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This is going to be a spectacularly biased review. Also, I'm listening to the Imperial March while writing this. *I should do this every time.*

The reason why I am giving this book five whole stars is because it let me have my childhood back, if only for the duration of 200 odd pages. Plus, I'm criminally low-brow. So I'm writing this review partly out of sentiment and partly out of dedication to my decision to review every book I read this year.

So, again, how can I NOT like this book? It's Luke. And Han and Princess Leia and Chewie and ol' Darth and R2D2 and C3P0 and Jabba and Greedo and Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru and Tusken Raiders and, and... heck, and even Admiral Motti (except he's not the one getting Force-choked here, which I find disturbing). Despite Alan Dean Foster's (I think we can all stop pretending Lucas wrote this) magnificently purple prose, despite his inexplicable bigotry towards Jawas, despite all the differences from the movie, I loved this book because it made me feel like I was discovering Star Wars all over again.

Surprisingly, there were things I genuinely liked about this book. I enjoyed reading a more detailed descriptions of Tatooine and Yavin IV, for one. With the movie, you're way too busy watching the X-Wings and stuff to appreciate the rebel base hidden inside an ancient temple. I mean, part of the reason Star Wars is so awesome are all the worlds. And it's interesting coming across familiar scenes and lines of dialogue, and seeing them treated differently. It's interesting to see what Lucas had in mind before the characters and events become the ones we know now. Also, Han shot first and this book proves it. Still, I prefer Jabba talking in Huttese and going all "Han ma buki" than in English (or is it Basic?). Also, it's a shame that the word "battle station" has to be used all the time. "Death Star" is possibly the best name EVER for a starship (and one of my favourite words in the English language apart from "drawings" and "forest" and "antebellum").

But the best part, of course, is the same adventure and feeling of being transported into another world. If you ever watched Star Wars as a kid, if you ever wanted to grow up to be a Jedi (or a Corellian smuggler, or a princess from Alderaan, or a Sith lord) then I dare you to read about the Millenium Falcon coming in to save Luke right before he blasts the Death Star and not smile. I dare you to read this - "Only when the freighter fully eclipsed the sun forward did the new threat become visible. It was a Corellian transport, far larger than any fighter, and it was diving directly at the trench." and not feel wildly happy. Go on, I double dare you.

I could complain a little about the writing, which has gems like - "... multiple treads that were taller than a tall man." Really, Mr. Foster? Really? And what were you thinking when you described Obi-Wan as a "night-stalking ferret"??? But honestly, I don't care. And sometimes it's so bad it's actually kind of funny - "Luke had never seen its like before; he knew neither its species nor its language. The gabbling might have been an invitation to a fight, a request to share a drink, or a marriage proposal."

I had once promised to stay away from the EU and anything other than the movies (this was after I read about Han becoming an alcoholic and Chewie dying) but I enjoyed reading this so much that I'm going to read the other two novelizations as well. What can I say, I have a very good feeling about this.