Crimson Climb

 Crimson Climb (E.K. Johnston, 2023). Oh, yes. Just as I suspected. A wonderful read. I am a big Qi'ra fan from way back and was not disappointed by this wonderful story. It fills in the gap between times Han sees her in the movie Solo. The quotes I couldn't resist sprinkling in are from that movie.

Han Solo: How did you get out?

Qi'Ra: I didn't.

A heartbreaking tale of a scrumrat turned slave, turned servant, turned organized crime operative, this story follows Qi'ra's journey upwards from the sewers of Corellia to the rarified air atop the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate; it's her "Crimson Climb", if you will, up the dangerous and illicit corporate ladder. 

A lot has transpired since she last saw Han in the spaceport. 

Qi'Ra: You look good. A little rough around the edges, but good.

Qi'ra has become a well-trained and deadly asset to Dryden Vos, the ruthless (public facing) leader of Crimson Dawn. She still has the dice Han gave her, and smiles wistfully when she thinks of him.

L3-37: So what are you gonna do about your little problem?

Qi'Ra: Problem? I, er... uh...

L3-37: Well, that brand on your wrist tells me that you're committed. And that young male's heart fluctuations tell me he's in love with you.

Qi'Ra: Han is not in love with me!

L3-37: Oh, please. It's just us. You don't have to pretend. I'm in the same situation.

Qi'Ra: You are?

L3-37: I'm sure you've noticed that Lando has feelings for me. Which makes working together difficult because I do not feel the same way about him.

Qi'Ra: Right.

[pause, decides to humor her]

Qi'Ra: Yes, Yeah. Yeah, I see that.

L3-37: Sometimes, I think... maybe. But, no. We're just not compatible.

Qi'Ra: [pause] How would that work?

L3-37: It works.

Suffice it to say, I like this book very much. Great Star Wars read. 

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back

 

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View (2020)

Just finished reading this collection of 40 stories to celebrate the 40 years since Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released. Hoping for a bit of the "look and feel" of the old Tales From... series of books; a good crop of modern back story pieces. One neat thing is that the stories go in chronological order with the events in The Empire Strikes Back: starting just before the movie opens and continuing through 'til the end.

Proceeds from the sale of this short story collection benefit the non-profit group First Book. All contributors have forgone any compensation for their work. So that's nice.

What's inside, you ask? Well, here are some short thoughts about these short stories. Of the 40 tales, I really like 15 of them and actively dislike 7. The other 18 are neither here nor there. I'm glad I bought the book, and I am pleased to have read it. Wide variation in quality and seriousness found herein. [Side note: here's my breakdown from the A New Hope version of this book: 18 really like, 11 actively dislike, 11 ok].

1. Eyes of the Empire (Kiersten White)

A nice twist on the "Imps are just regular, good people trying to do their jobs" type yarn. Once you see what the Empire is doing, you'd better change your tune.

2. Hunger (Mark Oshiro)

An ok story. A wampa-eye view of the Alliance on Hoth, from before they arrived to after they left in a hurry.

3. Ion Control (Emily Strutskie)

A very good story of betting on an intra-office romance and sacrifices made in a time of war. Always fun to get the perspective of junior officers adjacent to the main action and characters from the movies. Just the sort of thing I'm looking for in this type of story collection.

4. A Good Kiss (C.B. Lee)

Awesome! Another wonderful look behind the scenes on the movie set, so to speak. And someone (apparently C.B. Lee) finally gets how to write a gay relationship into a Star Wars story without it sounding odd or shoe-horned in to meet a quota. Bravo!

5. She Will Keep Them Warm (Delilah S. Dawson)

Another animal-eye-view: this time from the (almost) sentient tauntaun perspective. Not quite my cup of space tea, particularly as the tauntaun Luke was riding was, according to this story, pregnant, and the tauntaun Han was riding was the first tauntaun's mother. Uh oh.

6. Heroes of the Rebellion (Amy Ratcliffe)

Erstwhile reporter for the Rebellion wanted to interview the big names stationed on Hoth- but realizes Rebellions are built on hope.

7. Rogue Two (Gary Whitta)

A good background tale from Zev "Echo Base, this is Rogue Two. I've found them! Repeat, I've found them!" Senesca.

8. Kendal (Charles Yu)

Choking with Admiral Ozzel, an intimate one-episode miniseries.

9. Against All Odds (R.F. Kuang)

Flying with Dak and Luke. Some factual errors early on (like saying star destroyers carry hundreds of TIE fighters each) paired with another "Let's ride along inside someone's psyche as they die" story. Ummmmmmm.

10. Beyond Hope (Michael Moreci)

Man the trenches in front of Echo base as the AT-ATs approach. Good read.

11. The Truest Duty (Christie Golden)

Ride along with General Veers. He'll have the shield down momentarily, then you may start your landing. Nice.

12. A Natrualist on Hoth (Hank Green)

A naturalist and (former) rebel decides to not evacuate. Ok, dude. You do you.

13. The Dragonsnake Saves R2 (Katie Cook)

A one page comic

14. For the Last Time (Beth Revis)

Now spend some time with recently field-promoted Captain --> Admiral Piett. A very good sense of Star Wars, here, as evidenced in part by this line: "And so Piett had watched and waited, as patient as a lyxine watching a bouf rat." Just different enough to be not from our world, but similar enough to be easily understood via context clues and purposely similar word structures. Kudos for not saying "bantha"or mentioning "Tatooine".

15. Rendezvous Point (Jason Fry)

No, no, no, no, no! Fake news alert! Incorrect backstory for Wedge, Hobbie, others. Incorrect size of "flight" of starfighters (3 vs 4). Wrong members of Rogue Squadron. By subject matter this should be my favorite story. By bad ideas this story earns the death sentence on nine systems.

16. The Final Order (Seth Dickinson)

Let's take a Imperial-class star destroyer into the asteroid field. Bad idea. Good story.

17. Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably) (Django Wexler)

Life in a TIE squadron. Another excellently written gay romantic relationship. Size of a squadron is wrong (they say 24, it's 12). Most of this story was a joy to read.

18. The First Lesson (Jim Zub)

Yoda's perspective as Luke arrives on Dagobah.

19. Disturbance (Mike Chen)

Inside the mind of Palpatine.

20. This Is No Cave (Catherynne M. Valente)

More (!) animal-eye-views...this time from the giant space slug who's no cave: the asteroid field exogorth. Ok, because it is pretty creative. But let's try to cool it with the sentient animals, please (I am thinking ahead to what will probably be a Force-sensitive and just misunderstood rancor in the third "From a Certain Point of View" book).

21. Lord Vader Will See You Now (John Jackson Miller)

Piett vs Sloane, Animal CSI. This story confirms that the action in The Final Order (above) was, in fact, a bad idea. By the way, if you need a pet autopsy in a galaxy far, far away you might want to find Sloane.

22. Vergence (Tracy Deonn)

Luke! Remember your failure in the cave! Who's up for more stories about inanimate objects or space beasts? Not me.

23. Tooth and Claw (Michael Kogge)

Bossk, turning over a new leaf? Interesting.

24. STET! (Daniel José Older)

Bad attempt at humor (?) involving Zuckuss & 4-LOM. Factual errors aplenty. Bounty hunting is not an "illicit activity", for instance. Certified Guild Bounty Hunters are not gangsters or criminals. Get it together, people. 

25. Wait for It (Zoraida Córdova)

Spend some time with Boba Fett? Very good. Hear him call Lord Vader "Lord Huff and Puff" in an internal monologue? Very bad. Near instantaneous hyperspace travel times...Bro-- do you even Star Wars? Then the author goes on to wreck Boba's brilliant "put Slave-I out with the trash" tactic. No good, my friend. No good. The conversations and interactions between Fett, Dengar, and Bossk seemed decent. 

26. Standard Imperial Procedure (Sarwat Chadda)

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Former head of engineering on a star destroyer is now a sanitation engineer who spots Han's trick of using the landing claw to affix the Falcon to the Avenger. Nearly cons Boba Fett into splitting the bounty. Makes it seem like dumping Slave-I with the trash wasn't Fett's idea. Cool ending to this story.

27. There Is Always Another (Mackenzi Lee)

Not a good characterization of dead Obi-Wan. Next.

28. Fake It Till You Make It (Cavan Scott)

A fun story with an annoying species at its heart: a Lepi, or giant green space rabbit. In this case, the original giant green space rabbit, Jaxxon Tumperakki. To be fair, this character is from 1978, specifically issue #8 of the Marvel Star Wars comic. So there's that.

29. But What Does He Eat? (S.A. Chakraborty)

Cooking at Cloud City; specifically for a tall man dressed in all black. Who breathes ominously through a respirator. Interesting story. Pairs well with a Star Wars cookbook and a fine Alderaanian wine.

30. Beyond the Clouds (Lilliam Rivera)

A bounty hunter wannabe has a change of heart. Ok.

31. No Time for Poetry (Austin Walker)

A Dengar and IG-88 buddy film. Kinda like a Star Wars: Red Heat. Good.

32. Bespin Escape (Martha Wells)

Ain't no party like a Ugnaught party 'cause an Ugnaught party don't stop. I have spoken.

33. Faith in an Old Friend (Brittany N. Williams)

Now we're talking! The Millennium Collective, the trio of droid brain personalities that run the Millennium Falcon, including the lovely L3-37. Very good.

34. Due on Batuu (Rob Hart)

The story of Cloud City's ice cream machine prop, and the newest old Star Wars word, camtono. It must be saved from falling into Imperial hands.

35. Into the Clouds (Karen Strong)

A Bespin socialite and noble has to make a choice as Cloud City falls apart around her. Great story.

36. The Witness (Adam Christopher)

Stormtrooper-eye view. Always a Star Wars story premise fraught with danger. This one's mostly done right.

37. The Man Who Built Cloud City (Alexander Freed)

The crackpot of Cloud City gets caught up in galactic events. Ok.

38. The Backup Backup Plan (Anne Toole)

Imps, the Mining Guild, Cloud City freedom fighters, a pair of lady lovers, and a hard to follow plot tangle together in this story.

39. Right-Hand Man (Lydia Kang)

A very uncharacteristically talkative 2-1B medical droid replaces Luke's lost hand, consoling and counseling him along the way.

40. The Whills Strike Back (Tom Angleberger)

Another not-funny comedy attempt to riff on the opening crawl. No thanks.

Dooku: Jedi Lost

Just finished this book, which is, interestingly, written as a play: Dooku: Jedi Lost (Cavan Scott, 2019). I don't think I have read a Star Wars play before. Practically speaking, plays are almost 100% dialog- Scott uses different narrators at various points to expand on the short scene setting notes and whatnot. Broadly speaking, in was interesting to see some of Dooku's history back at the Jedi temple, eventually becoming Yoda's padawan.

A major character in these proceedings is the force sensitive not-quite-failed-Jedi-nor-Sith assassin Asajj Ventress. She acts as the most frequent narrator throughout the proceedings. We follow her story as she becomes enthralled to the fallen Count Dooku.

We also get a bit of backstory (new to me, at least) about the mysterious name "Sifo Diyas", a Jedi called Dooku's oldest friend. I am still not clear on exactly how this old friend's name became involved with the cloners of Kamino to the point that they mis-identify Obi-wan Kenobi as Count Dooku's oldest friend. Context clues within this story suggest that Sifo Diyas was not in any shape to actually participate in the Clone Wars- there is probably some more info out there about this aspect of the broader story, but I haven't run across it as of yet.

All in all, I thought this book was decent. Fairly low key, low stakes backstory development. Good characterizations: Dooku, Yoda, Ventress, and others all sounded and acted "right".

The Princess and the Scoundrel

 

A while back I read this book The Princess and the Scoundrel (Beth Revis, 2022). It really caught my attention as it dives into the events just after Return of the Jedi, including the wedding of Han and Leia! Observe the Ewok tree village on the very cover of the tome, if you will.

I did like to reunite with these beloved characters, and I felt their characterizations were very good. This is a bit of a strange story, mostly about the newlywed's honeymoon: first aboard a luxury starliner, then on a remote ice-encrusted planet. The stakes as one could imagine, feel rather small coming as this tale does hot on the heels of the defeat of the Emperor. A "bottle episode" of sorts, this adventure has quite a limited scope and character cast. One does get the feel of being on Han and Leia's honeymoon, enmeshed in their struggle to figure out how to be a couple in the abrupt aftermath of the galactic civil war. They have both sacrificed so much and worked so hard and now their goal is achieved.

Leia is ever the politician, and can't stop working. Han just wants to enjoy some space bagels and his new wife back in the room. 

The Ewoks have access to some special wedding ring magic, for some reason. The planet the newlyweds visit is a bit boring and the scope of the story's central conflict is small, by galactic standards. Again, one wouldn't expect them to fight another Death Star, or Dark Lord of the Sith, or get involved in a fleet battle in space, coming as it does so closely after the events of Jedi, so it makes sense.

The theme of "what do we do now?", both in a personal sense for Han and Leia and in a governmental sense in terms of the fledgling New Republic, victors in the civil war, is intriguing. I imagine it was a messy and complicated time immediately following the Battle of Endor. Glad I tagged along for the story.

Force Collector

Just finished another Young Adult book, Force Collector (Kevin Shinick, 2019). While set in the Sequel trilogy era, this one is out in the middle of nowhere, so it doesn't run afoul of too much of the stuff with which I disagree. 

This is a sort of coming of age buddy story about a pair of teenagers and a droid. They have reason to travel to all sorts of Star Wars locations as seen in the movies. They visit Jakku before Rey steals the Falcon, they find themselves on Takodana before Maz Kanata's castle is destroyed, they even have a chance to visit the new Disney theme park and meet Dok-Ondar. A kind of fun romp along to familiar locales, even if the motivations for the galaxy-spanning trip don't quite make sense.

Part of the "Journey to Rise of Skywalker" series. I have no idea how this helps to set up the movie...perhaps more will become clear after we see the film tomorrow night.

Spark of the Resistance

Just finished Star Wars: Spark of the Resistance (Justina Ireland, 2019). This is a Young Adult novel and part of the Journey to The Rise of Skywalker build up.

I have liked many of these young person novels in the past. This one didn't really do it for me. The cast is small, Rey, Rose Tico, Poe Dameron, BB-8, and the Millennium Falcon. The story feels small as well. The crew is loading the last of some cargo the almost defunct Resistance needs aboard the Falcon. Then they get a cryptic distress call and decide to take a detour instead of delivering the critically needed supplies.

Blah blah blah, First Order, blah blah blah, new type of super weapon, blah blah blah, the end. 

There are some decent portions. A new alien species. An interesting remote planet. An abandoned secret Imperial lab. The story takes place just weeks after the sequel trilogy started. Somehow the reclusive, under-staffed, remnant of a remnant First Order has already dominated the galaxy. So much so that these three people and a droid represent most of the strength remaining. This book, itself, is not too bad.

It suffers most from being tied into the sequel trilogy in general. The following rant is not directed at this book in particular, but it sums up my issues with the new stuff.

I don't like it. As I have complained about before, the appearance of the fringe element First Order as more technologically advanced (by FAR, in some cases) than the Empire is straight up ridiculous. The speed with which they supposedly spread out and conquer the galaxy (and the numbers they must have, to make such an expansion possible) is ludicrous. All that firepower and manpower was simply lying in wait, just beyond the galactic horizon, getting ready to pounce and make the winners of the Original Trilogy back into the underdogs. Because they can't change the story. Why can't the New Republic be the good guys and the big guys for a change? 

Try writing something new. Try (like the good authors of the old Expanded Universe did) the role reversal plot line and explore the concept of the ill-equipped outsider former Rebel underdogs becoming "the man" and the government. What a change from the free-wheelin' days of hiding out, scraping it together, and living on a prayer. Same goes for the Imperials. They used to be able to spend lives and material at will. An inexhaustible supply of TIE fighters. More Stormtroopers to replace those lost. Star Destroyers and re-supply bases aplenty. Now they have to change. Adapt. Fight a retreat. Sue for peace. Hide. 

Thrawn Treason

Just finished this book, Thrawn Treason (Timothy Zahn, 2019). I originally thought it was part of a new trilogy, but I am now unsure. It is, indeed, a follow up to last year's Thrawn Alliances, the buddy story featuring Thrawn and Vader, but I don't see anything coming along as a third book.

This tale has extensive tie-ins to the Star Wars: Rebels Thrawn material that I have not yet watched. I suppose I will look into that next.

As a novel, I liked this one more than Alliances, and probably more than 2017's Thrawn. I certainly don't like them as replacements for the original Thrawn Trilogy...perhaps they still work as seamlessly integrated precursors, I suppose. 

Following along as Thrawn's ingenious plans unfold is usually fun, and this is no different. Sometimes one rolls one's eyes at the depth of knowledge these plans assume Thrawn is capable of achieving, but this is Star Wars, and Timothy Zahn, and Thrawn is cool, so it's fine.

I'll place this one is the near miss category, in terms of favored canon, simply because that's where Alliances landed. By itself, I'd consider it preferred canon, perhaps.

Alphabet Squadron

Just finished this new book, part one of a trilogy: Alphabet Squadron (Alexander Freed, 2019). Part of a crossover event with Marvel comics, specifically the 5 issue TIE Fighter title (currently on issue 4). I have to say this one fell a bit flat for me. I loved Freed's first foray into the SW universe, Battlefront: Twilight Company. This one has a number of problems, even though on its surface it feels perfect for me and this blog. 

The good: Alphabet Squadron is a rag tag collection of ships flying for New Republic Intelligence. Its pilots (and ships) are cast offs and survivors of regular starfighter squadron-killing events here or there. Their job is nominally to fly strange or interesting "non-combat" missions for the New Republic. They're spies, basically. In starfighters.

The bad: the name. Don't care for the word "Alphabet" when the SW equivalent is Aurebesh.  Don't care for the fact that there are literally only five ships in this "squadron", and each of them is a different type of vessel. What, exactly, will be the point of a single A-wing flying alongside a single U-wing and a single X-wing, Y-wing, and B-wing? Good question. 

The bad (part 2): Each of the members of Alphabet Squadron is the sole survivor of their particular former squadron's demise. That being said: don't worry! They weren't the best pilots in their former units, but they don't die...even when flying their five mismatched vessels (none of which were built for the same battlefield role) against some of the best the Imperial Remnant has to offer. Reading the scenes wherein their former squadron mates died in droves made it seem that the life of a starfighter pilot is short. Reading how these yahoos have nothing to worry about when flying against many times more enemy ships (from the same "legendary" Imperial squadron that destroyed their friends) kinda ruins the suspension of disbelief. 

The bad (part 3): I can't stand the "conflicted, brooding, secretive former Imperial trying to make good" storyline. Will she or won't she stay loyal to the New Republic? Worse is the "the Empire was full of good people trying to do their best" storyline. Even after exposure to countless episodes of Imperial cruelty. I, for one, don't like to muddy the waters on this point. The Empire is like the Nazis. BAD GUYS, full stop. Adding layers of moral ambiguity to what should be fast paced space opera usually doesn't end well. I don't even like the Imperial characters to refer, when speaking to each other, to efforts by the Rebel Alliance as "terrorist acts". That may be indeed what the Imperial military machine would realistically label the destruction of the Death Star, but writing this kind of moral equivalence is troubling. We want the Rebels to be the GOOD guys, you dummies. Characters like Saw Gerrera were rightly kicked out of the formal Rebellion for crossing those sorts of lines.

The bad (part 4): This is certainly not the best book for reading about the workings of a starfighter squadron in combat, both on and off the battlefield (that would be the wonderful Rogue Squadron series by Stackpole et al: both the novels or the Dark Horse comics). The writing during the battle scenes in Alphabet Squadron does not evoke that sense of movement, throttle and stick work, rolls, tricks, and edge of your seat danger that Stackpole provides. Those details make it feel more realistic. Also more realistic in the Rogue Squadron material: many pilots die along the way. A tragic but true effect of war. There are some weird things that occur in Alphabet Squadron dogfights: enemy ships forming a "cage" and not letting their target out, for one. While flying. In space. No thanks. Not to mention these five underpowered characters in their mismatched ships with no coherent job on the battlefield will never die. No matter what they face. Again, no thanks.

To sum up, this was an average Star Wars book for the Disney era (read: disappointing). Like many of these new books, I don't care about these characters. They try to make them "gritty" or something, and it falls flat. If you aren't invested in the characters, then you don't care what happens to them. 

Disney does keep the inclusivity streak alive, with multiple mentions of LGBTQ relationships, which I am for, in theory. They must have a checklist, however, for each writer, as these references tend to pop up out of nowhere and not be exactly germane to the story. There are no similar shout outs to heterosexual relationships, where a quick note tells us some random tidbit about a background character's sexual preference. Not that I'd want those random comments to pop up, either. We have yet to see, for example, a long-running romantic relationship between two main characters (like Han and Leia in other novels), where the mere existence of their relationship is not the story, but just a detail. That would be interesting.

Master & Apprentice

Just finished reading this new book, Master & Apprentice (Claudia Gray, 2019). I was looking forward to it, as I loved Claudia's first SW foray, Lost Stars. This one didn't do it for me, sadly. I like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, but the other characters and situations and locations were not interesting enough to fully engage my attention. The time period of the tale is 40 BBY (8 years before Episode I).

We meet a basically failed Jedi, who was a Padawan to Count Dooku before Qui-Gon. We meet some jewel thieves. We learn about a planet under the thumb of a powerful intergalactic megacorporation. We are thrust into an awkward and failing Master-Padawan relationship--not sure I got from previous stories the idea that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are/were in quite such a mismatched and strained relationship. They seem better by the end of this story, to be sure, but the initial situation depicted herein is bleak.

We see too many ham-fisted episodes of foreshadowing: attempts to explain too many otherwise irrelevant details from future stories. We cross a number of lines, Jedi-etiquette-wise, and toss in some anachronistic phrases here and there that kill the suspension of disbelief. We see a climax with a twist that we aren't invested in and can't quite bring ourselves to care about.

As with any novel coming in the time before (or between) major Star Wars events depicted in the movies, there is a challenge to come up with a plot that is interesting enough to be worth reading and yet does not outshine the movies themselves in scope and sweep (we accept the movies to be the most impressive events that happened during their respective periods of history). Some books pull that off nicely. I don't think this is one of them.

That being said, there are a ton of new books on the horizon, as we move toward Episode IX. I don't think I'm all that interested in any of them. You can read about them here, on the Star Wars website:

https://www.starwars.com/news/journey-to-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-publishing-program

Allies and Adversaries

Here's a preview of the newest book, an anthology of NPCs.

-Nate

Allies and Adversaries (P)review

This book is the second in the black-bound line of era-specific books, following Dawn of Rebellion and preceding (announced after, but arriving before) Collapse of the Republic. It's laid out a little differently from that other, with four chapters dedicated to different types of characters whom the PCs might encounter. Those are Chapter 1: Rebels and Heroes; Chapter II: Imperials and Despots; Chapter III: Scum and Villainy; and Chapter IV: Creatures and Citizens. 

Power levels for these NPCs run the gamut from generic Alliance troopers all the way up to Yoda. Some of them are familiar from previous sourcebooks, while others I don't recall seeing before. Familiar faces include Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, Lando Calrissian, Leai Organa, Luke Skywalker, Mon Mothma, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Saw Gerrera and Wedge Antilles; Admiral Piett, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, General Veers, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Grand Moff Tarkin; Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar, Doctor Aphra, Hondo Onahka, Jabba the Hutt, Maul and Zuckuss. 

Creatures—which I always find useful for bolstering encounters—include the acklay, bantha, bearsloth, dewback, dianoga, gundark, krayt dragon, loth-cat and loth-wolf, Mantellian Ffutterplume, mynock and vynock, nerf, nexu, rancor, reek, ronto, sarlacc, tauntaun, varactyl and wampa. 

All in all there are some thirty characters n each category, making this a highly utilitarian book. It can supplement a collection from any of the three lines, providing access to stats that would otherwise require a stack of books to transport. 

A highlight for me is the fact that Ewoks are introduced as a playable species.

Queen's Shadow

Just finished reading this nice new young adult book, Queen's Shadow (E.K. Johnston, 2019). It covers Padmé Amidala's story as she moves from Queen of Naboo to being the Senator from Naboo. She and her handmaidens have to adjust to the at times dangerous new life on Coruscant, amid the movers and shakers of the galaxy.

A very pleasant tale which fits effortlessly into the existing canon, Johnston fills out the picture of Amidala and this time of transitions before the Rise of the Empire. The tale takes place during 28 BBY, four years after the events of Episode I and six years before the Clone Wars erupt.

Well written, good characterizations of Amidala, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, R2-D2, among others. The ending makes me want to learn more about Sabé's potential role in the Rebellion...

Star Wars Reading in 2019

We have a small-ish slate of books to look forward to in 2019, but they are not from the Sequel timeline, so they're promising.

Starting with a Young Adult novel on March 5, entitled Queen's Shadow, by E.K. Johnston. This one traces Amidala's path after stepping down as Queen of Naboo, but before becoming the Senator from Naboo. An intriguing time to explore. I am a fan of both Amidala and E.K. Johnston (author of 2016's Ahsoka and co-author of the short story By Whatever Sun found in the "From a Certain Point of View" anthology.)

Next in the sequence is another Prequel era book: Master and Apprentice, by Claudia Gray (Lost Stars, Bloodline, Leia: Princess of Alderaan). This one deals with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan before the events of The Phantom Menace. Interesting! Love both of those characters, and quite like Claudia Gray (Lost Stars and Leia were better than Bloodline). April 16 release date, here.

Then we have a strangely named book (considering the SW inhabitants have Aurabesh, no Alphabet): Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed. This one is the start of a trilogy from the author of the excellent Battlefront: Twilight Company and the very good novelization of Rogue One. This one is slated for June 11. This one will also tie-in to a 5-part Marvel comic series called Star Wars: TIE Fighter (tie-in...get it?).

July 23 will see the release of Thrawn: Treason, by fan favorite Timothy Zahn. This is the sequel to Thrawn: Alliances. I didn't care for that one, but I will very likely read this one, too.

The last books for the year are set to be a part of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge media project, promoting the new attraction at Disney. First (in August) is a Young Adult Novel called A Crash of Fate. Then (in September) comes an adult novel Black Spire.

Punch it, Chewie

Just finished reading this delightful, fast paced book, Solo: Expanded Edition (Mur Lafferty, 2018). This is the long awaited (by me, at least) novelization of the Solo movie. It purports to be an "Expanded Edition", as I guess there are some extra scenes tucked inside that aren't from the film.

I was very pleased with the book. The characterizations seem spot on, from the wonderful droid libertarian L3-37 to the beautiful and dangerous Qi'ra, the cape-clad Lando, the lopsided grinning Han, Chewie and the rest. This is a great Star Wars story and a very entertaining read.

Makes me want to purchase this movie on Blu-Ray, and to watch Rogue One again. They are truly the only recent breaths of fresh Star Wars air, in my opinion.

With the Disney imposed slow-down in Star Wars movie releases, as Nate mentioned, I wonder when we will get to learn more about Qi'ra and her mysterious new Crimson Dawn benefactor and Teräs Käsi master.

Thrawn and his Special Friend

Just finished this new book, Thrawn: Alliances (Timothy Zahn, 2018). The tale jumps between two periods: the Clone Wars era where Thrawn is working with Padme and Anakin, and the early Rebellion era where Thrawn is working with Darth Vader. Chapter by chapter we skip back and forth between the eras, working on an interconnected mystery out of the edges of the Unknown Regions.

The tale is a bit bland, in my opinion. Not much going on, out on the outskirts of the galaxy. Always like to see Thrawn and the others, but this doesn't quite live up to earlier works in many respects.

I suppose this is the first novel wherein Zahn is forced to significantly overwrite his earlier Thrawn information. This novel ties into the cartoon series Rebels, which, of course, itself contains significant deviations from Zahns original Thrawn works. Not to hear him tell it, however. In this interview, Zahn claims that this work is "of a piece" with all he's ever done with Thrawn, even to the point that, if somebody at Disney were to snap their fingers and declare the EU/Legends Thrawn material canon again, these books would fit perfectly. So there's that.

Another detail from that interview is the following item: one of the locations in this book, Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu, is the site of the new Disney World Star Wars theme park, Galaxy's Edge. A place I will definitely visit someday.

SWAJ 13

Just finished reading Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol. 1, No. 13 (WEG, May 1997). A decent read. Includes parts 3 and 4 of the serialized short story "Side Trip:, written by Michael A. Stackpole and Timothy Zahn. A couple of other notable short story/adventure ideas are featured, including "Special Ops: Shipjackers" by John Beyer and Kathy Burdette. Always like the "Galaxywide NewsNets" and the olden days reports on upcoming Star Wars fare. The first novel in A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, entitled The Paradise Snare, is set to come out in June of 1997.

In the "ISB Intercepts" segment, wherein WEG personnel answer burning questions from the readers, we learn a couple of cool things. One: WEG does not have a website, yet, but it does have 3 different AOL email accounts. Two: some products (like the Jedi Sourcebook) have been shelved indefinitely, as WEG does not want the content to be invalidated by the upcoming Prequel Trilogy. Ah, what a time to be alive in Star Wars fandom. The world is your oyster; Jar Jar and midichlorians do not yet exist, and hope is ever present.

Please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to our Honesdale, PA home office. Pablo Hidalgo will be happy to answer your inquiries.

As always, you can check your Yellow Pages for a B. Dalton nearest you!

Most Wanted

Another big win for a Young Adult Star Wars book, this time Most Wanted (Rae Carson, 2018). Set in 13 BBY and ending not long before the events of the new Solo movie, this is a great read. Rae Carson is a good author who has really captured Han and Qi'ra; I did not care for her short story The Red One in the 40th Anniversary compilation From a Certain Point of View, but this was good. Solid.

Lots of nice action. Great descriptions of the seedy underbelly of Coronet City on Corellia, home to the White Worms (including Han and Qi'ra). We get to meet some other interesting characters, including a memorable self-improved droid and a tech savvy Rodian.

Han gets to drive speeders fast, and gets his first glimpse of life among the stars. He and Qi'ra even get a short trip to hyperspace together. Get your mind out of the gutter, Nate.

It was fascinating that throughout it all, Han owns basically nothing. Not even a blaster. His penchant for charisma, charm, fast-talking, and improvisation serves him well...until it doesn't. Qi'ra, on the other hand, is cold, calculating, methodical. A planner by nature. Too bad it just isn't in the cards for them, romance-wise. Sigh.

I liked the book very much, although slogging through the disgusting sewers of Corellia for so long has made me want to take a shower.

Official Guide

Just got this book recently. I quite like it! It reminds me of the also very good Visual Guide for Rogue One. Our olden days frenemy, the freelance artist and art teacher from Winnipeg, the guy who should know better from his days working with West End Games, Pablo Hidalgo!

There are, in this book and in this movie, some "deep cut" references for the gentle reader. Featured in Lando's portion: a mention to the Mindharp of Sharu. In the Coronet Spaceport section is a mention of and a relief carving of "Uhl Eharl Khoehng" and the "Edjian Prince", created by Patricia A. Jackson for the short story "Uhl Eharl Khoehng" in Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol. 1, No. 8.

I like seeing the TIE/rb Heavy Starfighter (I have no doubt we'll be seeing that one in the X-Wing Game in the future.

TIE/rb

It was also fun to learn a bit more of the story details, like the fact that the muddy ground war Han is involved in takes place on the planet Mimban. The great conveyex robbery takes place on the planet Vandor, and Savareen, the site of the backwater refinery, is near Tatooine, Geonosis, and Ryloth. 

For completeness, here is what the native Mimbanese fighters, resisting the Imperial aggression, look like:

I can't recall seeing them on the big screen.

Last Shot

Business trips with airport delays are good for reading time. Started Last Shot (Daniel Jose Older, 2018) on Monday, finished on Tuesday.

An interesting book in that it spans at least three different time periods, each working on a portion of the intertwined tale. Chapters skip back and forth between the eras as the story is shepherded towards its conclusion. One of the best parts about going back in time: we get to see the sassy L3-37.

Good writing; I am well familiar with Lando and Han and the rest, and these characters seemed true to form. Too bad Luke couldn't have been worked in, even as a cameo.

Only found one typo in the book, so that's good. Thought I was on the trail of another, when, in fact, I had merely encountered Disney's latest Star Wars nod toward inclusiveness: a new character who prefers the non-gendered pronoun "they". When used in singular form, in place of he or she, it throws one for a loop initially. As with all of these barrier lowering pushes lately, I am for it. Not used to it, but that's kinda the point. Along these lines, the author manages to work into the story the fact that a New Republic official is a man married to another man. That's fine...but again feels like we're trying to reach some quota of PC mentions per book or something. As I said before, I wind up being for this sort of thing, if for nothing else than the fact that it's overdue to have Star Wars, or anything else, be open to and inclusive of everyone. I guess for me the issue is that whenever a character's sexual preferences are mentioned in these adventure stories it is for this explicit inclusivity purpose. The story does not generally support such overt, expository statements, out of the blue, for any characters. Perhaps they should simply show these people in their relationships as a more natural part of the story. Han and Leia, saving the day, quipping romantically along the way does happen. Doug and Barry, fighting the empire, making eyes at each other across the crowded bunker could happen. Romance is surely a part of the Star Wars experience, and should be open to all. Lando and L3-37, for instance.

A few items to gripe about (of course). First: the 'droids gone wild' main plot theme is a slight retread of that found in The New Rebellion (Kristine Kathryn Rusch, 1996). The technical aspects of the main scheme were weak as well. Not sure "how" it was supposed to happen. Many of the military terms were abused, like when the author mentions a battalion of A-wings, or when the only grenades to be found anywhere were thermal detonators, and even they were classically underpowered (someone threw three (3!) of them inside a small starship, in space, with almost no ill effects--tell that to Prince Xizor's castle). One of the characters is an Ewok slicer. Uhhhhh. Another is a Gungan who is basically there to make fun of Episode I in long-winded monologues. Many instances of "you should think of a new animal/place name"; not everything need come from Endor (in fact, nothing need come from Endor), not every belt is made of nerf leather, not everything hairy is bantha-like, etc. Stretch your creative muscles to grow the universe. On the flip side, "hell" doesn't seem like a Star Wars concept/word. Ruins the immersion in the fictional setting, to some extent. One last thing: apparently "ass" is an acceptable word now in SW literature. The author uses and abuses this fact to enable very frequent mentions; including setting breaking concepts such as "whup ass". Please. I much prefer "stang!" and whatnot. 

Some cool concepts: the main bad guy has an air of General Grevious about him; that's kinda cool. A Twi'lek love interest for Lando is textbook great. I am a sucker for the multi-timeline thread concept, kinda like the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (All Good Things..., 1994).

In the end, I'd say this is a decent entry into the canon.

SWAJ 12

I have been working through Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol. 1, Number 12 (WEG, February 1997), on and off, for quite some time. There are some nice parts; including "Side Trip, parts 1 & 2". Part 1 is by Timothy Zahn. Part 2 is by Michael A. Stackpole. Nice!

A good article about Imperial Garrisons and a few decent short story/adventure ideas are included.

Onwards to lucky number 13!

Fully Operational (P)Review

Presented here is an overview of what one can expect from the new Fully Operational supplement.

Page 1: Opening crawl

Page 2: Inside title page

Page 3: Table of contents

Page 4: Fiction

Pages 5-9: Overview and summary

Chapter 1 (pages 8-35): Building a Rebellion

This chapter presents new backgrounds and duties for Engineer characters; three new species, the Bith, Kaminoan and Skakoan; three specializations, the droid specialist, sapper and shipwright; a list of engineer motivations; and two signature ability trees, The Harder They Fall and Unmatched Ingenuity.

Chapter 2 (pages 36-63): Tools for Freedom

Detailed in this chapter are seven new types of weapons, five explosive devices, four types of armor, various equipment items, a handful of droids, some weapon and armor attachments, nearly a dozen vehicles, and some new vehicle attachments. All in all, this looks like good new gear.

Chapter 3 (pages 64-96): Crafting Victory

This chapter provides suggestions for incorporating Engineer characters in campaigns, as well as new rules for spending Advantage on Mechanics checks, guidelines for building repair facilities, and tips for designing campaigns around Engineer characters. I need to play around with these rules in order to have a stronger opinion about them.

All in all, this seems like another solid entry in the collection. As always, the production values are high and the art is gorgeous.