The force awakens

In general I'm not a big fan of Alan Dean Foster's writing style. It seems very old school, like something written in the 1980s. I haven't been a fan of his other Star Wars work either, and his original work has never spoken to me. This is almost more of a review of the author than the book.

The novelization didn't add much that wasn't in the movie, which is good for the future and all but not that great for the book. I can't take anything away from him for the plot, since it wasn't his. Most of the dialogue was exactly the same as the film, which helped a bit since I could imagine Adam Driver's almost lazy, emotionless voice delivering the Kylo Ren parts and the weirdness that is Maz Kanata. There are no big reveals in this. You don't get additional hints that Rey is Luke's daughter/Obi-Wan's granddaughter/Han Solo's secret love child/whatever theory you're currently buying into. Captain Phasma has no unshown hints of badassery. You could honestly just save a few hours of your life and watch the movie again.

In answer to the eternal question, I don't honestly know whether it's better than the movie. It's definitely more helpful for those of us not steeped in the Star Wars lore, but I cannot deny a lightsaber fight that “lights up the forest like an explosion” works better on the big screen than my Kindle.
That being said, the novel puts motivations and connections in better order than the movie did (at least on one showing), and the writing quality paints quite the picture. Definitely a worthwhile read for those who are even tangentially interested in the Star Wars mythology.

First loved the movie. I saw it twice and then decided to listen to the book. I thought the book was even better. Add a few bits and pieces throughout that added to the story or to the characters.

Here is the thing that I do not like about most of the Star Wars book, at least to the ones I have read. They are all just short bits and pieces of the universe. Nothing epic no depth to anything. I would rather have a long epic book(s) written then broken up into movies. Rather than the book being written like they are going to made into a 2 hour movie.

I still love the movies. I just wish there was more depth in the books.

STAR WARS SPOILERS

I enjoyed this book. It was not quite as good as the novelization for Episode III (Which was so much better than the actual film), but did an excellent job.

It followed the movie very closely and didn't extrapolate very deeply into the characters, however it does add some additional context scenes that we don't see in the movie. Most notably, we see some introduction scenes with Leia, and get more context and insight into the resistance, and details about the Hosnian system. We also get the story of how Poe gets off Jakku.

Additionally, the scenes don't play out 100% like they do in the movie, some are better some worse. The best of which provides much better information about my largest story issue within the movie, namely how R2D2 has the remaining map fragments needed to find Luke. It doesn't fix it completely, but goes a long way for fixing the plot issues surrounding that mcguffin.

4.5/5 Stars!

First Book of 2016! Also, my first Star Wars book ever! This is truly the definition of a “movie-to-book” adaptation, which you don't normally see with these mainstream young adult-aimed series. But that doesn't mean the book wasn't great. It was great being able to see how the movie translated into book form, as well as the extra scenes that weren't included in the movie (some of which I believe should've been in the movie to tie a few loose ends). I actually listened to the audiobook version of the book, narrated by Marc Thompson, who makes the story just as entertaining as it would be if you had the book in front of you. His impersonations of the characters were good to only be from him (though I feel like the character of Snoke was voiced by someone else; if not, Marc was really great at that!). I'd definitely recommend the book to Star Wars fans, whether they're new to the saga or have been around since 1977. While the book is not the best written, it's still an entertaining read and it keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for more.

I loved this! You'd think the novelization for a movie would be a great waste of time, but this was a great read.

This book was based on the script, and not necessarily on the movie itself (though drastic changes may have been made afterwards), so parts that were eventually removed from the movie are still present in the novelization. You also get more insights into what the characters are thinking, and added dialogue that might clear up some doubts that the movie may have raised.

I definitely recommend this if you've seen the movie, and just want a teensy bit more on it. It's a quick read, because you already know the setting and what happens, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.