Customer Reviews

Star Wars: A New Hope

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First, let's dispense with the myth that Lucas wrote this himself. It was fully written by noted sci-fi/fantasy author Alan Dean Foster (who also wrote the novelizations for Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Krull, Black Hole, Alien Nation and although credited to Gene Roddenberry, he also wrote Star Trek The Motion Picture) Lucas was busy actually making the movie while ADF was writing this novel based on Lucas's working script. This accounts for some of the differences in the story.

ADF is a great writer, with a good voice and a great use of brevity to convey details. This is a quick read and a real treat for star wars fans. When this was first released it was called "Star Wars: From the adventures of Luke Skywalker" and was released before the movie even came out. ADF was already contracted to write a sequel since no one had any idea how the film would do, thus "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" makes a wonderful companion piece (the similar style between the two should be a dead giveaway that Foster wrote both).

This where it all began. If you want to read the SW books, make sure you start here.

This novelization of the first Star Wars film is the alpha ancestor of the entire Star Wars universe. Published several months before the release of the film (which was simply titled "Star Wars" in 1977, picking up the "A New Hope" signifier in the 1979 theatrical re-release), the book was a success on a small scale but did not take off until the film became a phenomenon. George Lucas is credited with authoring this novel, but as he acknowledges in his introduction, the book was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster based on Lucas' screenplay. Foster went on to write two more Star Wars novels, Splinter of the Mind's Eye in the late 70's and The Approaching Storm in 2002.

Credit must be given to Foster for capturing a Star Wars "feel" in this novel without any preceding Star Wars material to work from and without knowledge of the scrutiny every scrap of Star Wars literature would eventually be subjected to. He follows the screenplay quite faithfully, and except for the inclusion of a sequence on Tatooine that was shot but cut from the film late in the editing process, his novel follows the film's sequence of scenes exactly. He does toy with the dialogue to an extent, re-writing lines throughout. To a modern-day Star Wars nut, this can sometimes be jarring, as everything about this story is so familiar. It's interesting in movie novelizations how the authors often change dialogue but nothing else: I like seeing a little more experimentation, such as that in Matthew Stover's superb novelization of Revenge of the Sith.

Foster is a descriptive writer and this story flows along briskly. One quirk that happens multiple times is he often uses comparisons rooted in our own mundane Earth to describe something, such as "like a dog padding on plastic," "like an Oriental poppy in a sea of oats, " and "like the damping rods in a nuclear reactor." Foster definitely had his work cut out for him in trying to describe such a visual universe before any visual media had been released to the public, but the dozen or so Earth allusions often shatter the otherworldly feel of the story.

As I mentioned earlier, the book contains a sequence set on Tatooine that did not make the final cut of the movie. It occurs early in the story with Luke observing the capture of the Tantive IV in orbit and rushing off to Anchorhead to tell his friends about the battle. When he arrives at Tosche Station, he has an unexpected joyful reunion with his old friend Biggs Darklighter. This segment with Biggs plants the seeds of sympathy toward the Rebellion in Luke's mind and also heightens the impact of Biggs' death during the Death Star attack at the end of the story.

The novelization of Episode IV is a serviceable rendition that does not add too much to the film. It would be interesting to see a new interpretation, either by Foster or another author, written in the modern day that could incorporate material from the prequels and the Expanded Universe material that has been released since 1977.

I was really interested in picking up this novelization that fleshes out George Lucas' original screenplay of A New Hope, because I wanted to hear more of the details behind this beloved story. Well, I got the details, and they're great but many of them don't line up with the original movies or with later stories. I'm not even sure if George Lucas considers this book to be 100% canon, but really the Star Wars literary franchise doesn't concerns itself too much with canon in general. "What happened" and "what did not happen" are rather fluid concepts.

The prologue informs us that, "The old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that...it was the Republic." I begin to smile when I read this, because it's such a 1970's Science Fiction type of thing to say. These days, readers usually like a little more info, but in the 70's an author could handwave the details by saying that the Republic was big and that's all the facts we need to know. The prologue's writing style is a little archaic, going for a grandiose sound ("the Republic throve and grew"), and then it says that the Emperor was almost a puppet ruler while his underlings grabbed power for themselves and launched a reign of terror. That's not how I remember it from the movies, but hey, no big. A few oppressed planet systems decide to rise up, and a rebellion is born! Dum. DUM. Duh-da-duh-DUM!!!

It's actually pretty exciting to see the well-known lines from the film cushioned with exposition that explains the underlying emotions a little better. The narration provides some great insights about how the Star Wars universe was intended to be. When Darth Vader enters a Rebel ship, the book says, "fear followed the footsteps of all the Dark Lords". All of them. Apparently, there were originally meant to be many Sith lords, but later stories chopped the number down to just two. I like the idea of multiple Sith instead of just a master and an apprentice, but it's an idea that seems to have been shelved.

The insight into the characters is pretty neat. When we first meet Luke, he's a frustrated 20-year-old angrily working with some vapor-farm equipment. The book shows us more of why Tatooine's a place he'd want to get away from, and emphasizes how barren his environment is. Luke's not a special snowflake in his hometown--the young folks at Anchorhead think he's kind of nutty for dreaming of the far-away space rebellion. Seeing Luke being ridiculed by kids his own age makes it all the more stunning that in about a year he becomes someone that everybody in the galaxies takes seriously. He does whine, but at least he's relatable.

Princess Leia looks even more capable on the page than she did onscreen, because the reader gets to hear her thought processes and how she's always looking for a way to improve her situation. Even while imprisoned in a flowy white dress, she capably shows off her girl power. Though it's hard not to question her wisdom in sending an R2 unit containing vital information to Obi-Wan's planet, just expecting that he'd find the droid and help out with the rebellion. Some plot points sound more farfetched the more you examine them...

Han Solo is said to have "the openness of the utterly confident--or the insanely reckless". Sounds like our favorite anti-hero to me. He gets more lines in the book than in the movie, of course, but we don't particularly get more insight into his character because at this point in the story, we're not meant to. I don't think Han was ever meant to become as popular as he did.

Some quirky things: 1. Spelling. The book insists on spelling out R2D2 and C-3PO phonetically as Artoo Deetoo and See Threepio, and spells droids and 'droids, with an apostrophe in front of it. Jabba is a "Hut" with with the second letter T. 2. The discrepancies between the known prequel stories and the book are vast. In a small example, Obi-Wan keeps talking about Luke's Uncle Owen like Owen and Luke's dad Anakin were always locked in this big brotherly battle about whether it was better to go off into space or to stay at home and farm. But the prequels show that Anakin and Owen met each other like, once, and were adult stepbrothers with no real connection. 3. Biggs Darklighter (remember good ol'

Biggs? Few people do. He was supposed to have a bigger part in the movie, I believe) is a fairly big influence on Luke in this story.

Even though I makes quips and tease this story, I had a great time reading it. If you're a Star Wars fan and you don't mind the old-fashioned language of the novelization, it ought to be a real treat to read.

"If not stopped soon enough, evil eventually reaches out to engulf all men."

Luke Skywalker, a young farm lad on the remote world of Tatooine, discovers two mysterious droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. R2-D2 contains a message of a beautiful woman, Princess Leia, who is in danger and requires the aid of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, Luke journeys with Obi-Wan, in his quest for adventure and to take up his father's mantle of being a Jedi.

I Liked:

Ghost written by Alan Dean Foster, this little book is a well-written account of the 1977 classic movie. Foster writes in a clean fashion, with a good amount of description. His portrayal of the characters was very close to the movie (considering he was only working off a script). Luke is a wide-eyed, eager, yet obnoxious teenager. Obi-Wan is wise and very relaxed (the quote I use for my review is one he said in the book, one of the few deviations from the movie), at times almost crazy. Han is a world-weary pilot. Vader is burning with anger. Leia is brave and stalwart. Tarkin is cutthroat and evil.

The book also includes deleted scenes such as Biggs and Luke on Tatooine, Luke going to Anchorhead, and Luke viewing the spacefight while near the vaporators. These scenes add much to the background of Luke; however...

I Didn't Like:

...most of the deleted scenes remain deleted in the audiobook (quite a ripoff if you ask me). If I hadn't read the book ages ago, I wouldn't have known they were gone (the audiobook is basically a dressed up version of the movie).

And this leads to my biggest complaints about this book: One of the reasons people even read novelizations is to learn more about the characters and movie events. In the book of this movie, there is almost nothing new learned about the movie. Sure, there is an insightful section at the beginning, taken from the enigmatic "Journal of the Whills", a quote from Leia, some changes from the movie (Red Squadron is Blue Squadron, Vader has red eyes, etc.), and a lot of Earth references to ducks, smoking pipes, and dogs and the like. But this is nothing like the far superior Revenge of the Sith, which actually surpasses its source material. It's just a fleshed out version of the script: adjectives, adverbs and complete sentences.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:

In the book, quite a few d***s and he***s.

Luke is awed by Leia's hologram and becomes jealous when Han shows interest in her.

Luke's aunt and uncle are brutally murdered, along with Jawas.

Overall:

The very first Star Wars book, this book marks the beginning of an age. It has some interesting differences from the movie, but other than that, it isn't enough different from the movie, nor is it brilliantly well-written to recommend reading over watching the movie for the average person. As for Star Wars fans, I recommend they read it once; after that, just watch the movie instead.

Brought to you by:

*C.S. Light*

Reading and reviewing the book of A New Hope is impossible without using the film as a frame of reference. For most of us, the film was our introduction to the amazing new world of Star Wars. This is when we first met Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, R2-D2, and C-3PO. We all know how the story goes and that is my only problem with the book. It is still great fun to read, but it is so much like the film that it is almost too familiar. It is not precisely like the film, but it is extremely close. The book was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster in late 1976 based on the George Lucas screenplay. Considering that Mr. Foster did not have the visual benefit of seeing what Star Wars looked like on screen, I think he did a remarkable job.

The story begins on Tatooine as Luke acquires R2 and 3PO and our favorite little droid is bound and determined to deliver a mysterious message to some one named Obi-Wan Kenobi. The adventures that follow lead us through the cantina at Mos Eisley where we meet Han and Chewie and on to Luke's destruction of the Death Star. You undoubtedly know how it goes.

If by some fluke of nature you actually have not seen the film, then you definitely should read the book. It is a rousing adventure story and leaves you wanting to read more. The edition I read was the very nice trade paperback version of the Star Wars Trilogy that was published in 2004. Having all three of the trilogy books in one volume is a good feeling.

If you love the movie, you will most definitely love this book! Everything that was in the movie is here plus much more! The prologue is great. It explains about the Senate and how Emperor Palpatine used to be a good guy. This was very valuable information for people who saw the movie when it first came out and it is still very interesting today. On a curious note, C3-PO was originally meant to be a greasy used car salesman type of character and reading this book, you will see how that is true. He is almost surly at times! There is also some very good dialogue in this which expands a lot on what was said in the movie. It is also interesting to note how the sequence of events is quite a bit different in the book. It jumps around quite a bit more.

In conclusion, if you are a fan of the movie, buy this book! You will not be disappointed! If you are a sci-fi fan in general, read this book to see why so many love these classic adventures.

I had planned to read this book for a while, and I was looking forward to it a lot, since the kids' one was way to short and boring even when I was ten years old. So, as you can probably guess my expectations were rather high, too high perhaps, but even so I was not disapointed. George Lucas has proved himself not only an excellent filmmaker, but also a great author as well. This book, while a bit dry at times, illustrates the movie in a spectacular fashion, and breathes new life into it, so that it seems interesting all over again. I read it one day when I was stuck in a hotel room, but this book was so interesting I litterally could not put it down. Every true Star Wars fan should read this, since it completly tells the story with a bunch of added stuff, that truly flesh out the story and that were completly missing from the movie. One thing that surprised me was the occasional small details that were changed. Such as Threepio being described as bronze instead of gold, and Luke being Blue 5 instead of Red 5. Another thing that struck me as odd was the slight differences in characters, Luke and Ben most noticably. Ben is less wise, more mischevious, and at times even funny, a previously unheard of thing! Luke also is slightly different. He seems, well, less innocent, more stupid, and even acts like somewhat of a jerk at times, and is all around more heroic and self centered, and generaly less cute. This was both interesting and annoying, since Luke was always my favorite character and to be honest I liked him better the other way. Leia is also noticably different, she being somewhat less strong, which annoyed me somewhat. Anyway, this was an excellent book, that deserved an honest four stars.

I read "A New Hope" at the behest of my coworker, who insisted this was a good book. I was reluctant, thinking this book would have been written for children, with a less mature writing style and format (as was my impression of Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back). I was surprised at the quality of the writing. Not only are there "deleted scenes" but the movie scenes were not simply rehashing of dialogue. The narrative was such that there were moments where I gained new perspective or insight I never had before. Although we do not get as much depth and backstory as we do in Star Wars : Return of the Jedi, this is a novel that can stand on its own. Well done, Alan Dean Foster.

...there was "Another galaxy, another time."

This is the opening line of "Star Wars: From The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker," which when published in November 1976 stirred little sales, as credited author George Lucas later noted. Then, six months later, the movie it was based on hit theaters. By September this paperback could be found in every junior-high homeroom in America.

Back then, before the age of Netflix and DVDs, it was the only way to get a "Star Wars" fix. Today, the book is of greater interest to serious fans of the movie series and its many media tie-ins for the way it deviates from the "Star Wars" story as it evolved, such as Darth Vader's red eyes and his lack of any special tie with Luke. The book even ends with a note of budding romance between Luke and Princess Leia, which real author Alan Dean Foster would develop further in a 1978 sequel novel. No one told Foster that Luke and Leia were siblings, because back then not even Lucas knew that.

There's another good reason for reading this version of the "Star Wars" story. It's an entertaining read that showcases the story's deep strengths even when stripped of John Williams, Harrison Ford, and Industrial Light & Magic. Luke toils on his uncle's moisture farm, dreaming of getting off his desert planet. Adventure is a lot closer than he realizes when two androids fall into his lap, one of whom carries a message for a "General Kenobi" which Luke thinks could be old Ben Kenobi, an area hermit of passing acquaintance.

The focus on Skywalker is one of the novel's chief differences from the movie. We meet him earlier than we do in the movie, and his point-of-view remains dominant throughout. Foster has a bad habit of describing various alien creatures and concepts in Earth-bound terms, i.e. "a cross between a capybara and a small baboon." Working from an as-yet-unfinalized script, he also struggles with Lucas's dialogue. Princess Leia especially sounds stiff: "Alderaan and its people are gone," she says about her home planet. "We must see that such does not happen again."

Foster's strengths are his ability to visualize Lucas's ideas about his universe and its all-pervading Force in a way that is understandable and sometimes preferable to later official incarnations. Kenobi admonishes Vader at one point: "You sense only a part of the force, Darth. As always, you perceive its reality as little as a utensil perceives the taste of food."

The chapters flow well in Foster's adaptation, with nice descriptive extra-movie touches that never linger too long, whether it be a Stormtrooper guard's discomfort hearing Leia's screams or the last moments of a doomed TIE fighter pilot. The final battle around Vader's Death Star is a tour de force. Here Foster not only piles on details that flash past movie audiences, he adds bits of action that fill out the struggle of Luke and his allies and give it extra energy and interest. Better than the movie? Maybe not, but fans will want to read this penultimate chapter if nothing else.

For many Star Wars fans, this novel is more a novelty. But for those of us who remember when it was all we had for a long time after the movie left theaters in 1978, "Star Wars: From The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker" is both a welcome nostalgia burst and a suggestion of roads untaken but worth remembering.

What can I say? This is it, baby. The Holy Grail of the Star Wars universe.

It's the story that changed Hollywood in less than one summer.