Star Wars Book Report

If there is one thing that has been made clear in the Star Wars Universe it is this; if you are an over thinker, you will become the epitome of evil.  If you like to think four and five moves ahead, you need to stop right now, or you will end up on the wrong end of a light saber or a blaster.  Just look at the evidence. 

Case One – Grand Admiral Thrawn – This man looked at the art of a culture…the art…we are talking paintings and statues and stuff, and by examining the art, he knew how that cultures generals were going act in battle.  If that is not over thinking I don’t know what is.  Thrawn is the classic chess master villain who over thinks every situation and how did Thrawn end up?  He threw invisible asteroids at Coruscant which hurt civilians as much as it did the military and by over analyzing threats that were ten steps down the road that he totally missed the Nohgri right in front of him as a threat.  Over thinking was Thrawn’s downfall.

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Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen

Chapter 5 

Saba and Leah race to get the Fizz sample to Cilghal’s lab for analysis at the Jedi Academy, and we get a glance into the Jedi training that Leah is receiving from Saba.  I loved it.  Leah was in a hurry to get the Fizz to Cilghal, and as she is running to the lab, Saba reminds her of the rule to meditate upon entering the Academy grounds.  Leah was in a hurry and tried reasoning with Saba about the well being of Luke and Han who are stuck on Woteba, but Saba quickly establishes who is in control putting Leah in her place with her quite yet stern Barabel ways.  Leah then finds herself meditating and being corrected later when she calls Corran Horn, Corran instead of Master Horn even though they have known each other for decades. 

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In this episode, we bring on Wayne Chamberlain an editor of the fine newspaper The Sudbury Star to share his story of how he got back into Star Wars through his children. 

We discuss Wild Space by Karen Miller.  We discuss her writting style, our favorite scenes, the ethics of the Jedi during this time period, the nastiness of the Clone Wars, the tremendous power and skill of Palpatine to play both sides of this war and much more. 

Lastly, we discuss the wonderful and different ways in which we receive Star Wars stories from the movies, books, cartoons, audio-books, and more.

Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy, your Star Wars book report. 

Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse

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This begins as a spolier conscious book review and then there is some spoiler information later in the article.

Novels or Series Mentioned

Betrayal

Legacy of the Force

Aaron Allston and this creative team gave this book a great title. Betrayal has multi-layered meaning for this book. It can reference so many characters and plotlines. Is it talking about Corellia’s turn against the Galactic Alliance or the Galactic Alliance’s turn on Correllia? Is it referencing Han Solo’s turn on the Galactic Alliance? Is it referencing Thracken Sal-Solo’s turn on Corellia? Is it referencing Jacen’s turn on Nelani and/or Ben Skywalker? I think the answer is YES. So many of these story lines can be viewed as betrayals from different perspectives, and some look like betrayals on both side, so this is a great title for this book and my favorite aspect of this story.

The basic plot for this tale is that Corellia is trying to get all the benefits of being a member of the Galactic Alliance without paying taxes. The fun starts when people start choosing sides: freedom of choice for Corellia or Corellia should abide by its agreement with the Galactic Alliance, and some characters choose an unexpected path.

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Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen

Chapter 2

This chapter begins as a digestion chapter. Han, Leah, Mara, and Luke discuss how to handle the problems that arose from chapter 1. Mainly Luke’s promise to help UnuThul with the Fizz that is eating away at their planet. Luke and Han decide to remain on the planet with the Killik to build trust wit UnuThul and investigate the dark nest issue. Mara leaves because of the dark nest’s desire to kill her. The rest of the gang takes a sample of the Fizz to Ossus and Cilghal.

This chapter is pretty slow until Alema shows up and the fireworks begin. Alema and Luke discuss the Killik situation esspecially the dark nest, Welk and Lomi Plo’s role in it, the batlle on Kr, and during this debat, Han stuns Alema.

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Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen – Part 1

I received an e-mail recently asking me how to keep up with what I am currently reading, so to help out I came with the idea of the DRU or the Daily Reading Report to share my thought on what I recently read. They will be brief summaries of my thoughts of what I have read that day. I hope you will follow allong and enjoy.

Currently I am reading Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning.

Prologue

Have I mentioned that Denning is a master of action? The prologue of most book sequels briefly remind you of what took place in book one…Denning does not. You must read Dark Nest I to know what in the world is going on; otherwise you with think Jaina and Zekk are back in puppy love finishing each other sentences. I am not sure which is creepier joiners or people in love finishing each other’s sentences?

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This is a spoilerful review of The Vesuvius Prophecy by Greg Cox

Novels Mentioned

The Vesuvius Prophecy

I just finished The Vesuvius Prophecy, which is a tie in to the sci-fi show from the USA network The 4400, of which I loved.  I am a book guy.  In fact, I can only think of 4 shows in the history of television that I have watched every episode: Third Rock from the Sun greatest sit-com ever, Boston Legal Denny Crane greatest TV show character ever, Burn Notice and Psych, and the last two which are shows I like, but have been aided greatly by DVR, which makes catching shows so much easier.  I just never cared that much for seeing every episode of any TV show.  I have a life and books, so sitting down every Monday to watch a show is hard for me, but for me The 4400 was appointment TV for me.  More importantly The 4400 is the only sci-fi show my wife loved, which says a lot for it. Now, I know.  I know this is not a Star Wars novel, but maybe, just maybe, we can find room in our hearts for a non-Star Wars tale.  Don’t worry though Star Wars fan.  Star Wars novels will always be my number one novel obsession.

If you have not seen this TV show, e-bay it now, but here is the short premise.  4400 individuals were taken by a ball of light across decades and returned to the Seattle Washington area some with new abilities or “powers” if you will.  The first couple of seasons of the show were the 4400 trying to discover why they were taken and returned and the government trying to figure out how to handle these people with abilities.  Once, they discover who and what took them…I really do not want to ruin that surprise for you…Watch the show! There are some who say the 4400 were taken and returned to save, and some think they were taken and returned to destroy, and you don’t know which.  The basic plot of the show is trying to discover the truth of the 4400 and whether they should be supported or stopped.  It’s a mystery, and I enjoy it…Now, on the first novel tie in of the show, which should have never ever been cancelled.  USA mishandled this show, and I wish the SYFY network would resurrect it as they did Stargate: SG1, and the resulting spin-offs, but that another rant for another day…Let’s get to the book, shall we.

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This review is a review of Abyss by Troy Denning and contains spoilers, so be wary of the prior to reading.

Novels or Series Mentioned

Abyss

Star by Star

Dark Nest I: The Joiner King

The Fate of the Jedi

Troy Denning is quickly rising on my favorite Star Author list.  Star by Star was an epic story that was written and handled very well.  I recently posted how much I enjoyed Dark Nest I: The Joiner King even thought there were numerous reasons for me to hate it, since I am quite the traditionalist and do not like change.  Both of those novels are testaments to Denning’s writing skill, and Denning’s writing skill is also on display in Abyss. 

Denning is an excellent writer of action.  The way Abeloth’s planet was filled with action with the venomous and dangerous foliage.  I know dangerous plants do not sound thrilling, but Denning writes them in a way that keep you on your toes because you know at any moment another attack is coming from left field, and I enjoyed that constant danger while reading.

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This is a spoilerful review of Dark Nest I: The Joiner King by Troy Denning. 

Novels or Series Mentioned

Dark Nest I: The Joiner King

The Unifying Force

Star by Star

Dark Nest Trilogy

The New Jedi Order

This book got my blood pumping and boiling more than any Star Wars novel I have read in a long while.  My reading of this book and it’s take on the Force in particular.  The new Unifying Force espoused by Luke Skywalker during the conclusion of the New Jedi Order has already spawned a two part crossover podcast spectacular with Steve Glosson and Geek Out Loud and Star Wars Book Report to discuss the nature of the Force, which is in the editing phase, and an article where I addressed Barris Offee’s declarations on the nature of the Force because of her bota induced Force experience.  If the goal of a novel is to get a reaction, Dark Nest I: The Joiner King succeeded like no other. 

The Dark Nest Trilogy is a series that I have largely ignored.  I finished the 19 book saga of the New Jedi Order about two years ago, and after spending so much time on one time period, I wanted a break from the New Jedi Order time period, and I have jumped all over the timeline since.  One thing I love about Star Wars novels is the ability to jump around eras, and if you have followed my blog and/or podcast for long, you see I do some considerable jumping around, but I am glad that I finally landed in the wasps’ nest…and wasps’ nest it is.

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In this episode, we have the priviledge of interviewing the co-authors of Jedi Trial Dan Cragg and David Sherman.  They answers questions about: what is it like to write in a partnership, what Star Wars story were they asked to share, why Nejaa Halcyon, what kind and how much research did they do to write a war novel and a Star Wars novel, how dark is Anakin Skywalker at this time, what are Yoda and Mace Windu’s attitude toward knighting Anakin and much, much more. 

You will also learn about: changes that had to be made to their ending, what real life military battle influenced their battle of Praesitlyn, Sherman and Cragg’s writing style, and they reveal the existence of an object that I would love to get my hands on.

Come along as we explore the galaxy one page at a time.

You can find my review of Jedi Trial here.

Thanks for listening, and this is your Star Wars Book Report.

Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse

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