The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher: Review

The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher
Title: William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return
Author: Ian Doescher
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: July 2014
Length: 168 pages
Series: William Shakespeare's Star Wars (#3)
Audio or Book: Book
Reason for Discovery: Review Copy


I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

From GoodReads:

Hot on the heels of the New York Times best seller William Shakespeare’s Star Wars comes the next two installments of the original trilogy: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back and William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return. Return to the star-crossed galaxy far, far away as the brooding young hero, a power-mad emperor, and their jesting droids match wits, struggle for power, and soliloquize in elegant and impeccable iambic pentameter. Illustrated with beautiful black-and-white Elizabethan-style artwork, these two plays offer essential reading for all ages. Something Wookiee this way comes!

I read and reviewed the first two books in the William Shakespeare's Star Wars series a few months ago, and I loved them. As you can probably guess, I greatly enjoyed The Jedi Doth Return as well. Now I just need to invite a few friends over for a Star Wars movie night, and then we can do some Shakespearean readings as an intermission! 

Just like the first two books, I am quite besotted with the dust jacket picture and the hardback book itself. The art on the dust jacket is gorgeous, plus when you take the jacket off you see a pretty faux old-timey cover. From the moment you set your eyes on this cover, you get the feeling that you are looking at a Shakespearean-esque book. I feel like a lot of books nowadays use a lot of gimmicks to make a book look old or cool (or some other adjective); however, these gimmicks make the book super pricey (S. by Abrams and Dorst, I am looking at you!). The William Shakespeare's Star Wars series does a great job of evoking the right feels when you look at the books without giving you sticker shock. 

Okay, lets talk about the text in the book. If you enjoyed the first two books, you are going to love this one too. Doescher again does a careful retelling of The Return of the Jedi in "Shakespearean speak." I love flipping from one favorite scene to another to see how Doescher reinterpreted each scene. I must admit that even the Ewoks who I do not love now as much as I did as a child feel fresh with their revised language. By the way, Doescher goes into a bit of an explanation of why he chose the meter that he did for the Ewoks in the Afterword. Is it a bit geeky to say that I found the Afterwords in all three of Doescher's books to be super interesting? 

Like the first two books in the William Shakespeare's Star Wars series, The Jedi Doth Return is a ton of fun. It is a great little book to pick up and read your favorite scenes by yourself or with friends. It makes a cute gift for the Star Wars fan or the Shakespearean fan in your life.  

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 
Excellent
 

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