From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars) Hardcover – November 10, 2020

Like its predecessor, “Star Wars – From A Certain Point of View,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – From A Certain Point of View” collects short stories from 40 different authors telling the story of “Episode V” of the Skywalker Saga from the perspective of those adjacent to the main action. This volume draws upon the talents of Tom Angleberger, Sarwat Chadda, S.A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Katie Cook, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Tracy Deonn, Seth Dickinson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Christie Golden, Hank Green, Rob Hart, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R.F. Kuang, C.B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Mark Oshiro, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Austin Walker, Martha Wells, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, and Jim Zub.While the story follows basic plot of “The Empire Strikes Back,” it uses the adjacent stories to help incorporate elements from subsequent films, television series, and canon novels. For example, Amy Ratcliffe’s story “Heroes of the Rebellion” discusses the importance of Jyn Erso and her band’s sacrifice following the events of “Rogue One,” which Gary Whitta continues in his story “Rogue Two.” Jason Fry’s “Rendezvous Point” references the episode “The Antilles Extraction” of “Star Wars: Rebels,” discussing how Sabine Wren helped Wedge Antilles and Hobbie Klivian defect from Skystrike Academy. Further, the tone of Fry’s story evokes the Rogue Squadron novels from before the Disney acquisition. Both Seth Dickinson’s “The Final Order” and John Jackson Miller’s “Lord Vader Will See You Now” reference or involve Rae Sloane, who first appeared in the novel “A New Dawn” and has gone on to appear in several subsequent novels and comic books. Dickinson similarly explains the Hoth system’s chaotic asteroid field as the result of the planetary system being in an early stage of formation (pg. 194), thereby responding to astrophysicists’ criticisms that the asteroid field is unrealistic. Tracy Deonn’s story “Vergence” gives the cave on Dagobah a backstory while depicting Yoda’s reckoning with his failures, from Dooku leaving the Jedi Order to become a Sith, to the Jedi Order’s role in the Clone Wars, to Ahsoka’s decision to leave the Order after being falsely accused of a crime she did not commit. Michael Kogge, Daniel José Older, Zoraida Córdova, and Austin Walker’s stories focus on the bounty hunters Darth Vader summoned to track the “Millennium Falcon.” In their way, these resemble the 1996 Bantam anthology, “Tales of the Bounty Hunters.” Additionally, Córdova’s “Wait for It” references material from the sixth issue of Marvel’s ongoing “Darth Vader” as well as episodes of “The Clone Wars” including “Death Trap,” “Lethal Trackdown,” “Deception,” and “Bounty.”Katie Cook’s story, “The Dragonsnake Saves R2,” is the most original in this collection, being a one-page comic strip from the perspective of the creature that tried to eat R2-D2 on Dagobah. Cavan Scott’s “Fake It Till You Make It” features Jaxxon T. Tumperakki, the green space-rabbit who first appeared in issue no. 8 of Marvel Comics’ “Star Wars” title in 1977 and who re-entered the canon with IDW’s “Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018.” While some view Jaxxon as emblematic of the silliness and excess of the old Expanded Universe, I’ve always found him fun and “Fake It Till You Make It” was an enjoyable addition to the canon. Scott’s story is the first prose narrative featuring the character. Alexander Freed’s story, “The Man Who Built Cloud City,” evokes the real-life exploits of Emperor Norton I of San Francisco. Emperor Norton is exactly the kind of person who would fit in well in the “Star Wars” galaxy and Freed’s story works to great effect. “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – From A Certain Point of View” follows in the style of its predecessor, offering entertaining alternative perspectives of the major events of “Episode V” along with some nice deep-references for the fans.

This was a great book. Having read the New Hope version, I was looking forward to this book. I liked the different point views. Telling the whole movie this way is like the Japanese movie Rashomon. Not everyone’s view of certain events in the movie are a like. The book had funny stories, sad stories, romantic stories, terrifying stories. This book had everything. Will get the a return of the Jedi version soon.

I picked this book up on sale after having read the first one. I like some of the stories in the book as they expand on scenes or situations from the movie. Others I felt were good stories but not ones I would have read otherwise. Good book and I recommend to any empire strikes back fan.

Purchased this for my son! He loves it!

I was a big fan of the original book, though it took me some time to get interested in reading them. A great anthology for those who love to read but can get lost in reading long scale stories. These chapters put you in the eyes of the little people in Star Wars. And I can't wait until 2023 for the inevitable 40th Anniversary for Return of the Jedi's Certain Point is released!

Great gift

I love, love, love this series. “Behind the scenes” stories told from the point of view of innocent bystanders, lookers on and the occasional slightly-more-intelligent-than-we-thought alien animals.You know, one of those extras in the background in Cloud City. Or a less-than-enthusiastic Storm Trooper. Or the next in command to the guy who was just force choked.I bought this and the previous book in the series on both Kindle and Audible, but from here on in I’ll just get the Audible versions fir the sound effects and dramatic readings.

These books are so fun to read. The stories told from these other "points of view" are fascinating. I can just "see" the characters in my mind (from the movie scene(s) they were in) like the guy who walks between Han and Leia when they're arguing in the corridor as I read their stories. Fun read for any Star Wars fan who cares about the backstories.

The book is beautiful and has some really good stories.It arrived well within the estimated time.Its cover is really flimsy, not even the average paperback. It should tear so easily. I beg you to buy the hardcover if possible, I regret not choosing this one, which is my one but strong regret regarding the purchase.

Star Wars From a certain point of view is a great book series for those who want to dive into the Star Wars lore. Unfortunantly the stories were not as good and fun as in the previous book. Also the pages rip appart too easely, what anoyes me. Overall I think it's good book, but it could be better.

Just great stories.

Excelente, me encantó

This is similar to the earlier book, with a similarly mixed bag of stories. My favourite has to be "Amara Kel's Rules For TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)" - just the 'Probably' tag had me chuckling. The writer's drawing an interesting parallel between Imperial and Rebel pilots that's reminiscent of the sort-of camaraderie between British and German troops in the trenches in WW1: there's banter between the TIE pilots just as there would be between Rebel pilots, such as:Dawn: *What, exactly, are we supposed to be tracking down out here?"Clipper: "A modified YT-1300 light freighter." [the Falcon, of course]Dawn: "Yeah, I read the mission brief. But why have we got half the fleet chasing after one busted old freighter?"Amara thinks to herself: It's a reasonable question. But this is the Imperial Navy, we don't do reasonable questions.But Howl comes up with the only safe, sensible answer: "Ask Lord Vader. But be ready for a real short conversation."You get the idea. :)I also like Amara's analysis of the pros and cons of the standard TIE: yes, it has no shields, barely any armour, not much firepower compared to, say, an X-Wing, and it's not exactly sturdy - BUT it is VERY manoeuvrable, highly responsive, able to make much tighter turns than any Rebel starfighter (except possibly the A-Wing), and it's FAST, with power to spare, so with a good pilot in there it's a formidable fighter.Based on their world-weary attitude duty-wise (while still being loyal to the Empire, let's have no doubt about that!), Amara and TD-110 (see "Bump" in "From A Certain Point Of View") would doubtless have got on famously...if he hadn't been blown to bits when the Death Star went up. :)All in all, an enjoyable read. I'm hoping now for a third Jedi-based set of stories.