I’ve been meaning to get my hands on this book for a while, as it is a collection of short stories set around the end of Rogue One and continuing to the end of A New Hope. A lot of the material is familiar to a die-hard Star Wars fan, and the stories themselves are quite enjoyable. This book is billed on the cover as “40 Stories Celebrating 40 Years of Star Wars”.
There is quite the collection of authors that worked on this project including(in no particular order) Kieron Gillen, Chuck Wendig, Wil Wheaton, Charles Soule, Christie Golden, E.K. Johnston, and many more. Most of these are authors that have a history writing with the Star Wars Universe, from novels to comics. Each brings a unique voice to their stories, and makes for a very enjoyable anthology.
Stories range from quirky to heartfelt to action packed.
Chuck Wendig contributes a fun story titled ‘We Don’t Serve Their Kind Here’, telling the tale of the famous cantina scene from the viewpoint of the bartender
Wil Wheaton tells a tale of a rebel soldier that has sent his daughter away to safety to live with her aunts shortly before the battle of Yavin in ‘Laina’. This one tugs the heartstrings. Be warned!
Meg Cabot wrote ‘Beru Whitesun Lars’, in which Aunt Beru talks of raising Luke and how proud she is of him.
There are several more, but these are the ones that grabbed me the most. In all, it was a very enjoyable read. It gave some real fun perspectives to several scenes from the Episode 4, including several about the Battle of Yavin. If you’re a Porkins fan, he does get his moment in the sun!
If you’re a Star Wars fan this book is a must read, and if you’re into Sci-Fi or anything fiction set in space, you’ll likely enjoy these engaging stories too.
Try not to Roll a 1 