William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Iam Doescher

I've been putting off this review. I was so bored, I was distracted, I was doing everything but reading. Quite frankly, only Shakespeare could make Star Wars boring. It's time that I put the book down and say, "Enough. I can't take anymore of this!"  All books are special, some just appeal more to one person than the other. But here's the deal: I just can't get through this book without some discomfort, not after having just gone through a semester of Shakespeare.

I requested this book from Quirk who kindly gave me a copy in exchange for an honest review and I assure you, this review is honest. I was in a Shakespeare English class that I found incredibly boring so when I saw this book I thought, Hey, maybe Shakespeare can be fun after all! Well, he can't be fun and no matter the content, he's not. I gambled when I requested this book. I try to only request books I think I'll enjoy and I really thought I would enjoy this. I've been a fan of Star Wars since I was in elementary school, watching movie after movie after movie every snow day we had in Washington.

I loved a few things, though. For starters, this book is written in Shakespeare's traditional iambic pentameter which means it has one stressed syllable and another unstressed (my English major self was so happy about this). The author truly mimics Shakespeare's style down to the syllable. And this:

Obi Wan: "--Nay, thou dost/ Not need to see his papers."
Trooper 4: "Nay, we do/ Not need to see his papers."
Obi Wan: "--True it is,/ That these are not the droids for which thou search'st."

That is just so awesome. So, I appreciated bits of the book. It was actually a really well-written book by a very competent author, it just wasn't the right book for me.

Shakespeare still isn't my guy but I assure you, if you are a fan of Shakespeare and Star Wars you will just die with happiness. This book delivers exactly what the title promises and it does so beautifully. The author took a cult classic and paired it with the style of a literary genius and made Star Wars artsy. Kudos to Quirk for publishing this and Ian Doescher for writing a new (or would it be old?) piece of literature bound (ha ha) to become a classic itself. It just wasn't the right fit for me.

Check out my review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, another book by Quirk which I absolutely loved!

And if Shakespeare is up your alley, you can pick it up on Amazon through this link