From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars)

By: Seth Dickinson, Hank Green, R. F. Kuang, Martha Wells, Kiersten White

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Dion Graham, Jon Hamm, January LaVoy, Soneela Nankani, Marc Thompson, Sam Witwer, Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 17 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

Celebrate the legacy of The Empire Strikes Back with this exciting reimagining of the timeless film featuring new perspectives from 40 acclaimed authors. 

On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the 40th anniversary, 40 storytellers recreate an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains, to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by best-selling authors and trendsetting artists: 

• Austin Walker explores the unlikely partnership of bounty hunters Dengar and IG-88 as they pursue Han Solo.
• Hank Green chronicles the life of a naturalist caring for tauntauns on the frozen world of Hoth.
• Tracy Deonn delves into the dark heart of the Dagobah cave where Luke confronts a terrifying vision.
• Martha Wells reveals the world of the Ugnaught clans who dwell in the depths of Cloud City. 
• Mark Oshiro recounts the wampa’s tragic tale of loss and survival.
• Seth Dickinson interrogates the cost of serving a ruthless empire aboard the bridge of a doomed Imperial starship. 

Plus more hilarious, heartbreaking, and astonishing tales from:

Tom Angleberger, S.A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, E. K. Johnston, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R.F. Kuang, C.B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, Jim Zub  

All participating authors have generously forgone any compensation for their stories. Instead, their proceeds will be donated to First Book - a leading nonprofit that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to educators and organizations serving children in need. To further celebrate the launch of this book and both companies’ longstanding relationships with First Book, Penguin Random House will donate $100,000 to First Book, and Disney/Lucasfilm will donate 100,000 children’s books - valued at $1,000,000 - to support First Book and their mission of providing equal access to quality education.

Read by Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Dion Graham, Jon Hamm, January LaVoy, Soneela Nankani, Marc Thompson, Sam Witwer, and Emily Woo Zeller. 

©2020 Ballantine (P)2020 Random House Audio

The “scum and villainy” a highlight

A few years ago a Star Wars anthology novel called “From A Certain Point Of View” was released. Each segment detailed the stories and perspectives of background characters as well as old favorites as they passed in and out of the narrative of Star Wars: A New Hope. We got to learn things like how the band in the Mos Eisley cantina got their gig, why Greedo was so eager to kill and not capture Han, and even what it was like to be an imperial on the Death Star during its final moments. FACPOV had some misses to be sure, but on the whole it was a really fun and immersive deep dive into the world of A New Hope.
At long last we’ve been given the sequel novel and much like the original trilogy films I found The Empire Strikes back to be the superior entry. Where FACPOV: ANH was good this anthology is great. Nearly every story works and adds that little something extra to what I think is the best Star Wars film ever made. In all honesty however, I don’t think this is necessarily written for the casual Star Wars fan. You’ll need to be pretty familiar with the heroes, villains, rogues, scoundrels, and creatures of the Star Wars universe to get the most out of it.
These are really interesting stories that run the gamut from fun and frivolous to action-heavy and dark. I thought the entries dealing with the galaxy’s most dangerous bounty hunters were the most interesting and fun to read. There’s no shortage of scum and villainy in the Star Wars universe and these authors used them to incredible effect.

WTF

some of the stories really sucked and way to much emphasis on character sexual preferences.

First audible book I ever returned

Poor all around, I can’t recommend this at all.
How can you manage to make Star Wars Boring, repetitive and bland?

I wish I could have my money back.

KK has her social defining hand all over this book. Apparently the only heterosexual beings in the Star Wars galaxy are the main characters. Most of the stories are a blatant effort to promote a particular point of view in our galaxy rather that support the story of the Empire Strikes Back.

Disappointing.

The "A New Hope" installment was magical, expanding the universe around the original film. This one has less to work with, since Empire has less world building, so living up to the first one was going to be a challenge. "From a Certain Point of View" is built on tangents from the main story of the films. I get that, but too many of the stories here are one step removed, dealing with characters not even in the movie. The ANH installment featured side stories to be sure, but most of them were directly interwoven with or reactions to the plot of the film. Here we have too many stories completely disconnected from the happenings of The Empire Strikes Back. Too many cringe-worthy jokey stories. Too many attempts to retcon in characters from other books or even the old EU. I almost gave up on the book after listening to Bossk and another of his species hiss at each other for the better part of an hour about the ethical dilemmas of bounty hunting.

On the other hand, ESB has some of the deepest lore and philosophy of the OT. That's great, but this book has too many stories that try to match that level of seriousness while forgetting about fun, action, and characters.

Taken together, the tone here is wildly uneven, careening from wannabe hard-sf navel gazing to grating attempts at humor.

Don't get me wrong. There are some good stories here, about both Rebels and Imperials and in between, but you'll have to endure a lot of self-serving filler to get there.

Another great collection of short stories

I'll be waiting for similar collections for Return of the Jedi and the prequels, and sequels. Excellent narration, and stories, expanding on minor characters throughout the film.

A poor follow up to the first one

Although there are a few gems in there the majority of this book is a waste. I went from boredom to flat out eye rolling at times and even found skipping the remainder of chapters. I had high hopes as I really like the New Hope version.

They went political

It’s a political love story most of the time, no thanks! Disney ruining Star Wars again.

my review

thoroughly great and infinitely entertaining. i would totally recommend this book to my friendsandfamily. .

Marc Thompson was good.

Marc Thompson was good. Most of the VO actors are excellent. the stories on the other hand, are not even close to being on the level of anything from the old EU.