justthatstarwarsbookgirl's Reviews (117)

This book was AWESOME!!! An epic, action-packed, inspiring, hopeful, uplifting and super fun adventure at the same time it’s an emotional, informative, reflective and intellectual bombshell not only about the Jedi Order, but life itself as a teenager, in particular an Orphan as well as dealing with the more sensitive feelings of grief, loss, jealousy, anger, hatred, guilt, fear (particularly the fear of letting down your loved ones) and the wish to do violence to or harm those you hate, not just for an Orphan such as Ezra but for everybody out there dealing with these emotions. The book brings the emotions into light and puts a nice spotlight on how to positively identify and deal with these emotions but it’s so subtle and presented in the way of the Star Wars: Rebels storyline, Kanan and Ezra vs. The Inquisitor and Ezra’s fear of letting down Kanan, his guilt within dealing with Tseebo and finding out or knowing what happened to his parents, it’s given to us in a way that’s fantastic for children to understand and relate to. Of course at some point in their life no child wants to let down their biggest role model, whether it is a  Parent, Family Friend, Other Relation or even Teacher such as Ezra Bridger didn’t want to let down Kanan as his Jedi Master in the second test of the book. Plus a lot of kids can relate to the fake vision/scene of all of the Ghost’s Crew all picking on and bullying Ezra behind his back. There is also great inclusion of Alien Species such as a Rodian like Tseebo being described so accurately and correctly. I loved how long the first part of the book lasted consecutively, and how the second story connected with the first. But the main thing I loved about these stories was that they ALWAYS, always found ways to have a happy ending or happy, positive fact at the end, such as the holo-disk with the image of a young Ezra and his parents on it that Sabine cleaned for him, or that Ezra got one of the most beautiful Kyber Crystals Kanan had ever seen, and built a perfect lightsaber for himself without fear of what others would think, with all the spare parts from around the Ghost, and all of the Ghost’s crew being beyond proud of Ezra for finally constructing his very own personal Lightsaber. On that note, I’ll finally leave off with the fact that this is my favorite book in the Star Wars: Rebels Chapter Book Series so far and probably will remain so for all time. A beautifully written (yet simple for children to understand) book that is on the level of most novels in my opinion with its quality and message. I sped through this book very quickly and enjoyed every bit of it, and I hope you do too!! 

I thought this book was a good filler Chapter Book for the Series full of important yet unimportant events at the same time. It was an interesting book, although a reader may not understand all about the Security and Technology things, which the book was chock full of, but I liked the focus on Merei Spanjaf and her family and the fact that her and Zare are finally officially dating. I enjoyed the Academy perspective from Zare, and the various training exercise details. I like how they got used to them over time as Cadets. I enjoyed his constant questioning and debating of thinking of his surrounding friends as people who will become Officers of the Empire in the future, and if he should be friends with them if they love the Empire he hates. I absolutely hated the character of Oleg, which I believe was supposed to happen, a good writer writes his villains so that the reader hates them so much they hate the author for writing them so good. I thought the inclusion of Zare helping Pandak was so interesting and sad that he flunked. I thought Jai Kell’s character was very good and well-rounded. His passion for the Empire was so strong until threatened with the potential of being forced to leave his mother. I very much enjoyed the Visiting Day for the Imperial Academy just like we saw with Dhara. I like how considerate Merei was of Zare’s feelings and not to worry him with her problems and the risks she was taking while he was at school. The little detail of Zare and his Mom placing their hands on their Datapad before hanging up their call was so sweet, and I completely understand Zare crying upon seeing his mother’s face after so long. I thought the Rebels Episodes retellings were slightly inconsistent but I may not be remembering these particular Rebels Episodes that well. I enjoyed as well as disliked at the same time Merei’s interactions with Zeb and the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, it was like intersecting two worlds in a sort of way with this book series and the Rebels TV show. I thought Sabine’s treatment of her was unnecessary and Zeb’s was surprisingly nice. Her insistence at getting her side of the deal showed great loyalty to Zare, as well as all of the risks she took throughout the book. I thought the extra detail of Zare noticing Chopper being an older model and signaling to Ezra was great. I was surprised that Zare would react so strongly to the revelation that his sister, Ezra and Jai have the Force. I thought he’d already suspected it or knew right away due to the little details of his sister’s gift throughout the first book. I didn’t like how they explained how easily Jai accepted their reasoning, I believe it should’ve taken more talking to explain but that’s okay. I am unsure still as to if Zare has the gift of the Force even if the book claims he doesn’t, I believe there’s still a chance he does and just doesn’t know it. The Inquisitor’s description was nice and accurate, chilling to the bone. You can just imagine what it’s like to be with him in person from Zare’s experience and description. I thought overall the book was a great filler for the series to explain vital information in a short period of time that was not exactly necessary but is at the same time. The book was an interesting, quick joyride. The end cutoff of Merei finding out her Mom was heading the investigation was shocking and I wonder where it’ll go in the next book! 

I thought overall that this was one of the simpler Star Wars: Rebels Episode Adaptions/Retellings. I thought that the first story, “Ezra’s Story”, was overall repetitive of the Star Wars: Rebels Chapter Books overall and that that scene and Episode have been adapted many different times way too often to allow for enjoyment. The story “Droids in Distress” was an average read for me and inspired little emotion for me, but was overall a decent and interesting read, as was the story “Rise of the Old Masters” however with “Rise of the Old Masters” I felt some slight emotion within Ezra’s wish to have Kanan specifically as his teacher, and no other Jedi. I thought the introduction of the Inquisitor was well done, however it could’ve been better,  could’ve had a little more spice to it. Overall a decent, plain and simplistic, easy read, one that would be super easy for Child Readers, and potentially (I haven’t read the rest yet so I cannot confirm) the most simple and boring Rebels Chapter Book in the Series. 

I LOVED this book. It was one of it not the most enjoyable Star Wars reads I’ve had this year or maybe even ever. The story went straight from Point A to Point B, with a clear Plot Line and 3 clear sections I thought were aptly named for where they took place, I thought that was an extra creative addition that was very clever and nice. This book might’ve even softened in my heart the previous hatred I’ve had for the beginning introduction Rebels episodes to Ezra’s character previously. I loved the accurate depiction of each of the characters in the Ghost’s crew, as well as the entire portrayal of their 2 missions that take place in the book clearly from A to B, as stated before. Each detail of each mission was clear and understandable. The depictions of Zeb and Sabine I found especially entertaining and accurate from how they found and interacted with Ezra in the beginning of meeting him. I found Hera’s depiction especially nice, a strong and accurate character. I loved the portrayal of the Wookiees, especially the cub Kitwarr, I loved hearing his inner voice and thoughts from a child’s perspective about what was going on during the rescue and before, during the Wookiee’s kidnapping and what he thought about why the Empire was hurting his people. The character growth in Ezra and especially Kanan, his mainly but also Ezra’s helped along by Hera’s words and faith, was extremely interesting and inspiring to witness. It was nice to hear about The Force and the description of the feeling of its usage from this author’s point of view. I loved the portrayal of the Jedi in this book and the Jedi from Ezra’s Point of View with them as a myth, a true unknown to him due to the Emperor trying to smash out all memory of the Jedi since the Empire began, and Ezra was born when the Empire was declared, actually on the exact day.  The viewpoint of Kallus being so evil and intent to track down the Rebel Cell makes me keep wondering how on Earth he could ever turn into a good character, but he did in later seasons of the show. All of the Imperials in the book were portrayed accurately and very interestingly as members and supporters of the Empire. I had a fantastic time reading this book and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys reading, especially Star Wars Fans, Star Wars: Rebels Fans, and Middle-Grade Readers as well as Advanced Kids Readers. This book could also be a great and entertaining quick read for an adult such as myself. EVERYTHING in this book was beyond perfect to me. I can think of no flaws this book had, even minor ones, and that’s unusual for me to find NO flaws even in a book I really like. Definitely check out this well-written and highly entertaining book!! 

I really, really, REALLY enjoyed this book. Its fast-paced action, events and moments as well as the perfectly aligned and scheduled plot line made tons of sense to me and made it a super fun and enthusiastic read for me; even as an adult. Although I found the portrayal of Bossk’s character as potentially slightly inaccurate based on other Star Wars Chapter Books I’ve read that he was in (such as The Clone Wars: Secret Missions: Curse of the Black Hole Pirates and The Clone Wars: Boba Fett: Bounty Hunter) due to him seeming a minor amount crueler than he was shown here, I really appreciated every single one of the interactions and moments between him and Ezra Bridger. This entire book and the interactions it shows really gave Bossk’s character some heart, honor, intelligence, humor, depth, and humanity whereas this is an alien character, and a scary-looking one at that, we’ve barely explored before since his brief live action on-screen appearance in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, he has only since had minor appearances in The Clone Wars animated series and smaller roles in Chapter Books as far as I’ve seen and read so far. This book also gives a tiny amount of insight into your average Star Wars Bounty Hunter’s world in the era of the Rebellion and Empire, including information we never knew about such as Posting Agencies, Imperial IDs, and more. Although the live action Disney+ show The Mandalorian does that, it is set during the New Republic Era, which is completely different. I thought the villain was great, well put together and well set-up, but certainly not the most hated villain out there in the Star Wars Universe. I overall saw the book’s ending coming but was still fairly disappointed in it ending that way, with Ezra still credit-less when he’d been on that huge adventure, and not even being credited by words in the Imperial’s broadcast about the events, only crediting Bossk for them. I found the tiny little detail of the girl Ezra knew’s family going to live on Alderaan with their Grandma so heartbreaking, the most heartbreaking moment of the entire book because we all know what happens later on to Alderaan, and this girl and her family unfortunately if the reader is smart enough to pick up the clue and piece it together. I found the repetition of the T.I.E. Fighter crashing story at the end of the book leaving off slightly irritating, but that’s only because I read that story in the previous chapter book in the series last, right before starting this book because they’re officially after one another in timeline order. That is probably just a personal thing with the fact that I read one book after another as the series are meant to be read, it kind of puzzled me but I’m sure other readers read the books separately and don’t/won’t have this issue. Overall, I thought this was a fantastic book, and will be one of my rare five star reads, even though the overall ending irked me. 

A highly entertaining, funny, witty, and clever book to read. As an adult who doesn’t mind reading the style of simplicity of the Kid’s Chapter Books, I really enjoyed this book regardless of its simple nature, and rather appreciated it on behalf of its intended audience (Children themselves)! I loved the book’s funny and joking parts, it’s separation into four distinct portions involving four distinct main characters, and yet how each story had a clear start-to-finish motive, mission and plotline. Each story was entertaining, as well as a decent length (actually the perfect length for it’s respective age group not to lose its attention span or interest, and perfect to stop after each story to still feel accomplished for completing a story until you can finish the whole book). The book gave beautiful tiny mini amounts of insight into each character shown (and their respective backgrounds) and specialized on that only made you want to see and learn more about their potential futures, adventures and backgrounds (such as perhaps from a TV Show? *wink wink*). My favorite story was told from the POV of the Droid C1-10P, or “Chopper”, because we so rarely get stories from the perspectives of Droids, especially an Astromech as lively, colorful and animated in his language and wording as Chop. The colorful illustrations and character depictions in the book were absolutely beautiful. It truly makes me wonder who drew those illustrations, as they aren’t credited in the creation of the book as far as I can see. I really enjoy how there was a theme to them, with one type being included per each character&story. For a short, innocent and mildly interesting book, with eagerly told storylines, it had great impact on me as a reader and I can imagine any young child enjoying reading this book in its simplicity, entertaining stories and short length. I suggest this book to anyone who would love to have a quick read or a good laugh, or even for the target audience of Children themselves. Whether a fan of Star Wars, the Star Wars: Rebels TV Show, or just reading in general, many, if not all people I can estimate, will enjoy this book!! 

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a long time to pick up and actually read, but once I got past legitimately the first page I was hooked, and sped through the book at a super-fast pace. The book was highly intriguing, very interesting and extremely well-put together/well-done as a written Middle-Grade Chapter Book Series Beginning/First Book. I loved how the book was sorted into Zare’s semesters at AppSci (his school) with the Prologue being the end of Summer, the Epilogue being the next summer, and the Fall, Spring and Winter being chapters in between as he attended school. I also love, contrary to other reviews I’ve read, the telling of the story not only through Zare’s school year but mainly through the playing of his favorite Sport, Grav-Ball. I found it interesting about Zare’s parents careers as well as why they were so intent on sending their daughter into Imperial service, plus the fact that the family (including Zare) usually lived on Space Stations was very intriguing, I thought it was super interesting how he’d rarely ever seen the clear sky or the changing seasons of a planet. That makes it all the more interesting how the book was told through the changing of the seasons, and it’s also interesting to see the different seasons on Lothal and their occurrences. Jason Fry, in my opinion, introduces many lovable characters in this book, as well as some that are just as easily and perhaps even more strongly hated. One of the first characters you meet is Merei, the conflicted/could&would be love-interest of Zare. She is rather agitating at first to a character like Zare, which reminds me of a stereotype I often see in writing where an author introduces the female lead as irritating/agitating to the male lead or love interest, but the male love interest grows to care for the female lead deeply over time. I grew to absolutely LOVE Merei after their first interaction. Her character is beautifully painted and well-informed, I love how interesting her characteristics and personality are as well as her hobbies, background (such as her parent’s jobs). It’s the little details that matter to me, such as how Zare describes how she uses her datapad, her quick number-crunching abilities and skills, and her hacking and slicing computer abilities. I also didn’t so much mind (as I read in other reviews) that Grav-Ball was a lot like American Football. To me that made the game and the book a lot easier to understand and read as it progressed with the game. I also really enjoyed what little we got to see of Dhara’s character, her responsibility, her love of her family and especially her younger brother, her understanding of him and his fears, flaws and issues while at school and while she’s away, and her organizational skills as well as her pride. It makes complete sense that Dhara is Force-Sensitive and was alluded to very early on in the book after introducing her character, but it took me through reading halfway through the book to finally grasp that was what those hints were alluding to (such as that she always knew where to find Zare in a crowd of people (because of their strong connection through the Force, she could sense him) and how she always knew when something was the matter with him or bothering him so that she could talk privately with him). I also believe the reason the Academy was so eager to accept Zare’s application is that they are hoping that, as Dhara’s blood sibling, he is also Force-Sensitive and they can take him away eventually as well. I enjoyed the other, more minor characters of the book as well, but none of them were super memorable to me despite their well-rounded out personalities and traits. I don’t really enjoy the character of Zare’s father and secondly, especially I’m sure most other readers will hate the Athletic Director Fhurek for his prejudices and nastiness, as well as lust for revenge, just as much as I do. For me, although I’d heard of Alien Species being discriminated against and treated as as lesser beings by Humans in the Core Worlds (especially by Palpatine/The Emperor in particular and the Empire itself), but this was the first time I’d read it in a Star Wars book really, and a Middle Grade Star Wars Kid’s Chapter Book at that. I found the inclusion of that theme very interesting and feel it would be intriguing to explore further in any type of Star Wars Book. Another thing I found interesting was that this book, although a Kid’s Chapter Book, included very imaginable allusions to the murder of a crowd of innocents. Besides alien discrimination and the murder of innocents, the book also included a number of themes such as a lying government, issues with people in positions of power who shouldn’t be and them using that power incorrectly, betting monetarily, kidnapping children/teenagers to use for your own means, teenage schooling, sports, anger, worry, fear and frustration and dealing with those feelings, unfairness in situations in life, moving to a new home and school as well as losing the home and land your family has lived in for generations, including watching that land as well as your childhood memories be demolished and utterly destroyed, among many other themes. I really enjoyed the inclusion of Auntie Nags the Caretaker/Nanny Droid who has raised Dhara, Zare and Zare’s Father, Grandfather and previous relatives as far back as they can remember. I simultaneously enjoyed the detail of her eyes turning to red, yellow and green as she was unhappy or happy depending on her mood at the same time it annoyed me. I felt her caring nature as a Droid was beautiful, and I do hope nothing happens to her in the Series. I also enjoyed the character of Tepha, Zare’s mother. I appreciate how she believes immediately that the Empire was lying about Dhara but didn’t want to say it aloud because of feeling like a traitor, and although she doesn’t want to accept Zare’s plan to enter the Academy at first to find Dhara, but accepts it in the end with resolve and knows they cannot tell his Father. I thought it was cheesy to name Zare’s father “Leo” although his last name is Leonis. I also found it super interesting if anybody caught it how in the end the stormtrooper escorting Beck to Imperial Prison is named “DX-578” which is Dhara and Zare’s family’s friend Ames (who Zare talked to in the Summer Prologue on the Rooftop of his Family’s Apartment) previously who entered Stormtrooper Training the same year Dhara entered Imperial Officer Training at the Imperial Academy. I found that little detail so perfect yet just so plain sad overall. The entire book, in an overall summary, was a great and fantastic series of events, especially the ones involving the Alien Discrimination and Grav-Ball, not so much the ones involving the Orchards and Mining to me, but that’s my personal preference. I thought this was a great way to start out the Series, and I definitely didn’t need (and probably didn’t want) to wait so long to pick it up!! Beautiful cover art as well on the novel. Easy to read, I loved the feel of the page’s material. I feel so great about the fact that Zare was good from the beginning all along as he entered the Academy and when he met Ezra Bridger in Star Wars: Rebels; and that he was searching for Dhara the entire time, not just when he found out from Ezra about the Rebellion. It felt great to know as a character he was a good person all along instead of an Imperial who was brainwashed until Ezra came along, and was actually just waiting for somebody who was a Rebel from an organized Rebellion to infiltrate the Imperial Academy and set off a chain of events with him to help find Dhara. I really hope the ending of these books is happy, although it was left out of the Star Wars: Rebels show as far as I remember, with the Leonis family finding Dhara. But especially for some reason I hope nothing happens to the Droid Character of Auntie Nags. Also, I cannot even begin to imagine losing a sibling, and having to watch the emptiness of their room every time you pass it, missing them greatly, not knowing where they are, what has happened to them or if they’re alive, much less that feeling for a parent, especially a mother. As an older sibling myself I relate greatly to Dhara, although I have a younger sister rather than brother, and that’s completely different in many ways. I relate to the extremely tender and caring feeling of Dhara for her younger brother. I wonder if this Series will be as good, slightly worse or better than the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Secret Missions Series by Ryder Windham. I have previously enjoyed Ryder Windham’s variety of Star Wars books he has written more than Jason Fry’s. I kind of find that Series as an opposite series, that one a spin-off for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Chapter Book Series, this one a spin-off for the Star Wars: Rebels Chapter Book Series. Overall what a great book!! Highly recommended to all Star Wars Fans, Star Wars: Rebels Fans, and those more interested after watching Zare Leonis’s Academy Star Wars: Rebels Episodes in learning more about the aftermath and events prior to those Episodes of Star Wars: Rebels. Especially Middle-Aged Kid’s that are Star Wars Fans would enjoy this book in my opinion!! But as a 19-Year-Old I really highly enjoyed this book myself!! 

Okay, so this review will be a little differently organized than my normal book reviews but this one is the best I can do for this book, sort of sorted into things I enjoyed in the book/didn’t enjoy and/or Pros and Cons of the book as well as Interesting Tidbits, Noticeable or Notable Items or Facts. Nothing’s in any particular order, just as I could think of it as it occurred to me after I finished my read, maybe in relation to how much it bothered me in my memory or how soon after I read it in the book where it occurred: 

Most of these are Cons:  

Most of these are Pros/Neutrals/Interesting Facts or Notices: 

Overall, this book was fairly enjoyable, at the same time slightly irksome. I believe I had more fun playing with the fact that my book was a paperback copy and the crisp pages than reading the actual story itself half of the time (as weird as it sounds). The first three parts were great, exactly as described and the same exact plotline/storyline and details as the Episodes themselves, but in the fourth part the author (Jason Fry) totally took free reign and changed quite a few (I’d almost say a ton) of lines and quotes that I found pretty important in my opinion and should’ve stayed the same. That kind of ruined the entire whole book for me in the fourth and final part, ruining the complete other three parts of the novel. It’s sad to see it go like that so that I only have to give it a 2 star review but I guess that’s how it’ll have to be rated for me. The changing of those quotes bothered me THAT much. I’m sorry Jason Fry, but that to me was a huge mistake, however I love all of your other Star Wars works I’ve read so far!! You’re a Star Wars writing Legend in my personal opinion!! 

I really thought this book was a fantastic seamless representation of the UnderWater Mon Calamari world/Prince Lee Char ARC and Episodes in The Clone Wars 2008 Series. I didn’t note any noticeable changes or differences compared to the Episodes in the scripts and plotlines themselves, but that may be due to the fact that I raced through the book because it was so much fun to read and I was so eager to read this phenomenal book. I love the step-by-step plot leading from start to finish each event in the whole book. Once again, I believe that this book was so seamless and whole as a story because it was written by one person again: Rob Valois. And again, Rob Valois wrote the most accurate Episode Adaption “Lair of Grievous” in the 2nd Clone Wars Episodes Junior Novelizations Chapter Book “Grievous Attacks!”, so there’s no reason to doubt him of the ability of creating the most accurate Adaptions of not only one, not two, but THREE different Episode Adaptions in this book. I could follow the events of the three episodes and the book extremely easily from start to finish, although I wasn’t exactly able to tell the different Episode Adaption’s starts and finishes apart due to the book not specifying them directly. The characters were accurate portrayals as seen in The Clone Wars 2008 Television Show, especially Jar Jar Binks, a very hard character to portray loveably, Ahsoka Tano and her statement of a very famous/specific quote happening to take place in these Episode Adaptions, and Prince Lee Char himself, how he started off as a quiet, meek and scared boy who wanted to run away from all of his problems to his palace bedroom and never take responsibility because he hadn’t expected to for a very long time, having still expected his father the King to be alive for a while longer and not have such an unexpected and tragic death (rather murder), to turning into a wildly courageous and proud leader who rallied not only his people but the Gungan Warriors, the Clone Army and the Quarren behind him as he finished off his planet’s civil war successfully to a winning victory for his people rather than have them as prisoners working in ore mines, graduating himself to the position of King rightfully as he deserved rather than just as inherited, as well as Riff Tamson as a horrifying and cruel villain, the utter disbelief of the cruelty of Count Dooku beyond what we even knew and would’ve guessed before with forcing the Mon Calamari children and woman to work in the Ore Mines as well if he’d have had it his way, and even Nossor Ri as a meek leader, however I thought in the Adaption he was portrayed as meeker and quieter than he was in the Episodes, however I loved to read his thought process about Riff Tamson, Dooku and the Separatist’s slow, tragic, complete and utter takeover of his home planet. I didn’t like the description of the ink weapon of the Quarren, but I liked the depiction of the character of Captain Ackbar (soon to be Admiral Ackbar in Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi). I love how loyal the Captain was to Lee Char’s orders and not the Jedi out of loyalty to his planet and its rightful ruler, even if he agreed with the Jedi’s plan and perspective over Lee Char. I liked how the book included the first name of Prince Lee Char’s father, instead of just being King Kolina being known as King Yos Kolina was a nice detail. Also I enjoyed learning the Clone Commander’s name who leads the Clone part of the attack, and how loyal he is to his orders. I liked learning more about the vicious Karkarodon Shark-Like Species that Tamson was apart of, and how awfully they used their razor-sharp teeth to injure, fight and kill/murder others by tearing them apart into a million tiny pieces. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the Quarren and Mon Calamari Alien Species features, they were highly accurate and descriptive, including the Quarren’s face tentacles and mouth/teeth and the Mon Calamari’s eyes. The book overall gave a ton of insight into the many different well-loved and well-known character’s thoughts about events and other characters throughout the book, including Nossor Ri, Jar Jar Binks and the Gungan’s Leadership, as well as a nicely described setting and the backdrop/backgrounds were described beautifully and perfectly accurately, possibly even more accurately than the Episode showed them. The descriptions of the Dark Waters, the Underground Surface Caves, the Throne Room, Mon Calamari Throne itself, Travel Tubes, Tower, and Mon Calamari Main Cities were all phenomenal and highly descriptive, very helpful to visualizing the story and plot throughout the book itself. I found a lot of insight into the Prisoners, Gungans, Mon Calamari, and Clones of the Mon Cala invasion, and the Prison Camps/Marches. It was very interesting to see compared to watching the Episodes themselves. I loved the inclusion of the slowly growing friendship between Padawan Ahsoka Tano and Prince Lee Char as they were in hiding/being protected together in the caves, slowly evolving to Ahsoka trusting the Prince’s plan, getting ready and prepared to protect him at all costs, and the trust formed between them to protect and potentially save his life multiple times. I enjoyed the inclusion of Kit Fisto and his superior underwater fighting skills, although it was very small in the moments they were described. I loved how the Gungan General stated how proud he was to serve for the Republic and the priority he placed on saving Padmé/Senator Amidala of Naboo. I didn’t really like how they claimed Anakin and Padmé were only friends and only hinted at strong feelings, although any true Star Wars fan knows right now that they’re married secretly and it’s love, not just friendship or strong feelings. I really enjoyed the ending of the book, with Lee Char instated as the rightful King not just by blood but because he earned it, and the cries of “Long Live King Lee Char!” as were cried at the end of The Clone Wars Episode as they panned out above the throne room on Mon Cala. The book overall was extremely inspiring and gave me a lot of hope and inspired a ton of hopefulness and happiness in my heart, as well as lightened it. I couldn’t stop reading it honestly, I sped through it and read it so fast, I loved how well it all came together and the perfect ending. This Adaption was absolutely PERFECTION with its Clone Wars Episode counterpart and accuracy. Highly enjoyable and recommended to anybody who’s a Star Wars or especially a Clone Wars fan. 

I enjoyed this book as a fantastic summary of The Clone Wars Episode Arc of the journey of the Clone Troopers that make up Domino Squad from start to finish, from the group of five individual Clones training in the facilities on Kamino, graduating after they learn to work together to conquer the course and accept each other’s flaws and differences as friends and brothers, to their first Post on the Rishi Moon and the unfortunate occurrences and events there, the loss of many of the original members of Domino Squad sadly, the assignment of the remaining members official Unit, and finally, the journey to upgrade themselves to the ultimate level of Clone Trooper: an ARC Trooper. The book includes large levels and lessons of acceptance, friendship, loyalty, bravery, brotherhood, sacrifices, believing in others, mentorship, teaching, and conquering and overcoming your personal flaws, selfishness or shortsightedness that are fantastic for young children to learn. The book has a great progression of these lessons over the time of the three short stories included in the book. I couldn’t seem to understand, however, why another adaption of the Episode “Rookies” was included in this book in The Clone Wars Junior Novelization Chapter Book Series while an adaption of it was already included in the second book in the series, “Grievous Attacks!” I was hoping for some major differences in this Adaption as the previous one was by a different author, and Rob Valois (the author of this book) previously authored the “Lair of Grievous” Adaption in “Grievous Attacks!” which I remember being the most accurate as to not leaving out any details in the storyline and plot of that book, whereas the other stories in the book left out some certain details in each story or slightly changed things. I was hoping that all of these stories would be extremely accurate with the details in the storyline and plot as seen in the original Clone Wars Episodes because they were also written by Rob Valois, and he’d done well in that story (“Lair of Grievous”) that I’d read before from “Grievous Attacks!”. However I noticed that in the first story “Clone Cadets” everything appeared to be very accurate and correct to the original storyline and Episode. But in the second story, “Rookies”, although one detail I hadn’t liked from the previous adaption was fixed (the fact that Cutup was killed by the giant Rishi Eel, it wasn’t included in the first Adaption in “Grievous Attacks!” (It was completely omitted) but it was included in this Adaption). However “Rookies” had a TON of spelling errors, grammar mistakes and other issues such as the original Adaption. I half wonder if they copied and pasted the original Adaption from “Grievous Attacks!” and then edited it however they’d liked with whatever details they wanted fixed, but didn’t rewrite or change the overall story/Episode Adaption. I noticed that (perhaps I just didn’t notice it in the Original Episode Adaption from “Grievous Attacks!”) a lot of the times they got the Clones names mixed up. A lot of the time they spelled “Fives” name without an “s” on the end as “Five”, and we all know as fans that isn’t correct because Fives legitimately corrects somebody in-universe in The Clone Wars animated series about having an “s” on the end of his name (I believe it’s AZ; the medical droid from Season 6: The Lost Missions in the Episodes where Fives eventually ends up). Also they’d be speaking and it would say one Clone said this, but the next Clone they stated was speaking wouldn’t make sense or match up with the first statement. I hope you understand what I’m saying here. Also they overused many words. I did like how they didn’t change what Cody said as they attempted to entire the facility overtaken by droids, as they did in the “Grievous Attacks!” Adaption, and that they didn’t shy away from death as a whole and the tragedy and sadness of losing a brother and comrade in these stories. Truly that is essential to the plot lines of these stories. Finally, I thought the “ARC Troopers” Episode Adaption was great, a fantastic summary of that Episode, but some of it was definitely inaccurate, or at least heavily changed/modified compared to the original Clone Wars Episode’s event’s details. The events themselves and their outcomes were not changed, but the details and how they occurred definitely were, such as the Cadets and their fight against the Droids, how they didn’t fire from the bunks in a surprise attack as seen in the show but instead “advanced in formation” as described in the Adaption. Otherwise, I really, highly enjoyed how well this entire Novelization/Adaption linked together with the three stories from the beginning to the end. Perhaps it was because all three were written from the perspective of one and the same author that they interconnected so well as a storyline over the three stories. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Clones in the Star Wars Universe in general, especially Fives, Hevy or Echo, even Rex or Cody, Anakin, Shaak Ti, or Obi-Wan, any fans of stories that take place on Kamino, involve Bounty Hunters or Training, Brotherhood, Alliances, Friendship, Loyalty, Faith, Bravery, and finally just the Star Wars Universe and the Galactic Civil War known as The Clone Wars in general!!