10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rise and Fall of Darth Vader Review, October 18, 2007
Long time fan and I've read 99% of the StarWars books. This was the first novella type I've read and it covers the very beginning of Anakin as a little boy when he arrives on Tattoine with his mother to his final death. When I first received the book I was impressed with it's hardcover quality and wrapping but not sure if maybe I had made a mistake since it looked like it was more for young readers...which it does qualify as.
What I liked about the story line is that it presents everything from Anakin's POV and reveals how really "human" he was on the inside, constantly wrestling emotionally while his exterior was always distant, firm, and foreboding.
The book's ending provides a fantastic revelation that makes the story worth reading. I kept it in my kitchen and read a few pages each time I ate a meal alone...usually lunch or when I got home after my kids already ate. It's a quick read and worth it. Two thumbs up...read it!
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What?, December 22, 2007
I too was very disappointed by this book. Mostly, it's 200 pages of recycled Vader episodes we're all familiar with, and I might even suggest that the author did a poor job of that recycling. There is not much new or insightful here (with the exception of Luke's aunt & uncle, the only *plus* of this book, and I'm sure I could find it in another). The author does a poor job of relating events we all suspected were loosely related anyway, and there's no development here--of Anakin's virgin birth, realizing that his son brings balance to the force, the hand-chopping as relates to Vader's "life-support suit" [I guess that's what it's called], hand-chopping between father & son, etc. I was hoping for something that might creatively probe into Vader's psyche a little bit, but the author keeps him evil, never even shows he's conflicted with a morsel of good until the very end. (This was the same scene as in Return of the Jedi, and depending how you watch it, just isn't true.)
In short, whatever your hopes and dreams would be for a book about the rise and fall of Darth Vader, this is not it.
As another user said on this site, "I could write a better book than this"; I couldn't agree more. Apparently, $10.99 is not enough money to buy something that's imaginitive. My stomach churns when I think of how many Star Wars books this Windham guy has written. I hope that they are all not like this.
If I could have rated this book lower than a single star, I would have.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Stars, September 21, 2007
The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader chronicals mostly from the movies. There are a little tibits of new information like Anakin arriving on Tatooine for the first time, how he found C3PO among other things. My favorite was the part where he's trying to figure out who Luke is. I would have loved for it to be longer of course but it was still really good.
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