The book Star Wars On Trial capitalizes on this notion. It gathers a who's who of Sci-fi and Fantasy writers and assigns them to either the "Defense" or "Prosecution" of George Lucas and his most famous franchise. The book is part of the "Smart Pop" series which basically means it's not like your average book. It's a little smarter and more hip, as you'll see inside.

The book takes place in a courtroom environment, complete with droid judge and alien jury. However, this isn't your typical courtroom. The lawyers for either side (David Brin for the prosecution and Matthew Woodring Stover for the Defense) are sarcastic, abrasive and get yelled at quite often by the judge which leads to a more loose atmosphere in the courtroom. That makes the book a little more fun to read but gets a little old as you move on.

I'll say up front that the book is a good time and worth the read if you're looking for something fun and Star Wars related. Fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (books and such) will definitely find this a treat because it features many of the authors who have written for that universe.

There are eight charges against Lucas and his films, which I won't go into detail on but I think you'll be amused with the replies by everyone involved. The replies range from thoughtful and well thought out replies to witty banter. There's something for everyone.

If you're a regular poster on Star Wars message boards and love going through the posts, going back and forth with gushers and bashers, this book will seem familiar to you. At times, it really did feel like I was reading some long diatribes from long-time Star Wars fans on some message board.

There really wasn't much that I didn't like about the book but there was one thing that really ticked me off, though it might be my own fault. When I received the book from the publisher, I thumbed through it like I usually do before reading it and I noticed a small section at the very back that was labeled "The Verdict" that listed each charge and what I thought at the time was the verdict for each, so I instantly closed the book and swore not to read the verdict until I was done with the book. I held out and read the whole thing but when I got to the verdicts - the page didn't say anything but gave you a web address to go VOTE. Now I understand the idea of the reader being the jury and all that, but man what a let down. You read the whole thing and you don't get the payoff? I was annoyed to say the least. I made one attempt to hit the site, which ironically is a big message board, and didn't see any verdicts so I left and didn't go back.

I'm sure this has changed by now but I thought you might want to be aware of this before you read the book. I'm not sure if they'll release the final verdicts at some time - I'll leave that for you to find out.

In any case, I don't want to make you think this is a bad book and you shouldn't pick it up. Like I said, it's a good, fun read and you can tell that everyone had a good time writing their pieces. There are a few errors in there but they're forgivable. For example, at one point Kristine Kathryn Rusch credits the writing of The Empire Strikes Back solely to Leigh Brackett just to drive home the point that a woman wrote the script. In actuality, Lucas has confirmed in many interviews that very little of her screenplay actually made it into the final version and most of that script was written by Lawrence Kasdan along with Lucas' notes on what should happen. This was, of course, after Brackett had died.

Speaking of Rusch, there's an odd footnote I noted. Most of these authors don't pass up an opportunity to pimp their own work and at the end of each little rant, there's a list of what they've done. Rusch was responsible for a Star Wars novel called The New Rebellion which never gets a mention in her list of works. I found that odd but then I remembered that that book was part of a trifecta that made me stop reading Star Wars novels, the other two books being The Crystal Star and Children of the Jedi. They all came out, more or less, around the same time and I always tell the story about how, when I finished The Crystal Star, I literally threw it against the wall. Maybe it's better she didn't mention it, though I never really heard anyone else complain about it. Must be me.

Well, I've sort of left you with a bad taste in your mouth about this book at this time, right? Don't go by what I said. Pick it up and read it for yourself. Brin is witty, Stover is arrogant enough to be a real lawyer, and there are some really great highlights like Jeanne Cavelos' piece on women portrayed as weak in the films. Plus, there are enough cool pop culture and classic movie references to make you want to go rent a few old flicks just for kicks.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 Bones. That would have been 4 if not for that Verdict stuff at the end. :) Grab it today and let me know what you thought.

You can pick up Star Wars On Trial at Amazon.com or directly at Benbella books.

Add to del.icio.us	Digg it	Submit to reddit.com	Submit to Blinklist	Seed on Newsvine	Submit to Furl	Submit to Spurl