A review by fandom4ever
Return of the Jedi: Star Wars: Episode VI by James Kahn

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It must be of his own free will, else all was lost. A spirit could not be coerced into corruption, it had to be seduced. It had to participate actively. It had to crave. Luke Skywalker knew these things, and still he circled the black fire, like a cat. 

 

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is the novelization of the movie. It does a good job of going into greater depth in many areas and I liked that there was more to convincing the Ewoks to help them than simply telling them their story through C-3P0. The best parts of this novel are the conversation between Luke and Leia, where he reveals that they are related, and the moments of Luke, Vader, and the Emperor aboard the Death Star. These sections delve even further into the emotion and thought of these characters during these instances. There are greater moments of speech and, as we’re in a novel, a greater look at the thoughts going through everyone’s heads during these confrontations.

The big negative of this book is that for some reason, either being told to do so or never being told to correct it, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and the other alien species have their beeps, growls, and words written out in phonetical spelling. This has never happened before or after, the writing is nonsense, I can’t understand it. Why did Kahn not just say Artoo beeped, Chewie growled? The weirdest part is that sometimes he does do that. You’ll just end up glazing over those parts. 

Overall though, this is a solid telling of Return of the Jedi and I would recommend it when doing a reading of the movies.