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| The Clone Wars (Star Wars) | 
 enlarge | Author: Karen Traviss
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $11.27
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 4845
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 034550898X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780345508980
ASIN: 034550898X
Publication Date: July 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081006210455T
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Product Description
Across the galaxy, the Clone Wars are raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, the onetime Jedi and now secret Sith Lord, continue to press forward, and more and more worlds are either falling, or seceding and joining the cause. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Republic heroically battles on, championed by its huge army of cloned soldiers and their Jedi generals.
Anakin Skywalker, believed by some to be the prophesied “Chosen One” destined to bring balance to the Force, is now a Jedi Knight under the tutelage of his Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Death is a constant possibility–and his chances of survival aren’t improved by the unexpected arrival of an apprentice: Ahsoka, a brash, inexperienced fourteen-year-old Padawan apprenticed to Anakin. But there’s no time for Anakin to question his latest orders: He and Obi-Wan have been assigned a new mission, and failure is not an option.
Jabba the Hutt’s precious infant son has been kidnapped, and when the frantic parent applies to the Jedi for help, it falls to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and their clone troops to track down the evidence and retrieve the missing Huttlet. And more is at stake: For a grateful Jabba just might allow the Republic access to the Hutt-controlled space lanes that the Grand Army desperately needs in order to beat the Separatists into submission.
But the Republic is not the only power that craves access to those space lanes. Count Dooku, determined to win the prize for the Separatists, has set a trap for the Jedi. When they find the Huttlet, they will also find Dooku’s master assassin, Asajj Ventress, and countless legions of battle droids waiting to spring a trap.
The blazing new animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place in the years preceding Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and sets the stage for the groundbreaking TV series. Both contain all original material–direct from the brilliant imagination of legendary Star Wars creator George Lucas. And these exciting new adventures and characters are being brought to life in book form by none other than #1 New York Times bestselling Star Wars author Karen Traviss.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Decent work with questionable subject material July 28, 2008
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
[This review contains spoilers for The Clone Wars]
Earlier this year, the Star Wars Lit community was abuzz with the news of a couple of things - that there was an untitled Karen Traviss novel coming, and that there was a Clone Wars movie coming out. A couple of months ago, fans learned that they were both connected, as Karen turned out to have been writing the novelization.
The release of The Clone Wars brings about the first book released in the time frame since Traviss's last Republic Commando novel, True Colors, which was released last year, and once again shows that Traviss is one of the better writers for the Clone Wars.
This novelization isn't the best work that Karen has released. The book is a very short one, and plotwise, has a bit to be desired. In a nutshell, the Seperatists have kidnapped the son of Jabba the Hutt, hoping to anger the Hutts enough to ensure that the Republic can't utilize their space lanes.
The book is rife with action, which is Karen's strong point, especially when it comes to Clones. the main characters are introduced with a battle, where Karen puts her expertise gained from the Republic Commando books. What I really enjoyed was seeing an author put a level of military realism to this - the Clones talk and act like soldiers.
Karen leaves a lot of nods to the 501st, helping to further explain the role of Vader's fist, the battalion seen in Revenge of the Sith, named for the 501st Legion. One of the more interesting characters in the book is Captain Rex, whom a number of Legion members are building in anticipation of the film's release. Karen pushed these guys to a particular prominence in the book, which is a great nod to the group, of which, she's an honorary member. There weren't any mentions of Republic Commandos, which surprised me a little.
The plot of the book leaves more to be desired beyond the military sections. There are some interesting political ideas here, but the idea that the Republic would send two of their most highly regarded Jedi after a Huttling is somewhat ridiculous. While this is addressed somewhat at points, I found it hard to believe.
More so, I found the notion that the Hutts, or more particularly, Jabba, would completely base foreign policy on a kidnapped child a ridiculous notion. Granted, this is a novelization based off of an animated movie, so expecting something on the level of Karen's other books or other Clone Wars novels such as Shatterpoint is somewhat expected.
Unfortunately, the book is short, clocking in at around 250 pages, taking me a total of five or so hours to read. Fortunately, Del Rey seems to have realized this, and as a result, I only paid $12 for the book (yay for a 40% discount at Borders).
Overall, this is a decent enough read, despite the fact that it is short and not as good as her other books. However, with four more books to go in the series, there's plenty of room for more improvement and Clone action.
Clone Wars delivers an action-packed Anakin story August 3, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
"The Clone Wars" tells a story about a day in the life of Anakin. This is no rehash of the Cartoon Network's "Animated Clone Wars." Even compared to episodes II & III, many of the prominently featured characters play a much smaller role. This is okay because this story introduces an exciting new character to the Star Wars pantheon: Ahsoka. Ahsoka is Skywalker's apprentice. Along these lines, one of the central themes to "Clone Wars" is the master-apprentice relationship. While this has been done before, the theme is fresh as Anakin and Ahsoka negotiate their relationship. Having nicknames like Skyguy and Snips, their partnership is a contrast to that of Anakin and Obi-Wan. In this story, we delve deeper into the clones. We find a surprising amount of individuality and contemplation. Whether it be their physiology, politics or reproductive habits, we also learn more about the Hutts. Naturally, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress and Darth Sidious are participants. As the title suggests, there is a good deal of action in the story. Karen Traviss has a knack for combat writing. In addition to conveying the characters' fatigue and injuries, the reader can also feel their motivation to survive and continue fighting. As with the Republic Commando books, some may find that too much page time is given to combat. Indeed, compared to the theatrical trilogies, this story is heavy on the action and light on character development. With the exception of Ahsoka, "The Clone Wars" does little to advance our understanding of Anakin or other characters. In fact, it does little to flush out significant events of the Clone Wars. Compared to the battles of Geonosis and Utapau, the fighting on Christophsis and Teth have little significance when it comes to the big scheme of things. In the end, we shouldn't over intellectualize; this story is eye candy (or is it mind candy when read from a book?). Despite having over 250 pages, this is an enjoyable story that moves quickly. Whether as an end unto itself or an appetizer for the upcoming film, "Clone Wars" is action packed fun.
POST-FILM ADDENDUM
Now that the film has been released, I thought that I'd throw in a comparison between the "Clone Wars" book and the movie. As would be expected, the book contains more detail. Much of the book's internal dialogue is sacrificed in the name of big screen action. The film excludes the little character development that could be found in to the book. In particular, the film lacks the interesting mental dialogues of Anakin, Ventress, Jabba and to a lesser extent, Count Dooku and the clones. Dave Filoni's screen adaptation highlights the lighter side of the "Clone Wars" story. While the motion picture lacks substance when compared to the regular trilogies, it makes up for it with fun. At this point, I imagine that most people reading this review have seen the film and are wondering if they should bother with the book. Unless the viewer just hated the film, the answer to this question is 'yes.' Traviss' poetic description of combat is much appreciated. The heretofore character development is also enjoyable. The book contains all of the movie's action and additional content substance. So as a post-film supplement, Karen Traviss' book can be most gratifying.
Companion novel to the feature film takes a different perspective August 25, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
When plans were made late in the game to debut the upcoming television series The Clone Wars as a feature film, Lucasfilm and Del Rey turned to prolific author Karen Traviss to knock out the accompanying novelization. Traviss is responsible for the excellent series Republic Commando, originally based on a videogame, in which she takes a very fresh perspective on clones and Jedi and offers fast-paced storylines with a militaristic flavor. Her deep interest in the clones' lives and her exploration of the Mandalorian culture's impact on them, coupled with her extremely rapid writing pace, made her a natural choice for this book.
The novel offers a different perspective on events than the film. Whereas the film adopts a light, bouncy tone of adventure, Traviss explores some of the psychology behind the heroic tale and also adds some internal monologues which put the story in a somewhat different light. For instance, in the film Anakin cheerily plows through the droids to get to his objectives; Traviss tackles the rage that drives him in battle and reminds the reader of how Anakin's conflicted feelings about his mother, his marriage, and his attachments make for an unstable mix, especially when Anakin is placed in the middle of a major-scale war for three years.
The story is told from an interesting variety of perspectives, those of Anakin, Dooku, new character Captain Rex, Asajj Ventress, Jabba the Hutt, and even a couple of scenes from Palpatine's point of view. A particularly interesting point about the Palpatine scenes is this is the first book to give the reader some of his internal monologue as Darth Sidious. We are privy to his gloating as he sits in his office facing the Jedi, mouthing pieties and platitudes while plotting their downfall and the revenge of the Sith. Another interesting aspect of the perspectives selected is the focus on the villains. No scenes are told from Obi-Wan's or Yoda's viewpoints, for example. However, this mix works well. Anakin and Rex carry the heroic part of the story, and Rex serves as another way in which Traviss can explore the concept of a clone army and the conflict these men feel as creations bred entirely for war dealing with a chaotic outside world.
The story itself is quite simple: Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta has been kidnapped and both the Separatists and the Republic are trying to rescue him, thereby currying favor with Jabba and gaining access to routes through Hutt-controlled space. Of course, Dooku has plotted the kidnapping from the start, and the main question is whether the Jedi and clones can avoid his series of traps and get the baby back to Jabba alive and well. Being originally based on three half-hour cartoons, the story is heavily focused on action sequences, most notably an epic battle on the planet at Teth involving a vertical assault up steep cliffs and an extremely lengthy fight in a monastery's courtyard. The Battle of Teth also features Asajj Ventress, who is brought up from the world of comics, earlier cartoons and novels for her first feature film appearance. Traviss handles her motivations well and gives her a more menacing air than the movie.
The Clone Wars is a fun thrill-ride of a novel and a nice complement to the theatrical release. Traviss makes probably as much effort as she was allowed to place it in the existing continuity of novels, comics, and cartoons, with a few references to the Battle of Jabiim at least being a nod to where it falls in the timeline. It's a breezy, action-packed read and a welcome addition to the larger story of the Clone Wars.
 Hope Order 66 is better. July 29, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you liked the Republic Commando books you will like this book. If not avoid it. This has very similar action to the fights in Attack of the Clones and the Commando books, just not as crisp. But it does give insights into Hutt society (e.g. they are asexual and Jabba has created a son) and Lucas' continuing theme of folks disliking / hating the Jedi because the Jedi have failed to meet their expectations. Kenobi is absent for most of this novel so from a Jedi perspective, this is Anakin's novel, especially given Yoda has given Anakin a Padawan to train. But there is sparse growth / development in Anakin's character. But then we already know he is a short time away from becoming evil personified, so what could they really add. :-)
A quick summer read if you are looking for one. I am looking forward to Order 66 and hope it is better. I will watch the movie the book is based on when it hits television non-premium channels.
fast-paced exciting military science fiction thriller August 10, 2008
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
The Clone War between the Separatists and the Republic takes a strange twist when agents of the former kidnap Rotta the infant son of Jabba the Hutt from his Tattoine palace. Jabba offers a deal to the Republic; he will allow their vessels safe access of his space sector in exchange for the rescue of his child.
The Republic, knowing the strategic value of Hutt's zone especially at a time their adversaries are winning, assigns Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to conduct the rescue mission. Besides a top military unit, accompanying them is newly assigned apprentice fourteen year old Ahsoka for Skywalker to train. Separatist leader Count Dooku learns of the Republic's efforts to obtain the Hutt offspring; he knows the incredible morale boost to his side and the devastation mentally to the already shaky enemy's confidence with the killing of Skywalker "The Chosen One". He assigns assassin Asajj Ventress to kill the knight and his master and sends battle droids to insure none escape.
Tied to the Clone Wars TV saga, this is a fast-paced exciting Star Wars military science fiction thriller. The action-packed story line never slows from start to finish, but the plot premise is a bit thin beyond the vivid battle scenes. In some ways the novel feels as if Karen Traviss prime directive was to introduce key players from the TV series. Still it is well written and fun to read as the readers realize how desperate the Republic needs to partner with Hutt, who feels out of character as a drooling caring father.
Harriet Klausner
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