Books From a Certain Point of View, [A New Hope] 40th anniversary anthology novel (#OperationBlueMilk)

That it's yet another retelling of A New Hope.

 

I'm kind of actually wanting future lottery numbers from people now, such is their certainty that this'll be rubbish I'm suspecting they've a covert TARDIS they've been using.

 

Seems like a bit of a misunderstanding then. As I said, I was not "complaining" about the existence of MG/YA novels, nor was I implying that they are somehow taking the place of adult novels. I am simply expressing the disappointment one might feel when a novel is announced and one gets their hopes up but it turns out to be a MG/YA book that one is much less likely to enjoy.

 

See, 3 years back EH I'd have likely been thinking the same way - why are they doing all these YA books? Lost Stars? Sounds like a crappy romance book, oh,sounds like it will be too!

Yet, at the same time, one of the authors on one of those YA books was Greg Rucka, whose work I've read and enjoyed a lot of. Another was Jason Fry, whose work I'd read in the Essential Atlas and Guide to Warfare. If these guys are doing a book, I ought to consider that my inclination to avoid the books was in error. (If we go by the Thrawnian distinction of error and mistake.)

The result was a set of stories that, in comparative terms, smacked the crap out of Aftermath, the 'adult' novel that came out at the same time. I enjoyed Aftermath sure, but I enjoyed Smuggler's Run, Weapon of a Jedi, Moving Target and Lost Stars far more.

So as a result of that experience I've concluded the age rating on books is mostly meaningless now.

 

I don't know if anyone else has noticed it but I think it's kind of interesting that the title of this book is based on a quote from not ANH but ROTJ

 

Considering Lost Stars was one of the best Star Wars books ever...

 

I found it very predictable and lacking any real depth. I didn't hate it but didn't really like it either. Much preferred Bloodline.

 

This book IS a retelling of ANH

Spoiler

From A Certain Point Of View!

 

It's pretty much Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina but instead of just being about the cantina, we will likely get:

The boarding of Tantive IV
The capture of the droids by the Jawas
The search by Sandtroopers
The meeting on the Death Star
The deaths of the Larses
Going to see Leia
Outside the Cantina
Inside the Cantina
At Spaceport Speeders
Alderaan before destruction
Escape from the Death Star
Yavin briefing
Battle of Yavin
Ceremony

 

My only super mild issue with this book is that they don't have a short Tarkin-based story by Luceno, following up on his Tarkin novel and Rogue One. But I imagine the reason is that Tarkin's been too popular lately, so he's not the type of minor character they're looking for.

 

I can imagine a Motti short story where it reveals that prior to the death star explosion he'd planted a bomb on Vader's Tie Fighter as revenge for showing him up in the meeting. Just as Motti's about to press the detonator during the battle of Yavin....

Motti: Goodbye Vader I found your lack of perceptiveness disturbing!
(Death Star Explodes)

The End

 

I'm hoping that the Death Star conference room scene is shown through the eyes of High General Trech Molock, the random background character with the least fleshing out. As it transpires, he's the smartest person in the room, with his inner monologue showing how perceptive he is, but every time he tries to open his mouth he gets interrupted by something: Motti and Tagge bickering again, Tarkin showing up and announcing the premature and foolish dissolution of the Imperial Senate, Vader unsurprisingly choking Motti for running his mouth off, etc. While all this pointless background noise is going on, his mind starts to wander and he thinks back to all the incredible things he did throughout his career to end up there near the pinnacle of Imperial power, only to find himself fading into the background because he's surrounded by extremely vocal idiots. His only line, if you can even call it that, is an exasperated sigh when the meeting is dismissed before he gets the chance to pipe up and say something, anything interesting that sets him apart from all the others.

 

No-one wanting the Conference Room scene from Yularen's POV. Obvious choice in my opinion, since we never see inside his head post-Clone Wars

 

Yes, this is a retelling - but once you see the full story list I think you'll see that we aren't being militant about actually retelling 100% of the film. We are not lining up all the stories and ensuring that every second of film time is actually represented in the book somewhere. Certainly, as you read you'll always know where in the film you are, but that's not THE point of the book.

And while looking at TALES FROM THE books as reference is good, again, I wouldn't hold so fast to the notion that we are doing exactly those stories or that setup again. This book is definitely different.

 

Hope this format ends up becoming a series.

Imagine an "certain point of view book" for EVERY star wars film (including Rogue One)

 

Ah... so we're back to making digs at people who aren't excited for the book? Well, that didn't last very long.

 

Ohhhh I get it. Due to the success of Ian Doescher's Star Wars Shakespeare, this is a screenplay for a musical in the vein of Cats, where all 40 characters come out and sing a piece written by each of the authors.

 

IT WAS A ****IN' JOKE!

Over 10 years of talking SW and getting on just fine and you decide to do this kind of crap with me Jeff? I expected better of you. Oh and clearly I ought to plaster every one-liner with emojis.

 

Apologies, then. I read it as a passive-aggressive dig, but if it was meant to be light-hearted then that's my mistake. Carry on.

Also, has it really been more than ten years? Damn. Every year I tell myself I'm going to stop posting here, but every year I realize that I have nothing better to do with my time.

 

Thanks Jeff, it was absolutely light-hearted in intent. I did really consider it to be quite obvious, I'm not any good at stuff like passive-aggressive, well I don't think I am... I'll also admit to being bloody tired and cranky today so yeah, my response to you probably looks harsher.

As to the years, well, your start date is 2006 so....

I'll throw in I don't mind people not being excited for this, it's writing it off completely at the point of announcement that comes across as bad form to me. Someone's got 40 authors on-board for the 40th anniversary of ANH, a big announcement is done and it gets met with 'it'll be crap', doesn't seem fair.