Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Page #: 174, 172, & 165
Publisher: Quirk
Published in: 2013 & 2014
Official Synopsis
MAY THE VERSE BE WITH YOU!
Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ‘Tis a tale told by fretful Droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearsome Stormtroopers, signifying… pretty much everything.
Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.
I’ve never done a series review before! Step back and prepare to be amazed! Okay not really. But I’ll probably do more of them for things like comics or manga or shorter things like this in the future. Anyway. There are three books in this parody series: Verily, a New Hope, The Empire Striketh Back, and The Jedi Doth Return.
Basically, this series is exactly what it sounds. It is all three Star Wars movies rewritten and adapted into iambic pentameter and put in play format. Doescher uses traditionally Shakespearean methods to retell the story and really plays on themes found throughout all of Shakespeare’s plays.
My favorite part of the series was how much Doescher used Shakespeare to adapt the stories. He didn’t just put the films in iambic pentameter. He used a chorus to describe action sequences, had certain characters act as fools, and use prose and poetry to indicate character’s class. Plus, there were several famous Shakespearean speeches that he somehow managed to work directly into Star Wars without seeming too forced.
Plays and iambic pentameter in particular are always tough for me to get into, so I had a hard time reading these books more than an act at a time. But that’s not the book’s fault; that’s my brain’s fault. I’m trying to get more into drama/poetry and more into Shakespeare, so hopefully this won’t be a problem for long.
Rating: 3 / 5 Advertisements Share this:
