The Star Wars franchise continues to grow, now under the deft hand of Disney but, as any fan would know, the galaxy is never so far, far away. Its reach is broader than the Empire’s with the film franchise complemented by merchandise, animated television serials and books.
The original Star Wars was a space-faring Boys Own Adventure story and, while the second trilogy (episodes 1, 2 and 3) forgot this and focussed more on galactic politics and teen angst, Disney has restored Star Wars to its former glory.
The expanded novel universe of Star Wars, like many popular film and television tie-ins, is young adult fiction that should, nonetheless, appeal to the greater masses. Based on the film, rather than the other way around, the novel by Alexander Freed is a relatively accurate depiction of what’s seen on the big screen. Where books succeed over films however, is the added depth of characters’ inner thoughts and deeper motivations. Freed’s novel excels in this, making more sense of some of the dubious character decisions depicted in the film.
Jonathan Davis narrates the audiobook of Freed’s novel with the aid of sound effects and music, making it just as exciting and breathtaking as the film. The action levels are high and the descriptive prose of the book comes to life under Davis’ excellent narration.
This is one audiobook that is read quite slowly, possibly due to the targeted audience, but kicking the playback speed up to 1.25x or more only enhances the thrills. Audible’s excellent audiobook app offers a variety of playback speeds, none of which alter the pitch but can bring slower narrators up to normal talking speed.
Running at approximately 12 hrs and 11 mins, the action in the audiobook, surprisingly, feels faster-paced than the film because of all the extra details thrown in about the characters and events. It’s an exciting listen that is sure to please everyone, not just Star Wars fans. Rogue One is a prequel story to the original 1977 Star Wars film, so it’s a great starting point for newcomers to the franchise who won’t require any background knowledge to enjoy this new Girls Own Adventure story.
The audiobook of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was produced by Random House Audio and is available through audible.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 8
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