I really give this book 3 and a half stars only for the artwork.
Primarily, this book is rather disappointing. The pictures, and artwork are great, and I must say it is quite amazing to see the matte paintings that were used in the film. The book contains numerous paintings, sketches, and pictures, but they are very poorly organized. I often found that if I saw a picture I liked and wanted to look at it again, I would have to literally flip through almost every page to find it again. The pictures aren't organized into "sections" as were the ones in THE ART OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. But that is because the script for the movie is included in this book.
The script takes up a lot of space, but is often spaced apart by maybe 2-3 pages of artwork. So for example, once you're done reading the portion of script on page 9, you'd have to skip up to page 12 to continue reading it. It ruins the continuity of the script, but that is not that much of a deal. The script is nice to have, but then again, why would you really want the script? And besides that, why would you find a script in an art book to begin with?
Returning to the pictures, the main disappointment is the lack of descriptions for the artwork. They have little sentences like: ABOVE RIGHT, painting done by Ralph McQuarrie, and so on, but I had expected more descriptions, and rightfully so because this is an art book...isn't it?
If you are interested in the art AND the script, then you should get it. But keep in mind that there aren't many descriptions for the pictures. In my opinion, this book is a clash of script and fabulous art, and the script doesn't allow for the splendour of the artwork to come out in its full "capacity". But I don't regret getting this book simply because of the artwork, and really, this is the only book out there that has THE ART OF RETURN OF THE JEDI.
