As a warning, the actual review doesn’t start until halfway through this ridiculously large block of text. I felt I should warn you, I’m about to get self-indulgent up in here. So you know how when you’re sixteen, you’re an idiot? Well, about some things. I like to think I was an abnormally stable teenager. I certainly gave my parents ZERO trouble, but I feel like that’s a thing that happens when parents luck into having extremely geeky children who would rather stay home on a […]
Welcome to the new Star Wars expanded universe.
If this is what the new Star Wars canon is going to look like, sign me up. Of course, I’m sort of being facetious, because Kevin Hearne isn’t going to be writing all of those books, and he’s largely why this book works as well as it does. Heir to the Jedi is the third book in the Empire and Rebellion series, but because this one was published after Disney bought Star Wars, it’s the only one that is still considered canon. I have no idea […]
Really well-written Han Solo adventure.
I honestly shouldn’t be surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series has crawled its way into my favorites slowly but surely, book by book. Corey has learned how to write exciting science fiction with engaging characters. Their* dialogue is differentiated and entertaining (and character illuminating), and their prose has the perfect balance of authorial voice and mimicry for the tone of the Star Wars universe and its characters. Their Han Solo is spot-on. They’re just good writers, […]
Princess Leia shows off her skillz.
Razor’s Edge is the first in a loose trilogy of books commissioned in the Star Wars Expanded Universe* designed to let bigger name sci-fi authors play around with the characters in this world, and also to spotlight each of the ‘Big Three’ in their own novels. Each novel can stand on its own, but they all take place in the time between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, after the destruction of the first Death Star. Razor’s Edge is Leia’s novel, and while I thought it […]
Meh
With Disney’s purchase of LucasFilm and its subsequent re-categorization of its canon I thought now would be as good a time as any to read my first Star Wars novel. I started with the first book of the new canon (the rest of the Expanded Universe now relegated to Legends status), A New Dawn released last Fall, and was thoroughly underwhelmed (2/5). The second book is Tarkin and I can confidently say it is an improvement in every sense of the word but only moderately. First, […]
Exit, pursued by a wampa.
This second jaunt into Ian Doescher’s Shakespeare/Star Wars hybrid imaginary universe, entitled William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back, only solidifies my opinion that these adaptations are more than gags and novelties to be gifted to nerdy friends (although they can be used for that purpose as well). I purposely use the word ‘adaptation’ here because Doescher’s attention to detail and his thoughtful approach to both the story and to Shakespeare’s forms and techniques clearly illustrate that although the results for us as readers may be fun […]