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Rating: 
Summary: Not worth reading, since the movie is better
Review: Although it says it's written by George Lucas, it was actually ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster- George was too busy making the movie. There are minor differences between the book and the movie, and there are a couple of extra scenes. However, if you really want a Star Wars fix beyond the trilogy, try listening to the Star Wars radio dramas. They're very well-done. The book, on the other hand, is pretty mediocre compared to the excellent movie. It's also inconsistent, which may offend some hardcore Star Wars addicts ("crucify Alan Dean Foster, for he has commited sacrilage!"). It's not even worth reading for free, so don't spend big bucks tracking down an old copy.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth reading, since the movie is better
Review: Although it says it's written by George Lucas, it was actually ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster- George was too busy making the movie. There are minor differences between the book and the movie, and there are a couple of extra scenes. However, if you really want a Star Wars fix beyond the trilogy, try listening to the Star Wars radio dramas. They're very well-done. The book, on the other hand, is pretty mediocre compared to the excellent movie. It's also inconsistent, which may offend some hardcore Star Wars addicts ("crucify Alan Dean Foster, for he has commited sacrilage!"). It's not even worth reading for free, so don't spend big bucks tracking down an old copy.
Rating: 
Summary: An Ode Celebrating the Imagination in All of Us
Review: I walked into a small public library in Old Metairie,LA last summer. It was during the time of the Phantom Menace's highly anticipated release, and the the small but impressive library had erected an exhibit in Lucas' honor, showcasing various books written in the Star Wars tradition, including Timothy Zahn's highly acclaimed series titled Heir to the Empire (I've read the first one but would like to read the remaining two in the trilogy). Most of the covers exuded the typical Sci-Fi style corresponding to glossy, colorful covers with shiny, sleek battle cruisers plus exotic locales and mysterious aliens. But I noticed one that looked quite different: I walked up to the exhibit and noticed a rather medium sized grayish book with the faded spartan lettering on the cover: STAR WARS. Just STAR WARS. It reminds me of a classics book, which is not altogether strange since Star Wars, not only in our own era, but in the history of the humanities, is one of our greatest accomplishments, ranking right up there with Homer's Odyssey, Dumas' The Three Musketeers, and Melville's Moby Dick. All I can say is: Bravo, Lucas!
Rating:
Summary: The Saga began with this one.....
Review: In late 1976, Ballantine Books published the first edition of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, a novel by George Lucas. Adorned only with conceptual art by Ralph McQuarrie, it did not set the literary world on fire. As it turned out, however, the "major motion picture" it was heralding on its cover blurb became one of the biggest box office hits ever, and Star Wars went on to become a huge part of our culture. Although it really wasn't George Lucas who wrote this first published tie-in to what would later be called Episode IV: A New Hope, the novel reflects the director's vision. Author Alan Dean Foster, who had adapted the scripts of the Star Trek animated series into the Star Trek Logs books, took Lucas' fourth revised draft and wrote a masterful adaptation that truly captures the spirit of the movie's characters and situations. Star Wars begins with a short prologue that, with a few "special modifications" in the text, is really the outline for the current Prequel Trilogy. In the form of an excerpt from "the first saga -- Journal of the Whills," we are told that the once-powerful Galactic Republic, protected by the Jedi Knights, "throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear those evil ones who have greed to match." Insidiously, like a house under attack by termites, the Republic rotted from within until "[a]ided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic....Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor...." The novel then segues directly into the famous opening scene of Star Wars: an Imperial Star Destroyer (called here an Imperial cruiser) chases Princess Leia's Rebel Blockade Runner and captures it over the desert planet of Tatooine. After a brief battle, Imperial stormtroopers take over the ship, and Leia is taken before Lord Darth Vader, who wants to know what she did with secret data "transmitted by Rebel spies." Leia, of course, has wisely hidden the data -- the plans of the Empire's ultimate superweapon, the Death Star -- into the memory banks of Artoo Detoo, an astromech droid. Artoo and his loyal but easily rattled counterpart, See-Threepio, have managed to flee aboard a tiny escape pod down to the hostile wastes of Tatooine. They are "found" by jawas, a race of small desert scavengers, then sold to a moisture farmer named Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker....and when Luke stumbles on a fragment of a message for someone named "Obi-Wan Kenobi," well, things really get interesting. Foster's novelization is very faithful to its screenplay source, and even the "added" material (Luke's first appearance in the novel as he repairs a vaporator, or scenes with Biggs and his friends at Tosche Station) comes from Lucas' fourth revised draft (available in Carol Titleman's The Art of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). Most of the "deleted scenes" later appeared in Brian Daley's Star Wars: The Radio Drama), and the encounter between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt (spelled Hut in this novel) was restored and tweaked with CGI in the 1997 Special Edition re-release. Of the three Classic Trilogy novels, this is the best-written. Foster's style is crisp yet elegant, and it does not read like it's a screenplay adaptation. The original 1976 hardcover edition (which I own thanks to the kindness of my best friend Rogers) includes 16 pages of promotional pictures and character profiles of the major roles. It's been since reissued several times, either singly or as part of omnibus collections in both paperback and hardcover, with different variants of cover art.
Rating:
Summary: The Saga began with this one.....
Review: In late 1976, Ballantine Books published the first edition of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, a novel by George Lucas. Adorned only with conceptual art by Ralph McQuarrie, it did not set the literary world on fire. As it turned out, however, the "major motion picture" it was heralding on its cover blurb became one of the biggest box office hits ever, and Star Wars went on to become a huge part of our culture. Although it really wasn't George Lucas who wrote this first published tie-in to what would later be called Episode IV: A New Hope, the novel reflects the director's vision. Author Alan Dean Foster, who had adapted the scripts of the Star Trek animated series into the Star Trek Logs books, took Lucas' fourth revised draft and wrote a masterful adaptation that truly captures the spirit of the movie's characters and situations. Star Wars begins with a short prologue that, with a few "special modifications" in the text, is really the outline for the current Prequel Trilogy. In the form of an excerpt from "the first saga -- Journal of the Whills," we are told that the once-powerful Galactic Republic, protected by the Jedi Knights, "throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear those evil ones who have greed to match." Insidiously, like a house under attack by termites, the Republic rotted from within until "[a]ided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic....Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor...." The novel then segues directly into the famous opening scene of Star Wars: an Imperial Star Destroyer (called here an Imperial cruiser) chases Princess Leia's Rebel Blockade Runner and captures it over the desert planet of Tatooine. After a brief battle, Imperial stormtroopers take over the ship, and Leia is taken before Lord Darth Vader, who wants to know what she did with secret data "transmitted by Rebel spies." Leia, of course, has wisely hidden the data -- the plans of the Empire's ultimate superweapon, the Death Star -- into the memory banks of Artoo Detoo, an astromech droid. Artoo and his loyal but easily rattled counterpart, See-Threepio, have managed to flee aboard a tiny escape pod down to the hostile wastes of Tatooine. They are "found" by jawas, a race of small desert scavengers, then sold to a moisture farmer named Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker....and when Luke stumbles on a fragment of a message for someone named "Obi-Wan Kenobi," well, things really get interesting. Foster's novelization is very faithful to its screenplay source, and even the "added" material (Luke's first appearance in the novel as he repairs a vaporator, or scenes with Biggs and his friends at Tosche Station) comes from Lucas' fourth revised draft (available in Carol Titleman's The Art of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). Most of the "deleted scenes" later appeared in Brian Daley's Star Wars: The Radio Drama), and the encounter between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt (spelled Hut in this novel) was restored and tweaked with CGI in the 1997 Special Edition re-release. Of the three Classic Trilogy novels, this is the best-written. Foster's style is crisp yet elegant, and it does not read like it's a screenplay adaptation. The original 1976 hardcover edition (which I own thanks to the kindness of my best friend Rogers) includes 16 pages of promotional pictures and character profiles of the major roles. It's been since reissued several times, either singly or as part of omnibus collections in both paperback and hardcover, with different variants of cover art.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not GREAT
Review: Star Wars was certainly one of the most interesting and culturally exciting events of the last 1/3 of the 20th century as far as Pop Sci Fi was concerned and deserves to be mentioned.
But the FACT is that it is the MOVIE that got people excited not the novelization which hardly ranks with ODYSSEY, MOBY DICK et all!
It rates with Superman or Batman.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars...
Review: The book suffers from the same plot problems as the movie in its original form does. As I'm not a huge fan of the series of films, I wasn't all that taken in by the book either. It was interested to read this book as a stand alone document from the 1970s. Some of what to come was there but there was also gaps and inconsistencies (within the book itself and of course with future plot developments).
Rating:
Summary: There is no equal
Review: The entire Star Wars saga doesn't and never will have an equal. This book picks up on the things that you might not have in the movie. If you're a dedicated fan, you may be disturbed by the fact that the dialect isn't quite the same as the movie :) If you want to know what happened in the missing moments with Biggs, this is the best way to find out. A wonderful edition to your Star Wars collection, if you can manage to get your hands on it!
Rating:
Summary: Most Excellent Sci-Fi!
Review: This is the original book by George Lucas, the creator of STAR WARS. It is amazing that he put all this in his head before making the movie, one of the greatest of all time. This book is much like the movie, who almost every one has seen; the story of how Luke Skywalker helps an organized rebellion fight against the evil empire by destroying the Death star, an enormous, evil space station capable of destroying whole planets, but this book tells it in the way George Lucas originally envisioned it. It includes many things now seen in the special edition form of the movie, such as the Jabba the Hutt scene, which was originally cut for a lack of funding and time. The description in this book is excellent, and it puts you right in the action. The style is like you are an outsider looking in on the events through the characters eyes. It gives you feeling that you experience when getting caught up in the movie, with the exception of being able to know all that is going on around you. His vivid writing lets you see and understand the story better. This is one of the best Science Fiction pieces I have ever read. I recommend it to STAR WARS fans, Science Fiction lovers, and readers of good books alike.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER GALAXY, ANOTHER TIME
Review: With those immortally rewritten words, George lucas created a phenomena like no other film event. Hundreds of action figures, over 100 novels and TBP comic books and 5 movies later, he created for millions of fans a living galaxy that was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Only recently has a revival emerged via a remake of some old books.. Lord of the Rings. But Star Wars stands above them all.
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