3.5. This is a hit and miss mix of short stories celebrating Star Wars: A New Hope. With more than forty contributors (therefore, forty stories),it's hard to say that each story is a stand out. Some stories were sadly quite forgettable. However, for every lame story, you get an amazing one that expands and reimagines movements from the film through a supporting character's point of view (from both the original and new canon of characters). I loved how the best of these humanized supporting characters and even aliens within the film. My favorite stories: Gary Whitta's "Raymus" which bridges the gap from Rogue One and A New Hope through the eyes of Captain Antilles, Meg Cabot's take on Aunt Beru, Claudia Gray's study of an old Obi-Wan conversing with force ghost Qui-Gon, Kieron Gillen's amazing story about new canon character Aphra (please Disney make an origin story film about her, please!), and Time of Death by Cavan Scott. There is a story in this collection bound to please any Star Wars fan. Perhaps forty stories was a little much? Neat concept but not necessary. Give us the masterful ones, and that's enough.

In the middle of this impressive anthology there is a large, partially invisible artifact, which everything revolves around. That artifact is Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. This is a book that assumes you've seen the film multiple times, have seen the other films, and maybe also read some SW books and watched some SW animated shows. Also, if you don't remember, say, who's who among the background characters in the Mos Eisley Cantina, be prepared to google. Fortunately, if there's one cultural artifact for which one can genuinely assume a huge audience exists that meets all of these parameters, it's Star Wars. The nerdiest of mass appealing cultural properties. The most popular nerdy cultural property. The biggest niche. An anthology of 40 stories is always going to be uneven, so let's talk about some of the highlights. Rae Carson's "The Red One" tells the story of R5-D4, the droid Lars originally wanted to buy from the Jawas. It's a sad story of droid heroics that's actually uplifting! Mur Lafferty's "Not for Nothing" is a super fun story about the Modal Nodes, aka the Cantina band. How'd they get there, and why they were inordinately invested in some of the happenings of the day. Ken Liu's "The Sith of Datawork" is a polished little gem about the woman who helped the guy who decided not to shoot down the escape pod with C3PO and R2D2. "Born in the Storm" is, supposedly, Daniel José Older's Star Wars story. But really, it's a Daniel José Older story that happens to be set in SW. It's a delightful tale of one of the stormtroopers who were told these were not the droids they were looking for. Mallory Ortberg's "An Incident Report" is Admiral Motti's response, in whiny, report form, of the time Vader almost forced chocked him to death. It's hilarious. Kieron Gillen's "The Trigger" is a bit of a cheat. It's a Doctor Aphra story written by the guy who invented Darth Vader's Lady Indiana Jones. Aphra's great. So's this story. To my mind, the best story in the anthology is "The Baptist" by Nnedi Okorafor. It's about the monster in the trash compactor. Nnedi ennobles that beast in a way no other author could.

If you've ever wanted to know about Aunt Beru's relationship with Luke, what it was like to be a Storm Trooper or what was really going on at Mos Eisley's Chalman's Cantina, you need to read or listen to From a Certain Point of View. (I did both!) Each of these stories is told from the point of view of different characters in Star Wars: Epsiode IV. Some are background players. Some are major figures. Others were not even featured in the movie and it was really awesome to get to learn about what Yoda, Doctor Aphra and Lando Calrisian were up to during this time! The stories alternately had me laughing or crying. I was fascinated to learn more about R5-D4, the Dianoga and the Cantina crew. Each author brings a different style and tone to the stories and are often told in very creative ways -sometimes in the form of reports or from the perspective of droids who usually only communicate in bleeps and bloops. You will find out why droids aren't allowed in the cantina, what the mouse droids are doing scurrying around the Death Star and what other pilots thought of the hotshot farm boy who just joined the rebellion. The audiobook narrators are fantastic as well, really bringing this story to life. Marc Thompson's performance on "The Secrets of Long Snoot" is just awesome. The audio version also includes some favorite Star Wars narrators as well as Jon Hamm and Neil Patrick Harris. This really is a great read for anyone who loves Star Wars fiction or wants to give it a try!

I loved most of the stories in this collection. "There is Another" was probably my fave because it was about Yoda.

**Avg: 3.5 Raymus- 3 The Bucket- 3 The Sith of Datawork- 2 Stories in the Sand- 4 Reirin- 2.5 The Red One- 4 Rites- 3 Master and Apprentice- 3.5 Beru Whitesun Lars- 2 The Luckless Rodian- 4 Not for Nothing- 3.5 We Don’t Serve Their Lind Here- 3.5 The Kloo Horn Cantina Caper- 2 Added Muscle- 4 You Owe Me a Ride- 4 The Secrets of Long Snoot- 4 Born in the Storm- 5 Laina- 4 Fully Operational- 3 An Incident Report- 3 Change of Heart- 4 Eclipse- 4 Verge of Greatness- 4 Far Too Remote- 5 The Trigger- 4 Of MSE-6 and Men- 3.5 Bump- 3 End of Watch- 3 The Baptist- 4 Time of Death- 4 There is Another- 4 Palpatine- 3 Sparks- 3.5 Duty Roster- 3 Desert Son- 3 Grounded- 3 Contingency Plan- 3 The Angle- 5 By Whatever Sun- 3 Whills- 4

Published to commemorate and honor the 4oth anniversary of a New Hope, this set of 40 short stories is perfect for an uber fan who would want to know what the trash compactor worm was thinking about while choking Luke Skywalker (The Baptist by Nnedi Okorafor) or how an Imperial paperwork genius could help get you out of trouble with Darth Vader ("The Sith of Datawork" by Ken Liu). What I wasn't expecting were the fits of weeping as I read Claudia Gray's "Master and Apprentice" featuring Force ghost Qui-Gon Jinn or Wil Wheaton's "Laina" about a pilot leaving his young daughter behind before fighting against the Death Star. Gary D. Schmit's "There is Another" was the most shocking story, as apparently Yoda was hoping fervently to train Leia!! I both read and listened to From a Certain Point of View, with various results. A story I would have loathed in print was transformed into genius with the full production audio - "Of MSE-6 and Men" by Glen Weldon featuring the droid MSE-6-G735Y and how two Imperial officers used him as an intermediary in their love affair. The story is written from the droid's perspective, leading to repetitive commands that to read would have been irritating but with the sound effects and voice modulating were hysterical. I also appreciated the gay romance. The stories focusing on soldiers in battle, from either side, weren't as effective for me, but overall the entire collection is well rounded and worth any Star Wars fan's time. Would make an excellent gift.

These short stories make my heart happy!

I had high hopes, and they came through. There was a nice collection of stories here. A mix of writing styles and perspectives. My favourite so far is The Red Droid, Laina, The Baptist, Time of Death, and The Whills. When then, I hit the cantina stories. Honestly, the cantina scene has never been a favourite of mine. The whole controversy over Greedo was dull, and I don't care. So when there were so many cantina tales, I was just like, oh well, here we go. However, as a whole, I enjoyed the book; there were moments of tears and laughter. I loved the references to the Life Day special; it made me laugh so so much.

Mix of good and great short stories from Star Wars: A New Hope. I loved the variety in style.