Saturday, March 26, 2016

So You Want to Be a Jedi? by Adam Gidwitz


Adam Gidwitz (author of the Grimm series) retells the story of The Empire Strikes Back. Gidwitz likens Star Wars to fairy tales in that it takes old stories and makes them new again. He also believes the hero of a fairy tale is “empty” so that the reader can more readily put themselves in the hero’s place. This is why, according to Gidwitz, Luke Skywalker is perceived as bland when compared to someone like Han Solo. Gidwitz thus places the reader in Luke’s place by referring to Luke as “You” and giving the reader insight into Luke’s thoughts and feelings. The other characters are presented in traditional storytelling manner. Interspersed throughout the story are “Jedi lessons”: basic breathing and meditation exercises along with stories and instruction about viewing the world as a Jedi. It is an interesting and unique way to retell the story. Gidwitz does a pretty god job in carrying it off. However, it does come across as clunky at times and sometimes prevents the story from flowing as well as it could. Overall, it is a good book and worth the time of any Star Wars fans. Younger readers will get the most out of it as will older fans with a sense of humor and willing to read a different style of Star Wars story.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Princess, the Scoundrel and the Farm Boy, by Alexandra Bracken or Beware the Power of the Dark Side!, by Tom Angleberger]

[ official StarWars.com web site ] | [ official Adam Gidwitz web site ]

Check out more Star Wars fiction in our Star Wars: The Reading List booklist on BookGuide!

Recommended by Corey G.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

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