Emma's Reviews > Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

This book was an utter masterpiece. I went in really hoping that it could make me at least like the story of Revenge of the Sith even if I never change my mind on the movie. Stover gave me everything I was hoping for and more. There's lots of character development, particularly of characters who get glossed over in the movie. Seeing into Anakin's head made it a lot easier for me to buy his turn to the dark side too.

The Revenge of the Sith novelization felt like fanfiction in all of the best ways. Every time there was a chance to punch the reader in the feels, Stover went for it. Even knowing how the story was going to play out, the book created this palpable tension that kept me both wanting to read and scared of how much reading on was going to hurt.

"Anakin turned, and found within Obi-Wan's eyes a depth of feeling he had only rarely glimpsed in all their years together; and the pure uncomplicated love that rose up within him then felt like a promise from the Force itself."

I'd be curious to see how much of the added details in this book align with the description of this era in Clone Wars. I was pleasantly surprised to find the two very tonally similar -- as I love Clone Wars -- and it seems like a lot of the areas Stover chose to explore more than the film are ideas we see in other, now-canon works.

My slice of Star Wars Twitter has been gushing about the Revenge of the Sith novelization for ages and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. I'd recommend this for both fans of the prequel movies as well as those like me who want to love those movies but just can't quite get there.