Escape from Darth Vader Escape from Darth Vader is a young - readers story from Disney – Lucasfilm Press , released on September 16 , 2014 . Written by Michael Siglain , with illustrations by Stéphane Roux , it tells the story of the opening events of , from the Rebel Alliance vessel " Tantive IV " being pursued by the Imperial Star Destroyer " Devastator " to the droid s R2 - D2 and C - 3PO escaping and landing on the desert planet Tatooine , the former carrying secret plans to the Empire ' s Death Star battle station . Publisher ' s summary . " C - 3PO and R2D2 " [ " sic " ] " must keep Darth Vader from discovering the Rebels ' secret plans ! This fully - illustrated level 1 reader retells the classic scenes from " " where the droid s crash land on the desert planet of Tatooine and meet a young farmer named Luke . " Plot summary . A Rebel vessel carrying Prince ss Leia Organa is under attack by a larger spaceship . Organa is in possession of secret plans for an Imperial battle station . R2 - D2 , a specialized droid , desperately seeks the princess , who moves swiftly to escape a boarding party sent by the Empire . Meanwhile , a droid of another type , C - 3PO , worries that everyone aboard the vessel is doomed . Organa evades pursuing troopers and provides R2 - D2 with the secret plans to keep them from falling into the hands of the feared Sith Lord Darth Vader . She is soon captured by the pursuing troop s and taken to Vader but does not reveal the plans ' whereabouts . C - 3PO finds R2 - D2 , and together the two board an escape pod , which lands on a sandy planet . Having escaped Vader with the secret plans , they begin a new journey that will bring them into contact with Luke Skywalker , Obi - Wan Kenobi , Han Solo , and Chewbacca . Development . On April 25 , 2014 , Lucasfilm announced a new storytelling structure for the " Star Wars " franchise , wherein past titles considered part of the Expanded Universe would be rebranded as " Star Wars " Legends , while new releases would form a new continuity of canon . " Escape from Darth Vader " , a thirty - two - page fully illustrated book written by Michael Siglain and illustrated by Stéphane Roux , was published on September 16 , 2014 , making it part of the new canon . The title , designed for readers ages 6 - 8 , retells situations and events previously depicted in full in the original " Star Wars " film . Amazon Digital released an electronic edition on October 7 , 2014 , and Egmont issued a U . K . edition on June 4 , 2015 . Continuity . " Escape from Darth Vader " is part of a series of " Star Wars " titles under the World of Reading banner that retell events from the original trilogy in a format suitable for the youngest audiences . Other titles in the series include " Use the Force ! " , " Rescue from Jabba ' s Palace " , and " AT - AT Attack ! " , all of which were published in 2015 . " Escape from Darth Vader " is also one of eleven stories published within " 5 - Minute Star Wars Stories " , a December 2015 compilation from Disney – Lucasfilm Press featuring at least one story focused on events from each of the films in the " Star Wars " saga series to date . This new version of the story is credited as being authored by Brooke Dworkin . It retains the same basic narrative and illustrations by Stéphane Roux but uses somewhat more complex language , as well as direct quotations from the film not featured in Siglain ' s version . " Escape from Darth Vader " is included in the compendium book " 3 Out - of - This - World Tales ! " , published on August 29 , 2017 . The title also include the stories " AT - AT Attack ! " and " Ewoks Join the Fight " , along with an accompanying CD narration . Reception . Overall reception to " Escape from Darth Vader " by reviewers has been positive . As of December 15 , 2016 , the title had received seventy - seven customer reviews at , with an overall rating of 4 . 7 / 5 stars . Reviewers describe the story variously as a " well - written recounting " and " a story that has lured my young daughters away from helpless princesses . " Mundie Kids , a book review site written by a mother , featured a positive review , which stated , " This is a book I wish I had , had [ " sic " ] for my son when he was learning how to read . "