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Rogue One : A Star Wars Story

by Alexander Freed, 2016

Review is copyright © 2020 by Wil C. Fry

Published: 2020.01.26

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Photo by Wil C. Fry, 2020

★★★★ (4.4 of 5)

(* not including sneak peek of another book)

 

Summary

This is the novelization of the 2016 film of the same name, which is set just before the events of the original Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). Rogue One is basically an expansion of 47 words of text from the opening scroll of that original movie:

“Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.”

—Star Wars: A New Hope, opening crawl, 1977

Like many Star Wars fans, I have long seen those words and thought they would make an excellent separate film, and Rogue One is what happened when people in the industry finally thought that too. Still, I was as surprised as anyone to see how good this film turned out to be — I consider it the “best” of all the Star Wars movies. This novelization is mostly a beat-by-beat, line-by-line written version of the film.

 

Praise

I’ve read a handful of movie novelizations, but this one struck me as unique in two very positive ways. I noticed almost immediately that it felt like a novel. Something Freed did as he turned the screenplay into a book went further than most authors handed the chore of novelizing a movie. Secondly, I also began to notice how closely it followed the film — more so than most movie novelizations I’ve read. I began to wonder if he had access to more than just the screenplay; perhaps early cuts of the actual movie. Or maybe the screenplay was just that good, giving Freed what he needed to write it this way.

One thing I usually enjoy about novelizations is that they can tell you what’s going on in a character’s head. Even the best actors in the world can only tell you so much with their expressions. While the actor’s face might tell me “she’s remembering something” or “he feels regret”, the novel writer can actually tell me what Jyn Erso is remembering, or what Cassian Andor is regretting, and why.

This book did all of that, and better than most. For me, it was the perfect companion to the film (which I watched again just as I finished reading this book).

I’m sure it helped that I already enjoyed the film, so I tried putting into words what I liked so much about the story in both. (1) I think part of it is the lack of Jedi, Sith, or the Force. Which is a weird thing to say, because that’s part of what people (even I) enjoy about other Star Wars movies, and because both are mentioned several times in this one. But it doesn’t revolve around them; the story doesn’t depend on them. It depends on everyone else; as someone else said, it’s “a far more human story”. (2) It also goes an entirely new direction, character-wise, with previously known characters pushed to the edges or making only cameo appearances (Vader, Leia, Grand Moff Tarkin). (3) It shows the “ugly side” of the Rebellion — and, conversely, the less evil side of the Empire. The “good guys” sometimes have to do questionable things to accomplish their goals and there are real human motivations for the “bad guys” too, rather than the childishly oversimplistic good versus evil seen in the original films. (4) The cinematography was different from any of the “Episodes”, giving Rogue One a unique feel. (5) It answers and explains — in a perfectly rational way — one of the regularly-complained-about plot holes in the original movie (which is why the Death Star had such a massive fatal flaw). On this point, the book goes further than the film by presenting a set of messages from scientist Galen Erso to others working on the Death Star. (6) Unlike the original trilogy, which often portrayed the Empire as a cartoonishly evil antagonist, this story shows more of its inner workings, the use of fear and ruthlessness, and presents the stormtroopers as more effective soldiers than other films. (7) It’s also (SPOILER!) the only Star Wars movie in which all the protagonists die at the end, yet it’s done in a way that isn’t hopeless or depressing; all are sacrificing themselves for the hope of defeating the Empire.

Of course, this story can’t stand on its own (at least I don’t think so). It depends entirely upon viewers being familiar with A New Hope — but at the same time, I think it makes the 1977 episode into a better movie. Rewatching A New Hope after seeing Rogue One, the earlier movie now feels like a sequel. The fear of Darth Vader that everyone displays early in that movie is explained by his fearsome killing at the end of this film. The rebels’ lack of ships and pilots in that older film, and their sense of nearly being extinguished, all feel more real now after seeing why in Rogue One.

 

Points Off For...

I can’t find anything specific in this book to complain about. I only withhold the final star on principle — this isn’t a groudbreaking literary work, nor will it change my life.

 

Differences

Despite my praise above relating to how exactly the book follows the movie, there are differences, mostly relating to the aforementioned ability of a novel-writer to describe thoughts, which an actor can’t portray to the same degree. The only difference I noted in dialog or action was in the Big Conference scene near the end of the second act, when the leaders of the Rebel Alliance gather to discuss the information Andor and Erso have brought. The book describes multiple separate speeches and movement around the chamber; in the film all of it is squished into a minute of one-liners all at a big table at the same time.

 

Conclusion

This book was so enjoyable that I’m now looking for other Alexander Freed books (and hope to read Alphabet Squadron soon).

 

Note: I’ve published a much shorter version of this review on Goodreads.

 





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