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As with the comics adaptation, the novelization by George Alan Dean Foster Lucas differs in quite a few ways from the essentially "official" version of the story, the movie (and again, I refer to the original theatrical release, not the modified not-so-special editions released in multiple forms in the last 15 years). Perhaps the more notable differences are the nature of the political system and the ending, though the discrepancies in the political nature of the Empire - especially in Darth Vader himself - are certainly the most drastic change.

The additional scenes with Biggs at the beginning, Han's confrontation with a much different "Jabba," Owen Lars's temperament (much more angry than he is in the movie), the constant references to Ben as an imp, the different dialogue in key places, Kenobi getting "killed" instead of allowing Vader to strike him down - all of these are noticeable but less glaring (though Kenobi's death scene is much more gratifyingly done in the movie). The different political structure is intriguing - I wish it was a much larger element of this story and the latter episodes; I realize I wish that now, in my 30s, and definitely would not have wanted that or enjoyed the movies nearly as much as a youngster (unlike Ben Kenobi and the other "oldsters" - huh?).

That Darth Vader can't look upon Motti or even Tarkin as an equal not because of his status as a Sith Lord but because of his other spacial-political ambitions and such were an intriguing variation, as well as the sparse background on Tarkin as a potential rival for the Emperor. The timing of everything, the so-called Senate wherever it is/was and whatever it has been doing, the size and secrecy of the Rebellion, all of these could have been developed more fully. Ah, well.

Another noteworthy element is the aggravated feeling of just how little Princess Leia is in the story - it's an even starker absence than in the movie (combined with the embarrassing descriptions of her during the Death Star battle, and how she apparently kept chewing her nails out of girlish nervousness), made all the more bizarre by the final few sentences, with Luke ogling her and she just smiling back. At least the comic novelization brings us back out to a larger scope of how the freedom fighters have hope now after such a major victory.

The diminutive ending (set against descriptions of how apparently the entire Rebel Alliance is crammed into the one room, which isn't quite believable - I always felt only parts of the Alliance were gathered at Yavin and Hoth, and not just because of how much more diversity in aliens were in the Alliance in Episode VI), is oddly phrased and somewhat jarring. Perhaps the best aspect of the entire pre-novelization was the actual Trench Assault scene - that was impressively gripping, even after seeing the movie dozens of times in my life.

The differences are a little jarring at first (different callsigns, that Luke, Wedge, and Biggs make two assaults on the trench and not just one, the death of Biggs and Luke's little goodbye message (not nearly as juvenile by that point in the book as it seemed at the beginning), the timing of Han's rescue and Obi-Wan's messages, as well as the description of how Luke actually destroyed the Death Star), but on the whole it was very riveting.

I'm not saying it was the Iliad, but the brief character sketches were a nice touch, and the way Foster-Lucas described the various assault runs were intense. As I said, the different narrative approach to how Luke actually completes the job was not as enjoyable as the more stream-lined finish of the movie, but it was a nice variation to consider in propinquity. Though reading the book for the first half of seems more like a chore to be done only for completists, the differences and impressive extended finish make it worthwhile and actually enjoyable.