A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy

Star Wars is everywhere these days. Movies, clothes, TV shows, cereal, and of course, books.

“The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy” is the original Star Wars story, but told a different way. Not only do you follow the adventures we all know and love, but you get to see it from three different perspectives. If you couldn't guess by the title, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker tell this tale.

I obviously won't bore you with the details of the story (we should all know if by now), but there are a few things in this book that I absolutely loved.

First of all, the reader gets to see inside the minds of the main characters. I love the way that Leia talks to herself about being more than a princess. She wants to make a difference for the lives of her people. She also speaks about her mother, father, and aunts, all of whom she is trying to live up to.

Han, surprisingly, has a soft side (mostly for his best bud, Chewy). Did you know Chewy was married? Neither did I, but apparently he's working hard with Han to support his family. I would love to have a movie where we learn more about the beginnings of the most famous Wookie in the world!

Luke is just a kid from a farm trying to be taken seriously. Sure, he's flown his own speeder on his home planet of Tatooine, but a rebel ship? Not so much. Something else we learn, thanks to this book, is that Luke's ability behind the wheel was tested officially before he was just thrown into space with the rest of the crew. Actually, he aced the test thanks to his training from none other than Ben Kenobi. WE also get to see his relationship with Biggs (you know, that friend he bumps into right before takeoff).

Not only was the storytelling great, but also I loved that they used quotes directly from the movie. I seriously couldn't help but smile at moments like that. I mean, I would have been really disappointed if they didn't mention, “Don't tell me the odds!”

The pictures in the book were also amazing! They look pencil drawn, almost as if the book were parts of the characters journals or something.

The biggest thing that I noticed that was missing from the book was Darth Vader. Well, he wasn't missing, but he definitely wasn't the center of the book. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was only seen in one chapter.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with kids (or without) that want a deeper understanding of the Star Wars world. It helped me a lot with the names I always have trouble remembering or understanding (let's be honest, some of the names and places are confusing).

I gave this book 5/5.

This audiobook was really fun. The narrators do a fantastic job, especially capturing the voices of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-wan Kenobi. The soundtrack mixed in along with sound effects made the overall experience most entertaining.

I didn't expect to enjoy this book this much. It's a retelling of the first Star Wars movie made, which I've seen a million times and had practically memorized at one point in time. However, the author did a fantastic job of expanding on the movie narrative to fill in character perspectives in the times between their time on screen and diving into the characters' thoughts in particular moments. I felt the author stayed true to the characters and added depth to them. I count this as a fantastic, fresh retelling of a story I've long enjoyed.