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Star Wars Junior Novelizations #3

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

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Award-winning author Patricia C. Wrede tells the final chapter of the Star Wars saga, in this incredible novel based on one of the most eagerly awaited movies of all time.

The circle will now be complete: the final installment of the Star Wars saga, showing the emergence of Darth Vader, the downfall of the Jedi, and the revenge of the Sith.

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2005

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About the author

Patricia C. Wrede

93books3,952followers
Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her second book at once, having become permanently hooked on writing by this time.

Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.

Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." Several years later, they were joined by Kara Dalkey. In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).

In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.

Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.
She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat Karma. She has no children.

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5 stars
344 (38%)
4 stars
268 (29%)
3 stars
230 (25%)
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53 (5%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
Profile Image for Nicky.
178 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2019
What I think of the overall book:
Another great novelization of the movie, however I am just a little disappointed that I had to write in the following dialogue in the margin:
"Hello there!"
"General Kenobi! You are a bold one."
(However this is not a big deal at all, I just need that in there for meme purposes)

Overall, like the previous novelizations, the book wasn't dumbed down/simplified; adults can enjoy this just as well as children, and can help them understand more aspects of the movie that isn't made completely obvious, especially since the characters' thoughts are included (which made certain scenes more heartbreaking than in the movie). Also, Palpatine's plot -- from the Trade Federation's attack on Naboo, to the Clone Wars and everything -- is spelled out clearly and we have no choice but to accept the inevitable tragic end to these prequels.
I mean, of course I know the movie, but the fact that I'm still able to feel something from this book just means the writing was really good.

---------

What I think in terms of connecting this to the sequel trilogy
(Just like in my Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones reviews, in anticipation for The Rise of Skywalker, I'm also reading these books through a lense of defending the ST, which I am a huge fan of. This is gonna be a really long ramble because I'm just very passionate about the sequel trilogy. SPOILERS -- so be warned.)

1. Flaws of the Jedi Order (Part 3) -- defending Luke's character in The Last Jedi
"...if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure. Hypocrisy, hubris. At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out." --Luke Skywalker (TLJ)
"As he plunged over the edge, Yoda realized that Palpatine was right about one thing. He, Yoda, had indeed been arrogant. It is a flaw more and more common among Jedi, he had told Obi-Wan once. Too sure of themselves, they are. And he had fallen into the same trap himself." (RotS novel)


The topic of "arrogance" was brought up in the AotC novel as well as this one.
The Jedi were so sure they would be able to stop and defeat Palpatine and maintain peace, but they were wrong. The quote above, relating to Yoda, was mentioned at the end of his confrontation with Palpatine -- before he fled in failure.
In TLJ, the movie that apparently "killed Luke's character", Luke had his own display of arrogance (arrogance, which, according to Yoda, is "a flaw more and more common among Jedi") when he sensed the darkness in Ben Solo's mind.
Luke: Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, and pain, and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame, and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him.
Rey: You failed him by thinking his choice was made. It wasn't.

And what did Luke do after he failed? The same thing Yoda did -- go into hiding and exile.

So to summarize:
- failure: failed to stop Palpatine; failed to bring balance
- hypocrisy: as touched upon in my Attack of the Clones review, the Jedi were meant to be peace-keepers, but ended up being soldiers who actively fought in the Clone Wars.
- hubris: thinking they were strong and powerful enough to stop and defeat Palpatine

But also in TLJ, Luke also encounters Yoda's Force ghost, who tells him: "The greatest teacher, failure is" -- which is a very important lesson.

2. Ben Solo's redemption
We saw Anakin's fall into Darth Vader, and then his redemption when he defeats Palpatine to save his son Luke ("That's how we're gonna win: Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.")

I'm sure you've seen variations of this edit:
He loved the girl until he wanted the power/<br />He wanted the power until he loved the girl

Despite all the horrible things Anakin/Vader has done, Padme still believed in the good in him with her dying breath, and Luke believed the same thing which ended up saving his father.
And this one passage, at the end of Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel on Mustafar, struck out to me:
"I hate you!" Vader screamed.
... [Obi-Wan] murmured his response to Darth Vader's final cry of anger and hate: "You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you."

Obi-Wan could've easily said something like, "I hate you too!" but he didn't. He responded to hate with love and I find that touching.

Now in the ST, we have Ben Solo's fall into Kylo Ren -- and I firmly believe his redemption in Rise of Skywalker is inevitable.

In TFA, Kylo says to Darth Vader's helmet:
"Show me again the power of the darkness. And I will let nothing stand in our way. Show me, Grandfather, and I will finish what you started."

How one would initially interpret that is that Kylo wants Anakin to show him how powerful the darkness is -- when actually, I think Anakin will show Kylo "the power of the darkness": how it takes those you love away from you. Anakin fell to the darkness and it broke him -- do you really think he wants his grandson to experience the same thing he did?
And since Palpatine is implied to be back in TRoS (because he cheated death -- did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?), Kylo will "finish what [Anakin] started" by ultimately defeating Palpatine and bringing TRUE balance to the Force.
And by balance it's not darkness over light, and not even light over darkness, but light AND darkness coexisting together (= Rey and Ben Solo)

Some people believe that Kylo is past redemption because, what, he killed his father? Vader has done so much worse than Kylo, and yet there was still someone who believed in the good in him which ultimately saved him. Same thing will happen with Kylo Ren; he will rise again as a Skywalker.
"No one's ever really gone." --Luke Skywalker (TLJ)

Anakin was still there somewhere in Vader; Ben is still somewhere there in Kylo.
Profile Image for &;#1469;&;#13ڲ;‍&;#192;.
201 reviews2 followers
September 27, 2022
This book has some of the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching and soul breaking quotes. And honestly any moment with Anakin and Obi-Wan was soul crushing 💔💔💔💔

Guys Star Wars makes me so sad

Anyway, some pats where like really boring. Honestly the ebook version I downloaded was a little funky. I’d probs enjoy it more as an audiobook
Profile Image for Ivy.
1,500 reviews77 followers
May 14, 2020
5 🌟

This book is the junior novelization of Revenge of the Sith.

This book starts three years after Attack of the Clones. It shows the end of the Clones Wars, the fall of Anakin Skywalker, th fall of the republic. Most of the Jedi are killed and Palpatine turns the republic into the first Galactic Empire.
Profile Image for Shawna Finnigan.
682 reviews363 followers
January 3, 2020
This book didn’t really do much for me. The movie is much better than this book and I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style.
3 reviews2 followers
Read
January 22, 2018
George Lucas wrote and directed the first six Star Wars films, which had a huge impact on not just my life, but many others. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Novelization brought back all of my childhood memories of pretending to be a Jedi who was fighting the empire in my backyard. This book has a ton of lessons engraved inside while covering it up with a action packed science fiction story.
After breaking the Jedi Code and marrying the love of his life, Padme, Anakin Skywalker faces troublesome nightmares in his sleep. These nightmares depict the death of his wife during childbirth, where not even his high skill involving the force could save her life. Anakin struggles to find a way to change this nightmare of his wife dying without his master, Obi-Wan, finding out about his marriage with Padme. While seeking for a way to save Padme's life, he is befriended by Chancellor Palpatine who is unknown by the Jedi, a Sith lord. Palpatine slowly manipulates Anakin into believing the Jedi are truly the enemies of the galaxy. While turning Anakin to the dark side of the force Palpatine is discovered to be a Sith Lord by the Jedi Council. Jedi Master Mace Windu then takes matters into his own hands and “arrest� palpatine with a small group of other Jedi. While doing this Palpatine reveals his true power and kills the other 3 jedi in a matter of seconds. Windu manages to keep up with Palpatine and overtakes him, while holding him at the tip of his lightsaber Anakin arrives. Convinced the Jedi are the true bad guys he overpowers Windu allowing Palpatine to use the force and throw him out of the window.
After killing Windu, Palpatine promotes Anakin to his second in command, Lord Vader. Vader then takes his army of clone troopers to the Jedi Temple, murdering every Jedi there. Obi-Wan then discovers this and is sent by Yoda to defeat Vader before he does any more damage to the galaxy. Yoda stays back and tries to defeat Palpatine, who is now known as “Darth Sidious�. Yoda fails to defeat the powerful Sith Lord. On the other hand Obi-Wan manages to defeat Vader in an epic lightsaber battle. Thinking he is dead Obi-Wan flees to find Padme giving birth, who then passes in birth. Obi-Wan takes the two children to different sides of the galaxy to hide in peace from their evil father. While laying on the ground, nearly dead, Vader is discovered by Sidious and is taken back to a medical facility and is given his new robotic parts to replace the severed limbs taken off by Obi-Wan. This then ends the third installment of the trilogy. I for one give this book a 5/5 stars because of the amount of effort, detail, and amazing storytelling done by George Lucas in these movies and books.
Profile Image for Lukas.
88 reviews12 followers
November 9, 2020
Evan though I already knew what was going to happen because of the movie I really liked it!
Profile Image for Esther Csorba.
147 reviews8 followers
February 9, 2022
I just love to have all the Star Wars books on my shelf. I loved the prequel trilogy, and the books add even more to the story.
Profile Image for Joseph.
17 reviews1 follower
Read
March 8, 2018
After watching the movie of the book, I just wanted to read the book. The reason why is because even though its words its words that are written the best way.
Profile Image for Rachel Dunning.
Author31 books243 followers
August 10, 2018
I just love these Star Wars novelizations. I don't even know which of the movies I've seen. I find the novels so much better. :) Did it as an audiobook.
Profile Image for Erin Ure.
81 reviews
April 12, 2024
A thoroughly entertaining read. The character's internal monologs are as usual the best part, and I found the single point of view action sequences (no camera cutaways) to be very enjoyable. Obi-Wan's thoughts make the rise of Vader more interesting, but Anakin's make watching him fall into Palpatine's clutches sillier. And the Palpatine viewpoint sections are a real treat.
Profile Image for Amalie .
770 reviews208 followers
April 13, 2022
The novel of "Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith" is a great adaption of the highly anticipated conclusion to the most popular film epic in history. Although the target audience is young readers, as an adult I had no problem with it and I thought the author gives a respectful presentation of the script from George Lucas. Of course this will not beat the film (obviously!) but I was not disappointed and I have to say, I really liked it.
2 reviews
September 26, 2023
This book is basically the novelization of the movie “Revenge of the Sith�. I was personally a big fan of the movie even before reading the book, but after reading the book, it is even better. Compared to book series like “The Lord of the Rings� or “Game of Thrones� there are not a lot of differences between the movie and the book. The reason of this is because LOTR’s and GOT’s books came out before the movies, but this book had been novelised after the release of the movie, therefore there is not a lot of new information.
Throughout the book more or less the same things were happening with the movie but were able to see the situations from the point of view of different characters. For example: In the movie, Anakin comes to the room at the very end of the duel between Palpatine and Mace Windu, but in the book, Anakin has the chance to watch their duel for a short period of time. The book describes the duel from the point of view of Anakin. The book says that Anakin couldn’t even see Palpatine and Mace Windu becuase they were moving too fast for him to be able to see. He could just see purple and red lights moving relly fast, which are the colors of their lightsabers. Based on these lines, we could understand that at least at this point, both Palpatine and Mace Windu is much stronger than Anakin. That is something that we can’t understand from the movies.
19 reviews
October 28, 2024
Revenge of the Sith as a film and a story is one of (if not) my favourite films in the Star Wars franchise.

This book seems designed to translate this film into an easy to digest short text for readers. I think this is perfect for children and young people, but can be enjoyed by any Star Wars fan of any age.

I rate it so low because I feel the pacing was completely bizarre, with the first section of the battle with Dooku feeling like the only properly paced section. It felt like the writer wrote this part first, and then was massively rushed to get the rest written.

I do praise the way italics are used to represent the character’s thoughts; an interesting way of getting insight into how characters think and feel. It the reader a great connection with each character, as you can put yourself into their mindset. The only issues with it are that each character feels slightly too similar, with only Yoda having truly unique thought text.

Overall, a fun, short read good for fans of the series. If you have a child into Star Wars, but you worry about them watching all the darkness of Episode III, this book could be a good option.
Profile Image for Andres Sandoval.
13 reviews
January 27, 2020
In my opinion, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith by Patricia C. Wrede is a great novelization of the 2005 Star Wars prequel film of the same name. I recommend this book to people who love the Star Wars films and to anyone who loves the action/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy genre. Anakin turns to the dark side, Order 66 is executed by Chancellor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) which makes the clone troopers (created life forms) turn on their Jedi masters. Anakin heads to Mustafar, where a battle between him and Obi-Wan (Anakin’s former master) begin and then Anakin is found burned by Darth Sidious in which he turns him into Darth Vader, his wife Padmé is giving birth to Luke and Leia Skywalker and when she does she dies of a broken heart due to Anakin’s turn. I really like about this book is the detail and the thoughts the characters have that are not shown or told in the films. I also love the detail and imagery in words the book provides.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Laurine.
7 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2021
Overall alright, but definetly not a writing style I enjoyed. I know it is considered a "Junior Novel" but it sounded like it was written by a teenager. I was disappointed that, when they used quotations from the movie, they weren't accurate and overall I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
1 review
February 15, 2022
Tragedy and heartbreak. That’s the story of Revenge Of The Sith. Though the story was almost exactly similar to the film, they added too much context and extra words that were not necessary. For instance when Anakin says, “You underestimate my power�, in the film they changed the line to say, “you underestimate the power of the dark side�. I feel that it wasn’t necessary to the novel and it changes some of the greatest lines of all time. The context also bored me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for J.B. Mathias.
867 reviews3 followers
October 31, 2022
This was the strongest movie in the prequel trilogy and this is so far the strongest Star Wars junior novelization. It tells the story succinctly without missing anything critical, while also adding some depth with internal monologues and showing us what characters were thinking at key times of the story.
Profile Image for Taylor Aldeghi.
62 reviews
December 28, 2022
Picked this up when I was desperate for some entertainment while snowed in at the airport. Reading this was like watching the movie, every quote I read I could imagine being played out by the actors. Super easy and entertaining read, I can’t wait to introduce my children to these books/this franchise one day.
Profile Image for Tan.
233 reviews2 followers
September 27, 2019
I CAN'T WITH ANAKIN AND PADMÉ. WHY ARE THEY SO GROSS????

Okay, but, this is probs the worst movie, so it's probably the worst book (novelisation was good, storyline questionable), so it can only get better from here, right? I'm very much looking forward to reading A New Hope.
4,406 reviews27 followers
July 7, 2020
A retelling of the movie, Revenge of the Sith.

A somewhat short retelling of what happened in the movie. The inner thoughts of the characters allow you to understand their decisions better. The creation of the Empire and Earth Vader seem to happen quickly.
Profile Image for cringekid.
263 reviews14 followers
January 28, 2025
I didn't think I would like this because Mathew Stovers novelization has no equal for Star Wars books, but damn this was really fucking good. Wrede knows just what parts to keep and to cut to make it accessible for children but still engaging and exciting.
Profile Image for Galion Public Library Teens.
1,540 reviews17 followers
July 1, 2017
Review by B.H.: "I liked the Jedi but it all fell after Anakin turned evil. I didn't like that part. [I would recommend it to] anyone who likes Star Wars."
Profile Image for Benjamin Barnes.
820 reviews11 followers
October 22, 2017
Exactly like the movie

I got this thinking there maybe more content in relation to The Storyline..There really wasn't any extra content. Basic storyline of technology Movie
Profile Image for Ryan.
13 reviews1 follower
October 10, 2019
I'm going to be honest; I read this as a joke. The thing I really didn't like was the change of dialogue between the movie and this book.
Profile Image for Patrick.
140 reviews
February 16, 2020
This book, even though it follows the movie pretty closely, it does cut out some of the more important fight scenes in the movie.
1 review1 follower
May 6, 2020
Four data

I thought it was good but a little dark. So I would of given it five stars but because of the dark parts I rated it four stars.
73 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2020
It was cool and awesome. I loved the pictures.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews

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