I am about halfway through the Terry Brooks-penned PHANTOM MENACE and I am enjoying it more than I thought I would.

The differences between the film and the book are curious. For example, Jar Jar still doesn't speak the regular Basic we are used, but it is less confusing and annoying. You still find yourself wondering if he is tall for a Gungan child or if he has some mental challenge. However, it's not as severe as the motion picture leads you to believe.

Another facet that has smartened up some in the book are the Battle Droids. Gone is "Roger, Roger" and the other humor-speak that came from these robots in the movie.

These two differences alone make me wonder what someone who read the novel prior to see the motion picture thought; perhaps they felt a little betrayed, not entirely warned.

The other difference is somewhat opposite of the first two. In some ways Anakin, in the film, comes off as a little boy genius who is unnaturally unattached to his mother (oh, sure, he doesn't like leaving her, but prior to that he acts embarrassed by her). In the book Anakin comes off far more as a regular 9-year-old: it is revealed that See Threepio wasn't entirely built by Anakin, but more realistically reassembled.

Padme, too, is somewhat different. In the film she seems smitten with Anakin, but in the book it is more true to life: she is more motherly and simply sees "Ani" as a cute kid (whose cuteness comes mostly from his "strangeness"). This annoys Anakin, but not enough to shatter his fantasy that a slave and a Queen could one day marry (oh, wait, that really does happen).

Terry Brooks does an excellent job of keeping your attention throughout (so far, I've got 140 more pages to go). Many writers who have a large amount of characters and scenes to work with seem to have a favorite and that portion of the novel is very interesting while when you get to another character or scene you just want to skip ahead. Brooks does equally well in giving Sidious, Qui-Gon, and other characters the ability to enthrall you.