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mbenzz's review against another edition
5.0
As a huge fan of Star Wars, I really enjoyed this book. Sure, it's geared more towards kids, but adults will find it to be a decent read as well. This book tells us a little about what it was like for Luke growing up on Tatooine. We first see him as a 4-year-old little boy who, even at that age, could sense the presence of others. Ben Kanobi hadn't made himself to known to Luke at that age, but he did watch over the boy everywhere he went, and Luke felt it.
The next time we see him he's a 7-year-old boy curious about life beyond his desert planet. He and his Uncle Owen clash often...Owen doesn't understand why Luke isn't more careful, and Luke doesn't understand why he and his Aunt Beru won't tell him anything about his father, or why Ben Kenobi is completely off-limits.
From there we jump to Luke's 13th year, and we stick around the teenage years much longer. How he amuses himself with his friends, the trouble he gets into with one friend, in particular, having to say goodbye to his best friend (and others) who go off to join the Academy while Luke is stuck on his farm, and what happened the day before his uncle bought those famous droids (this was a scene that was cut from the movie, but you can find it on YouTube).
After that, there are a couple of chapters dedicated to various missions after the Battle of Yavin. Luke is still very young and unskilled with his new Jedi powers, but he's a fast learner. He gets himself into dangerous situations but always manages to come out in one piece (with the help of his friends and droids).
Overall, a great book. Especially for children (or adults) who are fans of the original movies and want to know some background about their favorite Jedi. It's well written and a quick read...glad I picked it up.
The next time we see him he's a 7-year-old boy curious about life beyond his desert planet. He and his Uncle Owen clash often...Owen doesn't understand why Luke isn't more careful, and Luke doesn't understand why he and his Aunt Beru won't tell him anything about his father, or why Ben Kenobi is completely off-limits.
From there we jump to Luke's 13th year, and we stick around the teenage years much longer. How he amuses himself with his friends, the trouble he gets into with one friend, in particular, having to say goodbye to his best friend (and others) who go off to join the Academy while Luke is stuck on his farm, and what happened the day before his uncle bought those famous droids (this was a scene that was cut from the movie, but you can find it on YouTube).
After that, there are a couple of chapters dedicated to various missions after the Battle of Yavin. Luke is still very young and unskilled with his new Jedi powers, but he's a fast learner. He gets himself into dangerous situations but always manages to come out in one piece (with the help of his friends and droids).
Overall, a great book. Especially for children (or adults) who are fans of the original movies and want to know some background about their favorite Jedi. It's well written and a quick read...glad I picked it up.
jtashoff's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
ahchtoisland's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
stormblessed4's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
thesupermassive's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
verkisto's review against another edition
2.0
When I set out on this Star Wars reading project, I decided against including all of the novelizations of other works, save for the adult novelizations of the movies. It cut out a lot of the juvenile books, since most of them were retellings of even the adult novels, but it appears that a few of them squeezed through the cracks. Ryder Windham's biographies of the characters are a few of those.
For the most part, the books have been entertaining, and in some ways even enlightening (it's nice to get Obi-Wan's viewpoint when he first talks to Luke about Anakin and Darth Vader in The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi), but they've been a collection of details from other works. The Life of Luke Skywalker collects dialogue and scenes from Star Wars, the radio plays, some comics, and even a novel from the Legends Expanded Universe, so very little of the content is original. Windham borrows from these sources to build a single story of Luke, but what he chooses to include and exclude seems odd. The largest details are left out (those from Episodes IV - VI), and some scenes are hastened through, as if he were trying to cram as much as possible into the story. As a result, the story doesn't feel cohesive, or even complete.
This is the last of the biographies written by Windham, the others being about Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul (no love for Leia there, I guess), but none of them have felt necessary. With the earlier books, I thought they would serve a purpose as an introduction into the larger works, but now that I've read one where I don't know some of the details Windham covers, I can see that it only causes confusion. I'd skip over these if I were to do this project over again.
For the most part, the books have been entertaining, and in some ways even enlightening (it's nice to get Obi-Wan's viewpoint when he first talks to Luke about Anakin and Darth Vader in The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi), but they've been a collection of details from other works. The Life of Luke Skywalker collects dialogue and scenes from Star Wars, the radio plays, some comics, and even a novel from the Legends Expanded Universe, so very little of the content is original. Windham borrows from these sources to build a single story of Luke, but what he chooses to include and exclude seems odd. The largest details are left out (those from Episodes IV - VI), and some scenes are hastened through, as if he were trying to cram as much as possible into the story. As a result, the story doesn't feel cohesive, or even complete.
This is the last of the biographies written by Windham, the others being about Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul (no love for Leia there, I guess), but none of them have felt necessary. With the earlier books, I thought they would serve a purpose as an introduction into the larger works, but now that I've read one where I don't know some of the details Windham covers, I can see that it only causes confusion. I'd skip over these if I were to do this project over again.
emrsalgado's review against another edition
5.0
I now know all kinds of things I never suspected about Luke Skywalker, as my son continues to share all the information he learned from this book, which he loved, and read in 3 days.
furby_snake's review against another edition
3.0
I had a ton of fun reading this but some bits were meh enough to warrant the three stars. Good backstory for Luke and very neat trip to Tatooine, both literal and down the memory lane. I do recommend it, it’s very short and sweet and angsty.
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