《The closer we become, the more I ache,
To be sans you would steal my very breath.》

★★★★½
Basically, this is an intergalactic version of Romeo and Juliet.
Doescher did an amazing job, I liked The Clone Army Attacketh a lot more than The Phantom of Menace 💜 I hope it will be a crescendo with the next books, too 😍 ( )

Finished this at work today, flew through it just like the others.

I have to say out of the 4 so far that I've read (I read the original trilogy in order - ANH, ESB, ROTJ), but couldn't find TPM, and only found this one on bargain at BAM, so I picked it up (2.47$), this is probably my least favorite. Which isn't really a knock on the writer.... but more or less it's a knock on what he had to work with.

Attack of the Clones is probably the worst (and my least favorite) of the SW movies (out of all 8 currently out), and so this didn't have much of a chance to turn out good just based on that. Especially after having just watched Rogue One, which is just a phenomenal movie.

I will say Ian Doescher does a wonderful job of the material he has to work with, and I like what he did with the monsters, as well as Dexter.
( )

The Clone Army Attacketh is Ian Doescher's valiant attempt to bring the winning formula he used for four previous Shakespeare/Star Wars mash-ups to Attack of the Clones, by far the clumsiest of the three Star Wars prequels. He does as well as can be expected, bringing all his wit and word games to bear and making the uninspired story rather enjoyable.

The problem is that the source material, Attack of the Clones, was poorly paced, rushed through production and was the unloved middle child between the intense hate directed at the elder Phantom Menace and the slithers of redemption brought by the younger Revenge of the Sith. I realised that whenever I disliked elements of this book, it came from the source, not Doescher. Doescher in fact adds some much-needed pep to elements of the story, in particular borrowing from Romeo and Juliet to give the Padmé/Anakin romance the kick up the arse it desperately needed. I also liked how he borrows from the Three Witches in Macbeth for the arena scene: now that was an inspired touch and precisely the sort of inventiveness I've come to expect from this author.

If the book flags a bit in comparison to the others, it is because the source film was very much action-sequence-heavy (the second half of the film is just a mish-mash of CGI) whereas the rest (yes, even The Phantom Menace) were more judicious. Leaving aside the fact that, unlike the other books, there doesn't seem to be a supplementary educator's guide (I know I'm in the vast minority but I do find them worthwhile) I respect Doescher's work here for making a bad film (the only prequel for which such a label is indisputable) into a good book. I don't love it as much as I do his four other William Shakespeare's Star Wars books, but the thing to note is that I do still love it. And considering I found it physically uncomfortable the last time I sat through the film, that's an achievement in itself. ( )

Ian Doescher continues his successful adaptation of the Star Wars prequels with The Clone Army Attacketh. Here, as in The Phantom of Menace, he condenses scenes when necessary, as in the case of Anakin and Padme's burgeoning romance. This action makes it all the more believable that these two are falling in love. Additionally, in a true feat of geekery, Doescher plays with his use of language so that Jango Fett, the original model for the clones, begins and ends his dialogue with the same letter, while the cloners speak in ABCDEDCBA style rhyme. In a similar vein, Doescher peppers Mace Windu's dialogue with references to Samuel L. Jackson's films, such as Pulp Fiction, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and Deep Blue Sea. Having made Jar Jar Binks interesting in his last book, Doescher here portrays the hapless Gungan as desiring to help fix the ailing Republic at the time he casts the vote giving Palpatine executive powers to create an army. Doescher breathes new life into stale prequels! ( )

The Clone Wars begin in “William Shakespeare’s The Clone Army Attacketh” as Ian Doescher continued his adaptation of the Star Wars franchise for the Elizabethan theater. As with the film, the Doescher focus’ the play on the love story of Anakin and Padme as the sparks of war whip around them and ignite the galaxy aflame in conflict.

Described as the Star Wars saga’s “romantic” film, the central story of Episode II was that of Anakin and Padme falling in love which Doescher focused much of his energy in establishing in “Attacketh”. Creating one big scene at the beginning of Act III, Doescher gathered influence from Shakespeare’s other romantic scenes especially “Romeo and Juliet” to adequately create this central love story to the stage. Throughout the rest of the book, Doescher continues his excellent adaptation of the Star Wars’ films in dialogue and stage management to seamless perfection for an audience in the last 16th-century. His inclusions of Rumor as a character helps transition the play in necessary intervals dictated due to the poor construction of the film this book was based on, which will not be discussed in this review.

At the end of “The Clone Army Attacketh”, Doescher makes this adaptation more palatable than “Attack of the Clones” was on screen, which only makes the reader admire his work even more. The penultimate installment of the Star Wars saga is now something fans would enjoy watching. ( )