This is the first time I have listened to a novelization of a movie, and a junior novelization at that. Before I discuss the audiobook I just want to clarify a few points. The junior novel is 5 hours and 22 minutes while the adult novel is 10 hours and 21 minutes. There are two different authors, Michael Kogge for the junior and Alan Dean Foster for the adult. Finally there are different narrators, Jonathan Davis for the junior and Marc Thompson for the adult. Also from the sample on Audible, the adult seems to have background music, which frankly I dislike with a passion so I am very glad I am reviewing the junior novel.I feel it is very important to establish the which age group this audiobook is targeting. I asked a friend in grad school who had already listened to it and it was her opinion it was aimed at high school students. I would say middle school but she is much better educated than I am so we will go with her assessment.
If you have seen the movie, this is not a screenplay converted to prose. It does not contain every line of dialog, every moment of action, nor does it describe every breathtaking scene in detail. For those of a certain age it is like the Reader’s Digest condensed version. But that should in no way scare you away from this title. It has very strong merits of its own.
The story is well told. It includes all the high points and establishes characters well. It does not include sound effects or background music (thank you whoever produced this audiobook). We meet Rey, Poe, Finn and Kylo Ren in the same manner as the movie. This is a spoiler free review so let’s just say there are some familiar faces who also make appearances of varying length.
The production values were very good. There were no extraneous sounds and the volume was a constant level. Mr. Davis did a very good job narration this title. His voice creates the characters well whether they are male, female, homo sapien or other species. I especially appreciated how he did the female voices. Again being a no spoiler review, I can only say that he does almost a spot on imitation of the one male character including the infamous attitude. Mr. Davis’s pace matches the action and emotion he is describing.
I did see the movie but that was about three months ago. The audiobook did a nice job of bringing back the full story to my mind. If you have a child who likes Star Wars, this title is great. If you are an adult who wants a shorter version or a version with speech only, no sound effects, you will enjoy the title, too.

Story (Plot) 5
Performance 5
Production Quality 5
Attention Holding 5
Overall: 5
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This audiobook was provided by Audiobook Reviewer at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review. ( )