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3.0 out of 5 starsStar Wars: Ahsoka review. No spoilers! Read on...
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2017
I am a big fan of the Ahsoka character, and I was very happy to hear she was getting her own Novel. I would love to see her get her own stand-alone animated feature film as well, but I digress... To be more accurate, I would probably rate the book 2.5 stars. I really didn't want to, but that's where I ended up after reading it. In this review, I will try and keep it non-spoilery for anyone considering purchasing the book...
Overall the story was believable, but - flat. For the first half of the book, it was very slow, plodding, and overall pretty boring. **I watched an old Star Wars panel discussion from Dave Filoni, creator of the Ahsoka character, on YouTube a while back and he mentions that George Lucas taught him that Star Wars storytelling was three things: Fast, Clear, and Original.
The author did hit these traits at times, but very sporadically throughout the book. The term "disjointed" kept popping into my head as I read the book describing how some of the plot elements, action, and character development were unveiled. It just didn't "feel" like a Star Wars story to me - the pace of most of the book wasn't "fast" enough. Having watched the Clone Wars TV series, and now Rebels, I just didn't feel like the pace that Ahsoka takes and her personality matches who she was in the Clone Wars series. There were flashes of it, but again, sporadic and very few.
The insights into Ahsoka's character were well done, and sufficiently thorough. I did get a "clear" sense of what she was dealing with following all of the terrible things that she had experienced prior to the Novel. However, the supporting characters introduced in the story didn't get much exploration at all. Little bits here and there, and by the end of the book, I had no real interest or investment in them. Also, the author seems to go off on brief tangents of information that aren't necessary for the plot as well as bringing up a plot element repeatedly in a VERY vague manor that didn't pique my interest as she probably intended. She also frequently misses great opportunities to delve into certain plot points and characters more deeply but just moves on. In addition, she will stop to have long moments of dialogue or thoughts that don't match with the story's pace or situation. (Again, disjointed) The descriptions of some of the violence that takes place are a bit grotesque and unnecessary. It seemed as though she was trying to imply a sense of danger, but then only a little while later the danger is easily dealt with or avoided altogether. Lastly, at times I took the book in from the perspective of a reader who has a VERY limited knowledge of Star Wars or none. I felt that the book made far too many assumptions about how much the reader knows about this particular character. While I was able to get many of the easter egg references she includes in the book, another reader with little to no exposure to Ahsoka would get lost or frustrated.
Overall I believe the author is a genuine fan of Star Wars. She obviously is very invested in Ahsoka and her character. However, I think Star Wars needs an Author who is truly an "Enthusiast". Someone with at least an above average knowledge of the Star Wars universe. She herself admits that her spelling of Star Wars terminology and knowing the basic alien species is bad. That shows throughout the book. There isn't really any "original" takes on established Star Wars lore. The terminology used is generic and repetitive even just flat out nondescript. I know that she worked closely with Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo and character creator Dave Filoni, so I don't know how much she had to stay within their rules since this Novel is Canon within the overall Star Wars universe. But it was pretty easy to tell when she was building the story off their notes, and when she wasn't.
As a personal aside, I was also annoyed by the author's need to form the supporting characters counter to social norms and make them almost exclusively female. It wasn't a deal breaker, just annoying.
My recommendation is that if you are a fan of Ahsoka, buy the book and read it. It is a good (Canonical) piece to the puzzle of her story between Clone Wars and Rebels, but that's about it. If you are a newcomer to Star Wars or Ahsoka as a character, there are other, better media out there to get you hooked on Star Wars.