From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi (Star Wars)

By: Olivie Blake, Saladin Ahmed, Charlie Jane Anders, Fran Wilde, Mary Kenney, Mike Chen

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Jon Hamm, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Adam Scott, Marc Thompson, Sam Witwer, Various

Celebrate the lasting impact of Return of the Jedi with this exciting reimagining of the timeless Star Wars film featuring new perspectives from forty contributors.

On May 25, 1983, Star Wars cemented its legacy as the greatest movie franchise of all time with the release of Return of the Jedi. In honor of its fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from Return of the Jedi through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists:

• Olivie Blake provides a chilling glimpse into the mind of Emperor Palpatine.

• Saladin Ahmed recounts the tragic history of the rancor trainer.

• Charlie Jane Anders explores the life and times of the Sarlacc.

• Fran Wilde reveals Mon Mothma’s secret mission to save the Rebel Alliance.

• Mary Kenney chronicles Wicket the Ewok’s quest for one quiet day on the forest moon of Endor.

• Anakin Skywalker becomes one with the Force in a gripping tale by Mike Chen.

Plus more hilarious, heartbreaking, and astonishing tales from:

Tom Angleberger, K Arsenault Rivera, Kristin Baver, Akemi Dawn Bowman, Emma Mieko Candon, Olivia Chadha, Gloria Chao, Adam Christopher, Paul Crilley, Amal El-Mohtar, M. K. England, Jason Fry, Adam Lance Garcia, Lamar Giles, Max Gladstone, Thea Guanzon, Ali Hazelwood, Patricia A. Jackson, Alex Jennings, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Sarah Kuhn, Danny Lore, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Kwame Mbalia, Marieke Nijkamp, Danielle Paige, Laura Pohl, Dana Schwartz, Tara Sim, Phil Szostak, Suzanne Walker, Hannah Whitten, Sean Williams, Alyssa Wong

To celebrate the launch of this book, Penguin Random House and Disney/Lucasfilm will each make donations to First Book—a leading nonprofit that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to educators and organizations serving children in need. In recognition of both companies’ longstanding relationships with First Book, Penguin Random House will donate at least $100,000 worth of books to First Book and Disney/Lucasfilm will donate 100,000 children’s books to support First Book and their mission of providing equal access to quality education.

Narrated by a full cast, including: Daniel Davis, Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin, Nika Futterman, Jon Hamm, David Lee Huynh, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Brandon McInnis, Euan Morton, John Pirkis, Adam Scott, Kristen Sieh, Marc Thompson, Shannon Tyo, and Sam Witwer

©2023 Olivie Blake, Saladin Ahmed, Charlie Jane Anders, Fran Wilde, Mary Kenney, Mike Chen (P)2023 Random House Audio

Fantastic!

All the performers do amazing as always; especially Jonathan Davis and Marc Thompson. Hopefully they do the prequels! 2/3 of the stories were good but I ended up skipping a few due to lack of interest and not being very engaging.

Fun!

This was much better as an audio book. All the actors were great and there were some fun and emotional stories.

Never disappoints

As per the usually, this book was highly anticipated and as per the usual definitely did not disappoint!

Impressive…Most impressive

Return of the Jedi has been my favorite film (period!) since I was a youngling. My mother is also a super fan.

This was flat-out EXCELLENT! Seeing the detailed stories of minor characters (and some MAJOR ones too!) was very interesting. The context given to seemingly trivial events and people made me feel like I saw it for the first time again.

I recommend this book to any Star Wars fan. You will enjoy it…it is your DESTINY!

Fun short stories

Love the backstories for each character thats in the background and learn more about the galaxy. I was surprised with Jon Hamm reading boba fetts story which was fun.

Fun Story

Love the idea of being the reader new perspectives of beloved stories. Well worth the time to read/listen.

Great story

What. Great story. I enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it for any Star Wars fans out there.

The Panderverse is real

Good stories, but every romance that wasn’t established in the movie is of the LGBTQ type. Other then that I loved seeing storm troopers, and other baddies done with some humanity.

Enjoyed very much

narrators, stories awesome and funny, and I loved it from beginning to end. There were a few I really did like.

Love to the Ewoks.

There were lots of great stories. Unlike The Empire Strikes Back where I thought some 1-2 star stories should have been swapped for other POVs, I didn’t feel that way here. The stories felt more balanced. There were only two stories that I felt were 2 stars. I had many 5 to 4 star stories on my list. I especially liked the Ewok stories. My absolute favorite story is "Brotherhood" by Mike Chen.

What was interesting is that Jason Fry said that these books are called From a Certain Point of View for a reason. If the stories don't match up, don't analyze it too much. Some narrators are unreliable. Which is funny because I mentioned for my ANH review the authors didn't communicate about continuity and I thought for ESB they did. I didn't notice inconsistencies in RotJ.

4.5 out of 5 Second Death Stars.

Thoughts on the narrators:

Sam Witwer was great at Sidious and I don't know how he didn't ruin his vocal cords.

The narrator for "My Mouth Never Closes" had the Sarlacc sound like a surfer dude and it was so funny. He was also a vegetarian and didn't like people falling down his mouth.

"When Fire Marked the Sky" - great Lando voice.