Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi
by Kevin Hearne (Del Rey, 2015)
Disney presents a first-person narrative by a distinctly uninteresting Luke Skywalker in his wide-eyed Jedi novice days, wandering through a plot less gripping than old velcro. Sad to say, this feels amateurish. (Did Mark Hamill narrate the audiobook? That would be fitting.)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
dir. J J Abrams (2015)
Visually spectacular without being gratuitously effects-driven; introducing new characters played by relative unknowns; stirringly scored; epic but with humour: Star Wars Episode VII is a true spiritual sequel to Episode IV (although not as self-contained and perhaps rehashing too many plot elements).
Star Wars: Red Harvest
by Joe Schreiber (Arrow, 2012)
Zombies and Star Wars might not seem a natural mix, but Joe Schreiber makes it work with a fast-moving, gory yet matter-of-fact horror story where Sith Lord Darth Scabrous seeks immortality through a Force-sensitive black orchid… and the dead start to rise.
Return of the Jedi
dir. Richard Marquand (1983)
As the denouement to a full-fledged trilogy (not merely the second of two opportunistic sequels), Return of the Jedi first built on the foundations of its ground-breaking predecessors, then brought the Star Wars saga to a towering conclusion, dazzling in cinematic force.
Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye
by Alan Dean Foster (Del Rey, 1978)
Set and first published between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Foster’s hurriedly written, workmanlike tie-in novel sends Luke and Leia on a meandering, curiously pointless quest, before pitting them (belatedly) against an ineffectual and always-likely-to-be canonically suspect Darth Vader.
Howard the Duck
dir. Willard Huyck (Lucasfilm, 1986)
Though not the outright flop of lore, this hand-me-down from George Lucas’ Star Wars clique prevaricates disastrously between child-orientated performances and inexplicably adult humour. It remains a must-see film, however, if only for Jeffrey Jones as a demonically possessed Ed Rooney cross-pollination.
Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves
by James S. A. Corey (Century, 2014)
“Enough Banter,” Scarlet says. “Focus now.” But this admonishment comes three-fifths of the way through and has no discernible effect on the (openly nom de plumed) authors. Their novel-length burst of glib humour succeeds only in rendering Han Solo lightweight and facile.