2.5 stars
The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy purports to be a retelling of a New Hope. Mostly, it feels like a novelization, but there are a few things that Bracken added that are, to my limited knowledge, original to her. However, any scene that was in the movie, which is a lot of them, directly recounts what happened in the film.
Initially, I was quite liking this, because it opens with Leia’s third person POV, and it’s basically about what a boss bitch Leia is. Most of what happens in Leia’s section isn’t covered in the movie, so it’s much more original than the rest. I wish the whole series had been what Leia was doing throughout, because that would have been awesome. However, Bracken moves on to Han and then Luke, which is much more directly transcribed.
The biggest problem, aside from the fact that you mostly could have just watched the movie and gotten the same information in much less time, is the writing. It’s written in what I would consider pretty generic middle grade style, but not a good middle grade style. It recounts what people are doing in pretty simple sentences. There’s absolutely zero feeling coming from the text. See Luke lightsaber.
What really propped this book up in my estimation was the audiobook. Marc Thompson and Rebecca Soler do a fantastic job, as did the editors who put everything together. They really spared no expense. It’s got the music and the sounds to bring this tepid novel to brilliant life. The writing might not give me feelings, but the music does automatically. Thompson also does an amazing job with the voice imitation; it’s not perfect, but it’s close.
Though it was a pretty fun way to spend five hours driving around and getting ready for bed, I’d still say you’re better off just rewatching the movie. It might be nice for a kid who is having trouble understanding the film.