Book Review: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Deluxe Edition)
2025 marks the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith—both the film and the novel. Matthew Stover's literary adaptation of the final installment in theStar Wars prequel trilogyranks among the bestStar Wars novelsand, by extension, is one of the best, if not the greatest, film adaptations of all time. To celebrate 20 years of serving the fandom ofStar WarsRandom House Worldsis reissuing theRevenge of the Sith novelizationas a stunning deluxe edition with a new introduction, over 170 with notes from author Matthew Stover, new cover and artwork, and more.
Even if you've already read Stover's novelization, you haven't read it like this before. The writing itself (which we'll talk about later) is just as rich and powerful as it was 20 years ago, which speaks volumes about the quality of Stover's writing and George Lucas' story. But the new deluxe edition feels like a living, breathing piece ofStar Warshistory. The craftsmanship that goes into the deluxe edition is breathtaking and matches the prestige and quality of Stover's words. The book features a removable clear acetate cover with a foil-embossed silhouette of Darth Vader, which covers an all-new cover by Eric Tiemens illustrating Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel on Mustafar. Tiemens also contributes the stunning black-and-white illustration at the beginning of the book, while artist Ryan Church creates the endpaper depicting Anakin's final transformation into Vader. The edges of the pages are colored red, and on top of them is the most iconic quote from the novel: “This is what it’s like to be Anakin Skywalker. Forever...” written in rich black font. A red satin ribbon bookmark completes this stunning reissue, worthy of any Star Wars fan's collection of books and memorabilia.
But the deluxe edition is much more than just a reissue.With an insightful introduction and notes by Matthew Stover himself, the book offers an unprecedented look at the author's process of writing the novel, editing it, and following Lucas's story, while making the novel distinctly his own. Even for readers with little interest in Revenge of the Sith or Star Wars in general, the deluxe edition is fascinating, as it provides insight into the mind of a brilliant author, seeing how he crafts stories and dialogue, and the precision with which decisions are made that affect every element of the writing.
Stover's annotations will deepen your understanding of Revenge of the Sith in intriguing and unexpected ways. Stover takes a candid approach to his introduction and annotations, not being afraid to detail how he overcame some of his weaknesses and insecurities to create such an outstanding novel. The annotations also perfectly complement the text itself, which remains as strong as ever. Reading a section of a book and then immediately going to the bottom of the page to find out why Stover wrote something a certain way or avoided using a certain term is consistently fascinating. Those interested in the behind-the-scenes mechanics of theStar Warsbooks and films will be delighted by how Stover reveals which parts and lines were not in the original filming script forRevenge of the Sithand how his editors and George Lucas agreed with or rejected certain elements of his writing. For those especially interested in all the insights we gleaned from the novel, we will publish an article detailing everything we learned when the book goes on sale on October 14.
None of these annotations would be particularly interesting, however, if they didn't reveal the behind-the-scenes side of a compelling, well-told story. But that's exactly what Stover's novel is.It's been a few years since we've read the novelization (at least eight years ago), so in any case, it's time to return to what many consider to be the seminal text in the history ofStar WarsRemarkably, the novel has lost none of its impact even after all these years and multiple readings. Many film adaptations are faithful retellings of the source material, but Stover decided to take his book in a different direction, filling it with deleted scenes, alternate dialogue, and real self-reflection on key characters. Some scenes are closer to the film than others, but also deviate quite noticeably from it. As a result, reading Stover's novel is a completely different experience than watching Lucas' film.
It seems disrespectful to the film to say that Stover's novel adds more layers to the story, but it's true. It's hard to put into words our admiration for "Revenge of the Sith" - for us, Lucas has created a masterpiece that stands alongside "The Empire Strikes Back" as the best film in the franchise and, indeed, as one of the greatest films in cinematic history. As a testament to Stover's skill, the novelization adds incredible depth to Lucas' film.
For example, Stover's script adds so much nuance to how Palpatine manages to instill Jedi immunity in Anakin. When the film was released in 2005, many felt that Anakin's turn to the dark side was a bit harsh and even undeserved, but this criticism can hardly be attributed to the novelization. Stover skillfully switches between more traditional storytelling and scripts that showcase the inner worlds and thought processes of our characters, making Anakin's fall to the dark side feel perhaps more organic. The most obvious example of the latter is when Stover offers a glimpse into the minds of Obi-Wan and Anakin, emphasizing that they never imagined that they would one day become enemies. As a result, Anakin's final fall hits even harder and makes the story even more tragic.The selective use of second person gives readers the opportunity to imagine themselves as Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padmé, and others, something that is impossible to achieve in a Star Wars movie.
Stover also frequently switches between the present and past tenses in his writing, a bolder decision that pays off incredibly, giving the narrative relevance at key moments and making it more reflective at others. Reading in the annotations how and why Stover decided to change the narrative tense, these transitions become even more striking and impressive.
Re-reading the novelization also served as a throwback to a bygone era of Star Wars storytelling. Those who have read the novelization before know that it is filled to the brim with references to the EU (Expanded Universe) or, as it is now called, Legends. The annotations show Stover's great reverence for EU books, stories, and authors, and highlight that, like us, Stover is a true fan of books from a galaxy far, far away. Reading how he drew on works like Shatterpoint, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, and Labyrinth of Evil certainly brought us back to these now non-canonical Star Wars stories and made us want to return to other Legends works.
VERDICT:
The deluxe re-release of Matthew Stover's iconic novelization Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith serves as the perfect way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of what has become one of the most revered stories in cinematic history. Outstanding craftsmanship is evident in the reissue, which is stunning with new covers and interior artwork, beautiful red-edged pages, and other stylistic changes befitting such a grand and seminal novel.Stover's liner notes alone, which make the reissue worth purchasing, offer unprecedented insight into his writing process, the reasons why he made certain narrative decisions, and how he agreed and stood up to editors and even George Lucas. The annotations are written by an author who clearly loves George Lucas andStar Warsand will only deepen your understanding of the story. A story that has not changed one bit, despite the fact that 20 years have passed since its original publication. Even though we've read the novelization several times, Stover's style remains just as impressive and goes far beyond a simple retelling of Lucas' script. A variety of deleted scenes, alternate dialogue, and, most strikingly, explorations into the inner psyches of our characters combine to make Revenge of the Sith a more layered, complex story. To top it off, the novelization feels like a throwback to a bygone era of storytelling with its many EU references, an aspect that Stover touches on interestingly in his annotations. If you haven't read the novelization of Revenge of the Sith before (perhaps because you thought you'd seen the movie and therefore there was no point in reading the book), think again. If you've read the Revenge of the Sith novelization before, you've never read it like this before.