Reading an adventure story after seeing it as a movie might seem a waste of time. You already got all its thrills in more visceral form.
But back in the day, when home video meant Super 8 or slide shows, a novelization of a just-released movie was something to own, and read. And when that novelization was of this amazing cinematic experience which had become our generation’s Beatles-at-Ed-Sullivan moment, you even brought it to school to wave around in homeroom.
How to review Star Wars the novel? For me, it’s not about ignoring the nostalgia as much as contextualizing it just enough to appreciate a first-class adventure story with more strings attached now than in 1976.
