Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Intensely exciting!!!Amazing prelude to the rest of the Star Wars story!!Many truely lost their lives for the cause of freedom & this book shows us their courage, determination, and steadfastness in fighting against evil!!! A book for the ages!!

This book should be mandated for anybody that intends to see the movie more than once. It gives a lot of perspective on what's going on in the heads of the characters, makes what seems like fleeting action within the movie a lot more meaningful.

Simply brilliant and gives us great moments of insight to not only our main characters but also many of the minor characters like Mon Mothma and General Draven. The insight into the workings of the Rebel Alliance and its internal politics is awesome!

This is up there in the top three Star Wars novelizations for me, with Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Alexander Freed tells the story on an engaging, poetic way while adding another emotional layer. Freed gets to include some great scenes and details not in the film. I highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed the film, but this adaptation deepened my appreciation greatly. Freed does great work here creating the inner lives of the Rogue One characters in a way that makes their motives and actions on the film even more clear.

The organization of the book in the beginning was difficult to figure out. Saw didn't seem as the likely person to take care of an 8 year old girl and teach her to be a "soldier" in his private way to resist the Empire. It seemed odd to me but later he left her and it seems that she really didn't get over it. Cassian had his own issues and had to work through not leaving her. The driod , K-230 was very resourceful, and seemed to be able to think through problems on it's own. The interesting blind man and his brother how were able to destroy storm troopers easily. The problem later in the book was the Citadel Tower. I couldn't quite visualize it so I went to the movie. Since I had read the book and knew the story, I could see the story and what happened, what the Tower looked like and how it fit in with "The New Hope" and Princess Leia.
I also knew more about Krennic and Tarkin from reading the Catalyst: A Rogue One Story before I read Rouge One

The book is essentially exactly the same as the movie. It doesn’t add anything to the story. There is a lot of introspection and soul searching by the main characters – especially the lead female heroine Jyn Erso. But this seems to be done less to provide insight to the motivation of the characters as it is to just fill pages.

This is how a star wars novel should be written. With fervor and excitement. It should capture the reader, unlike aftermath which bored me, it should entice, like rise of the dark lord. And in the end, it should entertain. This does all of that. A fine read.

I loved the movie, and immediately bought the book and finished it in one sitting. The book was very faithful to how the movie played out. There weren't any new nuggets of information that wasn't already in the movie other than the book articulating the thoughts of some of the characters. For example, I think the book is better able to describe the romantic tension between Jyn and Cassian. I didn't see it as much in the movie (other than the end of course). Overall, I enjoyed the book but don't expect to come out knowing more than what the movie showed you.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the Star Wars universe. What was a throwaway line in episode IV is a story full of duty, honor, redemption and hope. Read it before or after the movie, you won't regret it.

A dandy book. Love the action and the willingness to explore the darker aspects of armed conflict. I didn't quite get the unwillingness to fully embrace the characters until the final chapters - as a result I didn't really enjoy any of the characters (except for K2SO towards the end). Was this a bit of creative suppression or the tyranny of a deadline? I don't know, I wish I could write as coherently as the author.
Four stars because of my preference. I disliked the constant reference to "the cave"; I appreciate parallelism, but I think it might have been overused. Maybe describe aspects of the original cave to make it more metaphorical? But hey, I'm not the brother in the hot seat. Nice job!

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the Star Wars universe. What was a throwaway line in episode IV is a story full of duty, honor, redemption and hope. Read it before or after the movie, you won't regret it.

A dandy book. Love the action and the willingness to explore the darker aspects of armed conflict. I didn't quite get the unwillingness to fully embrace the characters until the final chapters - as a result I didn't really enjoy any of the characters (except for K2SO towards the end). Was this a bit of creative suppression or the tyranny of a deadline? I don't know, I wish I could write as coherently as the author.
Four stars because of my preference. I disliked the constant reference to "the cave"; I appreciate parallelism, but I think it might have been overused. Maybe describe aspects of the original cave to make it more metaphorical? But hey, I'm not the brother in the hot seat. Nice job!

Alexander Freed has written an excellent novelization that not only manages to add extra scenes, additional complementary dialogue, and vividly translates Rogue One to novel form but it also serves as the final book in what is effectively "the Death Star trilogy." With the first two novels being Catalyst and Tarkin, both by Star Wars legend James Luceno.

To start, Freed's first Star Wars novel, Twilight Company, caught some flak for the prose which wasn't all that immersive. Thankfully Rogue One has no such problems, Freed had written a great story which flows naturally. As said earlier in the review, this book is the third in an unofficial trilogy I'm dubbing the Death Star trilogy. I'd highly recommend reading Rogue One: Catalyst and Tarkin both by Luceno before this. All three books flow together perfectly timeline and story wise, with Rogue One's prologue beginning mere months after Tarkin. It all tells one epic story leading into Episode IV: A New Hope.

On to the novelization itself, there's a lot to love. The writing is tight and immerses the reader, the characters are explored more thoroughly than in the film (naturally), and there's a lot of additional dialogue compared to the film. In particular you can tell Freed drew on Catalyst when it comes to Krennic's scenes. Fans who saw the film will be relieved to know not many scenes were explicitly changed compared to the film. This was a problem with the Force Awakens novelization. The action scenes are great, as that's Freed's forte.

Overall I'd highly recommend reading this whether you've seen the film or not, as people who have done either will draw a lot from this book. One experience doesn't compromise the other, the mark of a great novelization.

I picked this one up at the library, which is why this isn't a verified purchase review. But I did, in fact, read it.
I've always been a big Star Wars fan. Rogue One was a big hit with me, and reading the novelization was a lovely experience. Freed did a great job with this adaptation. I found it a far more enjoyable read than the novelization of "The Force Awakens," which I found so clunky that I didn't even finish the first chapter.

What can readers expect?
A very close following of the film.
A few extra scenes. Not many, and nothing too long, but a few extra things. For example, in the film, Krennic is suddenly arriving at Mustafar after leaving Eadu. In the book, you get a nice little scene of him getting the summons to Eadu. Just little things like that.
More of Krennic. I loved his character in the film, and so I was happy to get more of what was going on inside his head. His rivalry with Tarkin is also better described.
More background for Bodhi. Not a ton, but enough that I definitely appreciate his character more, after reading the novelization.
And a smooth read. Freed is a talented writer, and his style feels very much at home in the Star Wars universe.

If you're looking for a lot of extra scenes, you might be disappointed. There are no mind-blowing extra scenes. Some minor plot holes are filled in, and you get a lot of character development and motivation. If you're a fan of the film, I believe you will enjoy this novelization.

Rogue One the novelization, it was written by New York Times Best Selling Author, Alexander Freed. This is his second novel in canon, his first book was Battlefront Twilight Company.

Summary: The Empire successfully constructs the ultimate battle station! The oppression and tyranny of the Empire expands as an underground alliance is built on hope. It’s purpose, to strip power from Emperor Palpatine and reinstate the Republic. As intelligence unveils a secret planet killer, it’s realized that a peaceful transfer of power is unlikely. The transition may very well have to be executed through rebellious force!
Intelligence reports that an imperial pilot has defected! He contains highly classified imperial information regarding the Empire’s new battle station. Jyn Erso, a rebellious young lady, is intercepted by the rebel alliance. She may be the key to extracting more information on the dreaded space station. It is known that her father has played a role in its construction.

We go on a wild chase to put an end to the planet killer, meeting a few new characters and landing on new unfamiliar planets! This tale leads right up to the moments just before A New Hope.

Characters: There are several characters that I could talk about from this book, but Im only choosing two.

Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, the man responsible for constructing the Death Star’s powerful weapon by order of the Empire. Jyn is strong willed, she’s held onto hatred for those who have abandoned her over the course of her life… even though her father was taken against his will.

Saw Garrera, a rebel who is known as an extremist amongst the alliance and the Empire, also left her behind. As she is forced into an explosive force of events, she must either free herself of the mental and emotional prison she is trapped in… or close herself off to reality and remain behind her personal prison.

The other character to mention is Bodhi Rook. He was the imperial shuttle pilot who defected from the Empire. It took a lot of courage to pull off what he had to do. In the book we find out a more about his past. He’s pretty rattled by his actions… from imperial pilot to full blown rebel. The man was tortured during his transition but overcame the pain. He’s got a conscience, he’s honorable, a true hero of the rebel alliance.

Overall Review: This novelization… is phenomenal! So I saw the film a few times in theater. This book doesn’t take away anything, it actually adds a few things that are completely necessary. As expected there was added dialogue that wasn’t in the film. It’s not distracting at all but adds to the story. Between some chapters are “Supplemental Data” logs. Documents of various sorts such as messages between imperials or journal entries of the rebel alliance.Alexander Freed perfected the dialogue and development of each character. We get into their minds and discover who they are psychologically and emotionally. He paints amazing visuals with his words.

I loved this book so much! If this wasn’t a novelization but just a standalone novel, I’d probably have to put this as number one on my list. It’s debatable, but as of now, I will not rank the novelizations along with the other novels.

Some SPOILERS if you haven't seen the film yet...

I don't usually read the tie-in novelizations to films, but knowing that drastic changes took place quite late in the game during the making of Rogue One (leading to extensive reshoots) had me intrigued as to whether or not any of the original plot-points had been retained in the novel.

As it happens – no. Alexander Freed's adaptation of the story adheres very closely to what we all saw up on the big screen. The differences are simply in the level of detail involved: Freed takes the opportunity to get into the heads of the characters, explore their motivations and decision-making process, and expand their conversations. He also provides more clarity to the action sequences, and adds plenty of extra world-building.

The book mostly sticks with the points-of-view of Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi and occasionally Baze, with a few paragraphs devoted to Mon Mothma, General Draven and Admiral Raddus. Chirrut and K2-SO get less attention, possibly because they were the characters with the least internal conflict.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of the novel is the insight given into certain choices that characters make throughout the story. For instance, I had a lengthy debate with a friend as to why exactly Cassian killed his informant: was it to safe-guard the intelligence or a mercy kill to prevent the man from being tortured? Turns out it was the latter. The book also confirmed my belief that Jyn's indifferent reply to Saw's question: "you can stand to see the Imperial flag reign across the galaxy?" was an attempt to hurt him after he abandoned her, and that up until seeing her father's message on the holochip, she believed he was willingly working for the entire. It all adds just a little bit more context to the film itself.

There are plenty of other bits and pieces of trivia: that Cassian was a Separatist as a child, that the blaster Jyn has when she signs onto the mission was stolen from Cassian's bag, that Chirrut senses the Dark Side around Cassian before he heads out to assassinate Galen – even a quick, funny reference to nerf herders.

That said, there are still a few gaps. We're still given no idea as to why Jyn was in Imperial custody when the Rebels sprung her, or how Galen managed to convince Bodhi to become his messenger – you'd think there would be interesting backstories here, but there's no attempt made to fill in these gaps. Freed also goes a little overboard in his use of a metaphor that likens Jyn's mind to a dark cave (it's the cave she hid in as a child – we get it!)

And I STILL don't know why Galen a) didn't have the schematics to his own engineering design, and b) why this wasn't given to Bodhi along with his holochip message.

If you've read James Luceno's direct precursor to this book Catalyst you'll find that the two tie into each other very nicely, with a keen eye for continuity (for instance, Galen took research files at the end of Catalyst, and regrets not destroying them at the beginning of this one). There's also a nice parallel between how Krennic managed to manipulate Galen throughout "Catalyst", only for Galen to turn the tables on him here.

But my favourite addition was a number of intelligence files and documentation placed between the chapters – including a number of communications between Galen and his engineering staff that reveal exactly how he managed to construct that famous exhaust port right under everyone's noses. Basically, he draws their attention to a design flaw, comes up with a number of time-consuming and expensive solutions, and barrages everyone with a neverending stream of apologetic and self-effacing communications until they just sign off on his "simple" exhaust port.

That's right, the success of the entire Rebel Alliance began with Galen betting on his colleges' frustration with neverending bureaucratic red tape. It's pure genius.

It’s a dark time for rebellion in a galaxy far, far away. Rumors of a huge weapon that the Empire is creating are keeping the Rebel Alliance Intelligence officers busy. One young woman, pulled from her home and family, holds the key to helping the Rebel Alliance keep the galaxy safe. Jyn Erso goes from chains to freedom in her pursuit to escape the Empire and follow the path to the weapon’s plans. Standing in Jyn’s way is the Empire’s own Orson Krennic, who leads the project and Jyn’s father, Galen, to creating the weapon that will tip the scales forever in the Empire’s favor.

If you haven’t seen the movie, read this book so you get an idea of what is at stake–especially if you have seen Star Wars: A New Hope. If you have seen the movie, read this book so you can get some great character development on the Rebellion side and see a little more in-depth to the way things really work on the Imperial side.

Author Alexander Freed takes readers through a logical progression of the movie, scene by scene, but the little snippets of things that ended up on the cutting room floor (or edited for time) are intriguing. I am so excited to read more books by Freed–it looks like he writes things related to video game properties.

I am so completely happy that I picked up this book–it was so worth it!

Who would read this: Fans of Star Wars and associated properties, people who missed out on the movie, fans of strong female characters and books who pass the Bechdel test. Anyone ten-ish and up who enjoyed the movie.
Time to Read: The novelization of Rogue One, took just a little over 4 hours–which is just under double it’s 2 hour and 13 minute running time.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars–I seriously enjoyed all aspects of this novel, much more than I thought I might.
Funny Story: I read the novelization of The Force Awakens (review here) and determined just how much might have been left on the cutting room floor. This (and a giftcard from my husband) propelled me to pick up Rogue One‘s novelization and I really enjoyed the time spent with the development of the secondary characters–in particular, the Pilot and Mon Mothma.
Final thoughts: Alexander Freed did a great job with this book! I wish I had picked it up sooner, but I decided to pick this as my first book of 2017. If this years reads are anything like Rogue One, I am in a great spot!
If you would like to purchase this book, it is available at your favorite retailer in your favorite format.
May the Force be with you in 2017!

Loved the movie, was very glad Freed's novelization did not disappoint either! The characterization of all our favorite movie characters is why fans of the movie should pick up this book.
Getting inside K-2SO's head was especially entertaining.
This novel follows the movie script almost word-for-word with lots of little added bonuses and "deleted" scenes by the author. It flows wonderfully well.
The supplemental data sections-engineering notes from Krennic, Mom Mothma's response to Jedha's destruction-slowed the pace, but not by much. After reading this you will be hard pressed not to sit down and watch the movie again.
Which exactly why we read these kinds of books in the first place!

Alexander Freed's novelization of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" hews fairly closely to the finished plot of the film. Knowing that the filmmakers did extensive reshoots, I wondered which version of the story Freed adapted, but the only significant part of the book that did not appear in the final movie portrays a TIE Fighter shooting at Jyn Erso on the antenna platform on Scarif, a scene that appeared in the movie trailers but not the final film. To break up the narrative, Freed includes occasional transcripts of Imperial or Rebels messages and files, adding backstory not in the film and further situating this story in the larger Star Wars universe. Freed previously wrote "Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company" and his continued contribution to the Star Wars galaxy demonstrates his proficiency for writing combat narratives in a galaxy far, far away.

A must read for Star Wars Fans !!! Alexander Freed is amazingly proficient in brining the word of Star Wars to the readers. This fast paced read not only is exciting, but also is full of complexities and details that makes this book so enjoyable. All will enjoy this book not just hard core star wars fans like myself. The dialogue is also surprisingly alive. This is an amazing book to be treasured in your Star Wars collection ! This is not just a "based on a movie" book ! Everyone who is involved has crafted this story that everyone can and will enjoy immensely. Happy reading !

This book was better than I was expecting. It is identical to the film, but has many extra details - almost to the point where it is overwhelming, but it is very well-written. The book gives a much bigger glimpse than the film into Jyn's personal life and background with Saw Gerrera, but I found even that to be a bit confusing. It also gives more background on all of the other characters as well. However, much like the film, it has a very dark and solemn, war-like feel, with a few bits of mild profanity, so I wouldn't recommend it for young children.

I would recommend reading the book after watching the film, this is what I did and it helped me understand the film more (the film is a bit confusing, for those of you who haven't seen it). Overall, I loved and was impressed with this book. I highly recommend it.

Out of all the Star Wars novels I have read (and I've read over 30 of them), this was one of the most beautifully-written, well thought out novels yet. Alexander Freed's writing style is smooth and engaging, yet also eloquent and at times poetic (though not distractingly so). This novelization goes much deeper into the characters, their motivations, and gives you a greater depth of understanding after having seen the movie. If you liked Rogue One the movie, you will thoroughly enjoy this novel.

Overall a very good book that pretty faithfully follows the movie with some interesting additional material and explanations for things that might bewilder some. The supplemental material was a nice bonus that adds some good background information. The only drawbacks for me were the characterization of Jyn being a little more caustic than the movie version and the author's POV choices leave out some interesting things that were in the movie (notably a certain Vader scene, because a certain character didn't observe it). 4.5/5 rounded down to 4.

This isn't just a screenplay spitting out every word from the movie it's a great novel with so much more.

Freed expands the world where the movie couldn't letting the reader in on why the characters are the way they are and makes the death scenes so much more emotional than the big screen could.

Even better are the extras sprinkled throughout that didn't make it into the movie and make this a must read.

This is easily the best Star Wars novelization after Revenge of the Sith. I've been fascinated by novelizations since I was a child, which started with the original Alan Dean Foster novelization of Star Wars (1977). Before George Lucas (despite the anomalous Star Trek Log anthologies) novelizations were no more than an afterthought, peripheral merchandising cranked out by ghost writers. Lucas wanted to encourage kids to read, and attempted to make the novelizations based on his films something more than mere merchandise, books you'd want to read more than once.

Obviously, this stuff ain't Tolstoy. It's not even on par with original pulp fiction. Yet, it continues to intrigue me, especially the SW novelizations, since they add new layers to the myth and history to the story, even if these additions later fade into apocrypha (which, in SW, actually has its own points of interested).

Rogue One really expands on the story told in the film. Both the text and meta-text (in the form of various memos and communiques, kind of like the quotes that precede chapters in the Dune books) fill in lots of spaces left blank in the movie, especially about Jedha, various religions centered around the The Force, and the Guardians of the Whills. All the characters get POV passages (even Vader!) and the author succeeds in making the different planets feel like real places. Cassian comes off as much darker, and Jyn more complex. There's lots to enjoy here for hardcore SW fan-it's as chock full of "Easter eggs" as the movie, and then some! It also dovetails beautifully with James Luceno's prequel, Catalyst.

At 320 pages long, it packs in a lot more additional detail and narrative than Foster's TFA novel. Read back to back with Catalyst, it really feels epic. Recommended!

Rogue One was an amazing movie and as such I was driven to read the novelization of it. And let me tell you, the novelization didn’t disappoint. It was well crafted, included all of the amazing scenes and dialogue from the movie, and gave insight into the motley crew’s mind. If you are feeling withdraws after seeing the film and need something to grasp onto I recommend this novel. It will give you even more feels and allow you the chance to dwell upon this amazing story and characters one more time.

Rogue One was the first Star Wars novel that I had ever picked up and I know now for a fact it won’t be the last one. I have already assigned myself to reading Lost Stars by Claudia Gray and Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster.

This book was riveting and I would even go as far to say that if I hadn’t watched this movie I would still have enjoyed the book just as much. I totally recommend this read to Star Wars fans, sci-fi fans, and lovers of the movie. It may be hard for people not in the groups above to get into this book, but I would still give it a chance if it interests you in the slightest. It contains a hodge-podge of characters, a variety of settings, a driven plot, and epic battle scenes.

I wrapped up the reading as Celebration 2017 goes one., fitting in a way. The book gives you a greater background of these characters we meet on screen for 2 hours, and I believe will add to future viewings of the film. Jyn and her band of Rebels are worthy additions to the Universe.

The novelization was just as good as the movie, if not slightly better. I really enjoyed understanding the inner workings of the characters of the film and it's great, albeit bittersweet, to get to know some of their thoughts throughout the course of the film. Alexander Freed is definitely an asset to the Star Wars franchise and I'd recommend this book to any Star Wars fan. If you loved the movie, you'll love the book. If you loved Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company, you'll definitely enjoy this one as well. :)

It's difficult to consider a better novelization than this one. Not only does it capture the movie nearly perfectly, it adds little Easter eggs which fill in the lore of the Force and wider galaxy. I will be looking for more stories from this author.

I am fan of Alexander Freed's writing, having also read his other Star Wars novel Battlefront: Twilight Company. This was a great film novelization, because it adds interesting scenes and expands on inner dialogue. Highly recommended!

Novelizations of the films are always a great read and supplement to the film itself. They allow you to dwell deeper into the character's emotions. This book gave me a new appreciation for the characters. Especially Bohdi and Jyn who you learn a lot about in this book. I highly recommend it.

I was a little skeptical of getting a novelization however I love this! It added so much more that wasn't in the movie. The movie didn't give us a deep connection with the characters however the book did what the movie couldn't do. We got the extra stories, how Jyn trolly fealt, why her mother left her, why her father never returned for her. This is a must read for any real Star Wars fan, especially if you loved the movie. You'll love this!

My 10 year old son wants to read this book. He’s already read all the Star Wars young adult/junior novels. My question is - is this book appropriate for a kid his age? He’s seen the movies, but I didn’t know if there were any additional “intimacy” /adult type scenes in the book!?

I've never really been one for novelizations, as they tend mirror exactly what's on the screen. I prefer a separate experience that allows me to get into the character's minds - and that's precisely what Alexander Freed does here. Terrific writing and a wonderful expansion of the Rogue One story. Don't pass this one up!

The detail of thought and emotion of the characters is better portrayed then the actors were able to demonstrate in the movie. At times though it was a little bogged down in the characters heads. Recommend to everyone.

I'm a star wars fan. And I bought this book after i saw the actual movie and i simply loved it. but this book is exactly the same as the movie, so buy this book if you didn't watch the movie or you want to go over the movie.

This is a terrific novel, even if you don't care about the movie. Well written, well developed characters, exciting action. Well worth reading if you're a Star Wars fan or even just a science fiction lover.

When I first saw this book, I thought that it wouldn't be that outstanding , but I was proven wrong by it.I totally recommend this book,not only because of the description of the characters but for the conflict itself.

I am not sure what all the hoopla is about with this story
It was just OK.. I am thinking it will be better to see Vader (who was NOT in this story long enough) on the big screen then in a book. Just an OK book.