Beware the Power of the Dark Side by Tom Angleberger, a book review
Beware the Power of the Dark Side is one of three new Star Wars books that offer a re-telling of the original Star Wars movies; each book offers a very unique twist. The books are geared towards the tween audience but after reading them I think any Star Wars fan is really going to enjoy them.
The third book, Beware the Power of the Dark Side, is based on Return of the Jedi and really surprised me. I think, at first, I was expecting more of a retelling of all three stories. I was very pleasantly surprised with the changes of the second book, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with the third book. So, the third book really shocked me and turned out to be my absolute favorite of the three.
I’ve really enjoyed tom Angleberger’s origami Star Wars titles. I had a chance to see Tom at an author event at a bookstore near my home town and I was blown away by his enthusiasm and his obvious love Star Wars. I’m not sure if any other author could’ve pulled off what Tom did with this book.
Tom has a great sense of humor and a wonderful writing style. It’s never like he is writing at too high of a level for the intended audience, but he also never speaks down to anyone. As I mentioned he is very funny and this shows the book a lot. Also, it’s obvious that Tom knows the Star Wars history since he was able to pull in characters and references from some of the canonized expanded universe.
So what I really liked about this story we saw a little bit of in the second book. Tom takes us inside the minds of the major characters and really gives us insight that, to me, really hasn’t been approached or used before. During the pivotal light saber duel near the end of the book, the fact that he is able to tie together the emotions and thoughts of Luke, Vader and the Emperor was pretty astounding. He really changed my thoughts, somewhat, all about the reactions and what the motivations were for some of the characters.
He also did offered this unique look in to the character’s thoughts throughout the book with Princess Leia, Han Solo, Mon Mothma and the Ewoks!. He walks. Yes, those little fuzzy creatures. Tom really brought the Ewoks to the forefront with this book. They’ve always been seen as teddy bears that sort of ruined the final movie. Tom takes us inside the minds of the Ewoks and gives us some insight into why they are actually fighting as well as what they thought about the Imperials being on the planet.
Overall, Tom’s humor and deep, deep love of all things Star Wars really shines in Beware the Power of the Dark Side. It’s a fantastic book about the events and characters of Return of the Jedi that is going to resonate with fans.