Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge Of The Sith Deluxe Edition Book Review
An anniversary worth celebrating.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of “Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge Of The Sith,” Random House Worlds is releasing a new deluxe edition of the Episode 3 novelization penned by author Matthew Stover. You all know the story of the George Lucas scripted prequel trilogy finale as it features the end of the Clone Wars, Anakin’s tragic turn into Darth Vader, the fall of the Jedi, the rise of Emperor Palpatine and the Galactic Empire, etc.
The book kicks off with an author’s note that details his meeting with George Lucas before the main event (the novel itself). This edition, however, is different in that it’s an annotated version. From start to finish, there are over 170 annotations from Stover in which he discusses his creative choices (such as the freeze-frames), influences, mythology, elements he expanded on, references to other Star Wars literature, characters (including his love of Obi-Wan), and much more. The annotations are well worth reading as it provides a lot of insight into the decisions the author made. Other new additions to this deluxe edition include a red-satin ribbon marker, a removable red belly band, a new acetate dust jacket with a foil-stamped silhouette of Darth Vader, illustrated Anakin vs. Obi-Wan hardcover art wrapped around the front and back, red foil edges with the text “This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever” draped over the pages, and a closing story (“The Sun-Dragon Crisis”) in which Stover recounts getting a call from Lucasfilm to remove dragon material. It would have been nice to perhaps get a little more content. Maybe some passages or material Stover had to edit out?
In terms of the novelization itself, it’s a respectable adaptation albeit not perfect. Some of the added dialogue can be clunky,, the added humor is dopey and it feels like Stover overexplains storylines too much. Sometimes less is more. There is some missing material (like the Battle of Kashyyyk), but there’s also a lot of material he expands upon. There’s more scenes with Count Dooku, a greater emphasis on the brotherhood between Anakin and Obi-Wan, an extended opening sequence of Palpatine’s rescue, more scenes of Palpatine manipulating Anakin, the Qui-Gon Jinn scene, etc. His writing style may not be everyone’s cup of tea as he has a tendency to disrupt the flow of the story with the character’s inner thoughts or freeze frames. Personally, it didn’t bother me too much, but it did feel like he was trying to be a bit too arty.
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