Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith 9 Days and Counting
Warning:Spoilers
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith the novel released before the film opening on May 19th has given fans a sneak peak at the highly anticipated final chapter in George Lucas’ Star Wars saga. Written by a relatively unknown writer Mathew Woodring Stover, the adaptation of the script to novel was well executed. The book provides a number of insights into the characters along with interesting explanations that could only be accomplished in a novel.
Writing an adaptation takes some skill and a certain amount of imagination to breath life into a story and its characters with only the script. Scripts have a few notations about a given scene but are exclusively about dialogue. And while Lucas is a gifted visual storyteller he is not as well versed in delivering the strongest character performances from his actors. Novels are an entirely different breed of storytelling and one that requires a firmer hand in underlying motivations and emotions of characters.
There are a number of scenes in the book that have been cut from the final theatrical release of the film. Additions to the storyline and some things that was just nice to see in the story. Completing the story arch for Anakin is a given and the main point of Revenge of the Sith. However, it was nice to also see Obi-Wan, Yoda and the Skywalker twins given the same attention.
The biggest revelation that I enjoyed was the explanation of why no other Jedi except Obi-Wan and Yoda vanish when they die. The connection back to Qui-Gon and the idea that Yoda is now a student of his in the afterlife makes for an interesting twist.
This is one of the few adaptations from a film that I would recommend reading even if you’ve seen the movie. Typically after you’ve seen the theatrical release there is little in the book that wasn’t in the film. For fans of the Star Wars universe Revenge of the Sith, the novel is worth reading.
An extra note, I know that Mr. Stover has written a handful of books three of which are in the Star Wars universe, he has yet to make a real mark in the literary world. Few had heard of him before his work on Star Wars. Though I would say that writing the Revenge of the Sith novel will definitely help propel him in notoriety.
