William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back

The second installment of the famed Star Wars trilogy has been utterly transformed into iambic pentameter by the brilliant Ian Doescher. The Empire Striketh Back captures all the story’s drama with character monologues by the AT-ATs, the Wampa, and even the Exogor (the creature on the asteroid).

Devouring the text, much like I had done with the first installment was an absolute delight. The “character asides” bring a whole other dimension to each character development. For example, this can be best seen with Leia and her growing feelings for Han.

Also, I much appreciated the effort to maintain some of the original banter, which I’m sure is a challenge to translate it into the proper rhythm.

For example: Lando talking about Vader show more and the altering of the deal

“He orders what he will sans sense or rhyme—
This is deal is worse becoming all the time!”

And the very end:
“Our story endth, though your hearts do burn,
And shall until the Jedi doth return.”

I do have confirmation from Quirk publishing that Return of the Jedi will finish up the trilogy. It’s uncertain if Doescher will continue with the new trilogy or not. But Episode 6 is definitely on the horizon. ☺ show less

More of the same inspired brilliance from Ian Doescher in this, his second Shakespeare/Star Wars mash-up. As with the first book, this is not a hackneyed film script facsimile with the odd 'forsooth' or 'alas' thrown in, but a labour of love written with great respect to both William Shakespeare and George Lucas.

Doescher, in his fascinating but short 'Afterword', suggests that The Empire Strikes Back is the most Shakespearean of the original films, and this perhaps explains why there is less deviation from the source material than there was in the first book. Nevertheless, Doescher still finds room to introduce his own welcome additions, particularly in fleshing out Lando Calrissian's character, who endeavours to save myself from a show more betrayer's name" (pg. 127). Similarly to his two genre-savvy mooks in the first book, Doescher introduces another pair of delightful guards who query why Imperial structures always seem to necessitate deep, dark chasms topped with narrow walkways (pp125-6).

I still marvel at just how well the two concepts of Shakespeare and Star Wars mesh, and Doescher seems to get the two to mesh seamlessly and allows for each to enhance the other. Of course, Star Wars is enriched by the eloquence of the Shakespearean dialogue. For example, in the original film, when Lando's betrayal is revealed, he attempts to justify it by pointing out his responsibilities for the mining colony. Han Solo replies sarcastically, "Yeah, you're a real hero." Under Doescher's pen, Han instead says the following:

HAN
- O, thou great man!
Thou art a hero, and thy tale shall e'er
Upon the lips of lesser folk be told.
Throughout all history it shall be writ:
"Behold, great Lando of Calrissian,
A man who ever serv'd his comrades well."

That is awesome. But, though it may not be as immediately apparent, Shakespeare's work is enhanced by the Star Wars affiliation too. By framing Shakespeare in a familiar Star Wars setting, Doescher makes the work of the Bard more accessible to novices like myself, and I am seriously giving thought to picking up some real Shakespeare in the near future. Too often, Shakespeare is studied and analysed and picked apart, not enjoyed; the Star Wars affiliation has reminded us that his plays were, in the first, crowd-pleasing stories just as Lucas' trilogy was.

All in all, The Empire Striketh Back has succeeded in returning to my face the gigantic grin that it sported when I was devouring the first book. I must also give kudos to the book's illustrations too - something which I failed to mention in my review of the first book - as they are very creative. Those who aren't reading these books are really missing out; I for one will yet again be counting the days until the release of The Jedi Doth Return." show less

This was so much better than I was expecting! When I heard about the first one—"Verily, A New Hope" :)—I thought, "That's cute, but I don't really care." When LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program offered up review copies of the second one, I thought, "Eh, why not?" I went in expecting (a) a tongue-in-cheek parody, and (b) that it would be dull to read. But neither of those things turned out to be true. Instead, it's a faithful adaptation that enriches the original story (the asides and soliloquies are fantastic) and the iambic pentameter is both easy to read and comprehend. (I was afraid I'd get lost in the meter and lose track of the actual words, as often happens to me with poetry, but nope!) I highly recommend it to anyone show more familiar with Star Wars. show less

The second installment in the Star War’s Shakespeare trilogy is just as good as the first, though it loses just a tiny bit because readers now know what to expect. The well-known plot follows Luke as he is trained by Yoda and Han and Leia as they travel to Lando Calrissian’s Cloud City.

In this book Leia and Han’s antagonistic romance heats up with some cutting Shakespearean insults…

“My feelings? O! Thou arrogant half-wit,

Thou oversized child, thou friend of slime,

Thou man of scruffy looks, thou who herd’st nerfs,

Thou fool-born wimpled roughhewn waste of flesh!”

Once again we get to enjoy R2-D2’s eloquent asides and the Shakespeare-themed illustrations. We get to see Han grow as a character as he struggles to overcome his show more past misdeeds and work for the rebel alliance. He’s never chosen others’ needs above his own and the book allows us to hear some of his inner-monologue that the films gloss over. The same is true for Lando, a character that’s barely in the second film. The book gives a little more insight into his decisions.

The novelty of the concept certainly doesn’t grow old in this book. It feels just as fresh and original as the first one. The author manages to stick perfectly to the plot while also adding some depth.

BOTTOM LINE: As the author reminds us in the Afterword “Remember, this isn’t scholarship; it’s fun.” Reading it should be exactly that: fun! It’s more than entertaining and I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy to be released. show less

Ian Doescher delivers the goods again with this follow-up to [b:William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope|17262540|William Shakespeare's Star Wars Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #1)|Ian Doescher|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363364801s/17262540.jpg|23859346]. As in the first book, Doescher puts a Shakespearean spin on familiar lines from the movies. Here are a couple of my favorites.

LEIA: I know not whence thy great delusions come, thou laser brain.
CHEWBACCA (laughing): Gihut, gihut, gihut!
HAN: Aye, laugh indeed, thou furball large.

C3PO: Now Captain Solo, pray, a word with thee.
HAN (aside): A word from thee belike means hundreds more.

R2D2 is still doing asides to the audience in perfectly good show more English, and even the monsters have soliloquies. Both the wampa, who hangs Luke up in his cave at the beginning of the movie, and the exogorth, whose unfortunate belly was a temporary parking spot for the Millennium Falcon, get a chance to explain that they're just trying to get some dinner and to bemoan the fact that their dinner fought back and got away.
Doescher adds singing to the story, with the ugnaughts singing merrily as they dismantle C3PO and anticipate carbon freezing a human. Chewie and Leia get in on the action too, when they "sing a song of lament" after Han is frozen.
The above, plus Luke's famous denial of "Nay!!!" when Vader says he's Luke's father and Vader's reaction of "Fie fie" as our heroes make their escape, made me giggle a lot.
Star Wars and Shakespeare fans-take an hour or two and read this-it's big fun. The Afterward is worth taking an extra few minutes to read too. show less

Hilarious.

Somehow, I missed when the first book -- William Shakespeare's Star Wars -- came out, so I don't know the origins of this sixteenth- and twentieth-centuries mashup, but I suspect it had something to do with a bar bet. It's an odd combination to be sure, but something about it works.

There's a lot more humor in this book than there is in The Empire Strikes Back. (My favorite line comes when the rebels first meet Lando. C-3PO comments, similar to the film, how Lando appears happy to see them. Leia quickly responds, "Aye, truly, he seems full of it indeed.") But there are also shout-outs, of course, to Shakespeare's plays, most notably in a The Merchant of Venice-inspired speech Vader gives early in the book ("Hath not a Sith ... show more feelings ...? ... If you prick us, do we not bleed?").

The whole tale is a very close re-telling of the movie. In fact, I didn't notice Yoda talking in haiku for quite some time -- his normal tortured syntax seems to fit quite nicely into that certain syllabic structure. One small difference, though, is that most of the main characters -- I think everyone but Chewie and Lobot -- get a chance to give long soliloquies that provide a little more depth to some of the characters. That means that one doesn't have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this book (and the other two in the series), but you'll likely enjoy them more if you are.

[Early Reviewer book]

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LT Haiku:

Adding a bit of
iambic pentameter
gives tale gravitas. show less

Like it's predecessor, this book is clever, occasionally hilarious, and perfect for reading aloud at the nerdiest of parties. You can't really ask for more than that from a book that is, essentially, the second best joke an English major ever created. Someday, perhaps in a galaxy far far away, someone is going to stage these Shakespearean Star Wars plays -- and I will totally buy tickets.