay adaptation (and excellent audiobook with sound effects). It doesn’t justify the plot or structure of the original, or give enough extra to justify reading, so I’d stick with the movie—or don’t do either, if you want something that’s actually good. ( )

This was a wonderful addition to the movie. The extra scenes with Annikin was detailed and a lot of thought was put into it. The conversations between Padme and Annikin was wonderful yet subtle and one could see the connection. I loved the extent of the characters inner thoughts which the movies could not provide.

I understood Qui-gon's character a lot more and even Obi-wan. The details of how everything fits together made more sense than it did with the movie.

It filles the gaps of the Queen's Peril nicely and I wished the author added a bit more to the Padmè trilogy. ( )

AS everyone is rewatching the movies leading up to Episode 7, I took a co-worker's advice and decided to read the novelizations instead. While Brooks is hampered by Lucas's horrible dialogue, the work Brooks puts into the descriptions and internal thoughts makes the book much more successful than the movie. ( )

The novelization of The Phantom Menace, the first in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, was written based off the script of film by famed fantasy author Terry Brooks.

Brooks generally follows the script of the film, but importantly adds several scenes that help give background to several key characters. The chief beneficiary of the added scenes was Anakin Skywalker, who unknowingly has been using the Force his entire life to do amazing things as a 9-year-old especially as a podracer. Unlike the film where the identity of Darth Sidious is quickly known, Brooks effectively hides Padme Amidala’s dual identity through there clues are subtle enough for someone who has never watched the film. Though Jar Jar Binks can get on the reader’s nerves, Brooks is able to write him to be not so annoying as in the film and seeing things from his perspective is interesting. While Brooks can’t completely change the dialogue from the screenplay, he’s able to make it more palatable.

The Phantom Menace is a novelization that improves upon the film in various ways, which says something about the film itself and the quality of writing by Terry Brooks. ( )