Story Review: Star Wars by George Lucas

Star Wars by George Lucas

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Based on earlier drafts of the industry changing film of the same name, Star Wars gave readers an early view of the film that would change media forever.  Though credited to George Lucas, it was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster to very mixed results.

Not surprisingly the novel follows the narrative of the film, but with added scenes that help flesh out some of the backstory of characters and elements of the setting.  While these aren’t surprising, what is surprising is that the novelization is based on earlier drafts of the film script and before the film was edited due to important scenes that are radically different between the two.  These differences are not entirely bad, but they could have been better if they were well written.  Throughout the novelization the writing is dry or clunky and the dialogue somewhat wooden, if not for the fact that I knew the plot of the film and was able to power through it might have taken me longer to read the story.

The novelization of Star Wars is fine as Alan Dean Foster did an admirable job in fleshing out the backstory though the overall quality of the writing isn’t his best.  Personally, I would stick with the film as the novelization does not really add to the overall narrative.