Transformers One Movie Novelization

by Ryder Windham, To Be Announced (illustrator)

Paramount’s animated film Transformers One starring Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Keegan-Michael Key flies into theaters this fall!

Don’t miss this action-packed novelization that comes with an eight-page, full-color section with stills from the movie!

TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. The first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, and Steve Buscemi with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.

TRANSFORMERS and HASBRO and all related trademarks and logos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. ©2024 Hasbro. ©2024 Paramount Pictures Corporation.

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2024

About the author

Ryder Windham is an American sci-fi author who has written over sixty Star Wars books, including novels, comics, reference books, and so on. He has also written junior novelizations for Indiana Jones movies. Since 1993, he has been working on Star Wars projects either by himself or with other authors. His reference book Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide had been on the New York Times Best Seller list for three weeks in 2005. Although he has written lots of books, accepted interviews, and appeared at several fan-conventions, little is known about his personal life.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

$6 down the drain lmfao but kudos to the 2 scene changes I liked, the first being D pushing orion against the train wall and the other scene where orion carries D during the race. I get that this was meant for kids but damn, it's not even complete. the third act is just... not there 💀

[LadyDragon76 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wut?

Ok. The writing is super basic. I saw two typos. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE THE ENDING OF THE STORY!

How did this author manage to turn the Brest Transformers movie we've gotten into such a poorly done book?

Is something wrong with my copy? Why doesn't it go to the end of the movie? That's the whole climax and resolution that's not in this book.

I'm going to see if I can get a refund. This is not worth buying.

[Barbara Rahll]

When your daughter says "read this before the sneak preview," you read it before the sneak preview.

[Corinna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooray! I get to read one of my favorite movies!

It’s an adaptation intended for young kids, so it’s interesting to note the things they censor. They’ll exchange words relating to killing and death with words like “perish” and “crush” which is a fantastic way to handle it. It softens it a little bit, but still means the same thing. They also leave out all the swear words, which I greatly appreciate.

I also find it interesting that some of the scenes are slightly different. The same things happen in the scene, but there are some added or adjusted lines, and I’m wondering if it’s a clarity thing or if this book was made with an earlier version of the script. The most notable one was Orion, Elita, and B-127 saying out loud that D-16 is changing and becoming more intense. In the movie they don’t acknowledge anything out loud, but you can clearly see their discomfort in their body language and line deliveries. Here, I don’t know if the conversation was an earlier draft (and then they cut it for nuance and redundancy) or if they want to clarify for kids HEY LOOK D-16 IS ACTING WEIRD DID YOU NOTICE THAT??? Even though Orion thinks this in his inner monologue anyway, which is why I wonder if it was a script thing.

ALSO! This book does not have the whole movie. It ends right before the final act. If you’re familiar with the movie, it ends right after Orion recruits Soundwave, Shockwave, and the rest of the High Guard and says the first ever “Transform and roll out!” I read a lot of these novelizations as a kid and I’m pretty sure all of them had the whole movie in it?? But I guess it would be really difficult to censor, uh, the things that happen in the final act. Because it’s intense no matter how you try to write it, unless you write something completely different. It could also be a page count thing. This book’s font size feels bigger than the novelizations I read in the past, so that could be part of it.

The book ending here does leave our characters in a precarious situation. D-16 is gone and making questionable decisions, the bad guy is still in power and we’ve just lost our only proof to take him down. There is renewed hope given in Elita’s pep talk and Orion recruiting the High Guard, but, uh, it’s not a satisfying ending because it’s not supposed to end here. Guess you just have to watch the movie!!

Watch the movie watch the movie it’s so good it’s so good even if you know nothing about Transformers watch it anyway it’s so good

Movie good. Therefore. Book good.

[Rowan of Waterdeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how we're all here because of the slightly altered train scene.

As for a more serious review, while I loved being able to see inside the mind of Orion and getting to know his thoughts throughout the duration of the movie—including just what he was thinking when D-16 started changing for the worst—I feel like this book was just meant to goad the reader into watching the movie rather than be an actual adaptation of it.

I love everything Transformers though, so I feel inclined to give this a higher rating than it honestly deserves, because I did legitimately end up enjoying myself while reading it! But I think it's misleading to call this a total adaptation of Transformers One when it ends before the major conflict of the movie.

Of course, watching a movie and reading a book that's based on it are two totally different experiences, but I think you should just watch the movie if possible, and only pick this up if you want more of its characters.

It's a fantastic movie, and while some of its scenes are copied verbatim in the book, it doesn't actually give you all that happens in the movie, and ends in an incredibly unsatisfying way if you don't actually know what happens in the end of Transformers One.

[Aven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid novelization, but a very quick read. Personally, I don't think enough people are talking about the change in the scene before the bots meet the High Guard, though: D telling Pax to "stand up for what you believe in and take it from me" is a banger line, REALLY showing off D's change in character, and the whole thing feels way more tense than it did in the film. Leaving it off at the third act makes a lot of sense to me, because its intended to entice people to go watch the film and get the ending, but I can understand why folks find that frustrating. I also really liked the scenes in Pax's head where we get to see more of his thirst for knowledge and curiosity come out - not something that a lot of fans tend to pick up on, it seems, but one of my favorite traits of his, so that made me happy, lol. 3.5 out of 5 rounded up, cause I'm a fan, what can I say.

[Jacey Kowalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I hadn’t seen the movie before reading the book, I would have been more disappointed with how it ended before the final act. While I do think the book missed some points that the film covered, I did find it to be an enjoyable, quick read.

I will say it is mostly aimed reader younger than myself, but some fans can still have fun reading it.

[Rebeca (AD) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como ejercicio para practicar la lectura en inglés resulta bastante entretenido, pero es prácticamente lo mismo que la película, con alguno que otro detallito que complementa la trama, pero nada más.
Agrego también que ni siquiera relata la historia completa, pero valió la pena por el inicio del capitulo 2 jajaja.

[2Due · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to love a book this basic, unfinished and charmless, but I tried.
I knew what I was getting into, though I was still curious about a couple of things and I got what I was expecting.
The movie is a masterpiece, not perfect, but it's a gem with a ton of charm and fun moments, this book not so much.

[Brennan McPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book to read but ends halfway through the story, so there is no ending to the book, which was extremely frustrating.

[Devin Copes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story itself is good, but the ends half way though? I can't imagine the actual movie will end at that point.

[Robert Kirkup · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have said, it would have been better if they had remembered to finish the story! If they release the rest in a second volume, I will buy it, but still... cheap move.

[lily b · Rating 5 out of 5]

banger, just like the movie ofc ofc

[Juniper Dempsey]

it ends too soon... the best stuff is at the end of the movie