A review by justthatstarwarsbookgirl
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope by Ryder Windham

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I am absolutely blown away upon finishing this novel. Out of approximately 143 Star Wars universe or Star Wars related books I have read total in my lifetime, this one is by far my favorite of all time within the past year. I knew I probably should’ve expected this, because the book is written by Ryder Windham, whose works and writing I’ve previously enjoyed in the Legends novel the Wrath of Darth Maul, various nonfiction works he has collaborated working on and producing, as well as Star Wars Children’s DK Readers he has contributed to. I considered Ryder Windham one of my “auto-buy” authors previously, and now I know that assumption was completely accurate and correct. I don’t know what it is about his writing in the Star Wars Universe, possibly his extensive knowledge of the Star Wars Universe as a whole or possibly the fact that he’s a fan himself (I believe that’s a fact), but almost every single work of Ryder Windham’s in the Star Wars Universe is PERFECT in every way. I own a ton of other Star Wars Ryder Windham authored books, including the Star Wars 1997 Missions series, and I honestly am getting more excited to read them by the moment. I LOVED this book beyond belief, beyond your wildest dreams and beyond possible imagination. Ultimately, I love this junior novelization even more than the official adult novelization for Star Wars: Episode 4: A New Hope.  I read this book SO fast. I loved flipping each page and I couldn’t seem to flip it fast enough still, I couldn’t even seem to read and consume the words on the page fast enough. It was so highly enjoyable of a novel to read and overall created such a joyful, hopeful and positive aura and vibe as you read. I was addicted from the moment I began to read the story and shot full steam all the way through the plot from the beginning to the very ending’s final pages. The book was longer than most if not every other Star Wars Junior Novelization I’ve read and own, but it SHOULD be that long, the extra length, even if short and brief, added SO much extra quality and detail the other books didn’t have in their stories that they desperately needed. The portrayal of the characters in this book is highly accurate to the movies and official novelizations as well as every other Star Wars book or work I’ve ever read. I even think the characters may be MORE of how you’d see them in your mind’s eye and imagination outside of the movies which adds extra depth and beauty to how they are written in such overwhelming and utterly consuming detail. The beginning of the book, although starting with the droids usually bores me, was addicting, as addicting as the rest of the book and story’s scenes, because of the way the droids were portrayed as actual CHARACTERS in the book, and not just androids and separate, inhuman beings as they are sometimes portrayed so stiffly and harshly in other works. The droids themselves were given animation and vivid personality. I especially loved R2’s beeps and voice, he is so expressive in this book beyond any of the rest I’ve ever read, and it truly adds so much to his character and importance as not just A droid, but THE droid in the story, especially the beginning. Every background and scene, every setting and place was so wonderfully described to set the area the important moments of the story would take place, such as the Lars Family Homestead, the planet Tatooine, the Starship Hangar or the Mos Eisley Cantina right down to the Imperial Death Star and the Millennium Falcon. The settings were given the importance and made just as important as the rest of the story. I love the numerical details (such as the Docking Bay, Hangar Bay, and Trash Compactor Numbers) as well as the technical details provided in this novelization including the explanation about R5 being an R2 unit somehow, I thought that explanation, although improvised, was really clever and could be used still even today as an accurate cover up for Luke calling R5 an R2 unit when we already know due to the Mandalorian he is an R5 unit. The descriptions and details of the many alien species provided and listed, such as the Jawas but also including all of the different manners of species in the Cantina scene, was really beautiful with the updates compared to when the original movie came out not knowing any of the species names. Luke knowing simply how to use the lightsaber of his father’s instead of pointing it at his face stupidly as he does in the movie’s scene as soon as it is handed to him is very smart to include. Luke’s desperation to find and his repeating and reoccurring thoughts as well as his hope for the possibility of them being away for Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru when he came to the conclusion that they might be dead made a lot more sense compared to the nonexistent emotion he appeared to feel in the movie regardless made it a beautiful scene. The Greedo scene was described slightly confusingly but I believe that was to give both the fandom’s sides of “Han shot first” / “Greedo didn’t shoot at all” a chance at an explanation and their beliefs to be shown in the novelization as an accurate portrayal. The descriptions of Luke’s growing anger, as portrayed throughout the novel continuously (at least three times in 3 scenes I can recall accurately and descriptively that it is pointed out explicitly) explicitly are stated and pointed out to give signs early on of his growing anger and uncontrollable rage that is occurring within him, making it too late to train him as Yoda advises later in Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. The scenes describing this make it laid extremely bare for readers why Yoda states this even more clear than it is shown in the movies, even this early on in the trilogy. The desperation Leia felt at the destruction of Alderaan that she witnessed was portrayed nicely. I really liked how even minor characters were given full names, such as the minor Imperial officers and aides or Rebel X-Wing or Y-Wing Pilots besides their call signs. I like how it is introduced how Luke knew the names of the main pilots portrayed besides their call signs, such as Wedge, Jek Porkins and obviously Biggs but I love that he expresses that through their bravery he felt a connection deeply with all of them, and I completely understood Luke’s rage at Han Solo leaving with the reward the Rebels so desperately needed, although I know why he left and it makes perfect sense to me that he needed to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt due to his life being in danger. I like how the book also switched to alternative scenes from the Imperial’s POV occasionally, but the chapters were still long enough to be a decent and accomplishing length. I also like how at the end Vader is starting to question and become thoughtful and figure out the whole mystery behind Luke Skywalker, the fact that Ben Kenobi was on Tatooine (his former home planet) for all those years for seemingly no reason, the pilot feeling strong in the Force. That definitely is a mystery and I like that he’s began to catch on to it. I also like how they mention Vader’s past as Anakin Skywalker at multiple times, including Podracing, etc, and how he used to feel emotion, but as a Dark Sith Lord he doesn’t feel any of the emotions he used to feel anymore performing those same exact actions and activities, that’s really sad to hear, it’s just what the Jedi Teachings said it would be like. The entire Death Star Rescue sequence, from the capture in the Tractor Beam to the TIE Fighter Escape at the end, was BEAUTIFUL. In every single way, in every single little detail and part of every single little scene, big and small, every character, creature, setting, ship, event, droid, emotion, and spoken word. I loved that entire sequence, I have read other really good Star Wars written works on the Death Star escape as a focused scene but this one ranks over them all, even if only slightly. I also really enjoyed the sequence of the Trench Run and Rebel Dogfights with the Death Star Cannons and later the TIE Fighters themselves. The book overall was SUPER well written, absolutely beautiful as a story and with amazingly written characters, perfectly described settings and places, and fantastically portrayed sequences of events and scenes. The book was relaxing for a casual or even a highly dedicated fan to read, whether casually or on alert. It can be read casually to relax you with a familiar storyline and plot from a movie you love watching and know by heart like the back of your hand, while remaining completely true and accurate to the story, scenes, events, aspects of the universe itself, and even the characters you know and love. The book is a beautiful tribute to the true overall meaning and message of Star Wars with it’s hopeful, joyous and happy ending as well as the true emotions usually sensed with the impact of a fantastic story. I felt like literally crying happy tears when Han showed up in the Millennium Falcon to save the day and take the shot at Darth Vader in his TIE, and I don’t usually feel many if any emotions whether when watching movies or reading books at all. This book was completely the most deserving and worthy five star rating I have ever given, even over the Solo: A Star Wars Story Junior Novelization, which would be my second closest favorite due to the quality of its writing. The thing that makes this book the best is the feelings it inspires, the happiness, joy, and relaxation the book’s casual and familiar storyline being told as accurately as possible is giving to you, whereas the Solo novelization I loved for the writing and written word’s as well as the sentence structure’s quality. I never wanted this book to end, so much so that I slowed down my reading of it nearing the end with only a few pages left I kept setting it down purposefully to try to forestall the ending and reading the conclusion of the book and even having to write this review. I would reread this book at any moment in time in order to casually relax and immerse myself in the familiar story that I know so well and love so very much to provide myself the emotions of happiness and joy easily. This book might very well be my favorite Star Wars book I’ve ever read currently as of this moment. I would DEFINITELY highly recommend this book to any person on the planet, whether a Star Wars fan who is highly dedicated, a casual fan, or a person trying to introduce themselves to Star Wars, whether after they have just finished Episode 3  or is starting with Episode 4 as their introduction to the saga, and it doesn’t matter whether the reader is an adult fully grown, a teenager, or a child. READ THIS BOOK (if you love Star Wars)!!! 
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