Archive for May, 2011

Today’s episode Wayne and I leave the Star Wars Universe…well sort of…We discuss two Star Wars authors’ works outside of the Star Wars Universe.  We begin by breaking down Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear where Mr. Bear begins to lay the foundation for the mysterious forerunners from the widely popular video game franchise Halo, and then, I break down The Dragonback Adventures by Timothy Zahn, which is just a wonderfully fun series.

Come along and explore with us the galaxy one page at a time as we try to broaden our horizons and inspire you to new explorations in your local book shop.

Have a great day of reading, page turning, without paper cuts.

Thanks for listening, Jesse

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People that yell and scream when they get mad do not scare me at all.  They puff out their chest.  They talk loud enough for people to hear four miles away.  They pound desk.  Their faces turn red and the like.  Those people are usually more full of bologna, and their words, which are usually very loud, roll off my back, and I know they have more bark than bite.  I ignore most of what they have to say.  The people that get my attention real fast, and the people I hop when they speak is the quiet man or women.  They never raise their voice…they let their words speak for them.  They always maintain the same demeanor no matter what.  Nothing ruffles their feathers.  They are in total control, and they own the room seemingly without doing a thing, just with their presence.  Those type of people earn my instant respect.  Luke becomes the ultimate example of the latter personality type when he confronts Jacen in Inferno by Troy Denning.

Jacen has been doing a lot of Sithy things in the previous books, but the one move that finally cause patient Luke to confront Jacen was the using of Ben to kill Omas.  I cannot think of any scene, not just in Star Wars but in all literature, that left my so open and jaw on floor.  Luke walks through Jacen’s Star Destroyer, and Jacen knows he is coming and that there is nothing that he can do to stop this conversation from happening.  Luke, who would expect to be flying in a rage do to the manipulation of his own son…I know I do not have the patience of Luke when it comes to my kids…strolls into Jacen’s office and his, “tone was even and soft” (location 2227-2234 Kindle).  He tells Jacen that he knows why he is avoiding him and that he has used Ben to do the terrible act of killing Omas.

Jacen stacks lie upon lie upon lie.  You would expect these lies to cause Luke to lose his cool and blow up on Jacen, but no, Luke stays calm and keeps talking with that calm voice that had me shaking in my shoes, and I was reading this book.

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Review of Knight Errant 5: Aflame 5

It is well known that I have really enjoyed this comic series, and the reason why is characters.  Kerra Holt is a fascinating character with her passion to complete the mission given to her by her fallen Jedi master.  Palladane is a jaded ex-Jedi returning to his Jedi roots to help the people of Chelloa, which was cool.  Lord Odion is a Sith who uses brute force to make his will a reality, and then there is Lord Daiman.  I love Lord Daiman…Greatest Sith Lord ever!  His arrogance and his delusions are wonderfully twisted that makes this comic so wonderful, but this being just a five book series left me wanting more, and not in a good way.  There were just so many story lines left open.  I know there is a novel that goes with the series, and Dark Horse does have plans right now to do future Knight Errant runs.  Five stories to me just seem to be too short to develop a hard core fan base to help Knight Errant become a staple in the Star Wars Universe.  I am sure Dark Horse is hoping the Knight Errant novel will do so.  This ended just too soon that left you wondering how all these story lines are going to be completed.

Onto this comic, I enjoyed it.  Lord Odion is invading Chelloa to take it from his little brother Daiman.  Odion brings overwhelming force to just crush his brother.  While Odion is invading.  Holt and Palladane work to help the villagers of Chelloa take over some barridium transports from Lord Daiman in order to escape Chelloa.  Then, there is Lord Daiman who uses his delightfully twisted brain instead of the brute force that his older brother loves to use.  Lord Odion as he is invading does take some twisted joy in the death this invasion is bringing.  Then, Lord Daiman springs his trap.  The weapons factory of Daiman, that Odion is trying to capture, are not really weapoins factory.  They are kinetic corrupter, so Daiman is going to blow up the surface of this planet to kill Odion, his troops, the villagers, Holt, and Palladane.   Odion realizes that he has walked into Daiman’s trap…like he could ever match wits with the awesome Lord Daiman.

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This review will contain some spoilers.  I will be reviewing Stargate Atlantis: Rising by Sally Malcolm, which is the first novelization of this series and is a novelization of the first two episodes of the show.

I am a lover of a little cheese in my sci-fi of which I have mentioned before if you are a follower of the site.  This causes me to love all things Stargate: SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.  They have just the right amount of cheesiness that just makes me smile when I watch them.  It is also the reason I was not a big fan of the re-launch of Battle Star Galactica and the newest member of the Stargate family, Stargate Universe because they have largely removed the cheesiness that I think makes sci-fi so delightfully fun.  Well, with my love for tie-in novels, Star Wars, The 4400, and the like, I thought it was time for me to jump into the Stargate novels, and so I began with the novelization of the first two Stargate Atlantis episodes in Rising by Sally Malcolm.

To be completely honest, there were two big mistakes made in this novel that made this novel tough for me to enjoy, and I do not know if the mistakes were the author Malcolm’s or the publishers’.  First, this novel was so short only 240 pages.  I do not know if that was just how many pages Malcolm wrote or if the publisher gave her such a short space, but with just 240 pages, this novel just did not have the pages to dive deeply into any feelings or psychology of the characters because the events that were taking place on the show must be told.  This left this novel with such a lack of emotional string pulling on the reader’s heart.  There is a scene where Major Shepherd has to shoot and kill Colonel Sumner or leave him to be tortured by the Wraith…what a gut wrenching decision that Shepherd faced, and it was over in three lines.  Malcolm missed an opportunity share with us the emotional turmoil raging in Shepherd in these few seconds before making the shot.  Malcolm does later at the end give us a couple of paragraphs of Shepherd’s heartache over having to kill Sumner, but it would have been nice to read that struggle in the moment.  Again, I do not know if that was by the author’s choice or by the publisher, but the brevity of this novel left so potential in unused pages.

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In today’s episode Wayne and I break down The Last Command by Timothy Zahn.  We share what we love about this novel and our frustrations.  We share which characters from this trilogy that we would want to read in future novels and tell you where you can find these great characters in other novels.  We spend time discussing whether or not we like the demise of Thrawn.  Then we try to put into perspective the significance of this novel and this trilogy.

We also unveil our newest bit with “Quote of the Day” where we share with you the best line from today’s show.  Listen and see if you can guess which line it is, and the correct answer will be shared at the end of this episode.

Also, we give you 4 nicknames for Steve Glosson for the return of Geek Out Loud and share which promo won our promo contest from Episode 25.

Join us for our usual nonsense, and explore with us the galaxy one page at a time.

Thanks for listening, Jesse

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This is a spoiler conscious review of The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp.

We have watched and read Jedi who have had serious trouble with the Jedi Code from Qui-Gon to Anakin Skywalker to Halcyon to even Luke who makes significant changes in his reshaping of the code.  The only venture that I have read where a Sith has had a similar journey is Darth Bane who gave us the Rule of Two, but Bane was a takeover of the Sith order.  It moved quickly from the Sith philosophy to a planned coup.  I really liked inner struggle of Darth Malgus with his superiors in the Sith order.  It reminded me so much of Anakin Skywalker’s.  Anakin had trouble with attachment, so does Malgus.  Anakin did not think the Jedi council went far enough in their war to bring about total vicgory.  Malgus wanted the Sith to go farther as well.  I liked the similarities between Darth Malgus and Anakin Skywalker.  I think Paul Kemp did a fantastic job with these connections whether they were on purpose or not.  There is more than just the armor than binds Malgus and Vader together.

Being a character guy, Darth Malgus makes this book for me.  He is a really good villain.  I could see Malgus becoming the next great Star Wars villain as he is developed in either future novels or the pc game itself.  His multiple light saber duels were great.  His inner struggle helped you connect to him and enjoy when he was on the page.

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Hi again gang.  Greetings from the Great White North where the snow is gone, spring is in the air, and my lawn is starting to turn a Yoda’eque shade of green.  For those of you who know me, you’ll know that my hobby, aside from love of all things Star Wars, is my lawn which I spent A LOT of time working on to be a lovely shade of Greedo, err I mean, green.  Its so representative of the seasons, spring and all its promise give way to the fun of summer, and finally the disappointment of fall and winter as everything dies off.

That analogy is very much how I felt about Millennium Falcon by James Luceno.  I had read Mr. Luceno’s earlier work Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader and was blown away with how he portrayed Anakin’s descent into becoming the evil character of Vader.  He shows us how the Emperor manipulates Anakin and forces him to shed his previous life and embrace his role as Sith Lord.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book and have re-read it as I love novels that bridge the time period between the movies.

This latest offering however doesn’t meet the standards Luceno set in the previous novel.  Millennium Falcon takes place, roughly, in the time frame following the last novel of the Legacy of the Jedi novel and the death of Darth Caedus aka Jacen Solo and prior to the start of the new Fate of the Jedi series.  The duel storylines follow one of the original owners of the Millennium Falcon Tobb Jadak and its most famous owner Han Solo and family.

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This is a spoiler conscious review of Timothy Zahn’s Dragon and Liberator: The Sixth Dragonback Adventure.
Dragon and Liberator is the sixth and final novel in the Dragonback Adventures, and if you have read any of my other reviews in this series, you know that I have found these novels to be tremendous fun for a light read.  I especially love the three characters of Jack, Draycos, and Uncle Virge.  They are great characters.  Well, this finale does not disappoint at all.  It is by far the best novel in this series and this novel is in the top three best series finale I have ever read, and that would include Star Series Finales at the end of Legacy of the Jedi, New Jedi Order, Dark Nest Trilogy, and so on with the finale of the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson coming in a close second.  Dragon and Liberator was a masterful ending.  I cannot say enough good things about this novel.  Read the other five in this series just so you can read this one…just read this book.

First, Zahn weaves the other novels into this was seamlessly.  Almost nothing in the previous novels do not somehow tie in significantly to this finale.  It was amazing.  If you read my Dragon and Judge review, I mention how not much in these stories are moving the main plot…well like so often, I was wrong.  All events tie into the ending of this story, and tie in so well.  This series finale truly appreciates and elevates the earlier novels in this series.  I love that.

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