From a Certain Point of View: Part 1

[colls]

Welcome to our first of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Book: From A Certain Point of View by Various Authors

Stories 1-10
Raymus
The Bucket
The Sith of Datawork
Stories in the Sand
Reirin
The Red One
Rites
Master and Apprentice
Beru Whitesun Lars


1) Which stories did you like the most? the least?
2) Which characters stood out as interesting?
3) Other thoughts?

Comments

[barbiejedi]

1. My favorite by far was The Sith of Datawork. Very accurate for the kind of shenanigans you get in jobs that put a lot of emphasis on documentation.

2. I would give ANYTHING for a continuation of Reirin-- that seemed like a great first chapter of a much longer story. It reminded me a lot of the vibes of the Adventure Journal stories from Legends, and I wanted more of her adventure(s).

3. This is all speculation, but given how many of the stories featured what seemed to amount to little more than a transcription of on-screen scenes from the film, I wonder if the editors were telling authors to stick strictly to the events of A New Hope and not to stray. I would have liked the Beru story a LOT more if it had delved more deeply into her life before meeting Owen, or more of her relationship with Luke as he was growing up. Minus the blue cheese (lol), the story seemed like it was being dragged back to on-screen references rather than being allowed to go somewhere unexplored.

[brokenmnemonic]

the story seemed like it was being dragged back to on-screen references rather than being allowed to go somewhere unexplored

Several of the stories felt like they were trying a bit too hard to make sure everyone reading would be able to work out exactly where in the movie each short story fits.

[brokenmnemonic]

1. I think I liked Master and Apprentice the most, although I'm not sure about Qui-gon Jin appearing as a force ghost - I know that he's maintained a prescence within the Force, but I thought that he hadn't managed to pass across as well as Yoda or Obi-Wan would, and was limited to being a voice that could be heard. I'm not sure where I got that impression from, though. I think my second favourite was probably Raymus - I've known what happened to him since I first saw A New Hope, but seeing the crew of the Tantive trying to get to safety, reading about him trying to write letters for his family. and seeing his determination to help Leia get away and try and care for his crew made for a very poignant story. The Red One is I think the origin of a remark I heard someone make about how there's a fan theory that R5-D4 was a rebel alliance droid who helped R2-D2 get away. I really like knowing that he got to escape and retire to a moisture farm in the country - and not as a euphemism.

I wanted to like The Sith of Datawork more than I did. I think it felt a bit too much like a parody of how a military organisation works for it to really work for me as a story - it felt a lot to me like it was going for the same kind of humour about military paperwork that M*A*S*H used to do a lot, while also trying to be vaguely serious, and it just didn't work for me. I thought Reirin was interesting, and I'm curious about waht the artifact was (was it meant to be a khyber crystal?) but having recently read the first comics to feature A'sharadd Hett, I have mixed feelings about Tuskens who leave Tatooine in pursuit of greater opportunities...

2. I thought TK-4601 was interesting, but I struggled a little with the idea that any Stormtrooper with any doubts about doing whatever was ordered would last long in Vader's legion. I thought Jot the Jawa was fun - although I'm guessing that unless the stormtroopers missed the concealed compartment, Jot's probably another casualty of war. Learning more about Aunt Beru made me feel very sad for her, and the way her life became more limited because of Luke, even though she doesn't resent him for it.

3. I nearly ordered the wrong book, because it turns out there's another book like this for the Empire Strikes Back out there (and it's cheaper on Kindle, too). I wasn't sure what I expected it to be, but I first started writing fanfic as a way of adding extra scenes to what was my favourite show, and I wanted to avoid contradicting canon while keeping everything plausible. So... this book has a lot of appeal to me, because it's doing something similar. Some of the stories feel like more of a fit than others, though - Reirin is the one that stands out the most to me as being the one with the weakest links to what we actually see on screen in ANH, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

[barbiejedi]

1. The Red One is I think the origin of a remark I heard someone make about how there's a fan theory that R5-D4 was a rebel alliance droid who helped R2-D2 get away.
If you can find a way to read some of the Star Wars Tales comics, there's one about the R5 unit called "Skippy the Jedi Droid"! I was thinking about that comic the whole time I read the story. XD

3. An ROTJ one came out a couple of months ago as well! I'd like to get around to both of them at some point.

Agreed on how it feels like fanfic, but I come from another side of the spectrum where I'd prefer the stories add more on to the canon rather than being overly concerned with fitting exactly within the four corners of what has already been established. "Reirin" being the one that seemed to deviate most is why it ended up being one of the most memorable ones of this set for me.

[brokenmnemonic]

If you can find a way to read some of the Star Wars Tales comics, there's one about the R5 unit called "Skippy the Jedi Droid"! I was thinking about that comic the whole time I read the story. XD

Aha! I have a Marvel Unlimited subscription until the end of December, so I shall see if the comics are on there. I've read all the Dark Horse Star Wars comics through the app, and I've been trying to read all the High Republic era comics, but I've not really made a dent in the Marvel Star Wars comics yet...

I think it'd be fun to have an anthology of short stories around ANH that do expand canon. I'm wondering how many of the 40 stories will turn out to be split between sticking as close to canon as possible, and doing completely new things. I want to learn about R5-D4s previous adventures!

[goodbyebird]

I thought TK-4601 was interesting, but I struggled a little with the idea that any Stormtrooper with any doubts about doing whatever was ordered would last long in Vader's legion.

Hah same. When he was going on about how glad he was his helmet hid his face when it reveals his feelings so easily, oh honey. Vader doesn't need to see your face.

there's another book like this for the Empire Strikes Back out there

I saw that as well. Definitely have an eye on it now, with how much I'm enjoying this one.

[brokenmnemonic]

I'm choosing to believe that Vader was keeping TK-4601 around to use as an object lesson at some point, I think...

I was a bit surprised that the Empire Strikes Back book was cheaper than this one on Kindle. I didn't investigate too closely, but now I'm curious if the ESB anthology came out first.

[colls]

I was a bit surprised that the Empire Strikes Back book was cheaper than this one on Kindle. I didn't investigate too closely, but now I'm curious if the ESB anthology came out first.

This one is cheaper on my Kindle than the ESB one - makes no sense! The one we're reading is the first and came out in 2017. The ESB one came out a couple of years after. (2020 maybe?)

[goodbyebird]

1) Which stories did you like the most? the least?
I really enjoyed most of the stories - rare for me with short stories - but thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with Qui-Gon's perspective as a force ghost in Master and Apprentice.

Sadly, Beru's story was the biggest miss for me.

2) Which characters stood out as interesting?
JOT

3) Other thoughts?
I had no idea this was a linear type of collection, so very delighted to follow the movie's events from a different angle! Felt like reading episodic fic back in the days of Buffy and SPN. And I'm liking the writing as well.

I would absolutely throw down for Jot btw 🫡

[brokenmnemonic]

Do you think Jot survived the stormtrooper's capture of the sandcrawler?

[goodbyebird]

He's the only one that had a safe hiding place ;)

[colls]

I had no idea this was a linear type of collection, so very delighted to follow the movie's events from a different angle! Felt like reading episodic fic back in the days of Buffy and SPN.

Right?! It's such a treat to see so many different POV from the wider universe.


I listened to this as an audiobook a couple of years ago, so vaguely remember some of these stories. I'm reading it as an eBook this round (and am a bit behind).