Archive for October, 2011

In today’s Halloween Special, Wayne and I break down Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber.  We discuss the impressive character development in this novel, how this novel gave us the willys, and just what a fun read this novel was.  We also discuss whether or not this book ripped of a movie that takes place in Raccoon City.  Lastly, we have a nice argument over whether on not one famous character needed to be in this novel.

We also have a great chat/argument with Steve Glosson from http://www.geekoutpodcast.com/ and www.steveglosson.com and I am sure several other websites.  Steve comes on to explain Episode II to me after listening to our Episode 35 on Attack of the Clones.  It is a discussion that is, at times, insightful, off topic, brilliant, confused, a train wreck, funny, and much more…you just have to listen to it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this rather lengthy joy ride of we affectionately call your Star Wars Book Report.

Thanks for listening, Jesse

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A listener, Mariano, shot me an e-mail and asked me if I had read  Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, and I have not.  As a guy who is always looking for a reason to buy a Star Wars novel, I rushed out to picked this novel up, so I could respond to Mariano, so I have.  I have only read the first two scenes of this novel, and I have much I want to share.

As any follower of our podcast knows, we just finished reading Matt Stover’s Revenge of the Sith, and we loved it beyond description.  We loved it so much, we decided to take a break from our novelization journey because we knew A New Hope had no shot to be on the same level as Revenge of the Sith, and we would be disappointed at no fault of A New Hope.  After loving Revenge of the Sith, I was excited to dive into another Matt Stover novel.

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This is a spoilerful review of “Last One Standing: The Tale Of Boba Fett” by Daniel Keys Moran in Tales of the Bounty Hunters edited by Keven J. Anderson.

Obviously knowing all the controversy that has surrounding Boba Fett and his every changing back story, I was most excited to read this short story.  I wanted to see where Boba came from before he came from a jar in Kamino.  I must say…I was surprised.  You may be surprised to learn, but I do not know everything about the Star Wars timeline, the back story of each character, and the changes made to each character.  The back story I was expecting to read in this story was that Jaster Mareel adopts Boba into his Mando family, which was taken up in Legacy of the Force.  I must have read the opening lines over, and over, and over again just to make sure that I understood it right that in this story…Jaster IS Boba.  Wow, has his back story changed more than Princess Bess changes outfits…only the fathers of four year old girls got that bad joke.

I sound like a broken record, but again, you really get to know Boba Fett in a short span, and by the end, I really felt like I understood the character of Boba Fett, and that is high praise for Daniel Keys Moran.

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This is a review of, “Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-Lom” by M. Shayne Bell in Tales of the Bounty Hunters edited by Keven J. Anderson.

What seems to be a recurring theme in these short story reviews, again you have impressive character development in a short period of time.  You meet two bounty hunters: Zuckuss and 4-Lom.  Zuckuss is a ammonia breathing Gand that can meditate and receive intuitive knowledge of the future or the present.  That is a cool gift.  He also has bad lungs from breathing oxygen and desperately needs a transplant, which is why he is after the Han Solo payday.  4-Lom is a robot that wishes to learn Zuckuss’ meditative intuition skill.

4-Lom’s journey to become more human was kind of interesting.  It reminded me of  I-5′s quest to get drunk in the Medstar Duology.  4-Lom wants to be human.  He is fascinated by Zuckuss intuition ability, which he sees as the next step in his journey to become human…and yes I know in Star Wars with thousands of species that “human” is not the absolute best word, but you get what I am trying to say.

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In today’s episode, Wayne and I dive into the novelization of Revenge of the Sith by Matt Stover.  We break down the absolute brillance of this novelization.  We share with you where this novel ranks among the Star Wars family of novels.  We discuss the very cool tip of the cap to the Expanded Universe that Matt Stover gives in this novel, and we tell you everything to love of this novel, and as always share with you our frustrations with this novel.  Without a guest today, Wayne and I dive deeply into this great novel.

We also give you a Star Wars Book Report Fantasy Football Update where Ryan’s Kessel Runners is a perfect 4 and 0, leading the league, and the only undefeated team left, but not the only team with a perfect record as I am sitting a perfect 0 and 4…Get ready for the comeback.

Thanks for giving us your time and giving us a listen.

We would love to hear from you.  You can find Star Wars Book Report on Face Book.  You can follow me on Twitter @swbookreport or Wayne @chamberlainw, and you can always e-mail me at jesse@starwarsbookreport.com.

Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse Colbert

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