Star Wars: The Force Awakens Junior novelisation
Revisit the Star Wars universe with the newest addition to the franchise, The Force Awakens.
A world awaits you filled with new characters, locations, ships and aliens. Plus, welcome back some of your old favourites like Han, Chewie, Leia and Luke.
Type: Softcover
Pages: 192
Release Date: Feb 16, 2016
ISBN: 9781484704882
I have a soft spot for the junior adaptations of the original Star Wars trilogy. Oddly enough as a 7 year old I read the adult novel first, wading through unfamiliar words and phrases and eking out as many tasty nuggets of GFFA knowledge as I could in those info-starved days. It wasn’t until a couple of years later and the release of The Empire Strikes Back that I got a hold of the junior adaptation of A New Hope. A lighter, breezier though no less impactful read it gave me a chance to whistle through the story in the days before terrestrial TV screenings and home video. Now with this junior adaptation of The Force Awakens kids can do the same.
But are kids going to want to do this? As with anything, some will and some won’t but there’s no doubt that Michael Kogge’s 192 page junior adaptation is an enthralling and smooth read through the story of the film. Kogge is an accomplished writer with an easy style that encourages multiple page turns in each sitting — always a good hook to land for any writer — and this is no different. Following the story of the film closely, Kogge worked off a draft of the movie script and a manuscript of Alan Dean Foster’s official novelisation and this later stage writing gives Kogge a closer handle on the characters. It may deviate from the familiar plot less than Fosters novel and as such give less hints and clues but it’s a tighter run through the events of the film. Certain scenes stand out, for example the dream vision sequence at Maz Kanata’s castle. It could mean less than nothing but when reading the words “I’ll come back sweetheart, I promise” you have to pause and think who else has called someone ‘sweetheart’. Little treats like this litter the book, including a simple but powerful description of Han Solo’s final moments.
Sure, it’s a junior adaptation but there’s plenty you can take away from this adaptation of the 7th movie. Add it to your collection and when you fancy a splash in the treasures of The Force Awakens just open the book to any page you choose. There’s plenty in there.
Many thanks to Egmont for the advance review copy.
