The novelization of Episode I, while it does suffer from some of the same issues that the movie did (Jar Jar, 9-year-old Anakin's dialogue, etc) it was able to flesh out more things and set up the characters a bit more, and not drag out some of the political story that the movie seemed to focus on. This novel set out a little bit of the Sith backstory, bringing Darth Bane into the canon as instituting the rule of two. However, the brief summary of Bane does diverge quite a bit from the story told in the non-cannon trilogy of novels. Here Bane was said to be more on the sidelines of the Sith destruction as opposed to orchestrating it, and taking a male apprentice when he was old. Not that it was a big part of the book or the overall story, but it was nice to include. The larger inclusion that worked very well in the book for the overall story was introducing Anakin long before Qui Gon and Padme ran into him in the shop. He is introduced during a podrace that occurs before the one we see in the movie, and more of his skill and caring for others is fleshed out. In fact, there is an interaction with a Tuskin Raider which contrasts well with his actions in Episode II. It also helps that the readers get to know Anakin's feelings for Padme and to an extent her feeling for him through dialogue not in the movie as well as the thoughts of the characters.
I do think the political subterfuge story works much better in the book than it did in the movie. The author was able to cover it enough without going into a ton of detail and focused more on the various character relationships. The book gives more detail on the Qui Gon-Obi Wan relationship than the movie did, and even though Jar Jar was still annoying in the novel, he did seem to be at least a bit less useless than he was in the movie (although not much). Darth Maul was still very underutilized in the book as he was in the movie, with his only real significant appearance being the battle at the end (which was altered a bit from the version that was shown in the movie).
Ultimately your feelings toward the book will largely depend on what you thought of the movie. If you loved the movie, you will likely love the book. If you hated the movie, while you may not hate the book as much, it is not so different that you are likely to love the book. And if you are somewhere in between, then you will find good and bad in the story. It is a fairly quick read and can easily be finished in a day or two if you are a fairly fast reader.
I do think the political subterfuge story works much better in the book than it did in the movie. The author was able to cover it enough without going into a ton of detail and focused more on the various character relationships. The book gives more detail on the Qui Gon-Obi Wan relationship than the movie did, and even though Jar Jar was still annoying in the novel, he did seem to be at least a bit less useless than he was in the movie (although not much). Darth Maul was still very underutilized in the book as he was in the movie, with his only real significant appearance being the battle at the end (which was altered a bit from the version that was shown in the movie).
Ultimately your feelings toward the book will largely depend on what you thought of the movie. If you loved the movie, you will likely love the book. If you hated the movie, while you may not hate the book as much, it is not so different that you are likely to love the book. And if you are somewhere in between, then you will find good and bad in the story. It is a fairly quick read and can easily be finished in a day or two if you are a fairly fast reader.
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