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Planet of the Apes Movies #7
War for the Planet of the Apes: Official Movie Novelization
In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 18, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 13, 2017
When I watched War for the Planet of the Apes in theatres for the first time one of my many thoughts was that this very good movie would also probably make a very good book. It's great as a film and my favorite of 2017 but something about a semi-western revisionist take on Planet of the Apes, a journey story across frontier, and a revenge story at the heart of it suited storytelling on the page. And Greg Cox proved that point.
The novelization just like the movie is a 11/10 6 out of 5 stars story. Buy it. Even if you're not an Apes fan although being one definitely helps as well as reading the prior Apes novels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm, and War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations. Though saying you should watch the movies - the new films - before reading these books is in no way a bad thing or a waste of your time.
Also let's say you read the novelizations of Godzilla and The Dark Knight Rises and liked either of those two books. TDKR is definitely a great movie to book and if you enjoyed that you will love this book since it's by the same author Greg Cox. Though asking which movie to book is better would be twisting my arm since both are excellent.
There's plenty of allusions to the lore of Planet of the Apes but more so unique reinterpretations of story elements similar to the movie. The novel is able to get away with a bit more though such as explaining the name of the Alpha-Omega soldiers, allusions to the future as seen in the original Charlton Heston movie, as well as an awesome easter egg featured at the end of this novelization that is both very clever and respectful to the old films. Oh and there's a lot of mention of events from both Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and how its affected our characters up to this point.
The novel is also somewhat "meatier" as most novelizations are. You get to know more what some characters are thinking, what's going on in the heads of not only Caesar but Maurice, Rocket, Luca, Bad Ape, Preacher, Red, and even Nova briefly. Which makes the story richer. It's not Game of Thrones type POV but normal POV which works.
The only gripe I might see is that some thing are different as is the case with novelizations (as they're usually based off of initial scripts). Things aren't too different but itd be somewhat jarring to watch the movie expecting lines of dialogue or scenes to play out one way yet in the novel are slightly different. It's not too bad just something of note. All in all, definitely buy and read War for the Planet of the Apes.
The novelization just like the movie is a 11/10 6 out of 5 stars story. Buy it. Even if you're not an Apes fan although being one definitely helps as well as reading the prior Apes novels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm, and War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations. Though saying you should watch the movies - the new films - before reading these books is in no way a bad thing or a waste of your time.
Also let's say you read the novelizations of Godzilla and The Dark Knight Rises and liked either of those two books. TDKR is definitely a great movie to book and if you enjoyed that you will love this book since it's by the same author Greg Cox. Though asking which movie to book is better would be twisting my arm since both are excellent.
There's plenty of allusions to the lore of Planet of the Apes but more so unique reinterpretations of story elements similar to the movie. The novel is able to get away with a bit more though such as explaining the name of the Alpha-Omega soldiers, allusions to the future as seen in the original Charlton Heston movie, as well as an awesome easter egg featured at the end of this novelization that is both very clever and respectful to the old films. Oh and there's a lot of mention of events from both Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and how its affected our characters up to this point.
The novel is also somewhat "meatier" as most novelizations are. You get to know more what some characters are thinking, what's going on in the heads of not only Caesar but Maurice, Rocket, Luca, Bad Ape, Preacher, Red, and even Nova briefly. Which makes the story richer. It's not Game of Thrones type POV but normal POV which works.
The only gripe I might see is that some thing are different as is the case with novelizations (as they're usually based off of initial scripts). Things aren't too different but itd be somewhat jarring to watch the movie expecting lines of dialogue or scenes to play out one way yet in the novel are slightly different. It's not too bad just something of note. All in all, definitely buy and read War for the Planet of the Apes.
August 21, 2017
Sensational novelization of Matt Reeve’s heartbreaking, epic masterpiece “War for the Planet of the Apes”, based on the outstanding screenplay by Mark Bomback and Matt Reeves.
There are three things that make a novelization work.
Number one, extra scenes and possibly even plot threads not in the movie. Most novelizations have this because the writer often works from an early draft of the screenplay, or even if it was written late in the process, a very rough cut of the film before the final edit. Author Greg Cox gives us plenty of these extra goodies, and a few of them are very significant to the plot.
Two, a novelization has to be a novel. And by that I mean it must read like a novel and feel like a novel, not a re-typing of the screenplay in a different format. This book does indeed read like an epic novel, full of wonderful visual descriptions that present a strong sense of time and place.
And finally—and most importantly—a truly great novelization has to give us a lot of strong, insightful, revealing character interior monologues with precise and clear narrative viewpoints. This is where Greg Cox really excels, taking us into the mind of the characters and their thoughts, especially Caesar. All of those harrowing, intense emotions that we felt when watching the film, we feel them here too. On top of that there is a wonderful sense of what came before as characters muse about the people no longer with us such as Will, and we find out what happened to Malcolm.
Bottom line: “War for the Planet of the Apes” is the best film of the year and this novelization does it justice. A must own for any fan. Also recommended are the two prequel novels by Greg Keyes. “War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm”, as well as Alex Irvine’s novelization of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”
There are three things that make a novelization work.
Number one, extra scenes and possibly even plot threads not in the movie. Most novelizations have this because the writer often works from an early draft of the screenplay, or even if it was written late in the process, a very rough cut of the film before the final edit. Author Greg Cox gives us plenty of these extra goodies, and a few of them are very significant to the plot.
Two, a novelization has to be a novel. And by that I mean it must read like a novel and feel like a novel, not a re-typing of the screenplay in a different format. This book does indeed read like an epic novel, full of wonderful visual descriptions that present a strong sense of time and place.
And finally—and most importantly—a truly great novelization has to give us a lot of strong, insightful, revealing character interior monologues with precise and clear narrative viewpoints. This is where Greg Cox really excels, taking us into the mind of the characters and their thoughts, especially Caesar. All of those harrowing, intense emotions that we felt when watching the film, we feel them here too. On top of that there is a wonderful sense of what came before as characters muse about the people no longer with us such as Will, and we find out what happened to Malcolm.
Bottom line: “War for the Planet of the Apes” is the best film of the year and this novelization does it justice. A must own for any fan. Also recommended are the two prequel novels by Greg Keyes. “War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm”, as well as Alex Irvine’s novelization of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”
July 20, 2017
I like reading the novelizations to get into the character's heads a bit more. I didn't find this one as well written as the one for Dawn. There were a couple times throughout this book where I questioned whether or not Caesar would really be thinking these things. I found it unbelievable that he never really thinks of Cornelia after the events of the beginning of the book, but thinks about Blue Eyes often. It felt a bit unbalanced in that aspect. It could just be me being defensive as I loved reading her so much in Revelations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2024
Despite not being my favourite film in the modern trilogy, Cox definitely delivers with this! The detail in the actions, speech and thoughts of Caesar and his inner circle is captured brilliantly!
July 19, 2024
Ape Together Strong
July 22, 2024
apes together strong
February 16, 2018
Overall, I thought the book was one of the most action packed stories I've read so for anyone who is looking for straight action and war in a story (that doesn't have to be true), this is probably a great book for you. However, for me, I was hoping there would be more of a plot and more background to how the humans and apes came to hate each other so much to the point where the humans captured the apes and tortured them. The story did pick up near the end when Caesar, the leader of the apes and main character, send his army into one of the prison camps to help free the other apes. Caesar himself decides to go after the leader of the humans referred to as the Colonel. There isn't much of a plot until his army frees the other apes and Caesar is able to see his son named Cornelius for the first time since he was taken away. This part was really the only point in the book when I felt like it all made sense and it came together in a full circle ending which was good. The story ends with Caesar and the other apes returning home. For me, fantasy is not my favorite genre to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2018
A heart wrenching and conflicting, but overall an emotional and sensational read of evil vs good between the Alpha/Omega soldiers and Caesar and his peace loving ape colony.
I felt for Caesar all the way from beginning to end. He didn’t deserve to lose so much that he loved dearly.
Colonel McCollough on the other hand, is someone you would hate with all your being. I always hated him from the start wishing I would have want to punch him in the face. He’s psychotic, delusional, ruthless, unreasonable, arrogant and he has always pushed aside human morals to eradicate the virus by killing the infected. And he doesn’t hesitate to abuse and kill any of the apes he enslaved. God**** you to hell, McCollough!
And his soldiers are the nastiest if not the worst! They are weak-minded, abusive, thirsty for blood lust, prejudiced, and were dumb enough to believe McCollough’s a good man who proclaimed a new beginning when he only excelled through dominating command of fear and intimidation. Preacher seemed to be a plausible character of goodness in the beginning but when he made a malicious rebuke at Caesar, he’s just like the rest of those fragging soldiers; a stupid, prideful killer with no remorse or humanity! F*** you all you ugly, abrasive, trigger-happy a**holes!
I just could not stop hating and loathing the so-called Alpha/Omega army.
I’m happy for Caesar and his people to have a new safe haven filled with peace, harmony and love. I love apes and I sympathize with them in reality. And you should do the same too for them.
Greg, you did an awesome job on your part of the novel from the film.
I felt for Caesar all the way from beginning to end. He didn’t deserve to lose so much that he loved dearly.
Colonel McCollough on the other hand, is someone you would hate with all your being. I always hated him from the start wishing I would have want to punch him in the face. He’s psychotic, delusional, ruthless, unreasonable, arrogant and he has always pushed aside human morals to eradicate the virus by killing the infected. And he doesn’t hesitate to abuse and kill any of the apes he enslaved. God**** you to hell, McCollough!
And his soldiers are the nastiest if not the worst! They are weak-minded, abusive, thirsty for blood lust, prejudiced, and were dumb enough to believe McCollough’s a good man who proclaimed a new beginning when he only excelled through dominating command of fear and intimidation. Preacher seemed to be a plausible character of goodness in the beginning but when he made a malicious rebuke at Caesar, he’s just like the rest of those fragging soldiers; a stupid, prideful killer with no remorse or humanity! F*** you all you ugly, abrasive, trigger-happy a**holes!
I just could not stop hating and loathing the so-called Alpha/Omega army.
I’m happy for Caesar and his people to have a new safe haven filled with peace, harmony and love. I love apes and I sympathize with them in reality. And you should do the same too for them.
Greg, you did an awesome job on your part of the novel from the film.
July 27, 2017
As much as I loved the movie (I saw it 10 times in cinema, worth all the time and money!), I felt it could have spent more time to flesh out many aspects of the story and the characters' feelings. Of course, that might have turned it into a much more expensive 4-hour-long movie few people can sit through. I would have loved that version but this franchise needs to make a profit to keep going! Thankfully, this book does a great job filling in many things I wanted to know about which the movie left out. I'd recommend it to anyone who has seen the movie but wishes to revisit the story in much greater detail and to get some closure, especially after seeing that emotional ending...
January 10, 2021
I already love the film and see it as a perfect end to the trilogy, but the novelization added insights here and there, such as Caesar's thought process when he considers killing the Colonel, and how Rocket can relate to those vengeful feelings. It also clears up the ending a bit for me and even includes a Forbidden Zone reference. I do think Caesar and Maurice's words at the end are done better on film. Here, Caesar's words are rearranged and Maurice uses sign language. There is also a mention of Malcolm's fate, which I was glad was not in the film but kinda needed to be addressed given how the previous novel ended. His fate seems to be canon, given a comic book story that came later.
April 15, 2024
I watched the movie and loved it. Then saw that the movie had a novelization, bought it and made me love the movie more. This novelization helped me appreciate each characters and their motivations, like Maurice, Nova and the deserters, but the one I came to love was Caesar. The author aims to bring out Caesar's personality. I felt his sadness, anger and eventually his peace. Anyone who enjoys the world of the Planet of the Apes should give this book a read.
October 2, 2021
Such a captivating story. It grabbed my attention from the get go. Full of action, knowledge, history, sacrifice, love , acceptance. There are so many more words I could come up with that describes this book and what I got out of it. That ending though. 😢 Even though I didn’t want Caesar to die but am glad he got to see the new home that his oldest son picked out for them.
September 4, 2017
Have been a fan of the story ever since watching the second installment of the series. This novelization was a great read for its use of language--warmly and skillfully written--and intriguing plot. Also, deeply touched by the character Caesar.
July 1, 2024
Loved this book it was a very good read it was actually better then the movie it gave you Cesars point of view what he was thinking after the events happened in the book it was a very good read I would recommend this to sci-fi fans or planet of the apes fans.
September 5, 2017
Greg Cot's novelization of War For the Planet of the Apes is one of the best media tie-in novels that I have ever read. I could not put it down!
September 20, 2017
I have never read a novel based on a movie (novelization?) but this was fun. I did not see the movie before I was almost finished with the book and (no surprise), the book is a faithful rendition.
November 9, 2017
I love the new planet of the apes and have read al of the books. Ending always kills me.
April 6, 2018
A solid book adaptation of the film, with just enough extra commentary to keep it fresh. Straight-forward, but I really enjoyed it!
March 14, 2020
219 - 2020
March 22, 2022
An 8hr long audiobook. I really did think I was going to enjoy this series more then I did, I blame that perspective on the books only showing the worst in humanity and in apes.
January 9, 2023
Another enjoyable novel about the Apes saga. Loved it!
September 14, 2024
Saw the movie first. Caesar dying still hits hard.
The book could have been more detailed but it’s essentially the screen play.
The book could have been more detailed but it’s essentially the screen play.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2024
This is why I love movie novelizations! So good!
December 15, 2024
an extremely “oh bruh no way, this has to be 300 pages??????” style of writing
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews