Book Review: 'Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View'

(C) 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. & Penguin Random House. Cover art and design: Will Staehle

2017 is the 40th Anniversary year that commemorates the premiere of writer-director George Lucas's original 1977 Star Wars film. In honor of the occasion, the past 10 months have seen the release of the home media editions of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Season Three of Disney's animated series. Star Wars: Rebels, as well as a YT-1300's cargo hold's worth of 40th Anniversary action figures, posters, limited edition sculptures, and other collectible items.  

And in advance of the upcoming theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many publishing companies licensed by Disney-owned Lucasfilm Ltd. are stocking bookstore shelves with novels, comic books, a seventh William Shakespeare's Star Wars book - this one based on The Force Awakens - and illustrated reference books such as DK Books' Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia.

On Tuesday. October 3, Penguin Random House's Del Rey Books imprint published Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, an anthology composed of 40 short stories by over 40 authors from around the world to celebrate 40 years of Star Wars. 

Several publishing companies, including Bantam Spectra and Del Rey have, of course, created a few Star Wars-themed short story anthologies over the years. In the 1990s, for instance, Kevin J. Anderson edited Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, each of which focused on minor characters from films in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View follows this tradition of retelling the familiar story of the film we now (officially) know as Episode IV: A New Hope - but with a twist.

Starting with Gary Whitta's Raymus and concluding with Tom Angleberger's Whills, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View takes readers into the story of A New Hope through the eyes of  supporting characters from the film (Capt. Raymus Antilles of the Tantive IV; Beru Whitesun Lars. the stormtrooper who told Obi-Wan "these aren't the droids we're looking for," General Tagge, Admiral Motti, and various Rebel and Imperial soldiers, officers, and pilots. 

On May 25, 1977, the world was introduced to Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and a galaxy full of possibilities. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, more than forty contributors lend their vision to this retelling of Star Wars. Each of the forty short stories reimagines a moment from the original film, but through the eyes of a supporting character. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors, trendsetting artists, and treasured voices from the literary history of Star Wars:

• Gary Whitta bridges the gap from Rogue One to A New Hope through the eyes of Captain Antilles.

• Aunt Beru finds her voice in an intimate character study by Meg Cabot.

• Nnedi Okorofor brings dignity and depth to a most unlikely character: the monster in the trash compactor.

• Pablo Hidalgo provides a chilling glimpse inside the mind of Grand Moff Tarkin.

• Pierce Brown chronicles Biggs Darklighter’s final flight during the Rebellion’s harrowing attack on the Death Star.

• Wil Wheaton spins a poignant tale of the rebels left behind on Yavin. 

Plus thirty-four more hilarious, heartbreaking, and astonishing tales from:

Ben Acker • Renée Ahdieh • Tom Angleberger • Ben Blacker • Jeffrey Brown • Rae Carson • Adam Christopher • Zoraida Córdova • Delilah S. Dawson • Kelly Sue DeConnick • Paul Dini • Ian Doescher • Ashley Eckstein • Matt Fraction • Alexander Freed • Jason Fry • Kieron Gillen • Christie Golden • Claudia Gray • E. K. Johnston • Paul S. Kemp • Mur Lafferty • Ken Liu • Griffin McElroy • John Jackson Miller • Daniel José Older • Mallory Ortberg • Beth Revis • Madeleine Roux • Greg Rucka • Gary D. Schmidt • Cavan Scott • Charles Soule • Sabaa Tahir • Elizabeth Wein • Glen Weldon • Chuck Wendig  - from the jacket flap blurb

In Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, we also hear from several of  the Star Wars saga's other major characters, including the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi.

 In Pablo Hidalgo's Verge of Greatness, we see the scheming Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions at the moment he orders the destruction of Alderaan with the cold-blooded phrase You may fire when ready, Tarkin also reflects on how he usurped control of the planet killing battle station from Director Orson Krennic, the antagonist from Rogue One. 

Cavan Scott's Time of Death is an unusual, almost Stephen King-like story that describes Obi-Wan's  transformation from flesh-bound mortal Jedi Master to immaterial but still conscious Force spirit from Kenobi's point of view. It's not a horror tale, exactly, but rather a "friendly ghost" story that reveals Obi-Wan's emotions during and after his final duel with his former friend and student, Darth Vader. 

The galaxy's other major Force wielders also make unusual cameos; in There is Another by Gary D. Schmitt, we get the untold story of Master Yoda's plans for the Skywalker twins at the time of the Battle of Yavin. And in Palpatine, Ian Doescher imagines the Emperor's reaction to the news that Vader has just killed Obi-Wan as a Shakespearean soliloquy. 

As the publisher's blurb promises, the anthology contains 40 stories told from different points of view and in different voices. Some of them are wryly humorous; Daniel José Older's Born in the Storm is a stormtrooper's darkly humorous incident report about the search for the droids on Tatooine; in Far Too Remote, Darth Vader and Son author Jeffrey Brown contributes a sly-yet-hilarious cartoon depicting the Imperials' discovery of an abandoned Rebel base on Dantooine; and actor-blogger Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me, Star Trek: The Next Generation) tells a heartbreaking story about a Rebel soldier - a widowed father - who must send his infant daughter away from Yavin Four to an uncertain fate before the Death Star arrives.  

Interestingly, many fans who are upset that Disney-owned Lucasfilm relegated the Expanded Universe to the non-canon wilds of Star Wars Legends, will be happy to know that many of the tales use familiar names from the old EU. Wuher still works at Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley, Admiral Motti's first name is still Conan, and the Bith band still performs under its familiar name of Fingrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

All in all, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View is a fun and exciting read. The stories are well written, and even better, they reconcile George Lucas's original 1977 film with plot points and characters from the Prequel Trilogy and the various spinoffs, including Rogue One and Star Wars: Rebels. This is the book you're looking for!