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HONESTLY this book was not only a great Star Wars book (probably one of the best I have read?), but also something I would recommend as a book-book. Let's be real here, the EU has set the bar pretty low over the years, so what I look for in a SW novel is not always what I'm looking for in my other reading choices, but this nailed both.

The prose is wonderful. Freed has a knack for not only getting into a character's skin, but making you feel like you're right there with them. Action scenes are kinetic, but have the weight of the character experiencing them as well - were not blowing shit up here to look cool, we're doing it For The Rebellion. You're given a sense and awareness of the personal toll the Empire has taken on each character, and the different ways in which it did so.

Leading on from that, this is a very character-driven book. Plot wasn't the strongest point of the movie and the book doesn't really expand on it at all, but if you walked away from Rogue One thinking 'MAN I LOVED ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE' this is the book for you. We just get a lot more of each character - a little bit of backstory, and a lot bit of impetus and drive and relationships with other characters. Everything we see in the movie is expanded upon without contradicting - I never got the sense of 'wait what, where did that come from' that is so common with book versions of movies.

That said, the movie had its problems and those are reflected in the book as well. There's a dearth of lady characters (two (or three, counting Lyra), vs a million dudes), and Bor Gullet makes no sense (if you haven't seen the movie, just. Trust me, it makes no sense). I did get the sense that Freed was trying to do his best with a motive for Lyra's plotline, but it was one of those tropes that really can't be saved.

The one thing that r e a l l y bugged me was the narrative's insistence on referring to two characters as brothers, when they have been pretty clearly coded as queer and together, not only in the movie but in the book itself. It's a bit jarring to read, athough not surprising considering...hollywood. The chances of ever getting that relationship confirmed were always going to be slim, but I do wish that Freed had just left it ambiguous per the movie, rather than sliding in a few NO HOMO brothers quotes.

What we do get is a more explicit intensity of emotion between the two leads. I suppose you could still skate around calling it a romance if you wanted to, but I'd prefer to called it URT (unresolved romantic tension). Even more clearly than the movie, you're given the impression that if only there had been more time, something could come of it. I'm always in favour of anything with the vaguest hint of romance tbh, so this sat well with me and was something that i thorough enjoyed (as evidence by my Ao3 account lmao)

FINALLY, I really enjoyed the extra datapad notes, journals, emails, histories that were inserted between each chapter. It gave you a sense of the galactic nature of what turned out to be an extremely personal story. There were a lot of POVs in this book, but Freed handled them with grace, and I never felt as though I didn't recognise a character either from the movie, or their thread in the book. Having the greater context of the Star Wars universe in the little excerpts was a great way of conveying the many and varied POVs and information that are easier to do with a movie in a few shots.

Overall, most of the flaws I found in the book were issues I had with the movie, and the book expanded/improved upon basically everything I loved about said movie. If you've never read a Star Wars book, this one is great to start with - it's relatively stand alone, and if you're familiar with even half of the movies you'll be able to follow along easily. And if you loved the movie, you'll almost definitely love the book. Highly recommended on all fronts.