STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS - GRIEVOUS ATTACKS!
Published in paperback by PUFFIN BOOKS (UK)
Reviewed by Scott Weller
“I will rest when the Jedi are dead!”
General Grievous
With the movie now out of the way, PUFFIN BOOKS now centralizes on the weekly CLONE WARS series, deciding to adapt some of the first season’s finest episodes. And as far as General Grievous is concerned, you couldn’t get a more popular and Prequel-iconic nasty to dominate your first new entry and generate continued interest in the book/brand than this guy. Three of the adapted stories feature and encapsulate the wheezing general in all his vicious, spitefully tongued glory-the big two parter DOWNFALL OF A DROID (technically, the first episodes of which work began on the series)-adapted by Tracey West- and the quickly to become classic horror/action story LAIR OF GRIEVOUS, adapted by Rob Valois. Though Grievous is not technically the star of the fourth tale, ROOKIES, adapted by Veronica Wassserman, it does have him appear, albeit from a distance. Being the Clones of the title, it was obviously important to this book and the continuing range that their presence was a substantial one, and it helps that this last choice, which launches the book, has become so widely regarded by series fans.
The prose by all three authors, all of which have a nice uniform style, is clean, highly accessible with regards to established STAR WARS lore, and easy to read in a way that’s perfect for children. And, as mentioned, you can’t go wrong with the selected episodes.
With some nice dialogue and pleasing descriptive moments, ROOKIES is a fine read but doesn’t quite do the actual episode the justice it deserves-it can’t quite capture the amazing visualness and action of its live action parent. Neither does LAIR OF GRIEVOUS-again for visual reasons more than anything else- but the writing is perfectly crisp and clear, and the Jedi and the title star are brought to life reasonably well. The best to capture the TV series spirit is the two parter, which is fast paced and action packed, not too adult, and striking a fine balance for all ages-and is thus the best for adaptation for young readers.
Of the adaptations, there are some differencies here and there. Unlike the way TV version of ROOKIES started, the adaptation has the importance of the Republic listening post in stopping the invasion of Kamino set up straight from the start, though some of the camaraderie of the Clone Troopers is sadly cut, either not in the original script the author had to work with, or perhaps just cut from the book-perhaps because the dialogue may not have read right for a child’s reading skills? This adaptation may have been from early scripts rather then the finished episodes, i.e. there’s no sign of the worm creatures that resides on the outpost planet at all, and he would appear in two big scenes within the transmitted episode.
In a more kid-friendly move, it’s in the DUEL OF THE DROIDS adaptation that Grievous kills the shady Trandoshan Gha Nacht with a blaster rather than the blood thirsty, and totally in character moment in the TV episode where he spears him from behind, and through the chest, with his lightsaber. A little bit too much for the youngsters to read!!
The LAIR adaptation also shows a few different moments, presumably for page restrictions, i.e. at the stories end, Jedi Kit Fisto doesn’t get involved in any fight with Grievous’s Magna droids before the arrival of Arsix to rescue him. In fighting Grievous, Fisto damages one of the droid general’s hands, and retrieves a fallen lightsaber, where the Jedi discovers it had belonged to his fallen comrade, Nahdar. Having escaped Grievous, Fisto then wears it on his belt when relaying the tragic story of Nahdar’s death to Yoda and Mace Windu in the Jedi Temple-a nice touch that I don’t remember seeing in the actual episode. Additionally, DUEL has a possible original cut scene in which Anakin pursues Artoo's MagnaGuard kidnappers and leaps onto their escape lift, lightsaber cutting his way inside to rescue the droid.
Sadly, there are still some production errors cropping up in all STAR WARS merchandise these day-I’m assuming it’s because there’s just so much of it to oversee. The books full colour 16 page photo section is super, and nicely colour coded with excellent image choices, but for its LAIR OF GRIEVOUS section, the reckless Jedi Nahdar is continually mis-spelt as Nahdir. One mistake I can forgive, but not continuously in a whole section-again, perhaps this was done before the Production process of the show was finalized and it just slipped through.
So… if you’re a book reading STAR WARS fan between the ages of seven and ten these books are perfect reading and a fun companion to the series.
AFICIONADO RATING: Once past the exciting cover and nicely designed interior sections, GRIEVOUS ATTACKS! is essential reading for the dedicated STAR WARS youngsters, of which the smaller ones will enjoy having their parents read the exciting adventures to them at bed time. Mum and Dad, don’t forget to wheeze and cough when playing Grievous!! 8 out of 10
