William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4)

by Ian Doescher

May the verse be with you! Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language - and William Shakespeare - here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas' 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. Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter, William Shakespeare's Star Wars will astound and edify learners and masters alike. Zounds! This is the book you're looking for.

• ISBN10: 1594746370
• ISBN13: 9781594746376
• Publish Date: 2 July 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 March 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quirk Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 176
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781594746376

Reviews

What if Shakespeare had come up with the Star Wars first? One word can only describe this quirky bit of writing. Hilarious! Certainly not for Star Wars fans, nor fans of the bard. However it certainly is an enjoyable read nonetheless. I look forward to reading the next volume. in the series.

[inlibrisveritas]

There is no hiding the fact that I love Star Wars…and that I have an extreme fondness for Shakespeare. I have an entire bookcase devoted to Star Wars novels and I frequently read Shakespeare’s plays out loud and in character…there is truly no end to my geekiness. So it’s only natural I picked this up.

There isn’t anything overly complicated about this adaptation of Star Wars, it’s A new Hope but in Iambic pentameter and with mostly Shakespearian era wording. It’s easy to follow and understand, and true to style it adds flourishes in places you don’t expect or necessarily need…but that’s what makes it great. I loved seeing all of the lines from the movie reimagined in such a great way, and even the occasional illustration that accompanied the text.

One of the best parts about this book is the portions with R2-D2, who is more than just a beeping and screeching droid with supposed sass…he has depth, pain, and more importantly disdain…a lot of disdain. R2 steals the show with his monologues and his constantly sighing at how stupid everyone else is. It’s perfect.

So if you’ve played with the idea of trying this out, do it! It’s not the most revolutionary thing out there, but if you enjoy Star Wars and Shakespeare then get it! You’ll definitely get a few laughs out of it.

[brokentune]

Review posted on Booklikes:

http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/756941/william-shakespeare-s-star-wars

[Ace]

While I really did enjoy it I will admit that the Shakespearean language wasn't spot on. Despite that it was awesome and I did really enjoy it :)