Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Official Movie Novelization

By: Alex Irvine

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.

©2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (P)2014 Audible Inc.

KOBA DID NOT THINK, HE PLANNED

THEY MIGHT BE MONKEY LOVERS, BUT THEY WERE STILL HIS SPECIES.
The strong part of this book was the characters. Irvine did a great job giving each character his own personality. Not once was it hard to think of the apes as intelligent sentient beings. The humans had good guys and bad guys and so did the apes. This added depth to the story and the characters were very believable. I was surprised in how little action their was. I guess that is due to taking a two hour movie and turning it into a 9 hour book. It also had a very slow beginning and I came close to giving up on it early. The longer I stayed with it the better it got and the more I wanted to hear the outcome.

HE TRIED TO DO RIGHT, EVEN WHEN RIGHT WAS HARD
There were some weakness, probably due more to the movie, then to Irvine. At times it gets a little sappy, with the all the friend talk. It is a little preachy at times. One glaring mistake was an ape picking up a ten year old video camera and it having enough battery power for him to watch himself recorded ten years earlier. Throughout the book we are told it has been ten years since anything has worked and then this video camera has a battery that works? There is a big war scene were the apes attack on horses. Bombs are going off, rpg's, guns, grenades and even a tank and yet these horses do not react. I am not a horse expert, but I believe war horses have to go through extensive training to not react to all the noise and apes who have never been in a war before would not have that knowledge. THE APES HAD WORKED LIKE DOGS

Christen Rummel does an excellent job. I gave the story a four star review and I felt CR's narration was strong enough to raise the overall to Five Stars.

BETTER TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS NOW THEN, TO ASK FOR PERMISSION LATER.

retelling of a classic tale

This is a retelling of a classic tale that I believe will continue to be retold as society continue to develop and change. Paired with a very capable narrator, it will be very difficult for this movie novelization to fail.

Humans have been all but wiped out by a mysterious virus that originated in the apes that were being experimented on. 10 years have passed since the first movie, I don't think they made a novelization of it. This must be some sort of a newer way to gain publicity. That doesn't bother me at all. Cesar has led his band of ape into Muir woods. Successfully creating a new society where ever type of ape lives together in harmony. As their golden rule states: "Ape shall not kill ape".

Everything is going fine for our primate friends. Until they had the bad luck to bump into some human survivors of the plague. This is where the internal struggles of some of the tribe members comes to the surface. Cesar is overthrown as leader and must fight, life or death, to regain his authority.

I think the only reason the humans are even in these stories is to make people want to read or watch the movie. All they were were the antagonists to our protagonist apes. I was able to fully relate and care for man of the apes in the tribe.

The same day that I finished listening to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, the wife and I went to the theater to see it on the big screen. Boy was I disappointed with the movie. Don't get me wrong the movie was some fun eye candy, with ridiculous 3D animation that was out of this world. Yet the movie version left out so many, what I thought were, key items in the plot.

I would highly recommend listening to instead of watching the movie. I got more out of it.

The movie focus mostly on the human ape interactions while the audiobook focuses on the ape ape interactions. That just so happens to have people in it. Oh and the afterward of the book lays out a great way to continue expanding this new classic retelling.

What can I say about Christian Rummel, only one of my favorite narrators. He was easily able to breathe life into this story. Yelling when it called for it. The jumbled slightly distorted speech of Cesar was perfect. The vocal range of a guy who seems to have a pretty naturally deep voice is quite extraordinary. Fill every sentence with the proper emotional filled ear candy.

Audiobook purchased by reviewer.

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As good as, or maybe better than the movie

I never... well... almost never, now... read a book after seeing the movie. In this case, I bought this book and then forgot about it. Then went to see the movie one day, on a lark. Several weeks later I saw this book again and realized I had just watched the movie (yeah, slow on the uptake sometimes).

I actually quite enjoyed it, even after having seen the movie. I would say it was close to the story line of the movie, but since it was the novelization of the movie, I guess this is a no-brainer. The part I did like about the book was the insight to what was going on in the characters' minds - in the movie we don't get to hear their thoughts, so have to determine from posture and words what is going on in their heads. There are a couple significant scenes where what was in their heads according to the novel was not the same as what I had seen on the screen... a sign of the actor's abilities no doubt.

It is a fast and not overly deep read... if you like the series, you`ll probably like this book. The narration is very good. There is nothing graphic or gory in it.

Better than expected.

What made the experience of listening to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes the most enjoyable?

It reminded me of my favorite series, The Walking Dead. It is a story of survival.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cesar was the hero. He took responsibility for his species.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it held my interest.

Go Ape

Any additional comments?

Excellent novelization by Alex Irvine, and in fact, in considering this Audible performance by Christian Rummel, it is better to think of this media art as something other, and perhaps better than a "movie version" or even an original novel (if it existed), and I think this is much closer to the old-time radio experience, where a story comes alive and plays more than a movie in the imagination. You have an exciting story that furiously knocks you over, and yet you have all the deeper questions, thought sparks, and fantastic nuances of Pierre Boulle's original work. Rummel's reading is deep, aggressive, and musical, and if there is any minor complaint, it would be in his voice interpretation of the one female character, which is somewhat cringe-worthy (but it is a very small criticism, and does not detract from the overall production). This is a great "Ape-pocalipse" story that rivals the horror of any zombie end of days (and yet, we find ourselves rooting for the apes, well, you know, mostly). All in all, this is a credit-worthy listen. Art et Amour Toujours

Actually better than I expected ...

What did you love best about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

Well, I didn't "love" it, but I enjoyed it. It was certainly way better than I expected.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I believe this is a novelization of the movie - so, hard to say. All these post-apocalyptic yarns tend to be pretty formulaic. It holds your interest, and the narration was top notch. But, really now, you kinda really know how it's gonna end, right?

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

DennisDT

This was very enjoyable. I am going to have to go see the movie now. The narration was very good and written very well. I couldn't stop listening.

Good Job!

Page Turner For the Ears

I started this last night around 10PM, figuring I would listen for a couple hours and then go to bed.

Big Mistake. It is now a little after 7AM, and I just finished it -- never made it to bed!

Better than the movie, because they spent more time expanding on the characters, and explaining motivations by way of side conversations that the movie did not have time for.

Way better than the movie.

Definitely more emotions evolved than can be picked up in the movie. Great voices.

Exciting Beginning to end

If you could sum up Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in three words, what would they be?

The book was Thrilling, compelling and kept me on the edge of my seat during a long car ride. One of the better book I have read.... Err listened to.

What did you like best about this story?

The story flowed very nicely from the first book and left us with edge for another sequel at the end.

Which scene was your favorite?

The final attack was very memorable and detailed nicely.

Loved it!

What an incredible story! We written and we'll read. Couldn't stop listening for a single moment!

Caesar's Back

Would you consider the audio edition of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version but the audio version is fantastic

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

Too many to mention without spoiling the story for other readers

Have you listened to any of Christian Rummel’s other performances? How does this one compare?

no

Any additional comments?

Highly recommend this book for all Planet of the Apes fans out there