Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Author: Donald F. Glut
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Luke, Han, and Princess Leia's story didn't end with the destruction of the Death Star.... — Though they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire had really just begun. — Now, several months later, the Rebels had established an outpost on the frozen wasteland of Hoth...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780345283924
ISBN-10: 0345283929
Publication Date: 4/12/1980
Pages: 217
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 53

4 stars, based on 53 ratings
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Mistry avatar reviewed Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back on + 105 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This is the second book in the Original Star Wars Trilogy. Luke Skywalker continues his Jedi education, and the Rebellion's fight against the Evil Empire reaches it's darkest hour. Han Solo and Princess Leia race to save Luke from Darth Vader's clutches.

It's a wonderful, fast paced book filled with action and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The battle rages on between the Light and the Dark sides of the Force, and the age old fight between good and evil continues...
reviewed Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back on + 51 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Donald F. Glut's novelization of Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, based on a story by George Lucas, is among one of the better adaptations in the continuing saga of the Galactic Civil War and the adventures of Luke Skywalker.
Three years after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance is fighting for its very existence. Though they had won a significant victory with the destruction of the Death Star, the evil lord Darth Vader survived and made his way to the Imperial capital, where Emperor Palpatine gave him the ultimate assignment -- to find and destroy the Rebel leadership and crush the Rebellion once and for all. For three years Vader's Imperial Death Squadron of six Star Destroyers -- including his own massive flagship -- has pursued the Rebels from system to system.

Vader is driven, too, to find one Rebel commander in particular: Luke Skywalker. Sometime after the defeat at Yavin, Vader discovered that Luke was the pilot who, with the assistance of the mystical energy field known as the Force, fired the torpedo that destroyed the Death Star. Realizing the young Rebel's untapped -- and untrained -- Jedi powers, Vader has made it his mission in life to capture Luke and, eventually, turn him to the dark side of the Force.

So when an Imperial probe droid spots evidence of a hidden Rebel base on the remote ice world of Hoth, Vader unleashes his legions of stormtroopers against the small Rebel force. In a brief but violent battle, the Empire overwhelms the Alliance troops fighting a rear-guard action, but the bulk of the Rebels, including Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Luke, and the droids escape.

Vader doesn't know, however, that the Star Warriors have set out on diverging paths. While Han, Chewie, Leia and See Threepio fly off in the damaged Millennium Falcon in a desperate attempt to rejoin the Rebel fleet, Luke and Artoo are on their X-wing starfighter on a different mission altogether. For the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader's former Jedi Master and now Luke's spirit-guide, has sent Luke to the Dagobah system. There, he will seek Yoda, the Jedi Master who first instructed Kenobi.

Although Glut (like all Star Wars adapters) had to use an earlier draft of Kasdan's screenplay (Yoda, for instance, is described as being bluish and with long white hair parted in the middle), he is a good enough writer and captures the essence of the film's characters and new settings.
Read All 5 Book Reviews of "Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

fencerchica avatar reviewed Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back on + 47 more book reviews
Straightforward retelling of the Empire Strikes Back movie. Well written and vivid, and supplements the movie by including a lot of the characters' internal dialogue. Not very deep, but quite well executed for what it is: a good comic-book-type space adventure story. Nice to read once, or to complete a Star Wars book collection.
packman avatar reviewed Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back on + 25 more book reviews
The movie adds so much to the original story. Its hard to remember what was in the book and not in movie.

QED
reviewed Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back on + 142 more book reviews
The best of the Star Wars movies is also excellent in print.


Genres: