Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi

 

This is the third of the "From a Certain Point of View" books, set around the events of the original trilogy. This book, published in 2023 for the 40th Anniversary of "Return of the Jedi" has 40 short stories set around the events of that movie. As has been the case with the books set around the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, most of the stories in this book are from the perspective of an ancillary character or a minor character who was often in the background of the events shown in the movie. Sometimes, a story will involve one of the more visible ancillary characters (such as Wedge) or characters from other novels (such as Norra Wexley, a main character in the Aftermath series of novels set after Return of the Jedi). Toward the end of the book, there are stories from the perspective of main characters like Obi-Wan, Palpatine, and Anakin.

The hardcover version of the book is just over 560 pages. Even though the overall length of the book is on the longer side of most Star Wars novels, each of the stories is relatively short, so there are a lot of natural stopping points if you are a person who reads for an hour or two before bed. And, it reads fairly quickly. The book's timeline basically follows the movie's events, starting out at Jabba's palace and ending on Endor. There are also some easter eggs such as referring to Revenge of the Jedi, which was the movie's original title before it was changed. I think the book is worth reading for any Star Wars fans, but for those of us who grew up with the original trilogy movies and are more than just casual Star Wars fans, this is a must-read.