Planet of the Apes: Caesar's Story

by Maurice, Greg Keyes (Contributor)

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Planet of the Apes an illustrated life story of Caesar, the brave and extraordinary leader of the apes, as told by Maurice, Caesar's best friend. After the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Caesar's tribe has finally found a safe refuge from the last remnants of the humans who wish to see them wiped out. It comes at a cost, however, as Caesar dies before he can see the apes thrive and prosper in their new home. Maurice, as a gift to Caesar's son Cornelius for when he grows older, decides to recount and chronicle Caesar's story so that his son can truly know what a unique and brave ape his father was, and inspire Cornelius in turn.Caesar's Story is this chronicle, and tells the story of Caesar from his earliest days under the care of scientist Will Rodman, as well his life with the ape colony in Muir Woods after the outbreak of the Simian Flu, his interactions with Malcolm and Ellie, the dangerous ape Koba, and his ultimate battle with and imprisonment by the vicious and unstable Colonel. The book also chronicles what happens in-between the events of Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as well as the events between Dawn of and War for the Planet of the Apes. The book includes Maurice's personal thoughts and reflections of his long time spent alongside Caesar, and contributions from several other key apes that knew Caesar. The result is a truly one-of-a-kind celebration of the new Planet of the Apes trilogy and the franchise as a whole.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2018

About the author

There are multiple authors who publish or have been published under the name "Maurice".

- The East Roman/Byzantine Emperor Maurice
- Russian to French translator of Bunin
- Indie Self-Help author

Reviews

[Corbin Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am massive follower of the Planet of the Apes lore. This book was a great retelling of the recent film trilogy and of the details that were left out between the films. It was written in the perspective of Maurice, the orangutan. Now the book wasn’t as good as the film series, but it was very cool for what it was. As a fan of the larger Planet of the Apes world, I approve.

[Joe Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm all about anything Planet of the Apes-related, but even if I wasn't, this book, guys. This book.

It's the whole Planet of the Apes story from the new generation of movies, told by Maurice about Caesar. It includes details from in between each movie, as any quality novelization must, but more than that, it removes all the soundtrack music and special effects from the movies and puts the characters in extremely sharp focus.

Maurice's POV strips the whole ape story down to its emotional guts. It's wrenching, heartbreaking, and reads like a story of wartime from one of the grunts on the ground.

The whole thing just looks cool; it looks like a weathered notebook and the story stays in character from Maurice's perspective the whole time.

Every movie should have a book like this.

[David Cavaco · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of the origins of Caesar, the founder of Planet of the Apes and the demise of human dominance. The life of Caesar as described in the diary of simian ally Maurice is a nifty tie-in to the recent and excellent movie prequels. This quick read will be appreciated by Ape fans everywhere.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for fans of the Planet of the Apes series. The text is a nice companion to the films, especially the original series. Highly recommended for those of us who wish to continue visiting the lore of Pierre Boulle’s creative science fiction universe. I’ve been an avid fan of POTA for years and was not disappointed by this volume.

[Alfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! Goes throw the trilogy but with more detail from other apes. Well well done.

The ending is a wonderful deeper insight to Caesars death. And I learned that Woody Harrelson killed Malcom (Jason Clark’s character) when he tried to tell the humans to leave the apes alone.

Crazy!

[Jeff B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: Solid 3-stars.

I'm a big fan of fictional biographies; stuff like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Bluebeard. My expectations were maybe a bit high for this book. This book is more of a novelization of the 3 newest POTA movies (Rise, Dawn, and War) than a fictional biography. I had only seen the first one (and part of Dawn) when reading this. Here are my random thoughts:

1. The premise of this book is Maurice (the orangoutang) is telling Caesar's youngest child about his father. Kind of a clever. It ends up being a scene by scene retelling of the new POTA trilogy. Other apes are brought in to tell what happened in the scenes that Maurice wasn't present for in the movies. I think it also covers the prequel books and supplemental stories that were released.

2. The story is told with broad strokes. It has all the emotion and descriptions of a history text book. Maybe because it's meant for 12 year olds or maybe because that's how an orangoutang would tell it - I'm not sure. This happened, then that happened. Not many big reveals or emotional moments, but there were a few.

3. That being said, I did really enjoy reading this. It was easy to follow (though a few apes kind of blended together), had short chapters, and was quite interesting. It cover 3+ books so a lot of stuff happens here. I tore thru it and it was never a chore to read.

4. I'm watching these movies after reading this and so much of what makes these movies great is the visual feast of the world, as well as the charm of all these big apes with even bigger personalities. Much of that is lost in this book.

Anyway, this is a fun book for fans of the new POTA franchise. Probably best read after seeing the movies. I know this review may seem harsh, but I did really enjoy reading this and while it didn't live up to my admittedly high expectations, I'm glad I read it.

[Laela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Planet of the Apes is my favorite science fiction movie trilogy. Reading the tale in a novel was an interesting experience, especially from Maurice’s perspective as he tells Cornelius the legacy of his father Caesar and all he has done for the apes. The outline of the book followed the films on a surface level, rightfully because of the retelling being from a small collection of apes and not from the objective view as an audience seeing the movies. My biggest disappointment with the book is that I didn’t learn anything new from the films, but it was still nice to experience the story from the apes’ perspectives. The writing overall was very engaging and well-executed, so overall I did enjoy this retelling of the story.

[Tyler Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing companion piece to the reboot trilogy. It was such a good idea, to have it written from Maurice's perspective for Cornelius. There are about three chunks that cover each movie in a summarized way, but there are so many little tidbits and new information. And then there are brand new story details of what happened in-between the films which were definitely the highlights. I would recommend this book to any Planet of the Apes fan, it has given me even more of an appreciation of the best film franchise ever!

[Joshua Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wavering between 2-3 but it’s a really solid recap and gap-filler for the Reeves trilogy. Maurice’s character writing- as written by Greg Keyes - is honestly pretty good and matches the exact tone/prose of Maurice.

I usually hate Keyes stuff but I liked this. Make him be a character and have to build out a world, not just talk about what happened in the movie.

[NTS2202 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant retelling of the first three movies and the time between. Even though I knew how the story ended, Keyes found ways to highlight the importance of relationships and event that I had previously overlooked. 5/5 :)

[Melissa C. Nower · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of nostalgia of Caesar and his legacy. For a fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise, this book is a precious safe-keeper.

[Lyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the movies, you’ll enjoy the book.
Its basically the same thing, but i dont care its good 😡
Its a good way to freshen up your memory, especially since its short

[CJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just another movie novelization

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novelization like no other I've read before. Big fans of the new trilogy should consider this a must-read.

[r o a c h · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody should witness what I became while reading this.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Planet of the Apes by Maurice. Very enjoyable telling by Maurice and a loving tribute to Caesar. Interesting insight into the Planet of the Apes.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.