Rebel Moon Part One - A Child Of Fire: The Official Movie Novelization

Rebel Moon #1

by V. Castro, Zack Snyder (Original story)

When a peaceful settlement on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, a mysterious stranger named Kora becomes their best hope for survival.

From Zack Snyder, the filmmaker behind 300 , Man of Steel , and Army of the Dead , comes REBEL MOON, an epic science-fantasy event decades in the making.

When a peaceful settlement on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors—outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a new army of heroes is formed.

Novelized by V. Castro, two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author. Experience Rebel Moon on the page in this pulse-pounding novelization.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Dystopia

272 pages, Paperback

Published December 26, 2023

About the author

Hi ! Thank you so very much for picking up my books. You can also check out www.lamuertemarket.com

Wishing you Blessings and Abundance!

Reviews

[Димитър Цолов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Не обичам да пиша негативни коментари и не давам по-малко от три звезди на книгите в платформата, НО „Бунтовна луна“ излезе с едни гърди напред в съревнованието Най-тъпото нещо, което прочетох през 2024, а реалната ми оценка клони някъде около стойността на градусите, при които замръзва водата…

Малоумен сценарий (защото все пак книгата е адаптация по филм), с адски клишета и никакво усилие от страна на В. (Вайълет) Кастро (мексиканско-американска писателка, дето уж била с две номинации „Брам Стокър“) да придаде малко живинка на тая клета аграрно-революционна версия на „Междузвездни войни“. Долових и бая тромави моменти в родния превод.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this took me back to my teens when I read an absolute tonne of movie novelisations. What's interesting about 'Rebel Moon' is that it's a novelisation of a new movie. There's been a wave recently of book versions of classic (and not so classic) 80s horror movies, but adaptations of newer films are pretty rare.
What we get here then is something that feels very like the novelisations of the 70s, 80s and 90s. A decently crafted but not overwhelmingly good prose version of the film screenplay. V Castro (whose work is always decent value for money) does a good job. The challenge she has is that the movie wasn't that great in the first place and the strengths it had were mostly its bombastic visuals. Without those the story is a silly, derivative futuristic fantasy adventure. It's a fun diversion, but nothing more than that.

[Šárka Králíková · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and badly written transcript of a below average movie...

[Miss K · Rating 4 out of 5]

REBEL MOON, PARTE ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE
My Rating: 75/100

Finally finished reading the novelization of Rebel Moon Part 1 by award winning author V. Castro and I couldn’t be happier.

Zack Snyder has a very unique way of telling stories and some of my favourite characteristics of his works are the melodrama and the sincerity, two qualities that not everyone knows how to appreciate but that makes all the difference to me.

I’m happy to say that Castro's writing, reminiscent of pulp literature, remains faithful to this qualities while also being both easy and to the point, creating a passionate homage to the rich history of the genre.

The book's accessible storytelling and vivid world-building make it a captivating read for both newcomers and experienced fans of fantasy and sci-fi, specially the fans of classics such as the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs (which Im currently rereading).

I loved how the book gave us more details about the worlds and the characters since it is based on the original script of the film (which is going to be released later this year as a R Rated Extended Director’s Cut) but also leaves us with more questions to be answered in Part 2.

Can’t wait to watch and read the sequel in a few months! I want to see more of Kora & Gunnar’s relationship, and Ari & Sam’s romance, and the rebels backstories, and the big fight to save Veldt.

What an amazing start to a franchise. I’m honestly sorry for those who are not able to appreciate this.

[Nathaniel]

Update: I watched the movie and I see the vision. I just don’t know…I’m really conflicted with this book and movie haha

Review: I have a lot of thoughts, but I don't even have the patience to write them all down.

This is not at all bashing V. Castro and her work. I'm going to start with that. I think she did a fine job with what she was given.

but ugh, there's so much wasted potential here. Sci-fi is an overlooked genre and when I heard that there was going to be this cool movie...and then saw a book for it, I got SO excited. I feel that in different hands, this could've become a 'Dune' type of story. The premise is fine and characters are great. I just wish it was done differently.

The writing felt off because this story was developed for a movie and movies and books move differently. This was a compilation of movie scenes. While there was some beautiful writing, there was also a lot of awkward writing as the scenes split and characters moved unconventionally for a book. That really frustrated me.

I also think this could've been longer and more descriptive. I was grasping at straws. I wanted an epic, but this missed the mark a bit.

I don't think I'll be watching the movie. It might be too violent for me. I can do violence in books, but visually it's just hard to see. I also won't be reading book two. I'm really disappointed because I desperately wanted a new favourite sci-fi franchise.

I really hope this finds its people!

[Христо Блажев · Rating 3 out of 5]

Бунтовна луна се възправя срещу злото: https://knigolandia.info/buntovna-luna/

Неведнъж съм коментирал тук колко малко фантастика излиза у нас, но все пак има признаци това да се промени, при това почти само заради едно-единствено издателство – ей го, наскоро се появи мастодонтът „Да спиш в море от звезди“ на Кристофър Паолини, преди дни до него се възправи също солидната „Деца на времето“ на Ейдриън Чайковски, която ще чета през идните почивни дни. И някъде сред тях някак срамежливо се разполага и „Бунтовна луна“, новелизираната от В. Кастро история от едноименния филм с режисьор Зак Снайдър. Не е изненадващо, че не съм го гледал, киното не е сред приоритетните за мен забавления, но все пак реших да прочета книгата, имах да пътувам и с едрия си шрифт ми се стори подходяща.

Artline Studios
https://knigolandia.info/buntovna-luna/

[Will Sampson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the worst book I've ever read. I picked up this novelization hoping it would improve on the (also horrible) movie. While the extra character moments and worldbuilding stuff, minimal as they are, are welcome, but the prose is horrendous: missing words, whole missing paragraphs, passive voice, rampant misspellings, "allude" used instead of "elude", unnecessary and confusing changes in verb tense, and the most un-sexy comparison I could possibly imagine in a sex scene (a woman's climax compared to an oozing egg yolk).

I'm hoping V. Castro was just treating this as an easy paycheck because if this is how she always writes, I can't imagine how she's been nominated for awards.

[Amandale · Rating 3 out of 5]

War does things to people. You can never tell how they will change after it. But maybe anyone can find redemption. Maybe not, maybe revenge is the best we’ve got, but it’s something.

[Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up since there's no other reviews yet. Watched it last weekend and couldn't help thinking some of the exposition and flashback scenes would be better served in book format, glad to see I was right. The novelization seems to be based on the extended cut which is supposedly also going to be released sometime next year, it adds a lot more scenes explaining the state of the world, the motivations of certain characters including a completely different opening showing the destruction of Private Aris's homeworld and more details than you'd expect for Noble's right hand man, guess they'll both be important later. It's way more violent than the film, has some explicit sex scenes that were only implied before, and Admiral Noble remains a delightful little freak of a villain.

Overall it's a very grimdark take on classic space opera tropes. This is an ugly world and it's going to take a lot to defend it, whether or not it's even worth defending is another question.

[Solveig]

Library Summer Reading Challenge #5

[Мартин Колев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Изглеждаше ми предсказуема към края,но пък точно този край ми даде надежда за втората част,ако я издадат,де..

[Xroldx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Castro's novel set in the Alien universe and was curious about this one. I must say it's more cohesive and gives more background to the movie.
If your looking for scifi fastfood this is it.

[Scott E True · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, added to the movie. I hope it's not all that's added to the directors cut.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot wait for the next installment!

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebel Moon Part One - A Child Of Fire: The Official Novelization by V. Castro

Adventurous, challenging, dark, hopeful,
inspiring, mysterious, reflective, sad, and tense.

Fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75 Stars

We do NOT have Netflix, but I have watched the trailers...so I was generally knowledgable about this story and Zack Snyder's desire to make an epic space opera tale in the vein of Star Wars (even shopping it to LucasFilm as a Star Wars film).

I can see why LucasFilm passed, not because it wasn't good, but because it was a BIT racy/spicey.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this story. When we "churn" over to Netflix for a month (or two), we WILL be watching this movie (for sure).

The narrative structure is a bit clunky, but I do not put that the author, nor on the originator, but to the finished product...that might have limited this story...so that it mimiced/shadowed the final product on the screen.

I cannot see characters faces, when reading...so it was fun to look at the cast on Google/IMDb...to remind myself who each person was. That was fun, too.

I called the betrayer. It just felt right. Not sure how it came off in the movie, but it seemed the logical choice.

I also called the final scene...and how it would play out. Death in the Fantasy and Science Fiction world is greatly over-rated. 

Obviously, our main protagonist, Kora...is my favourite character. Sophia Boutella is perfect for this role. I cannot wait to see her put this story into action.

Our merry (actually, not so merry) heroes are fun in their banter between themselves. 

The antagonist, Admiral Atticus Noble, is the antithesis of his name. He is ruthless and unwavering in his evilness. AND, I can see Ed Skreen playing this to the T.

I am anxiously awaiting the Part Two of Revel Moon: The Scargiver. 

No matter what people say, I had fun reading this story and am looking for more.

[Zare · Rating 3 out of 5]

While providing more details on the overall story and the universe as such, it is clear that book is based off the screenplay for the movie. This results in some weird and clunky parts of the book that can be distracting.

Story does make more sense with the book. Some of the characters that I don't even remember from the movie itself (like young soldier Aris) are more fleshed out and do play an important role in the book itself. Same applies to the robot Jimmy, it is clear he is vital for the villagers as the story progresses. Rest of the story is more or less what we can see in the original release of the movie, with some extras like more details on backgrounds of Bloodaxes and Noble's second in command, Cassius.

Pace of the story is what one might expect from the script-based work, it goes basically from one scene to another in very short paragraphs. This is where some of the narrative weirdness comes into play. Script had to be reworked into chapters so some narrative was added but instead of reworking the script itself into more literary form (take for example very good novelization of Star Wars New Hope), additional narrative was applied as a filler around the very short and to-the-point paragraphs. This creates very weird structures like when lifting off of the Kai's ship is just given as 'it's not much to look at' followed by 'whoohoo'. Or some characters not even saying anything, but then others referring to their [unspoken] words, or some characters just getting named in the middle of the chapter (i.e. slave that takes our group to Titus).

Also, some contemporary stuff [unfortunately] had to make way into the novelization, like constant mention of gender (in a most weird way possible)- in a galaxy so diverse, full of various alien species and human forms augmented and changed in almost every way possible (even within Caligula inspired Motherworld), in a work where we have hentai tentacle sex scene between species and alien openly hitting a human for what seems to be rough sexual intercourse, it is required to list gender as one of the conflicting issues in this universe? Weird, to say the least.

Also missing is what I found missing in the movie too - what is it that makes Motherworld so evil? Reason for asking this is that it is not just Bellisarius' reign that marks the dark period of Motherworld, it seems to be war-oriented even before. Is it because religious dogma or .... what exactly? It is clear it is based on indoctrination and profound religious influence (those priest characters creep me out) but is it akin to Dune-level holy war or something else? This is also one point where book fails - to establish some context, some political relations between Motherworld and other planets (since it seems that some of the planets have their own rulers and kings and are only now targeted by Motherworld - this means there was some relation before). This is not author's error but general script error, this was not clear even in the movie.

While Rebel Moon is mentioned as Star Wars level epic, I think that it compares most closely to Moorcock's Hawkmoon series. Same bizarre, perverse and destiny-led enemy is present in both universes, Motherworld not being so different from Empire of Granbretan. Same form of resistance, small city level fort against the world, defended by small group of warriors exists in both works. Same level of despair and almost physical pressure from mere mention of the dark forces is present in both works, same level of violence and depredations.

Unlike Star Wars, which despite western-gunslinger/ronin hero undertones takes place in a world not unlike our own (politically at least) where civility exists at least to some degree, Rebel Child is too raw, echo of ancient times of Roman Legions and Mongol Horde where disobedience was savagely punished through complete eradication and enslavement. And again this is where it finds it similarities with post-apocalyptic world of Hawkmoon.

I am interested to see where this goes, as it was said we are still to see what is meant by Rebel Moon and how will the siege of our protagonist's village end (do remember that in Seven Samurai enemy were bandits not Shogunate, otherwise there is no way they would prevail). There are elements of very interesting, but adult-themed, SF epic here, I hope they make it work as intended. In any case it's gonna be interesting April release :)

Interesting novelization, clunky and weird at times, but if movie got you interested, you will like it because it does expand the story and the universe. If you did not like the movie, I am not sure it will win you over because all of the elements (except slo-mo :) battles are faster in the book :)) of the movie are present in the novel.

[Matthew Gilliland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning: This book can be HARDCORE at times. Very graphic combat and gore. 1 character literally throws Cum. It made me uncomfortable at times and I have read a lot of combat novels and biographies.

Caveat: This book is based off a script. As such it can't be compared to other novels or novels that were later turned into a movie.

Disclaimer: I have not seen the movie and don't know how it stacks up.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I really liked the characterization of Kora and how she used/overcame her backstory to protect those she has come to love. The logical choice would have been to flee and find another planet to hide out on. Instead she went to find allies.

This is effectively fetch quest from one planet to the next to pick up the next crew member and move on. There isn't a whole lot of story and very little character development.

I so did not expect the ending and the twists thereof. I was disappointed by the final twist though. I thought one of the characters outcome would be different.

I can be a cynical reader at times and wonder, how are a few rebels going to take on an entire Dreadnought Battleship and likely a division of soldiers. Well the ending made that make way more sense than an Exposed Exhaust Port.

I have hope for the sequel and if there will be others.

I have seen this compared to Warhammer 40K, but it is unique enough that I think that is just that community hoping for a live action movie. The book didn't really feel like it to me.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read a movie novelization before, outside of the junior novels for movies I used to read as a kid. So this was a new experience for me.

The prose, I'll admit, lacked a little here. The introspection was solid, but descriptions of settings or creatures were kinda mediocre, or at least kinda read like those that would exist in a screenplay rather than a novel. It's hard to explain.

One thing I did like, though, were all the descriptors of Noble. The end of the film seems to imply that he isn't entirely human, so all of his descriptors seem to support that theory. We'll see if that gets confirmed come Part 2.

(I also have a theory about Sam actually being Princess Issa, but I think my Noble one is more likely to be true.)

The biggest thing this book has going for it is how it differs from the movie we have now. That is, the book is based on the director's cut of the film, so it gives us lots of extra scenes that we haven't seen yet. That's basically the main draw of this book, I might not have read it otherwise. The movie left me with a lot of questions and I think the added context of these deleted scenes helped answer some of them. Though now I actually kinda wanna revisit the film, given all this added knowledge. Maybe I'll have a better understanding and appreciation of it. Snyder films are always best enjoyed multiple times over.

[Maze Demir · Rating 4 out of 5]

#rebelmoon
-V. CASTRO
#eksikparça

"Rebel Moon," Zack Snyder'ın bilim kurgu filmidir.Dünyadan kaçan bir prensesi kurtarmak için görevlendirilen bir eski askerin önderliğindeki bir grup isyancının hikayesini anlatıyor. Zack Snyder, bu projeyi "Star Wars" ve "Seven Samurai" gibi klasik eserlerden esinlenerek geliştirmiş.Ve 300 spartalı, Çelik adam gibi filmlerinde yönetmeni. Film iki bölümden oluşuyor ve ilk bölüm Ateşin çocuğu yayınlandı. Şimdi sevgili @eksik filmin romana uyarlanmış halini bizlere sunuyor.

Ben ilk bölümü izledim ve açıkcası bayıldım. İkinci bölümde şubat ayında bizlerle ve yine kitap haline gelirse kesinlikle alıp okuyacağım. Normalde ilk kitap sonra izleme taraftarı olmuşumdur herzaman. Fakat bu defa izleyip okumak daha keyif verdi. Kitap daha detaylı bir anlatıma sahip ve önce izleyip sonra okumak yaşanılan aksiyon ve savaş sahnelerini gözümde canlandırmama sebep oldu.

Ana dünya acımasız kişilerin eline geçtiğinden beri zulümde artmış durumda. Evrenin en uzak köşelerinin birinde barışçıl bir yerleşim yeri, zorba Naib Noble tarafından tehtit ediliyor. Köylüler bu tehtite ve öldürülen arkadaşlarının arkasının gelmesine engel olmak için direnişe geçmeyi düşünüyor. Bunu da köye sonradan dahil olan gizemli yabancı Kora sayesinde elde edecekler. Kora’da aslında Ana dünyadan gelen eski bir üst asker. Bu direnişe baş kaldıracak ve savaşacak askerler bulmak için bir savaşçı grubu toplamak üzere yola çıkar. İsyancılar, yabancılar, başka köylülerden bir ordu kuracak. Ve yeni bir kahramanlar ordusu böylece direnişe hazırlanacak…

[RayDragonM · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book and read it in June, as I had liked the movie it was based on. What I was NOT prepared for, was the fact that it was ACTUALLY the novelization for the Directors Cut. And that the Director’s Cut was rated R. Very rated R.

The pacing of this book was waaaaay quicker than the movie and didn’t make the reading experience all as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. Between all the new scenes from the Director’s Cut that were added to this book, there was a few (very few) that could’ve actually benefited the characters of the movie. The rest were either random ass backstory bits and whatnot that were super forgettable (most of them were like this) OR too graphic that I skipped the scene entirely. (I can’t stomach some Rated R stuff like some of y’all can 😅)

It’s been a couple of months since I actually finished it, and it’s safe to say the movie was better than this.
At least, the PG-13 movie I watched before reading the book was better, that is. I haven’t nor really PLAN to watch the Director’s Cut.. 😥

[Petit-Chocobo]

No rating because I didn't read the entire thing, I skimmed through it looking for more lore and details for a fanfic I'm writing. but I am not impressed...

It barely gives anything more than the movie (which I do enjoy but there's big issues obviously). It's told just the same way? scene by scene...

There are more chapters on Kora and her past, I didn't read those (not interested), but the rest? it's copy paste, the writing isn't great either. reads more like a textbook.

Apparently there's a sex scene (probs between Kora and Den), didn't read that either.

I mean... my review is to take with a pinch of salt, I literally skipped what didn't interest me, but the parts I did read were so meh...

Anyway, i took what I needed and i'm not tempted to read the whole thing whatsoever.

[Nova · Rating 3 out of 5]

as maybe one of 15 people who’s willing to give this franchise a chance atp this is definitely a lot better than the movie… in a way… more so i just kept getting pissed off at what was cut from this first pg 13 cut because so much of it actually added to characters we should be learning to love in this movie… idk i guess this is more so a criticism of the movie rather than the book but. baffling choices made there, and while for a movie novelization it was fine, most of it felt like descriptions of what was happening in the script rather than a proper book? idk im bad at reviews anyways see you soon for the part 2 of this book/movie

[Книжни Криле · Rating 3 out of 5]

Двукратно номинираната за наградата „Брам Стокър“ В. Кастро пише романизацията по първата част на „Бунтовна луна“. Как изглежда от страниците научнофантастичния епос, роден от въображението на небезизвестния режисьор Зак Снайдър? И дали да прочетете книгата преди да гледате филма или обратното? Днес ще се опитаме да отговорим на тези въпроси. Прочетете ревюто на „Книжни Криле“: https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/202...

[Sarah Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read - added some much needed elaboration to some scenes of the movie that I’m assuming are being saved for the directors cut. Some of the writing in here seemed rushed and sloppy - with narrative actions unclear and pronouns/names sometimes misplaced. Still readable, and still liked the extra content as a fan of the movie. Would recommend only if you watched and liked the movie. Otherwise, skip!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent extra lore and scenes presented in a dry, drudging writing style. Probably not a usual fault in Castro's writing; I suspect this is a matter of being handed a script and told to write this in three weeks or something. I'll refer to this for how to spell things and otherwise just rewatch the movie again.

[Adam Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching the Rebel Moon movies, I decided to check out the novelization of part 1. I found this to be pretty enjoyable. We also see a few scenes and additional details that aren’t in the movie proper. Recommend for fans of the movies.

[Vitek Novy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kniha podle filmu Rebel Moon (není tomu naopak), takže pokud člověk film již viděl, není to žádné velké překvapení. Nicméně ten film mě moc bavil, takže ten příběh jsem si docela rád dal ještě jednou. Myslím že by se to dalo klidně číst i bez toho filmu, napsané je to pěkně.

[CedE · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent companion to the PG-13 version of the film. Fills in character motives and backstory without detracting from or overwhelming the main narrative.
A briskly paced adventure that is every much the full throttle experience of a Heavy Metal magazine.

[Catherine Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was better than the movie. It went into a lot more details about the characters relationships.

[Lucía · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the movie