From a Certain Point of View: A Book Review by Kyle Pollard.
If you are a Star Wars fan and have not read “From a Certain Point of View” you need to move the title to the top of your “must read” list. Seriously, it’s that good.
Del Ray Books created the novel to honor the fortieth anniversary of the first film–A New Hope–and comprises forty short stories which give voice to minor supporting characters glossed over in the movie. A different author created each account to give each Star Wars tale its own individual uniqueness. I am not saying you will fall in love with every story because there are some I did not like, but you will absolutely find this an enjoyable read. If you wanted to know more about the band the Modal Nodes playing in the cantina where Luke hooks up with Han Solo, well, here is your chance to live the dream (Not for Nothing by Mur Lafferty).
My favorite story in the collection is Nnedi Okorafor’s story “The Baptist” which takes the point of view of the large cephalopod in the trash compactor on the Death Star. The garbage dweller in this tale has a soul. In “The Baptist,” the large sentient being named Omi is a female Dianoga captured from a swamp and transported to the Death Star against her will. The language in Okorafor story is ephemeral and hauntingly beautiful. Take, for instance, this section describing Omi’s captivity:
Everything stopped. Quiet, nothing, but everything. There was purpose. Omi twitched. Then involuntarily her body shifted to being transparent and then the black color with pricks of starlight. Home will stay home, but you must go she understood more than heard, and she knew deep in her hearts that she would not die. No, she was in the right place in the right moment. Stay your path. This time she heard the words in the deep complex humming language that her people often spoke in when they weren’t feeding. To speak this language was to scare away all nearby food, the reverberations carried so completely in the water. To hear it now was like feeling a final breeze from home. Though she was gazing into space, she heard the voice humming from her flesh. Maybe it came from within the tiny links that her people said chained with one another to form her flesh? There was a great flash, and Omi instantly knew. She was positive at least in that moment that this place she was in was going to burn, and the moment passed, and she was no longer sure of anything, except that feeling of oneness. What did that feeling even mean though? She was no longer so sure. Maybe it was just her fear of death.
~ Nnedi Okorafor, The Baptist
Isn’t Okorafor’s language ravishing? It’s like drinking Indian tea made by a good friend. There are many such special moments in “From a Certain Point of View” put under the microscope and explored by a cadre of talented writers. For example, there is a story of a Jawa from a sand crawler who dreams about living in the stars. A story about the red droid that blows up on Tatooine forcing Owen Lars to purchase R2-D2 instead. In the highly emotional story “Eclipse” by Madeline Roux we stand with Leia’s parents, Breha and Bail Organa as the Death Star obliterates their planet.
Projects like this are rare so get out there and find this title. So Good. I highly recommend the audio version as the production quality is excellent. All authors contributing stories agreed to give all proceeds to First Book–a nonprofit organization providing new books and learning materials to educators and organizations serving children in need. A must-read for fans of “Star Wars: A New Hope.”