James Kahn
Author of The Star Wars Trilogy
About the Author
Series
Works by James Kahn
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Kahn, James
- Birthdate
- 1947-12-30
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
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Environmental Catastrophe Sci-fi book, 80s in Name that Book (September 2013)
Reviews
The writing is much better in this one! Which makes me happy, because Return of the Jedi is my fave movie, so it's good that it also gets to be my fave book. James Kahn seems to have a much better grasp of the characters, and gives them their own voices: Luke is philosophical and sentimental, Lando thinks in gambling metaphors, Han is more casual and so on. I works.
It's also funny, and I smile a lot and even laughed at a few times. With that said, let's discuss quotes again!
I kinda wish we'd seen more of Jabba doing that in the prequels rather than, ehhh, whatever it was he did at that podrace. (Note: I was ten when ep I came out. I LOVED the podrace)
Luke's flirting with the dark side works so well in the novel. You kinda see why he is tempted and you can almost see him crossing over by going a little too far at some point. It comes sorta close, I think.
I love how her being captured by Jabba is compared to her being tortured by Vader. She's like "there were worse things, like idk the worst night of my entire life that I never wanna talk about" and not "oh it was fun I got to wear a cute golden bikini for a while". That bikini will never define her and it never should.
Leia uses the force to kill Jabba. Piss off with your "we don't know if Leia is force-sensitive or not"-bullshit.
Yoda is green now, not blue. You get more continuity in Sweet Valley.
!!! WAIT WHAT!? UNCLE OWEN IS OBI-WAN KENOBI'S BROTHER??????? IS HIS NAME OWEN KENOBI THEN??? HOW DID LUKE NEVER SEE THAT FUCKING CONNECTION GROWING UP!?
Oh my gods, this is like 50005050350050 times better than the prequels WHYYY wasn't this the story? I'm so mad.
For some reason all alien languages are spelled out in this one, so here's how you say Leia in wookiee and binary droid language. In case you were wondering.
I don't have the energy to quote it, but when Han finds Leia right after Luke has left, the scene is kinda different from the movie in all the wrong ways. In the movie Leia is like "I want to be left alone for a while, I don't wanna talk about it" and Han's like "BUT YOU COULD TELL LUKE!?!??!" and then he's about to leave because you know, that's what she said, but then he sorta turns back and apologizes at which point Leia says "hold me" and Han does. In the book Han gets pissed when she won't tell him what's going on and starts shaking her!?!??!?!?!? And idk she does kinda embrace him, but I still like it much better when he's shown as someone who listens to her and not someone who gets irrationally angry and shakes her? The fuck!?
Ewoks are the best. Fuck off if you don't agree.
Doesn't work as well now that Han never said his line in the last book, but it's still such a great line. I'm glad it got to be there.
Now that I'm done with the Star Wars trilogy, I think it's time for the Lando Calrissian adventures. :D Never read them before, so it'll be fun. show less
It's also funny, and I smile a lot and even laughed at a few times. With that said, let's discuss quotes again!
"I was killingshow more
your kind when being a Jedi meant something."
I kinda wish we'd seen more of Jabba doing that in the prequels rather than, ehhh, whatever it was he did at that podrace. (Note: I was ten when ep I came out. I LOVED the podrace)
Luke wanted to burn the villain. [...] Of course, his primary objective was to free his friends, whom he loved dearly; it was this concern that guided him now, abolve all else. but in the process, to free the universe of this ganster slug - this was a prospect that tinted Luke's purpose with an ever-so-slightly dark satisfaction.
Luke's flirting with the dark side works so well in the novel. You kinda see why he is tempted and you can almost see him crossing over by going a little too far at some point. It comes sorta close, I think.
[Leia is captured by Jabba.] But there were worse things, and in any case, this wouldn't last.
The worse things she knew well. Her standard of comparison was the night she'd been tortured by Darth Vader. She's been almost broken.
I love how her being captured by Jabba is compared to her being tortured by Vader. She's like "there were worse things, like idk the worst night of my entire life that I never wanna talk about" and not "oh it was fun I got to wear a cute golden bikini for a while". That bikini will never define her and it never should.
Yet Leia's hold was not merely physical. She closed her eyes, closed out the pain in her hands, focused all of her life-force - and all it was able to channel - into squeezing the breath from the horried creature.
Leia uses the force to kill Jabba. Piss off with your "we don't know if Leia is force-sensitive or not"-bullshit.
Yoda stood still smiling inside, his small green hand clutching his walking stick for support.
Yoda is green now, not blue. You get more continuity in Sweet Valley.
Ben continued his narrative. "When your father left, he didn't know your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible. So I took you to live with my brother Owen, on Tatooine ... and your mother took Leia to live as the daughter of Senator Organa, on Alderaan."
!!! WAIT WHAT!? UNCLE OWEN IS OBI-WAN KENOBI'S BROTHER??????? IS HIS NAME OWEN KENOBI THEN??? HOW DID LUKE NEVER SEE THAT FUCKING CONNECTION GROWING UP!?
Oh my gods, this is like 50005050350050 times better than the prequels WHYYY wasn't this the story? I'm so mad.
"Leia!" Luke and Han shouted together.
"Rahrhah!"
"Boo dEEdwee!"
"Your Highness!"
For some reason all alien languages are spelled out in this one, so here's how you say Leia in wookiee and binary droid language. In case you were wondering.
I don't have the energy to quote it, but when Han finds Leia right after Luke has left, the scene is kinda different from the movie in all the wrong ways. In the movie Leia is like "I want to be left alone for a while, I don't wanna talk about it" and Han's like "BUT YOU COULD TELL LUKE!?!??!" and then he's about to leave because you know, that's what she said, but then he sorta turns back and apologizes at which point Leia says "hold me" and Han does. In the book Han gets pissed when she won't tell him what's going on and starts shaking her!?!??!?!?!? And idk she does kinda embrace him, but I still like it much better when he's shown as someone who listens to her and not someone who gets irrationally angry and shakes her? The fuck!?
[Paploo the ewok steals a bike from the stormtroopers to draw them off.] He was going farily low velocity for what the bike could do - but in Ewok-time, Paploo was absolutely dizzy with speed and extiement. It was terrifying; but he loved it. He would talk about this ride until the end of his life, and then his children would tell their children, and it would get faster with each generation.
Ewoks are the best. Fuck off if you don't agree.
With a last, heartfelt smile, he whspiered, "I love you."
"I know," she answered simply.
Doesn't work as well now that Han never said his line in the last book, but it's still such a great line. I'm glad it got to be there.
Now that I'm done with the Star Wars trilogy, I think it's time for the Lando Calrissian adventures. :D Never read them before, so it'll be fun. show less
"Once again, you underestimate the power of the darkside."
This movie novelization was enjoyable, better than episode 4. It was more emotional than episode 5. There are small additions added with more emotions and thoughts.
The conflict inside Luke was more visible than you'd see in the movie.
You have inner thoughts with the emperor that gives you a small insight that happens in the prequel trilogy. He played the political game very well.
I loved Darth Vader's inner thoughts, turmoil, and show more emotions, which was thought to have been forgotten.
The relationship between Han and Leia was thoughtfully done with our iconic line of 'I know'.
I felt my eyes get teary after the battle between father and son. . . That was emotional at its best.
I understand now why George Lucas changed the origin story. . . I will not repeat it here.
This is still a classic all Star Wars fans should at least read once. show less
This movie novelization was enjoyable, better than episode 4. It was more emotional than episode 5. There are small additions added with more emotions and thoughts.
The conflict inside Luke was more visible than you'd see in the movie.
You have inner thoughts with the emperor that gives you a small insight that happens in the prequel trilogy. He played the political game very well.
I loved Darth Vader's inner thoughts, turmoil, and show more emotions, which was thought to have been forgotten.
The relationship between Han and Leia was thoughtfully done with our iconic line of 'I know'.
I felt my eyes get teary after the battle between father and son. . . That was emotional at its best.
I understand now why George Lucas changed the origin story. . . I will not repeat it here.
This is still a classic all Star Wars fans should at least read once. show less
I don’t care what anyone else says, but Return of the Jedi has always been and will always be my favourite of the Star Wars films. It’s got an excellent amount of action, a lot of storylines are wrapped up, and we get some truly in-depth character development. Oh, and we get to see Leia take some very feminist vengeance, which I’m always in favour of. Like the previous two pulp paperback Star Wars novels, this one wasn’t the height of literary accomplishment, but it was such a good show more rollicking adventure that I can let it go in favour of just enjoying a fun story. The book does benefit from being able to get into more of the characters’ inner thoughts, and it has a few scenes left out of the film which hint at previous Star Wars storylines that are explored in the prequel trilogy, so even for fans of the film this book is worth a read - even if we’re mostly trading on nostalgia and trivia. show less
The Star Wars Trilogy (Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker; The Empire Strikes Back; The Return of the Jedi) by George Lucas
Star Wars: ****
If it was actually written by Foster, as Lucas admits in his own foreword, it should be credited to him properly. Especially since this book is excellent. It adds quite a bit to the original story, such as fleshing out Luke's life before his adventures began, and is a great read.
The Empire Strikes Back: *1/2
Glut managed to somehow both overwrite and underwrite this story; there is no reason to read this instead of watching the movie. It doesn't work as a good supplement to the show more movie - rather, it reads like Glut (poorly) improvising on the spot as he watches, with no particular insight to the characters or plot and nothing particularly interesting when compared to the final movie script. Terrible. Skip. It's a shame we couldn't get Leigh Brackett's version of what this story could have been as a novel.
The Return of the Jedi: ***
Kahn isn't afraid to actually create a story here, putting his own spin on things in ways that other authors (and the future movies) did differently, and the book reads much better for it. Characters actually have character, and there's more here than just the movie script with unnecessary additions like Glut's. Lando, for example, sees the world as a gambler, which makes sense for his character. Kahn even manages to patch numerous plot holes in the movie's final script, smoothing over some awkward things so they make a (little) more sense with the space he's given. Unfortunately, even he can't save the ewww incest between Luke and Leia from two books ago. show less
If it was actually written by Foster, as Lucas admits in his own foreword, it should be credited to him properly. Especially since this book is excellent. It adds quite a bit to the original story, such as fleshing out Luke's life before his adventures began, and is a great read.
The Empire Strikes Back: *1/2
Glut managed to somehow both overwrite and underwrite this story; there is no reason to read this instead of watching the movie. It doesn't work as a good supplement to the show more movie - rather, it reads like Glut (poorly) improvising on the spot as he watches, with no particular insight to the characters or plot and nothing particularly interesting when compared to the final movie script. Terrible. Skip. It's a shame we couldn't get Leigh Brackett's version of what this story could have been as a novel.
The Return of the Jedi: ***
Kahn isn't afraid to actually create a story here, putting his own spin on things in ways that other authors (and the future movies) did differently, and the book reads much better for it. Characters actually have character, and there's more here than just the movie script with unnecessary additions like Glut's. Lando, for example, sees the world as a gambler, which makes sense for his character. Kahn even manages to patch numerous plot holes in the movie's final script, smoothing over some awkward things so they make a (little) more sense with the space he's given. Unfortunately, even he can't save the ewww incest between Luke and Leia from two books ago. show less
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