SciFi Anthology Review: From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back: https://t.co/njnsogL67L
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) January 8, 2021
Short Review: 7.5 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): The 2nd Anthology in this series, featuring 40 short stories from acclaimed SciFi/Fantasy authors tackling minor characters from The Empire Strikes Back is still a lot of fun even if it has a few more misses than the first anthology.
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) January 8, 2021
2/3
3 Years ago, Disney/Star Wars released "From a Certain Point of View", an anthology of short Star Wars fiction celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie (I reviewed it here). That anthology featured 40 of some of the most notable names in genre, from authors to comic writers to actors writing stories based upon side characters or random observers who were resent for parts of the original Star Wars, a little like the old Tales series (Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales of the Bounty Hunters etc.), although the stories were all shorter than those old ones. And it was an anthology with a bunch of clear highlights, even as it also included a number of stories that just made me shrug, so the end result was a lot of fun.
Now, this year, on the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, they repeated the feat with a new collection based on the same concept. The authors are largely different, but again consist of some of the most well regarded names in genre: Martha Wells, S.A. Chakraborty, R.F. Kuang, Mark Oshiro, Django Wexler, Daniel Jose Older, etc. etc. This is probably a weaker collection than that one, but there are still a number of pretty great stories among the 40 included here, so if you're looking for a fun nostalgic revisiting of the Star Wars of the original trilogy, you can't do wrong here.
With 40 stories included, I'm not even going to consider summarizing them all here. Like with the first book, the stories tend to fall into two categories: Stories that feature straight up the events seen in the movie just from the perspective of a side character or Stories that follow a side character during the events of the movie, even if their story only directly intersects with what we see on screen for a short time. Unlike in the old Tales anthologies, the stories never really overlap or interact with each other although there aren't any obvious inconsistencies like in the last 40th anniversary collection, which is an improvement.
Like with that last anthology, I tended to prefer the stories that featured authors trying to be more creative with what happened rather than just showing events from a different POV. Some highlights of this type include:
"Eyes of the Empire" by Kiersten White featuring a young woman who came from a family who built probe droids who enlisted with the Imperial Navy to get a chance to see what those droids actually see as they explore the galaxy...and comes to a realization as to the implications as to their sight.
CB Lee's "A Good Kiss" features a Rebel who's a total screwup and is relegated (despite his protests) to kitchen duty and more specifically carrying food and caf to Rebels on duty on Hoth - it's a story that's really well done and comes together in a really cute way.
Hank Green's "A Naturalist on Hoth" is fun as the tale of a naturalist sent by the Alliance at first to scout Hoth's lifeforms to see if they provide a boon or a hindrance for a potential base on the planet and who decides in the end he can't leave the planet with all the creatures there unexplored.
Another great standout is Django Wexler's "Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)" by Django Wexler, which is the fun look of a veteran TIE pilot and her rules for survival as they search for the Falcon in the asteroid belt, along with a bunch of newbies who obviously won't last long and her ace pilot girlfriend. It's really great.
Still, some point of view stories were also highlights; for example, Lydia Kang's "Right-Hand Man", featuring the 2-1B Medical Droid attaching Luke's prosthetic hand at the end of the movie - a droid who's well aware that healing is as much mental as physical and that accepting help is an important step in moving forward.
Another great standout is Django Wexler's "Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)" by Django Wexler, which is the fun look of a veteran TIE pilot and her rules for survival as they search for the Falcon in the asteroid belt, along with a bunch of newbies who obviously won't last long and her ace pilot girlfriend. It's really great.
Still, some point of view stories were also highlights; for example, Lydia Kang's "Right-Hand Man", featuring the 2-1B Medical Droid attaching Luke's prosthetic hand at the end of the movie - a droid who's well aware that healing is as much mental as physical and that accepting help is an important step in moving forward.
Another 2nd winner of this type is "There is Always Another" featuring a dead Obi-Wan's views on Luke and Yoda as Luke prepares to leave Dagobah against their advice, to Obi-Wan's exasperation.
The above six stories are not the only fun ones in here, and there are a bunch of other stories I won't name that are also pretty enjoyable (the Wedge Antilles one is basically a love letter to the old X-Wing stories for example). There are also a few stories that will make you shout "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS" and a few that just don't seem to have much point. Like its predecessor, this collection seems to achieve its highlights in part from quantity rather than a focus on quality, and some of the subjects written about by authors I've loved from elsewhere don't always seem like the best use of their talents. But again there's enough highlights in the stories I've outlined above and many others I've not listed, to make this a fun enjoyable read for any Star Wars fan. Which I am, so yeah this was a blast to read over the course of a week.
The above six stories are not the only fun ones in here, and there are a bunch of other stories I won't name that are also pretty enjoyable (the Wedge Antilles one is basically a love letter to the old X-Wing stories for example). There are also a few stories that will make you shout "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS" and a few that just don't seem to have much point. Like its predecessor, this collection seems to achieve its highlights in part from quantity rather than a focus on quality, and some of the subjects written about by authors I've loved from elsewhere don't always seem like the best use of their talents. But again there's enough highlights in the stories I've outlined above and many others I've not listed, to make this a fun enjoyable read for any Star Wars fan. Which I am, so yeah this was a blast to read over the course of a week.
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