I have read it 5 times, as well as the LOTR 5 times, and yes the two differ from each other and in the case of the LOTR movie counterpart significantly, but still a good series. As for what the saga was about in '77, it was about telling the middle story of it all from what he said in the Faces interviews. Not to mention, if you think about, the two important people of the saga, if you count 7,8, and 9, would be Anakin with 1-6 and Luke with 4-9. That is how I always looked at without have read or seen Episode VII, VIII, or IX obviously.