Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Studio Fun International) by Ryder Windham
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Studio Fun International) written by Ryder Windham, illustrated by Brian Rood
Another absolutely gorgeous rendition of an OT favorite. But unlike the A New Hope book that I reviewed yesterday, this one skipped quite a bit of important dialogue and important moments. Now, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt since Empire Strikes Back is an inherently more complicated movie than A New Hope so there's a lot more to cover and Empire Strikes Back skips around between different storylines quite a bit more than A New Hope. So, I get it. But leaving out "I thought they smelled bad...on the outside" and "No, there is another" is criminal in my book! A couple of times the narrative would say, "a short time later" or something similar in order to skip over these parts when it wasn't always necessarily a short time. Another part I'm saddened was cut short is the introduction of Yoda of all things! His funny antics with Luke before mentioning the name Yoda are not included at all, and then his reluctance to take on Luke as a pupil is barely included. Both I think are super important to fleshing out the Jedi's personality.
But listen to me, I'm overly critiquing a children's book!! Obviously, I need to give it some leeway since as it stands, this one took longer to read than the A New Hope book anyway, probably more like 20-25 minutes. There's just so much going on! Which is one of the beauties of Empire Strikes Back as a movie when in comparison with A New Hope.
On a funny note, Ryder Windham must really like Boba Fett because not only does he feature prominently on the cover (although I realize this was probably a Lucasfilm Publishing decision), he also writes in the narrative, "They were bounty hunters, including the bounty hunter who was widely regarded as the most dangerous of all: Boba Fett." even while Bossk is the most prominent in the image. See below.
As for the artwork, it is simply beautiful and Brian Rood is a freaking master! As was done in the A New Hope book, it stays away from the gorier bits--in that book, Ponda Baba getting his arm cut off, although the narrative does mention this happens. In this book, we don't see the Wampa get his arm cut off or Luke get his cut off, but again both are mentioned in the narrative. But it doesn't stay away from all things scary because the Wampa is one fierce looking creature!! See below. Also below, see a painting of Luke's helmet as he sits in his snowspeeder--I never thought a helmet could look so darn artful!
But listen to me, I'm overly critiquing a children's book!! Obviously, I need to give it some leeway since as it stands, this one took longer to read than the A New Hope book anyway, probably more like 20-25 minutes. There's just so much going on! Which is one of the beauties of Empire Strikes Back as a movie when in comparison with A New Hope.
On a funny note, Ryder Windham must really like Boba Fett because not only does he feature prominently on the cover (although I realize this was probably a Lucasfilm Publishing decision), he also writes in the narrative, "They were bounty hunters, including the bounty hunter who was widely regarded as the most dangerous of all: Boba Fett." even while Bossk is the most prominent in the image. See below.
As for the artwork, it is simply beautiful and Brian Rood is a freaking master! As was done in the A New Hope book, it stays away from the gorier bits--in that book, Ponda Baba getting his arm cut off, although the narrative does mention this happens. In this book, we don't see the Wampa get his arm cut off or Luke get his cut off, but again both are mentioned in the narrative. But it doesn't stay away from all things scary because the Wampa is one fierce looking creature!! See below. Also below, see a painting of Luke's helmet as he sits in his snowspeeder--I never thought a helmet could look so darn artful!
Despite my maligning the many missed opportunities for including some great story beats, this was still a vastly enjoyable read and the artwork is insanely engaging. I definitely recommend it as a bedtime story, again if your little one can stay awake for 20-25 minutes. Regardless, I am certainly glad this exists because the holographic-shiny cover with the round cut out revealing a pair of AT-ATs on the page below, as well as the gorgeous artwork within is something I am super happy to own!
Tomorrow I will be reviewing the Return of the Jedi book in this series!
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