Tuesday, December 31, 2013

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher (Book Review)

William Shakespeare's Star Wars
by Ian Doescher

169 pages
Quirk Books, 2013
Play in V Acts
Read in 3 days

Rating: ★★★★

"C-3PO: Now is the summer of our happiness"

Review: The time has come for the 3rd Edition of Pinky and the Brain collaborating yet again on another great read! This was was MUCH more fun than the last two books, and how could it NOT be?! I mean, putting Shakespeare and Star Wars together has GOT to be fun at some point, right?

I think it's fair to say Alaina of That's What She Read and myself took MUCH longer than we should have to read this but she was busy working and I was busy not working yet being very sick and our schedules never really meshed even AFTER we both finally finished the book to actually collaboratively review the book together like we always do so ANYWAY...

First things first. This was written in classic Shakespearean Iambic Pentameter. Don't know what that is? FOR SHAME! Go look it up before you read any further! Now, as for the rest of you smart thespians ;-)

We got the ball really rolling when discussing which character we liked best as well as which soliloquy we liked as well. For characters I felt Darth Vader's was the best because I was able to see a side of him through reading his innermost thoughts that I could never really see in the movies. Alaina seems to have quite the crush on Han Solo? Or maybe I was reading too into her answer? She could just have a thing for Harrison Ford? ;-)


If you've ever seen the movies (and I'd wager there are less that haven't seen this movie, especially now that Alaina has joined the ranks with the rest of us!) then as you read this book you'll find yourself picturing the cast and the sequence of events happening simultaneously. The movie and the book hardly differ except for the way in which they speak.

I do appreciate that the author didn't "dumb down" the Shakespearean language for the readers and kept it as true to form as if Shakespeare had written this saga himself.

And even though she fancies herself as Pinky in our duo I must say that of the two of us, she brings about the most incite into the books we read.

She goes on to say...

We then got into a bit of an argument about actually putting this production on. Apparently Alaina will need more than just duct tape to create all the props and sets for this! BOO!! I still think we could do it!

And, seeing as this book is under 170 pages I don't see what more I can say about how great this book is...well...perhaps...


Summary: Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

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