Review: From a Certain POV: Return of the Jedi

By Alberto Calderón

Spoilers!

With its 40 stories by 40 authors celebrating 40 years of Return of the Jedi, the latest entry of the From a Certain Point of View anthology series has plenty of stories for every fan of the original closing chapter of the Star Wars saga.

New voices and returning authors bring to life the last few days of the Rebellion’s fights against the Empire from the eyes of the singers, dancers, servants, rebel pilots, stormtroopers, droids, and Force-ghosts that lived through it.

Story: 3 out of 5 Probe Droids

If you are a fan of Return of the Jedi and/or like to daydream about what the background characters were thinking in certain scenes, then this is the book for you. If you are like me and don’t usually connect with those characters, then you might have a harder time getting through some of the stories. There is a lot to love here and if you didn’t enjoy a certain tale, then don’t worry because there are plenty more to come right after.

“All sentients are equal.”

EV-9D to R5-D4

Although I wasn’t a fan of all of the stories that they decided to tell, I think there is enough here to keep most Star Wars fans happy. My favorites ranged from EV-9D9 and his quest for remembering and free will (The Key to Remembering by Olivia Chadha) to Bright-Eyes, the dragonsnake of Dagobah sensing the darkness from the cave growing and spreading as Yoda dies (The Light that Falls by Akemi Dawn Bowman) and From a Certain Point of View (Alex Jennings) which chronicles Obi-Wan Kenobi finally trusting Luke Skywalker with the truth about his twin sister and realizing that although father and son shared a lot of similarities, what made Luke different from Anakin in their love for their friends, was that Luke didn’t have the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders and thinking that he alone could save everyone (Anakin’s view), but that Luke understood that he was part of a bigger unit and that he needed his friends to be able to save everyone, which made him harder to seduce to the dark side.

A big surprise was Trouble Trooper from Laura Pohl. TK-423, a stormtrooper keeping daily logs recapping the boredom of daily life of a trooper inside the second Death Star. From his rivalry with droid R2-Q9 which kept locking him out of his room to the endless fight to get the caf machine fixed. Talks of starting a Union (the U-word, code name Ugnaught) and a “bingo” card with boxes to mark what Darth Vader said when he visited the station. A very funny story that would make a great animated short.

“I don’t want to point fingers but perhaps the solution for the “we need more men” problem would be not to throw all available men through the air lock once they complain there’s no caf.”

TK-423

Other story standouts were My Mouth Never Closes (Charlie Jane Anders), No Contingency (Fran Wilde), The Last Flight (Ali Hazelwood), and Brotherhood (Mike Chen).

Ease of Reading: 4 out of 5 Probe Droids

It is not easy to write a full story in just a couple of pages, but most of the authors were able to do just that. Apart from two stories that were quite long (and with no chapters in them to give readers a breather), most of the anthologies are short enough that you can read one of three in a single seating.

What’s best is that you can pick and choose which story to read at any point without getting lost because you didn’t read the one that came before. If you want to find out how Darth Vader came back to the light and was able to turn into Anakin’s Force-ghost, then jump straight into Brotherhood by Mike Chen. If instead you want to learn about Boba Fett and his state-of-mind as Han Solo was getting ready to be fed to the Sarlacc, go to Tara Sim’s Reputation.

Characters: 3 out of 5 Probe Droids

Stories are as good as the characters that inhabit them and readers are gifted with a multitude of classic, background, and new characters. Ortolan Max Rebo has his own story and shows up in a few more. Multiple characters plan and scheme about how they would kill Jabba the Hutt. Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles battle with the difficulties of leadership and having peoples lives in your hands.

Ewoks, ewoks, ewoks. Do you like furry murder-bears? Then you are in luck. Wicket Warrick longed for a normal day but instead found ways to use trees to combat the “bug people”. Shaman Logray knowing that C-3PO was not their Golden God but still lied to the rest of the tribe to get his message through. And Nanta, the Ewok Storykeeper. You might want a tissue for this one

“Greetings, gentle beings! Fear not, I do not consume animal flesh, by choice. Come into my presence, especially if you have some nice juicy leaves to share.”

The Sarlacc

Canon Connections: 5 out of 5 Probe Droids

Apart from the obvious connections to Return of the Jedi, there are plenty of nods to The High Republic, see The Veteran by Adam Lance Garcia, along with mentions of Galen Erso and Director Krennic (Any Work Worth Doing by Amal El-Mohtar). Bib Fortuna dreams of taking over Jabba’s crime syndicate in Fortuna Favors the Bold by Kwame Mbali which was highlighted in The Mandalorian Season 2 post-credit scene.

Certain events from War of the Bounty Hunters are referenced in Reputation and Obi-Wan remembers his conversation with a young Leia from his TV show in From a Certain Point of View.

Expands Star Wars: 5 out of 5 Probe Droids

This anthology is the literal definition of expanding Star Wars. It takes scenes that we mostly know by memory and expands them from someone else’s viewpoint. The next time you watch Return of the Jedi you will definitely see it with fresh eyes. The Scout trooper that chases Luke in his speeder bike had a tragic past and even though we don’t want him to kill Luke, we now have some sympathy towards him (Gone to the Winner’s Circle by Patricia A. Jackson).

Do you think it was a lucky shot that missed Leia outside that bunker in Endor? Well, it was and now we know why thanks to Hannah Whitten’s Ending Protocol.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 Probe Droids

Even though I wasn’t a fan of all the stories that were told and the characters that are featured, all authors delivered greatly-written short stories that fans of anthology books, especially the From a Certain Point of View series will enjoy. It expands on classic scenes giving them more weight and creates new scenarios for the characters on the fringe of the actions that were vital to the fall of the Empire.