A review by justthatstarwarsbookgirl
The Star Wars Trilogy: Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back Junior Novelization by Ryder Windham

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

* SPOILERS LATER IN PARAGRAPH - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK * 
The book was a decent, medium-paced read. It wasn’t easy to get through with pacing yet it had all of the enjoyable themes and events from the beloved classic movie, The Empire Strikes Back, just told in much simpler terms down to the point where it was definitely apparent that this rendition was a kid’s book rather than a more-adult or all-ages Junior Novelization. However some of the events were not very kid-like in theme and event, including the obvious 
 *SPOILER* 
torture scene of Han and Chewbacca, the near-destruction of C-3PO, and Luke’s hand being removed. If sensitive to something like that or similar to that, although not described in great detail but described decently enough for you all to understand as a reader, I wouldn’t suggest reading this book, but you’ll be missing out on vital plot points not only for this book but also the rest of the series as well, these points; especially the loss of Luke’s hand, come into play later in Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi, etc.
Overall I’d recommend this book to younger or middle-aged readers, who would greatly enjoy the color photos in the middle of the book as well as their ability to easily understand the subjects and contents of the book, and only to adult/older readers if they’re attempting to finish the Junior Novelization Series/Set as a whole and not leave any book out due to the lack of enjoyment level I obtained while reading this book. It was rather boring of a read and difficult to keep picking up, although I toughed it out. By all means make your own choices about what you’d like to read or not, but that’s my opinion. Overall however I’m really enjoying the Star Wars Junior Novelization Series so far and can’t wait to read the next books in the series, this is one of the only ones I haven’t SUPER enjoyed so far out of that whole series, I believe the one other I didn’t enjoy so much out of the five I’ve read so far was Episode 2: The Attack of the Clones’ Junior Novelization. 
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