Book Review: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Posted by James on 03/18/18 at 07:05 AM Category: Books

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi cover

Click HERE to order Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi novelization on Amazon

Introduction

The novelization to Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, written by Jason Fry, was released on March 6, 2018 and published by Del Rey. Now, I’m not going to go into an exhaustive summary of the book since it is based on a movie that everyone reading this has almost certainly seen at least once. I will focus on the things that are in the book that aren’t in the movie (full disclosure: I only saw the film once, so I may actually forget that some scene was in the movie) as well as discuss the kind of insights you get into what some of the characters are thinking as a result of this being a novel rather than a film.

Synopsis

First, the much publicized prologue, in which Luke dreams of what his life might have been like had he not joined the Rebellion and fulfilled his destiny as a Jedi. The premise is that the Empire acquired the droids from the Lars farm before Luke met with Ben Kenobi. Luke misses his chance to get off the planet, doesn’t destroy the Death Star, and Leia gets executed. Luke inherits the moisture farm, marries Camie (of Fixer fame), and Luke lives out his life as a law abiding citizen of the Empire while still dreaming of what might have been. It’s pretty depressing. The point is that this is an actual "while you're asleep dream"; not a daydream or a fantasy. When Luke awakens from the dream he believes it is the Force trying to communicate something to him despite the fact that he has cut himself off from it.

In the midst of their evacuation, there is a memorial service on D’Qar for Han and the others who were killed during the attack on Starkiller Base. We learn there is a Resistance outpost on the planet Refnu, this is where Rose and Paige are prior to joining the evac from D’Qar. We see Connix supervising the evacuation. We learn that Snap Wexley and Jess Pava were not present because they had been sent to gather surviving New Republic commanders.

After the opening battle seen in the film, Hux goes to see Snoke and there is a detailed description of Snoke’s enormous flagship. Snoke uses Force lightning on Kylo, which I don’t remember being in the film. There is mention of strange purple clad alien navigators, presumably they helped the First Order navigate the Unknown Regions. Little else is said about them.

There is evidence of Rose developing feelings for Finn throughout, so her kiss at the end is not so much out of left field as it was in the movie.

DJ doesn’t stutter in the book, so apparently that was either a quirk that Benicio del Toro threw in or an addition by Rian Johnson.

There’s the deleted scene where Rey rushes off to stop the “raiders” and ends up crashing a party.

After Finn and company infiltrate the FO ship, there is a scene on a turbolift where one of his old Stormtrooper mates recognizes him but just assumes he got promoted to captain.

We get some tidbits into Luke's post ROTJ life: "he had spent so many years crossing the galaxy with R2 as his companion, searching obsessively for ancient lore and a current purpose, at the cost of everything else". I feel like that says a lot; and, in a Snoke POV chapter we learn that Luke initially didn't intend to rebuild the Jedi, but was lured into it when he saw the potential in Ben.

Finally, at the end, there is a wonderful scene between Leia and Chewie, just the two of them in the cockpit of the Falcon when she tells him that Luke is dead. After that, and just before the stable-boy scene there is a very nice epilogue from the POV of the head caretaker on Ahch-To as she and the others continue their duties in the wake of Luke’s “departure”.

Review

So, how is the book? I think if you enjoyed the movie, then the book is well worth your time. There is enough additional stuff, as well as added detail to things that were in the film, to make the experience of reading the novel more than just re-hashing the film. Jason Fry has a pretty brisk writing style; his descriptive writing has just enough detail without getting bogged down. His descriptions of Ahch-To are pretty vivid. Not surprisingly, the slowest parts of the book are the Canto Bight scenes; when I was reading them, I was thinking, "Okay when am I going to get back to Luke and Rey?" Speaking of which, I think you get a lot of insight into Luke’s thought process in the novel. There is a wonderful description of the moment he chooses to reconnect to the Force. You also see that Luke starts to have second thoughts about his exile in the aftermath of him tricking Rey into thinking the Caretaker’s were in danger. Rey is just about to leave the planet without him when he reconnects with the Force and decides to go with her; however, he then catches her communing with Kylo and refuses to go along with her plan to turn Kylo back to the light.

The problems that the movie has still exist in the book: Canto Bight goes on too long; Why couldn’t Holdo just tell Poe what her plan was? But then there are scenes like Leia and Chewie in the cockpit. She says to him “It’s just us now, but we’ll find a way”, he puts his arms around her, and she cries.

The Caretaker epilogue is quite poignant, too. We see that their kind has been taking care of the site for a long time. They have seen people come and go. They have no idea that the person who was just among them was the great Luke Skywalker who saved the galaxy. To them he was just another outsider who came to visit as they went on about their work. There is mention of them putting his belongings into storage after he is gone, including a remark about his “weapon”. I was left wondering whether this was, in fact, his green-bladed lightsaber, or just the staff we see him carrying in the film.

All in all, a worthwhile read if you enjoyed the movie; or, if you didn’t enjoy the movie but are some kind of masochist. My only real complaint about the novel per se is that it didn’t come out until nearly three months after the movie. I just assumed it was so the author could work in as many Sail Barge references as possible. Imagine my surprise and disgust when I got to the end of this thing and realized there was no Sail Barge in it at all! I immediately threw it in the garbage. Then I realized it was on my kindle and retrieved it. Fortunately your home does not have to be like this book; it can have a Sail Barge in it. Maybe.