Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novel (Star Wars Junior Novel 2) by Ryder Windham

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novel (Star Wars Junior Novel 2) by Ryder Windham
Buy Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novel (Star Wars Junior Novel 2) by Ryder Windham at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Summary: Part two – or five, if you're being honest – of the saga, in tween-friendly form.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 224	Date: May 2017
Publisher: Egmont
ISBN: 9781405285438
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I've never actually held by the theory that The Empire Strikes Back is the best film in the series. To me, as a youngster, I got the willies suitably with what happens to one character, and it was great to meet the Emperor at last, but beyond the assault on Hoth there was too much that didn't work for me. I certainly wasn't impressed by the kissy-kissy nonsense interrupting the great space-faring action. But I have always been eager enough to revisit it, as the film I've seen the least of the seven, and these YA variants of the films – adaptations of the canonical 2004 DVD editions, and first published at that time – are about the best way to do that.

These editions have been well served by a nice design – the three books definitely look a piece, with a star field and lightsaber, which varies each time, on the cover. Empire comes with Darth Vader's red lightsaber beam, even if it would certainly feel the least red film of them all if it were not for Bespin, and the pages have the same colour edging them, to make the whole piece look funky. But design is nothing if the writing isn't up to conveying the adventure of the film. And it does make a good fist of it – noticeably so, because it uses pretty much the entire dialogue from the script.

The YA adaptation ethos is writ large here, as well – you get to claim ownership of the whole story, you don't get lumbered with a full adult-length novel, but instead get a near-instant replica of the movie you love. They say a page of film script equates almost routinely to a minute of cinema time, and the same almost applies here. But in being so honest in replicating the visual image, the book has the same imbalance. Hoth is fine, and the book covers the action reasonably well, but when we hit act two full pelt with the escape through the asteroid belt, we're just seeing what we can see. Here you really cried out for a full novel's getting closer to the character, as there's no chance of learning what Han Solo was thinking while having to do the piloting.

Still, for the fan there is a connection in a different regard to the films – now and again the book acts as a corrective. Leia leaves the Millennium Falcon by the access ramp with nothing to do or hold, and we gain her internal thought about the whoopsie the film makers gave her. The writing does a good deal to engage with all the senses – from the stench of the venue where Luke first meets Darth Vader (ish), to the freezing cold of Hoth, peppered as it is apparently with lizards with fur. But in a way the writing was having to rely on poorer material, as well as not being quite as great as needed, which leads me to suspect that – as in the celluloid world – this is the weaker section of the series.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

The trilogy (alright, second trilogy) begins here.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novel (Star Wars Junior Novel 2) by Ryder Windham at Amazon.com.

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