Book Review for the Star Wars Book Club for January: Star Wars Trilogy

Book: Star Wars Trilogy by George Lucas, Donald F. Glut and James Kahn

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Luke Skywalker dreamed of adventures out among the stars and alien worlds. But when he intercepted a message from a beautiful captive princess, he got more than he had bargained for—and that was how the adventure of his life began. . . .




Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Reading Star Wars Trilogy was just as exciting as watching the movies: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. These three stories are sci-fi at its finest, as it weaves action and adventure with dramatic yet humorous storytelling that center around a farm boy turned Jedi, a princess turned rebel leader and a self-centered scoundrel turned rebel with a cause.

Star Wars: A New Hope finds 19 years old Luke Skywalker yearning for an adventurous life away from his boring remote, dry and barren home world of Tatooine. While Luke pondered his nonexistent life, 19 years old Princess Leia Organa was taking great risks to ensure important information would get to the Rebel Alliance. Before the Empire's strongman the Sith Lord, Darth Vader could capture her, Leia entrusted a message and the data to a special little droid, R2-D2 who was accompanied by fellow droid and reluctant friend C-3PO.

Quick thinking by R2, had him and C-3PO escaping to Tatooine where they would later encounter Luke. This would lead Luke to meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi, an old and clever Jedi Master, which would set off a chain of events that would eventually lead Luke to the adventure he craved. Along for the ride is 29 years old Han Solo, a hotshot self-absorbed shifty Corellian pilot and his co-pilot and good friend Chewbacca the Wookiee.

What I found interesting about this story is that initially, Luke was a wide eyed dreamer hoping for a chance to leave Tatooine. He didn't seem that concerned about the Empire until he got a first hand experience of its evil. Another discovery was finding out he had a connection with the long forgotten Jedi and the Force. I like that Luke went from being a whiny bored young man to someone who was inspired not only by the rebels but by Princess Leia to join in the fight to stop the Empire. Meanwhile, Han and Chewbacca were only hired to drop Obi-Wan and Luke off at a specific location but they sort of got roped into saving Princess Leia and everything else that followed. However, you could see the beginning of these two starting to change their ways. As for Princess Leia, she had a strong will to fight against the Empire and even when she was captured and tortured she never gave up hope that it would be defeated.

In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the story takes place four years after A New Hope and it follows as our heroes Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO continue to work with the Rebel Alliance on the frozen planet Hoth. As much as Han and Chewy seem to be fully immersed in helping the Rebels they were planning on leaving. Han needed to pay off his debts to Jabba the Hutt especially since there is a large bounty placed on him.

This time around it seemed like the heroes were plagued with trouble from Luke getting attacked by a Wampa and nearly freezing to death to the rebel base being attacked by the Empire. This story introduced Lando Calrissian, an old friend of Han Solo and Chewbacca. However, the question is can he trusted? He's the Administrator of Cloud City which is where Princess Leia, Han, Chewbacca and C-3PO had traveled to hoping to escape from the Empire who had been tracking them. But luck was not on their sides for this one either. It's like nonstop bad luck for the heroes in this story, however, it did find Luke receiving Jedi training from Master Yoda but he also learns a stunning secret. Meanwhile Leia and Han were starting to grow more affectionate towards each other but their love might be short lived with trouble in store for the pilot. This story really takes a lot out of the characters but what I love is that they still continue to fight.

Star Wars: Return of Jedi takes place six month after the last story with our heroes planning to rescue Han Solo. It's a rather ingenious plan that Luke put together which has the appearance of being ill-conceived but it works out perfectly. With the team back together, it was time to finally take on the evil Galactic Empire, the Rebels had a two prong plan to defeat them. However, they were unaware the Empire also had a plan in place. It's interesting to see how Luke had become a strong Jedi but was he ready for his final battle with Darth Vader. Can he resist the dark side of the Force that seems to be calling to him at an increasing rate?

Although Star Wars Trilogy is a re-read for me, it's still a very good read. I loved that with each story the characters were allowed to grow as well as the ongoing threat from the Empire. Despite the stories having three different authors, the stories feel cohesive as you follow the heroes on their journey fighting against the Empire. These stories are action-packed, however, there are quiet, dramatic and humorous moments that allow you to focus on the characters and what's happening to them. I'm happy, I selected this as the first book for the Star Wars Book Club because these were the stories that created an exciting new universe.