Thoughtful Thursdays: Book Review: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

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I first heard of these books during summer camp when me and my friends saw them at the college bookstore. I thought it was quite possibly the coolest idea ever, but I didn’t buy them then because we still had a few days of camp left, and I thought I might have to use the money later.

Which I did – on $20 worth of junk food. But that’s another story for another time.

Anywho... Back to the point, I ended up getting the first book from the library instead. Ta-da!

Summary: It’s a Shakespearean retelling of the Sci-Fi/Space Opera classic A New Hope. What more can I say?

Review: 4 1/2 starships out of five.

This book was so much fun! A Shakespeare and Star Wars mashup is a pretty wild idea, but Mr. Doescher pulled it off with hilarity and finesse.

Being a total Star Wars geek, I already knew what was going to happen, yet my heart raced as I read like I’d never heard the story in my life. It was insane. I’m sitting there on my bed, clutching the book like a Jedi should his lightsaber, knowing exactly what’s going to happen. And at the same time I’m like, “Oh no! Are they gonna be okay?”

So, for that, my imaginary hat is off to you, Mr. Doescher.

The only things I didn’t like were, one, I felt the characters had too many “asides;” and two, I felt like some of the asides didn’t properly portray the characters’ thoughts and emotions in the first place.

To be fair, though, it is Shakespeare (or supposed to be), and I know Shakespearean plays have a lot of soliloquies. Plus, it’s been a while since I’ve seen A New Hope, and even so, the feelings and intentions of the characters could, at times, be open to interpretation. All that to say, the fact that my idea of a scene was sometimes different from Mr. Doescher’s doesn’t necessarily make either of us wrong. I suppose we’d have to ask George Lucas.

But I’m in no position to do that at the moment (someday, though), so for now I’ll end this review by saying I think Mr. Doescher did a brilliant job overall, and I certainly recommend you read Verily, A New Hope.