Between the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 10 years have passed. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm bridges that gap.

At the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar had escaped the torment of man with the rest of the apes, chimpanzees, orangutans, and other primates into the Muir Woods in Mill Valley, over the Golden Gate Bridge and out of San Francisco where they had been held captive. All Caesar wants is for them to finally be free.

The humans, of course, can’t allow that. They want to capture the apes to study them and to ensure that they will not attack them again.

The very end of Rise also saw the birth of the “Simian Flu,” which will have wiped out a majority of the Earth’s population by the time Dawn comes around. Firestorm details the early days of the flu and how it was hard to get people to believe in it and take action against it until it became too late.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm takes these storylines and constantly intertwines them. It introduces to characters that will be present in the movie as well as characters that are unique to the novel.

‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm’ review

When it comes to a book like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm the important question to ask is how important the book is to the film series if it even is at all. Firestorm is fairly unique in that author Greg Keyes has a good amount of flexibility. Yes, the book is based on the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes screenplay written by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, but where the book stands out is that it’s not a novelization of the said screenplay. Rather, it is a prequel that allows for further insight to some of the characters in the movie. This is especially important with Caesar and the apes, who we can now see some internal dialogue from.

Is the book important or even crucial to the understanding of the upcoming film? No. Will the book add to that experience for fans who wish to have more insight? Yes. Reading the novel isn’t incredibly important for the franchise as a whole, but there is something to be said for immersing yourself in a world as much as possible. For those who want to do so, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm won’t disappoint.

Keyes is a good writer and his New York Bestselling Author title is proof of that. However, it is frustrating at times to constantly switch between points of view. Just as a story is picking up, Keyes jerks the focus elsewhere. By the end of the novel, full stories are fleshed out, but it does take a long time to get comfortable with all of them at once.

It’s not imperative to have seen Rise to understand Firestorm. It’s a standalone in that way. However, the ending will make you want to see more. Luckily for us, more is coming on July 11 with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the book’s motives are not hidden in that way. Not that they should be. The book is certainly a prequel to that movie (as it is advertised), but we can’t say that it’s an essential one. It will be fun for big fans of the world, but casual fans shouldn’t feel the need to read it.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm will be released tomorrow. Add it to your Goodreads list, or buy it on Amazon.