Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View - Various
This collection of short stories, published to celebrate 40 years since the release of A New Hope (aka the original Star Wars movie) retells scenes from that movie from the perspective of 40 minor (or greater canon) characters from the film itself. Story perspectives include those of more well-known figures such as Greedo, Obi-Wan, and even Yoda, Lando and the force-ghost of Qui-Gonn, as well as far more obscure ones, such as one of the Jawas, members of the Cantina Band, and the trash-monster from the Death Star. Each story is told by a different author or authors, and therefore the stories range in genre from comedic to dramatic, to a parody of Shakespeare (the latter being the contribution of Ian Doescher, who has also produced full-length parody 'plays' of Stars Wars in Shakespearean form elsewhere).
It would take too long to review each of the 40 stories, but as with any short story collection, some are good, and others are just okay. My favourites tended to be the more comedic (such as 'Born in the Storm' by Daniel José Older, which tells of the stormtroopers who stop Obi-Wan and Luke's speeder on the way into Mos Eisley, and 'Whills' by Tom Angleberger which gives a slightly meta take on the opening crawl), although the stories including Qui-Gonn ('Master and Apprentice' by Claudia Gray) and the Trash-monster ('The Baptist' by Nnedi Okorafar) were also memorable.
The book arranges the stories in a roughly chronological manner, which is helpful, but also has the unfortunate side-effect of slowing certain sections down over all, based on how many characters are chosen from particular parts of the film. The cantina is the worst example of this, with seven minor characters from that scene each receiving a story of their own back to back to back. Star Wars is known for giving even the most minor characters full back-stories, so the names line up, but as each author is giving their own spin on the source material, reading them consecutively highlights the minor plot discrepancies between each, as someone who is motivated to an action by a particular event or character in one story may receive a completely different motivation in the next.
The book also shows its contemporary nature by occasionally dipping into such topics as homosexuality and gender diversity, which don't really seem all that necessary to the plot.
Overall, the book is interesting for fans of Star Wars (like Elise and myself), particularly when little references to classic lines are thrown in, but may not be something that other readers take too all that much.
Completed 6 June 2021.
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