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William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back  By  cover art

William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back

By: Ian Doescher
Narrated by: Daniel Davis, Jonathan Davis, Ian Doescher, Jeff Gurner, January LaVoy, Marc Thompson
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Publisher's summary

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. These two plays offer essential listening for all ages. Something Wookiee this way comes!

Read by Daniel Davis, Jonathan Davis, Ian Doescher, Jeff Gurner, January LaVoy, and Marc Thompson.

©2014 Random House Audio; 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.

What listeners say about William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back

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Star Wars fans should listen to this.

What did you love best about William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back?

The narrators.

What was one of the most memorable moments of William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back?

Han Solo speech to wookie about Princess Leila Skywalker.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes William Shakespeare Star Wars The New Hope.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both

Any additional comments?

Will there be a book 7?

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Great sans meep squeak.

Loved it all. The meep squeaks from r2d2 were a little annoying. All other voices were well done imo.

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Something Different

If you love Star Wars, you'll love this take on Empire. Still the same story, but made interesting again though the use of Shakespearean language and writing. Well worth the price!

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Even better this time.

This one was even more brilliant than the last. The wampa, AT-ATs, and Ugnaughts had me in tears of laughter. The climax of the film is done well and is still captivating in this format. If you made it through the first one and enjoyed the experience this one won't disappoint. Again, you MUST listen to the audiobook. It's wizard.

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4 people found this helpful

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Goofy Fun with a Blast of Class!

This is a hoot and a half, taking an entertaining tone while seriously tackling what this classic science fiction epic would sound like in iambic pentameter (with haiku thrown in for reasons which are explained in the end).

The many actors and sound effects provide a full sonic experience along with the excerpts from the iconic John Williams score, however the author's use of asides to flesh out the characters provides fascinating windows into the souls of sentient beings great & small.

Verily much looking forward to the next installment!

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A delight.

What fun! Glory be! singing Ugnauts! Didn't care for Leia singing, but Chewy saved her. a hoot was had! :)

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These are the books you've been looking for


William Shakespeare’s Star Wars – The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher is the sequel to William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, a retelling of George Lucas’s space saga in the style of William Shakespeare. I would strongly recommend picking this up as an audiobook rather than ebook or hard copy – Random House Audio’s production is top notch with an excellent cast. It is far more like a radio play than an audiobook and the excellent cast does a wonderful job of telling the story.

What I liked

The source material. The original Star Wars trilogy is a darn good story. It contains a lot of strong themes which would have been as relevant in Shakespeare’s time as today: love, betrayal, youthful impetuousness, struggle against tyranny. Doescher therefore has a strong base on which to base his adaptation. It also isn’t too jarring, for example, when Han rails against Lando’s betrayal in Shakespearean language as it is a theme and emotion found in many of Shakespeare’s works.

Yoda. On my first listen through I was a little disappointed that Yoda didn’t sound too different from the other characters. In the movies, he has a unique speech pattern and I was hoping that this would be reflected in Empire Striketh Back. It was only on reading Doescher’s commentary that I realised Yoda was speaking in haiku! Darn I wished I’d picked that up first time. This is intended to reflect Yoda’s role as Luke’s master – or sensei – in the mystical force giving an eastern feel to it. Brilliant. Appropriate and brilliant.

The production. Random House Audio has gone full out to make this a radio play rather than an audiobook. We have a strong cast, sound effects (including the iconic swish of the lightsabres) as well as snippets of John Williams’ memorable soundtrack. It all combines to make it a wonderful listen.

Doescher’s Notes and Commentary. I the ebook edition I also possess, Doescher adds some commentary explaining some of the creative decisions he made while writing Empire. This, combined with the teachers notes provides a fascinating new insight into the book.

What I didn’t like

There was nothing, I tell you, nothing i disliked about The Empire Striketh Back. I already have The Jedi Doth Return on pre-order. As the trailer says “these are the books you have been looking for.”

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Yoda was built for this! Plus a little hint...

Every play a Beatles album backwards? Here's a trick I did with this and the following story. Read the author's note at the end of the book first and then read the book knowing what the other is trying to depict with each character and scene. The series is truly quirky yet flawless and has a great flow that will make you want to listen to all three books.

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Awesome idea.

Fans of both The Bard & Lucas will enjoy. well done. Hope to see it as a play. More than worth the purchase.

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As good as the first

I wondered how the author would handle Yoda. For the curious, he talks about it in the Afterward segment. This perormance was outstanding, just like the first installment!

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