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A review by freedom410
From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by Elizabeth Schaefer
3.0
My favorite Star Wars books as a kid were the “Tales of…” series edited by Kevin J. Anderson. Those books imbued the Galaxy Far, Far Away with the sense that Greedo, Dengar, Bib Fortuna, and the hundreds of minor background characters from the films each had stories of their own. Those books – and the fan hunger for more stories – are a major part of the reason why the Star Wars franchise has been able to grow beyond the Skywalker saga through shows like The Mandalorian.
The “From a Certain Point of View” books continue that tradition – but in both more expansive and limited ways. The first book, released in 2017, celebrated the 40th anniversary of A New Hope by collecting stories from a variety of science fiction and fantasy authors. As the title suggests, the stories are told from the point of background characters. This latest volume does the same for The Empire Strikes Back.
I appreciate the variety of authors invited to participate in the FACPOV books. This volume includes authors like John Jackson Miller, who has been writing Star Wars for decades, and younger authors like R.F. Kuang, who had never written anything for Star Wars. There’s diversity in writing experience, as well as diversity in the race and gender of the authors. Moreover, it seems that Lucasfilm gave these authors considerable creative freedom… freedom that sometimes leads to these stories being very weird.
Unlike the earlier “Tales of…” books, most of the stories in FACPOV are fairly limited in scope. With a few exceptions, the stories don’t cover anything beyond the scenes in the film. In essence, most of the stories simply recount what a character was thinking when he/she/it saw the events that transpired on screen. This can sometimes be humorous, such as when Toryn Farr placed bets on Han and Leia’s will-they/won’t-they romance. But the format and limited scope are tricky because they don’t leave much room for character development or plot twists.
The best authors used the opportunity to delve deep into the psychology of characters who represent larger ideologies or archetypes in the Star Wars Galaxy. Seth Dickinson’s “The Final Order” – easily my favorite story in FACPOV2 – recounts the final hours of Captain Canonhaus of the Ultimatum, the Star Destroyer destroyed by an asteroid in the film. Through Canonhaus, Dickinson explores the paranoia and moral compromises that permeate totalitarian regimes like Palpatine’s New Order. The story convinced me to check out more of Dickinson’s works (he’s also a political scientist).
My other favorite story in FACPOV2 is “Rendezvous Point” by Jason Fry. Like the best of the “Tales of…” books, it manages to give Wedge Antilles an arc and shows him overcoming a new type of challenge. Wedge is tasked with rebuilding Red Squadron after the defeat at Hoth. He has a crisis of confidence, as well as trouble finding good pilots. The best compliment I can give is that Fry’s story reminded me of Michael Stackpole’s “Rogue Squadron” novels from the 1990s.
Overall, I don’t think the FACPOV2 stories build out the lore to the same extent as the “Tales of…” books. Admittedly, that might be because the “Tales of…” books came out at the dawn of the Expanded Universe, whereas we had hundreds of novels, comics, video games, and television episodes worth of lore by the 40th anniversary of A New Hope. I’d recommend FACPOV for Star Wars fans interested in seeing how different science fiction authors approach the franchise. FACPOV is a way for new authors to play around in the Galaxy Far, Far Away – and for readers to discover them.
[Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review]
The “From a Certain Point of View” books continue that tradition – but in both more expansive and limited ways. The first book, released in 2017, celebrated the 40th anniversary of A New Hope by collecting stories from a variety of science fiction and fantasy authors. As the title suggests, the stories are told from the point of background characters. This latest volume does the same for The Empire Strikes Back.
I appreciate the variety of authors invited to participate in the FACPOV books. This volume includes authors like John Jackson Miller, who has been writing Star Wars for decades, and younger authors like R.F. Kuang, who had never written anything for Star Wars. There’s diversity in writing experience, as well as diversity in the race and gender of the authors. Moreover, it seems that Lucasfilm gave these authors considerable creative freedom… freedom that sometimes leads to these stories being very weird.
Unlike the earlier “Tales of…” books, most of the stories in FACPOV are fairly limited in scope. With a few exceptions, the stories don’t cover anything beyond the scenes in the film. In essence, most of the stories simply recount what a character was thinking when he/she/it saw the events that transpired on screen. This can sometimes be humorous, such as when Toryn Farr placed bets on Han and Leia’s will-they/won’t-they romance. But the format and limited scope are tricky because they don’t leave much room for character development or plot twists.
The best authors used the opportunity to delve deep into the psychology of characters who represent larger ideologies or archetypes in the Star Wars Galaxy. Seth Dickinson’s “The Final Order” – easily my favorite story in FACPOV2 – recounts the final hours of Captain Canonhaus of the Ultimatum, the Star Destroyer destroyed by an asteroid in the film. Through Canonhaus, Dickinson explores the paranoia and moral compromises that permeate totalitarian regimes like Palpatine’s New Order. The story convinced me to check out more of Dickinson’s works (he’s also a political scientist).
My other favorite story in FACPOV2 is “Rendezvous Point” by Jason Fry. Like the best of the “Tales of…” books, it manages to give Wedge Antilles an arc and shows him overcoming a new type of challenge. Wedge is tasked with rebuilding Red Squadron after the defeat at Hoth. He has a crisis of confidence, as well as trouble finding good pilots. The best compliment I can give is that Fry’s story reminded me of Michael Stackpole’s “Rogue Squadron” novels from the 1990s.
Overall, I don’t think the FACPOV2 stories build out the lore to the same extent as the “Tales of…” books. Admittedly, that might be because the “Tales of…” books came out at the dawn of the Expanded Universe, whereas we had hundreds of novels, comics, video games, and television episodes worth of lore by the 40th anniversary of A New Hope. I’d recommend FACPOV for Star Wars fans interested in seeing how different science fiction authors approach the franchise. FACPOV is a way for new authors to play around in the Galaxy Far, Far Away – and for readers to discover them.
[Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review]