Hello friends! It’s been a while since I posted about my Legends Reading Challenge, but I’ve finally finished The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, by Sean Williams. On top of it being quite a hefty read (482 pages!), I put it down a few times when I was busy reading current canon like The Last Order and Mask of Evil. It didn’t help that the story wasn’t (at least initially) very compelling to me. But let’s get into it.
SPOILERS!!! (Legends have been out for years, but just be aware.)
The story takes place about ten years after the sack of Coruscant by the Sith, as related in the book Deceived. There’s a treaty, but also a very cold Cold War between the Republic and the Sith Empire. It starts with a strange ship being intercepted by a smuggler called Jet Nebula (not his real name, as you can imagine). He’s on a job for the Hutts, but decides to see what kind of cargo this ship has as a bonus. But before he can board the Cinzia, it self-destructs. He takes what’s left of it back to the Hutts, who decide to auction off what they have. Tasha Bareesh, the ruling Hutt, doesn’t reveal what it is, but lets it be known that it could be very profitable and change the balance of power in the galaxy.
Into this mix comes several characters: Shigar Konshi, a Kiffu Jedi Padawan who is sent to Hutta to investigate what it may be (his master is Grand Master Satele Shan); Eldon Ax, the apprentice to Darth Chratis, with instructions to steal whatever it is; Ula Vii, a Republic envoy who is actually an Imperial spy, sent by the Republic to find out what it is and who hopes to use it to please his Imperial masters; Larin Moxla, a disgraced Republic soldier (who is also Kiffu like Shigar) who meets and accompanies the Jedi Padawan; and Dao Stryver, a Mandalorian whose interest and motive in acquiring the item is a mystery to all. All they are told is that it’s from an unknown planet that could hold untold riches in minerals and/or have a strategic advantage. Naturally, both the Republic and the Empire want those things.
They all have competing interests and loyalties, they all end up on Hutta, and naturally chaos erupts and battles are fought. As they all fight each other, whatever it is the Hutts have escape the vault it’s locked in. Turns out they are droids, but unlike any droids they’ve ever seen. They dub them “hexes” because of their shape, but they are super-resiliant, adaptable, and lethal. They can join together to increase their strength. And they endlessly scream “We do not recognizeyour authority!”
Turns out the killer droids were made by Lema Xandret, a particularly skilled droidmaker, who hates the Sith Empire with a rage she put into these droids. The Sith had taken her young Force-sensitive daughter, named Cinzia, and that loss and rage fuels her to create droids that could wipe out the entire galaxy, if attacked. Here’s the twist: the Sith apprentice, Eldon Ax, is that child who had once been Cinzia. She doesn’t remember her mother, Lema Xandret, and only wants to finish her mission for Darth Chratis (who she hates, by the way).
The Essential Legends edition of Fatal Alliance, with Eldon Ax and Shigar Konshi on the cover.
Anyway, the droids in the vault are finally destroyed, but Ax leaves with a piece of the “nest” from which the droids can replicate themselves, and Stryver has the ship’s navicomputer, both of which lead them back to the planet they originated from. Shigar has psychometric abilities and a piece of a droid, from which, after some persuasion from his master, he’s able to discern the coordinates. Or close enough. Envoy Vii ends up with Shigar, Larin, and Jet Nebula.
They all converge on the planet Sebaddon, which is near a black hole just outside of the galaxy itself. They all reluctantly agree to work together to destroy the colony of hexes (Lema Xandret and the small colony are already dead) to save the galaxy. They hatch a plan to have mixed troops attack two spots on the planet: the equator, where the CI (central intelligence governing the hexes) seems to be, led by Satele Shan and Eldon Ax; and the southern pole, where the actually factory building the hexes is located, led by Darth Chratis and Shigar, as well as Larin and some troops.
While on the ground, which is a very unstable, volcanic landscape, Darth Chratis tries to seduce Shigar to the dark side (doesn’t seem like a good time to do that, but whatever, lol). The Sith Lord and the Padawan fight, and Shigar has to fight the dark side, the anger, within himself.
On the equator, Satele and Ax come upon the actual central intelligence of the whole operation: a clone of Lema Xandret’s daughter, Cinzia. She’s younger by a few years, and suspended in a red, bacta-like substance, where she’s lived her whole life. The red fluid has some kind of metal in it that blocks her Force abilities. Lema had put her here to protect her, but she’s been a virtual prisoner. The droids had killed Lema Xandret when she sent the ship out to make a deal with the Mandalorians, as they were programmed to fiercely protect Cinzia. But her mother somehow lives on in the fluid, talking to her daughter in a kind of telepathy. The hexes take orders from Cinzia now, but she’s been so isolated and protected, she’s quite naive and doesn’t know anything about the outside galaxy, or the battles that have been taking place above the planet. She wants to know Ax better, her “sister,” what her life’s been like. Ax is appalled, naturally, and doesn’t really want anything to do with her. Her mother, “alive” through the liquid, starts to strangle Cinzia when she doesn’t listen to her and decides to help them with the hexes. Satele breaks the glass of the tank to save her, but she’s not used to living outside the tank, and dies shortly thereafter. But Cinzia told Ax she could control the hexes, like her, if she uploaded her DNA into the matrix, which she does.
After that, the battles end and Ax announces to Darth Chratis she no longer answers to him. He scoffs, of course, but then she orders the hexes to attack and kill him, and then to destroy themselves.
Afterward, Ax goes back to Dromund Kass and becomes an apprentice to Darth Howl, who is on the Dark Council. I was kind of hoping she’d leave the Sith Order, but no, she has her own ambitions and Darth Howl is the pathway to that.
Shigar is now allowed to take the Jedi Trials, which he’d been denied at the beginning of the book. I liked him throughout the story, but he does seem a bit angry and rash. I think he’s meant to join other Jedi later on who want to engage the Sith in battle sooner rather than later, if only to end the cold war and get on with it. Another war is coming.
As an aside, I just want to say that yes, Lema Xandret was a little insane, lol. Okay, a lot insane. But as a mother, I totally understand her maternal rage. If the devil stole my child to raise as evil, I’d burn down the galaxy in revenge, too. Just putting that out there.
So, all in all, I thought the book was fine. It took me a while to warm to it and get to know the characters, and actually care about what happens to them. They all had their own personal battles to fight, which tends to draw me in more than space battles, lol. But by the last quarter of the book, I was eager to see how it all worked out. I do believe this book is linked to the Old Republic video games, so there’s probably some stuff about these people or events I don’t know or understand. But that’s okay. In the end, I give this book:
Three out of Five Lightsabers.
Next up is The Old Republic: Annhilation, by Drew Karpyshyn.
Hello friends! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate that where you are. 🙂 A few things to get to, so here we go!
Warning: SPOILERS!!!
Visions Season 3. I’d really been looking forward to this edition of Visions, as I’d loved the first two, especially Season 2. And while this one offered some good, entertaining episodes, none of them really stood out to me and I didn’t absolutely love it like Season 2. I think, like Season 1, these were all Japanese anime studios, while Season 2 encompassed other anime studios from around the world, and I think I loved that kind of diversity. So there seemed to be a certain stylistic sameness here that didn’t resonate with me.
That being said, there were some good ones. The sequel to Season 1’s The Duel, with the Ronin (The Duel: Payback), was a favorite, as I love the style, and the character of the Ronin. (Someday, I’m going to read that Ronin novel!) The Bounty Hunters was great, with the droid with two personalities, lol. I think my favorite, though, was The Smuggler, with the exiled Prince and the secret Jedi with the lightsaber hidden in a prosthetic arm.
The other two sequels, The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope and The Lost Ones, were fine, but I feel like the Ninth Jedi one was holding back for the future series (although I did love that crazy ship, and the little droid who sacrified himself for Kara); F in The Lost Ones has to face her old master who has turned to the dark side, though it’s unclear how that came to be.
Yuko’s Treasure was kind of adorable with the big bear droid with a microwave belly, and the theme of found family is fitting for Star Wars. The last two episodes were my least favorite, though they were the most visually stunning. The Bird of Paradise was gorgeous, but the Padawan in question is unbearable, lol. I was left wondering how she got to be a Padawan in the first place with so many un-Jedi-like qualities–impatience, self-centeredness, self-pity, anger. I understand she had to work through these things to become more Jedi-like (and I’m not even sure if she survived or not by the end), but I had zero empathy for her. And Black is a psychedelic trip that is up for interpretation. Maybe it’s because I don’t do drugs, lol, but damn, it was just weird and alienating. My interpretation is that it’s a stormtrooper’s dying flashbacks to his life and the battles he’s fought. It’s an interesting premise, but I was glad when it was over, lol. Just not my thing.
I’m hoping that if we get a Season 4 we can get more of the anime studios from around the world, as I seemed to enjoy those most.
Master of Evil, by Adam Christopher. This book was much more satisfying than the last canon book (The Last Order). At first I thought, hmm, another Vader story? Do we need one? But I heard good things, and I’m happy to say that it was well worth the read.
The book takes place mere days or weeks after events of The Revenge of the Sith. The Empire is new, and Vader himself is new, so to speak. Sidious has not been forthcoming in his promise to teach Vader the secrets of the Sith and how to conquer death (although, technically, Palpatine promised the power to “prevent” others from dying, not bring them back from death, right?) Anyway, Vader is still obsessed with bringing Padme back into his life, and if Sidious won’t help him, he’ll figure it out himself. Sidious sends him on a mission to Diso, a distant planet, to investigate a Force shaman and the rumor of a Temple which holds a Force vergence.
Instead of being completely from Vader’s point of view (there’s a handful of short chapters from him, though), the main point of view is from Colonel Halland Goth, a member of the Imperial Royal Guard. He’s proud to serve, but the problem is, he’s dying. He’s got Kangly’s disease, which makes him feel like he’s burning up from the inside out, and will eventually kill him. He’s got his own personal droid, TC-99, who not only helps him with his medical needs, but is a good friend. Goth is tasked by the ISB to keep an eye on Vader, who no one really knows anything about yet, and he accompanies Vader to Diso. While on the mission, Goth figures out that Vader is probably Anakin Skywalker. As a good Imperial soldier, Goth swallows the propaganda that the Jedi were traitors and is glad to be rid of them, but he’s fascinated with Vader: he realizes the suit he wears is keeping him alive. He gets the crazy idea that Vader, and that kind of technology, might help him survive. He wants to live, and he wants to serve.
The Temple in question turns out to be on a Separatist ship stuck in hyperspace somewhere (it’s a long story involving Count Dooku, lol), and that’s where the climax of the story happens. The vergence in the Force emanating from the Temple causes Vader to have some interesting visions; the shaman’s wife and daughter have gotten involved, and want revenge on Vader; there’s a couple of droid scientists from a former Techno Union Corporation on board who want to utilize the brain of a super-tactical droid running ship; and Goth is near death, just trying to keep everybody alive, while realizing he himself won’t be getting any miracle cure from Vader. He understands that it’s not just the suit that’s keeping Vader alive, but the Force itself. And he realizes that the Empire he’s so loyal to is not exactly what he thought it was.
Goth is a likable Imperial protagonist, and his friendship with TC-99 is touching. The theme of “masks” runs throughout the story: TC-99 has data matrices from many other droids he can insert into his chest plate to learn whatever specialty he needs to, but sometimes the personality of the droid is very strong and takes him over, as if he’s a completely different droid. The natives of Diso wear masks in their Force rituals; Jarvic, one of the droid scientists, has a wrap-around cyborg implant in his head (like Lobot) and the tactical droid ends up plugging into it and taking him over; the evil entity from the Temple (the dark side itself) temporarily takes over the shaman’s wife; Goth himself wears the red mask of the Royal Imperial Guard, but is he loyal to the Emperor, Vader, the ISB, or himself and TC-99? It shifts throughout the narrative. And of course, there’s Vader himself and his iconic mask, representing the split between himself and Anakin Skywalker, who he battles in one of his visions.
I loved this book, and though maybe we didn’t “need” another Vader story, I’m glad we got this one.
Comics:
Han Solo: Hunt for the Falcon #3. Han and Chewie continue to search for the Falcon, as the Irving Boys point them in the direction of Unkar Plutt. There’s another flashback to Han’s past, with young Ben wanting to spend time with his dad, tinkering with a landspeeder, and Leia scolding him for not finishing his studies. Han and Leia then argue about the whole thing. (I feel like Leia is being a bit unreasonable here; geez, let the kid spend some time with his dad, lol). Han and Chewie end up arguing, as Han discovers that Chewie has been speaking with Leia without telling him. Anyway, Ducain gets back into the picture and decides to warn Plutt about Han and Chewie coming to look for the ship. There’s only one issue left, and I’m eager to see how this concludes, as we already know they don’t get the ship back until The Force Awakens.
Legacy of Vader #10. Kylo, back on Mustafar with Vanee, goes into Vader’s meditation chamber to see if he can find Luke Skywalker. The man is dead, and Kylo is still obsessed, lol. At first he sees weird snake-like creatures with the heads of his family, and he spends time cutting them down. Then, he finds himself somewhere that looks like Force Heaven or something, and a Force ghost tells him he shouldn’t be there. But Luke’s Force ghost comes over and chats with Kylo. Kylo wants to know how he died, who killed him and how much he suffered. But Luke tells him no one killed him. He sacrificed himself for those he loved. That’s what his life was for. “What’s your life for?” he asks Kylo. And of course, this enrages him. “Stop trying to teach me!” he yells at him. Luke points out that he shouldn’t have been able to access this place, and Kylo should think about how he did. (There’s still Light in him, if you haven’t figured it out, lol). Then Kylo is punished by some darkside creature for (unconsciously) accessing the Light to go there, and he comes out of the meditation chamber terribly wounded. I really liked this issue and his conversation with Luke, but as we know Kylo doesn’t really learn anything from it.
Non-Star Wars pick of the month:
Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro. Frankenstein has always been a favorite of mine, meaning the book and any movie adaptations that come along. I loved the Kenneth Branagh adaptation from 1994, and I think it’s still my favorite, but this one is a close second, although it’s very different in style and tone. Director Guillermo del Toro has a very distinct style and that comes through in this film very clearly. The subject matter is naturally gruesome, but it’s brought to a level of grotesqueness that’s more creepy than bloody (though there’s plenty of that, too, lol). There’s always a ton of stuff you can break down in this story, but I’ll just briefly touch on my thoughts here, since I think we’re all familiar with the basic storyline.
As you may know, I’m a fan of Oscar Isaac, and he did a fine job as the obsessed Victor Frankenstein. To be honest, I thought Mia Goth’s character as Elizabeth was just weird. In this version, Elizabeth is Victor’s brother William’s fiance, instead of Victor’s eventual bride, but there’s a sexual tension between her and Victor. I like that she has compassion for the Creature, but there’s something weird about it. She’s just weird, lol. Maybe it’s the actress, I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in anything else (I hope I like her better in the upcoming Star Wars film Starfighter). We’ll see.
Speaking of the Creature, I think Jacob Elordi does a fantastic job with him. I always love the Creature in any version, and this one was especially child-like and sweet (until he’s not, of course, lol). My sentimental mother’s heart always breaks for this child that is rejected by its parent; in other versions, it was fear that caused Victor to reject him, but here it’s more disappointment. He doesn’t learn to speak properly right away, and Victor, aghast that his creation is so dumb, is pretty damn mean to him and it’s clear that once again, Victor is the true monster here. Of course, it mirrors Victor’s father’s disappointment in him, a cycle that he doesn’t even realize he’s repeating.
I do like that the two forgive each other at the end, which does not happen in the book (not really), but instead of them both dying, the Creature in this version cannot die and must live alone forever in the Arctic wastes, which is the saddest thing I can think of.
So, an interesting and unique interpretation of an eternally fascinating story; not perfect, kind of weird, but definitely entertaining.
That’s it this month. What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Hello friends! Lots of things to cover this past month, so let’s get started.
If you missed the past two reviews of my Legends Reading Challenge, here are the links:Deceived, and Red Harvest.
The Final Order, by Kwame Mbalia. I’ve been really looking forward to this book, as I’ve been extremely eager for some post-sequel trilogy stories. In fact, we sequel fans have been starved for stories, and we kept waiting and waiting and waiting…
Well, this book ain’t that.
Not exactly, anyway. It begins mere days after the Battle of Exegol with a young man named Coy, who’d been part of the Citizen’s Fleet. His family grows tea on his home planet, and he was pretty damn well terrified at the battle. But he made it and is proud he took part. He was ready to go home…until a ship arrived full of refugee kids from the First Order, and Finn and Jannah need a ride to find a vicious FO officer named Major Grohl. So Coy finds himself on another adventure.
But the bulk of the book is alternating chapters between Finn and Jannah, flashbacks to their time as stormtroopers. Like, 95% of the book. Which was disappointing. Sure, we get to see Jannah and her troops refuse to fire on civilians on Ansette Island–at the very end of the book. And the whole story of how they got to that point. As well as Finn’s entanglements with Major Grohl. But did I really need these stories? No, not really. Nope.
That’s not to say it’s a bad book. The author did a fine job with what he was given and allowed to write about. But it wasn’t what I expected or wanted, and I’m being grumpy about it, lol. I feel like Lucasfilm/Disney is holding back on sequel-era stories, while The Rise of Skywalker came out six freaking years ago! We’ve gotten plenty of “leading up to” stories, and “between this movie and that movie” stories, but nothing after. It’s frustrating. And yes, the Rey movie, blah blah blah, but who knows if that will even come out? (I hope so). And yes, Starfighter takes place after the sequels, and I’m eager to see what might be going on. But damn, give us some books or comics with Rey, Finn, Poe, etc. after TROS. Please???
Anyway, rant over. The book was fine, and if you want to know more about Finn and Jannah’s experiences as stormtroopers, this is your book; if you’re looking for new, uncharted material, you’ll have to wait.
Comics:
Han Solo: Hunt for the Falcon #2. Han and Chewie continue their search for the Falcon, this time running into the Irving Boys. The only thing I find particularly interesting about these comics are the personal moments, the character-driven moments, Han’s memories of his family, etc. At the beginning of this one, Leia is speaking to Chewie via hologram and warns him not to let Han drag him into one of his schemes. To go back to his family. Also, Han has a memory of himself and Leia with little Ben on the Falcon, and Ben is so excited to be at the controls with his old man. Damn. I imagine the next two issues will involve Unkar Plutt, the Guavian Death Gang and/or Kanjiklub. Stay tuned.
Legacy of Vader #9. Tava Ren fights Kylo Ren, then they have dinner, a little conversation, she kisses him, he recoils and attacks her, she escapes his ship, and though he could shoot her ship down, he lets her go. In a nutshell, lol. Tava fights Kylo, teases him, provokes him, infuriates him. I’m still not sure why she even went there, to be honest. To serve him was a lie, and she admits that. She tells him he misses the freedom of the Knights of Ren, that with the First Order he’s in a cage. She definitely strikes a nerve, but I’m not sure if we’ll see her again or what her end game is. Stay tuned.
Visions 1 & 2 rewatch. With Season 3 of Visions dropping on October 29th, I thought I’d rewatch Seasons 1 & 2. There’s only a few episodes that don’t really resonate with me, but for the most part I love this series. My favorites are “The Duel,” “The Ninth Jedi,” and “The Elder,” from Season 1; almost all the episodes from Season 2 are fantastic but I particularly love “Sith,” “The Bandits of Golak,” and “The Pit.” I can’t wait to see what we get in Season 3–there are sequel episodes to “The Ninth Jedi” (and a series in the works, I hear), and “The Bride.” I love it all so much!
(I’ve since watched S3 and will discuss it a bit more in my next Update).
Book news:
Ooh, new book news! I love that we’re getting some more sequel novels; along with The Last Order (see above), we’re getting this one with Leia and Rey between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Can’t wait! Here’s the blurb:
STAR WARS: LEGACY
By Madeleine Roux
On Sale Date: July 28, 2026
Set between Episodes VIII and IX, Rey and Leia embark on a quest to repair Rey’s lightsaber and rekindle the legacy of the Jedi.
After barely escaping the First Order on Crait, Rey and the Resistance are struggling to rebuild. Her friends need the last Jedi more than ever, but Rey feels alone and overwhelmed. Jedi tradition is built on masters and apprentices, and Rey’s teacher is gone. Leia Organa tries her best to train Rey in the ways of the Force as Luke did for her so many years ago, but Leia’s knowledge is limited, Rey’s lightsaber is broken, and the specter of Kylo Ren and regrets from the past haunt them both. How can Leia pass the torch when she herself is unsure of the way? But then, the ancient Jedi texts offer a glimmer of hope: a long-forgotten Jedi temple on Tython that might hold the key to repairing Rey’s saber. Rey leaps at the chance to journey there — and to her surprise, so does Leia. Rey and Leia’s nascent mentorship is put to the test when they discover the temple on Tython is filled with obscure clues to decipher and arcane trials to complete. As they work to unravel the temple’s mysteries, they encounter a group of refugees living in its shadow, hiding from a First Order officer hot on the trail of two freedom fighters in their midst. With the threat of the First Order looming and the secrets of the temple yet to be unlocked, the newly forged master and apprentice must confront their pasts, reach each other in the present, and decide what it means to carry the legacy of the Jedi into the future.
Again, an “in-between” story, but I’ll take it, because I still would like some more insight into Rey and Leia’s relationship.
Eyes Like Stars, by Ashley Poston. There’s always been romance in Star Wars, with some books focusing on it more than others, but this one is being touted as the first “romance novel” in Star Wars. It’s a young adult novel, which makes sense, and I’ll probably read it out of curiosity. It’s also during the sequel era, which is a plus. I’m kind of hoping it leads to more romance novels featuring more familiar characters (Obi-Wan and Satine, anyone? We’re waiting, Disney/Lucasfilm!), but we’ll see. Here’s a little blurb:
What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Hello friends, the Legends Reading Challenge continues with book #4, Red Harvest, by Joe Scheiber.
(Warning: SPOILERS!!!)
So, this one is that rare combination of Star Wars and horror, specifically: zombies! Not my usual cup of tea, although I will admit to having watched the first few seasons of The Walking Dead, as well as The Last of Us (which I loved). So zombies aren’t completely off the table for me, lol.
This one takes place about 3,600 BBY (before the Battle of Yavin), so still firmly in the Old Republic. The majority of the story takes place on the icy planet Odacer-Faustin, where a Sith Academy is overseen by Darth Scabrous (that’s a good one!). Scabrous has been experimenting with an ancient Sith ritual in order to achieve immortality (as they do). But he is lacking one crucial element: a particular flower called the Murakami orchid, which is slightly Force-sensitive.
On the planet Marfa, a Jedi named Hestizo Trace, who is a member of the Jedi Agricultural Corps, tends the many plant species there, including a Murakami orchid with which she has a special relationship. Hestizo, or Zo, can communicate with the orchid through the Force, and can hear its thoughts in her head, which I find particularly fascinating.
Somehow Scabrous is aware of this orchid and Zo’s relationship with it (it’s not clear how he knows; Sith magic?) and sends a bounty hunter after her, a Whiphid named Tulkh. He takes her and the orchid back to the Sith Academy. Scabrous puts the orchid into his crazy potion and injects it into his speciment, a Sith student he’s been experimenting on. The student, Wim Nickter, has been transformed into a mindless beast. He escapes his cage, slams into another student who had been spying on Scabrous, and they both plummet from the top of the tower to the ground hundreds of meters below. They don’t die, however; Nickter had infected the other student, and they both run rampant through the campus, infecting the other students, and the the “Sickness” spreads. Zo, meanwhile, escapes Scabrous in the confusion and realizes she can still hear the orchid–through the infected students.
In another part of the galaxy, Rojo Trace, Zo’s brother, is investigating a crash (he has psychometry, where he can see images when he touches an object). During the investigation, he “hears” Zo calling for help, and is determined to find her. It doesn’t take long for him to figure it out, and off he goes to Odacer-Faustin to save his sister.
Along the way, we get to know a few Sith students–Ra’at, Kindra, Maggs, and Hegwith–and how they are dealing with the hordes of zombie students swarming the campus. They band together, but because they’re Sith, they don’t trust each other and will betray each other the first chance they get. One by one, they’re taken out by the zombies in bloody, brutal fashion.
Meanwhile, Scabrous, who is also infected by his potion, needs to find Zo: the Sith ritual requires him to eat the living heart of someone with a high midichlorian count so he doesn’t become a mindless zombie, only acquiring the immortality he seeks. He finally captures her and is about to cut her heart out when her brother shows up and fights Scabrous. Unfortunately, he doesn’t win the duel, and Scabrous disembowels him. It’s finally the spirit of the orchid that saves her, as Zo commands it to grow inside the zombie bodies, exploding them with vines growing out of ears, eyes, mouth, until their heads expode, lol.
Tulkh is a Whiphid, which is a warrior and hunter species. Image from Wookieepedia.
Zo’s last savior is Tulkh, who has had his own adventures with the zombies, allying with an HK-droid and a mechanic named Pergus Frode. They show up on Tulkh’s ship to lift her out of the Sith chamber where more zombies are trying to kill her. They manage to blow up the tower and get away from the planet, but Tulkh has been infected by the blood of a zombie tauntaun (really) and Zo has to blast him out of the airlock, along with a stowaway Sith student zombie. When she returns to Marfa, she decides to go back to the Temple on Coruscant to continue her training, in case it’s not the end of the zombie virus story.
So, yeah, this book moved right along with short chapters, tight writing, and a whole lot of horrifyingly detailed blood and gore, as one would expect with a zombie novel. By the end, I’d had about enough of disintigrating body parts, exposed viscera, mindless flesh-eating, etc. What I did find interesting, as I mentioned, was the bond between Zo and the orchid, and the idea of a Force-sensitive plant, which I don’t think we normally consider. They are living things, of course, and so are imbued with the Force like everything else. That this one was semi-sentient was really intriguing (although we did see it in the Drengir in the High Republic). I also like the Neti librarian, who was a huge tree-like creature that oversaw the Sith archives of scrolls, parchments, and data discs. He reminds me of an Ent, like Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, he got infected, too, and decided to burn everything in the library. He was really the only good thing at the Sith Academy, and the fact that he was a plant-like being speaks volumes. The cold, dark deadness of the Sith Academy contrasts sharply with the living laboratory of the plant-filled Jedi Agricultural outpost. The fact that the orchid, which was a key ingredient in the Sith immortality potion, which only brought living death, was also the key to defeating it, was a nice symbolic touch.
I also want to mention the Jedi Agricultural Corps, of which Zo was a member. In Legends, any Jedi who don’t or can’t take the Jedi trials or who otherwise aren’t up to snuff on their Force abilities and can’t become a Knight, go to one of several branches like the Agricultural Corps. They don’t get kicked out of the Order, they just become useful in some other way. Zo had her talent of communicating with plant life, so that’s where she went. Everyone has their place and a purpose.
In contrast, it was also interesting to see the workings of a Sith Academy. The students, naturally, are competitive in a self-serving and often devious way; it’s survival of the the most cunning and ruthless. They certainly don’t work together or form friendships, even under the stress of a zombie attack, lol. Dark side through and through, so it wasn’t sad to see that all of them perished.
I found out that this book is a prequel of sorts to Schrieber’s other zombie Star Wars book, Death Troopers, which occurs much later in the timeline. More zombie fun! This book was entertaining in its own way, but not my favorite kind of book, especially when it comes to Star Wars; however, Halloween is on the horizon, so my rating is…
Three out of five lightsabers.
Next up is The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, by Sean Williams.
Hello friends, the Legends Reading Challenge continues with…
(As always–SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp. You know, I really thought I’d have to slog through the Old Republic books, but they’ve been surprisingly good. This one, especially, I thought was quite good, as it had interesting, complex characters that had to make difficult decisions.
There are three interweaving plotlines in Deceived. One is of Darth Malgus, who, at the beginning of the book, leads the assault on Coruscant and destroys the Jedi Temple. At his side is Eleena, a lovely lavender Twi’lek, a former slave that Malgus had taken pity on and rescued. Now she is is his constant companion, lover, and stand-in-conscience, and is absolutely devoted to him. During the assault, Malgus defeats Master Zallow, a Jedi Master, and the Sith force kill all the Jedi in the Temple.
Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Aryn Leneer is on Alderaan with a Jedi delegation meeting with the Sith for a peace treaty. It doesn’t sit well with Aryn, as she had recently fought the Sith on Alderaan. When her former Master, Master Zallow, is killed by Malgus, she feels his death and is devastated. Once Coruscant is taken, the Republic has no choice but to acquiesce to the Sith’s demands. Aryn is furious that they are capitulating, but the Jedi and the Republic really have no choice. Aryn decides that she will leave the Order and pursue vengeance for her master’s death.
The third story involves a former Republic commando named Zeerid, who is now running spice for a criminal syndicate called The Exchange. He is only doing it for the money to take care of his daughter, Arra, who had been in an accident that killed her mother and left her with no legs. Zeerid wants to give his daughter a better life, and is now in debt to The Exchange and feels there is no way out. His boss wants him to deliver engspice (a highly addictive form of spice) to Coruscant, which has been shut down by the Sith. At the same time, a rival operative employed by the Hutts called Vrath Xizor is trying to stop the shipment, either by destroying the spice, or killing Zeerid.
Darth Malgus and Eleena Daru, by Aleksandra Skiba.
These characters will all come together and collide during the course of the story. Aryn, who had fought beside Zeerid before and considers him a friend (and perhaps a little bit more), seeks him out to help her get into Coruscant, and he happens to be going there. Vrath tells Malgus about Aryn, and Malgus figures out that Zallow was her master and she’s probably looking for him. So he goes to her.
I love these characters because they’re all wrestling with some form of internal conflict. Malgus, who is furious that the Sith are seeking peace when he wants war, knows he has a weakness: Eleena. He loves her, and that makes him vulnerable, particularly to other Sith lords like Darth Angral and Lord Adraas, who use the idea of Eleena to undermine him. Aryn obviously has left behind the Order to seek vengeance for her master’s death; she chooses to do this without too much doubt, but realizes that when she seeks to hurt him through Eleena that perhaps she’s gone too far. And Zeerid hates himself for dealing in spice, but feels he has no other choice in order to help his daughter; he later kills Vrath in order to protect her, and must live with the idea of being a murderer.
There are some great lightsaber duels and fight scenes, and I like that the plot remains fairly simple but interesting nonetheless. The characterizations and personal stakes involved are enough to keep me invested. Particularly at the end, when Darth Malgus defeats Aryn in battle but lets her go for sparing Eleena; he then turns around and kills Eleena after admitting to her that he loves her. He recognizes that she is his weakness, and he mustn’t be weak or vulnerable in any way. It’s tragic and so very Sith-like, lol. So Malgus lives, but Aryn keeps her soul and goes to live with Zeerid and Arra on Dantooine.
My only gripe is that there are too many names that begin with the letter A: Arra, Angral, Adraas, and Aryn. Whyyyyyy, Paul S. Kemp????
Rating: I’m going to give this one 4.5 out of 5 lightsabers (not sure what half a lightsaber looks like–the hilt or the blade? Or split down the length? Lol.) I really liked this one, but I need to read more Legends to get to know what a 5-star book looks like (I’ve heard great things about the Bane trilogy, so we’ll see).
Up next is Red Harvest, by Joe Schrieber. Just in time for Halloween: zombies!
Hello friends! Lots of Star Wars stuff to go over this month, so let’s get started.
I’ve recently decided to do a Legends reading challenge, and I’ve finished the first two books in the timeline and posted my reviews. Check out my thoughts on Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, by Tim Lebbon here, as well as my thoughts on The Old Republic: Revan, by Drew Karpyshyn here.
Comics:
Han Solo: Hunt for the Falcon #1, by Rodney Barnes (Marvel). In “Celebrating 10 Years of The Force Awakens,” (wow) Marvel has our favorite smuggler on the search for the missing Millenium Falcon. In TFA, we see Rey, Finn, and BB-8 run into Han and Chewie in the Falcon after they escaped Jakku (stolen from Unkar Plutt), and we find out the ship had been missing for years. In this new series, Han, along with Lando Calrissian, is in the racing business while Chewbacca is home on Kashyyk with his family. It’s hard to pin down the timeline here, but clearly the Falcon is missing, and his relationship with Leia and Ben is on the rocks. He feels he’s failed as a husband and father and misses the good ol’ days when he was just Han Solo, Captain of the Millenium Falcon.
He decides to leave racing and find his ship. But he needs help, so he travels to Kashyyk and enlists the help of his old friend, Chewie. Chewie is living happily with his family-his wife, Malla, and his son Lumpawaroo (“Lumpy” in the Holiday Special, but he insists on being called “Waroo” here, lol). Han watches them wistfully, seeing how happy they are (compared to his own broken family), but still has no problem asking his friend to leave them to go on an adventure to find their old ship. And of course, Chewie agrees. As Han knew he would. Han comes off as a little selfish here, and I’m trying to decide if it’s out of character for him at this point. Sure, young Han was a selfish rogue with a heart, lol, but by this age, I feel like he knows better. Anyway, off they go to find the first of the Falcon’s thieves, Ducain.
Legacy of Vader #8, by Charles Soule (Marvel). This one starts off with the Knights of Ren with a new leader, Tava Ren. They tell her the story of how Kylo Ren came to be their leader and then abandoned them when Snoke came around for his new apprentice. Tava decides to go to Kylo and pledge her service, but I’m sure she has something else in mind. That’s about all that happens here, flashbacks to when Kylo led them, but I’m hoping the next issue will be more interesting as she inevitably faces off with him.
The Jedi Path, by Daniel Wallace. I’ve had my eye on this one since it came out and finally decided to get it. It’s presented as a Jedi manual for Padawans, with chapters written by Jedi Masters of the past. There are sections on what’s expected of a Padawan, proper dress, lightsaber forms, Force abilities, the Jedi Trials; and because it was written during the Legends era, the various branches of the Jedi, including Consulars, Sentinels, and where Jedi go if they don’t pass their trials (services like the Agricultural Corps, the Medical and Educational Corps, and the Exploration Corps).
What’s fun about this book is that there are handwritten notes in the margins of the pages by various Padawans through the years, including Dooku, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, as well as Yoda and even Darth Sidious, who apparently had the book in his possession at some point. Luke is the last to make notes in here and comments on his students in his new Jedi Academy. These notes (in different handwriting) are little snippets into these various characters and their personalities shine through, as well as show some foreshadowing. For example, on the page describing a lightsaber form against a foe with many limbs, Obi-Wan writes: “I shudder at the thought of facing that many sabers at once.” Of course, he later does in ROTS when he fights General Grievous and his many-limbed lightsaber attack. Anakin makes quite a few snarky comments, where little hints of his darkness come through. In response to a page talking about finding nonviolent solutions, Anakin states: “If you never use your saber, then why have one?” Ahsoka is preoccupied with the Clone Wars and what will best serve in that situation. Ahsoka has been a soldier since becoming a Padawan, so her experience has been very different from all the other Padawans. Really fun book.
Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance #1, Manga by Justina Ireland and Shim Shinyo. Now that the High Republic is officially “over,” I thought I’d go back and check out some stories that I didn’t get around to outside of the books. There are a ton of comics, but what stood out to me was this manga series that looked cool. It centers on Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi, who is on the planet Banchii with her former Master, the Wookiee Arkoff. They are resettling people who have been displaced by the Nihil, but soon discover another threat: the Drengir. Along with her Padawan Keerin and two younglings, they fight off the Drengir. I love the art in this book, and also the fact that my daughter’s name is Lilly, lol. There are several books in this series, but I only have this one and Precedent right now. I’m working on getting the others.
Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance: Precedent, Manga by Daniel Jose Older. This one centers on Arkoff in the past, during Phase 2 of the High Republic. Specifically, during the “Night of Sorrows” on the planet Dalna, where the Path of the Open Hand (which later morphs into the Nihil) fight the Jedi with their Nameless. Arkoff loses his Master to the Nameless, but with the help of their droid and a young Azlin Rell (who is driven mad by the Nameless), he survives. There’s also a Harch bounty Hunter named Vol Garat (who looks like Admiral Trench from the Clone Wars, so I hear his voice whenever Vol speaks, lol) who is working with the Nihil for…some reason. I like the insight we get into Azlin Rell in this one, as he’s a very interesting character in the Phase 3 books.
Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past. The Star Wars Lego specials are a fun treat, and this one was no exception. In this one, Sig Greebling must work with his dark side brother Dev to stop the villain Solitus from reducing the galaxy to a whole bunch of nothing. The thing about Rebuild the Galaxy is that all of the characters we know are flipped or changed in some way: there are the darksiders–Darth Rey, Darth Rose, and Darth Jar Jar, lol. There’s even a scene with dark side Obi-Wan and Darth Revan (who doesn’t speak, preserving the gamer’s option of gender, which is pretty cool). And the lightsiders: Palpatine, Maul, white Vader, etc. Leia is in love with Greedo, not Han Solo, and Luke is a surfer dude. In this one, we meet “new” characters: The Landolorian with Grogu, Giant Chewbacca, blocky Ahsoka, Pirate Queen Padme, the BB8-Wing (a ship based on BB-8 and which I adored, lol), and a deep-cut appearance by Jaxon the green rabbit from one of the first Star Wars comics (voiced by Ben Schwartz, whose voice I recognized instantly as the racer droid Tay-O from The Bad Batch episode Faster in Season 2). The point is, everything is all mixed up in this galaxy; Sig is a “builder” in the Force, and Dev is a “destroyer” in the Force, building and destroying all manner of things from Legos. Sig and Dev work with Jedi Bob, Yessi, and Sig’s droid Servo, along with all of these characters, to defeat Solitus. It’s a super-fun ride, and I’m definitely here for the jokes and laughs.
Oh, and we got a couple of teaser trailers: one for The Mandalorian and Grogu movie (May 22, 2026), and the other for Visions Vol. 3 (October 29, 2025). I’m not going to go into my thoughts on them yet, only that they look great and I can’t wait for both! Here are the trailers:
That’s it for this month. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Hello friends, and welcome to the first post of my Legends Reading Challenge. The first book in timeline Order is Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, by Tim Lebbon. It was published in May of 2013, and ties into a collection of comics called Dawn of the Jedi. (I’m only reading the adult novels, and not any comics or junior novels, etc).
Into the Void takes place about 25,000 years BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin). It has date references such as 3,500 TYA, 7,537 TYA, 10,661 TYA, etc., with chapters starting with a quote from some Master. TYA stand for “Tho Yor Arrival,” which refers to eight ships that arrived in the Tython system long ago, from a mysterious, far away system, and which held Force-sensitive beings. They began the settlement on Tython and eventually became the Jed’aii Order. These ancient Jedi strove to find a balance between Ashla (the Light) and Bogan (the Dark).
I had to look up a few of these things on Wookieepedia, as I didn’t know much about this time period and the book doesn’t exactly spell it out. I have a feeling the comics delved much deeper into the ancient lore. This book tells the story of a particular Jed’aii, Lanoree Brock, that lived about 10,000 years after the Tho Yor appeared. She is a Ranger, akin to a Jedi Knight’s role and responsibilities, travelling the system and helping out in whatever way she can. There is no hyperspace travel at this point, so they’re contained to the Tython system.
Lanoree is called back to Tython to speak with the Jed’aii Council concerning a new mission. They’re concerned about a cult called the Stargazers, who have developed a device that, if detonated near a supposed “hypergate,” will either cause a hyperspace gateway to open up, or cause a black hole that will swallow the entire system. They want Lanoree to find this group and stop them. The twist is that the leader of this group is Dalien Brock, Lanoree’s brother, who has long been thought dead.
The book flips back and forth between the present and the past; it tells of Lanoree and Dal’s relationship and childhood. Their parents are both Jed’aii, and Lanoree has a strong connection to the Force. Everyone expects Dal to have that connection as well, but…he doesn’t. This seems to be something they can’t accept, as they believe he’ll eventually “allow the Force in,” as if he’s actively pushing it away. This kind of confused me–is he Force-sensitive or not? Because if you’re Force-sensitive, why would you actively reject it? Dal seems to hate the Force and everything about it, but I assume it’s because he can’t access it. His parents and sibling don’t seem to accept this and keep encouraging him to continue with his studies. He and Lanoree travel across Tython on their “Great Journey” to different temples where they study different aspects of the Force. Each time, Dal fails miserably. Is it any wonder he becomes bitter and hateful? They keep expecting him to do this thing he cannot do.
Anyway, Dal becomes obsessed with the ancient myth of their ancestors, who they were and where they came from, and is determined to somehow get back there. He finally murders a Jed’aii student and flees to the Old City, which is a ruin built by an ancient race, the Gree. Not much is known about them, but Dal believes there is a hypergate deep in the bowels of the City. Lanoree follows him, hears him scream, and finds his bloodied clothing. Everyone assumes he’s dead.
In the present, it seems her brother is definitely not dead, and Lanoree is instructed to find him and stop him–kill him, if she must. With the help of a Twi’lek Jed’aii contact named Tre Sana, she follows a trail from Khalimar to Nox to Sunspot, playing a game of cat and mouse with Dal, who she believes has gone completely mad. Twice he tries to kill her, and twice she survives. She finally catches up to him back on Tython as he brings his device to the Old City and very nearly initiates the device before Lanoree kills him.
An artist rendering (Albert Umanov) of Greenwood Station on the planet Nox.
It took me a bit to get into the book, but once it got going, it was fine. I found the Jed’aii Order interesting, especially the temples the young learners had to visit on their “Great Journey” to finish their training. Tython itself is described as a planet strong in the Force, and it seems only Force-sensitives can manage to live on the planet. Their code wasn’t as solidified as we see in the later Jedi; these Jed’aii strive for balance between the Light and the Dark. I can see where some fans got the idea for the “Gray Jedi” in this story.
Lanoree herself, though she doesn’t relish killing, separates quite a few heads from bodies in this story, if it serves her mission (with a metal sword; there were no lightsabers yet). She also studied and had a proficiency in Alchemy, a “manipulation of the flesh through use of the Force,” which I thought very weird, to say the least, lol. She conducted experiments on her ship, the Peacemaker, in which she grew living tissue from her own cells, and which she used to heal herself when Dal shot her in the chest at point-blank range. She was always trying to balance the influence of Bogan (the Dark) when she felt pride and power from her accomplishments. She was also tempted to try Dal’s device herself after he was dead, to see what would happen. Just for a minute.
This was a fairly entertaining book, and I learned a lot of Legends Lore about the early incarnation of the Jedi, a good start to my Legends Reading Challenge.
Hello friends! I hope everyone is doing well and had a great summer. I’ve been busy getting my daughter ready to go back to school (I can’t believe she’s 16!) but as always, I find time for my entertainments.
The Crystal Crown, by Tessa Gratton. This is a Young Adult novel that centers around two Jedi from The Acolyte–Padawans Jecki Lon and Yord Fandar (Yord had become a Jedi Knight by the time of the show) and takes place not long before the events of the show.
At the beginning of the book, the two Jedi don’t get along very well. They don’t actually dislike each other, they just grate on each other’s nerves because they’re so different. Jecki is a bit younger, likes to challenge herself, is friendly with an open mind, and is quite happy to be Master Sol’s Padawan for the time being. Yord, on the other hand, is a bit rigid, a stickler for rules, uncomfortable around other people, and is chomping at the bit to take his trials and become a Jedi Knight (his Master is a Pantoran woman named Elishe, who is very kind and free-spirited, someone who knows how to teach Yord what he needs to know). Jecki and Yord often butt heads and get exasperated with each other.
The Padawans and their Masters are sent to the planet Silene, in part to make amends with its people over a previous Jedi who unwittingly slighted them. The Silinese wish to become a member of the Republic, and the mission is delicate and important to both sides. Everything about Siline is crystalized–the planet itself has many crystal formations, and its people have crystal-like horns and jewels on their faces and bodies; even their bones are made of crystal. They come in many hues, and I surmised that they’re very beautiful and striking. They are warriors, however, and have a warrior-like culture. Every year they hold a coming-of-age event called the Convocation, which is a series of challenges and tests, the winner of which receives the Crystal Crown. Outsiders may participate in the challenge, and the Padawans are invited to take part in it.
Jecki is very excited to participate, while Yord is reluctant and thinks it’s a waste of time. He agrees, however, as their Masters approve of the idea, and the mission seems to require it. They agree not to use their lightsabers or the Force during the Convocation. The challenge is in three parts: the first is a straightforward duel between participants with a Silinese traditional crystal sword; the second is a survival challenge, as the participants are dropped into the wild and must forage for food and water, and survive the attacks of its native creatures, which can be quite dangerous; and the third is the Hunt, in which participants must hunt and tag (but not kill) a particular, dangerous creature. The whole thing used to be to the death, but modern Silinese have downgraded it so no one (and no creature) dies, lol.
Jecki and Yord come to know a trio of young people who are taking part in the challenge: siblings Sitia, the eldest, and Rhos, who is gender-fluid; and Lionine Graf (yes, another young gender-neutral Graf, which seems to be a theme in Gratton’s books. Which is fine, I just find it hard to distinguish between them all and a little predictable). The Grafs have a notorious reputation in the High Republic, and Lio is no exception. They’re a human among the Silinese, has grown up here, and desperately wants to prove that they are one of them. How far they’re willing to go becomes the conflict of the book, and they cause problems, naturally.
Jecki and Yord do well in the challenge; Jecki is having a blast, while Yord is getting through it, lol. They also learn a lot about each other and come to have a respect, and dare I say, a fondness, for each other by the end. They’re not the best of friends, as evidenced by their relationship in the show, but they tolerate each other much better by then.
It’s a fun book, though not what I expected, really. It’s sort of like a Star Wars hunger games, or Survivor. I like these characters, but I kind of wished they were doing something else, lol. And it’s bittersweet, knowing their ultimate fate in the show, and that made me sad. 😦
Comics:
Shattered Empire. I found this omnibus in my local comic store. It takes place at the very end of Return of the Jedi, and the few months thereafter. Mostly, it centers around Poe Dameron’s parents, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron and the part each played at the Battle of Endor. In other issues, Shara helps Leia, along with the Queen of Naboo, when the Emperor’s Operation Cinder kicks in on that planet. She also helps Luke Skywalker retrieve a set of Uneti trees that are being hoarded by the Imperials (why they have them, I’m not sure). After all the dust is settled, Shara and Kes decide to settle on Yavin to raise their son, Poe. I enjoyed this one. I found another omnibus called Out Among the Stars but didn’t realize until later that it was issues 33-37 or some crazy thing. It’ll just stay on my shelf for now.
Hyperspace Stories: Codebreaker #3. Speaking of Poe Dameron, I’m continuing this current comic featuring him helping a Muun girl, Cheka, escape the First Order. They were using her as a codebreaker, and Poe wasn’t aware it was a girl rather than some machine, but now that he’s come to know her sad story, he rethinks bringing her back to the Resistance to work for them. He just wants her to be able to be a kid. I’m enjoying this comic, as I always find Poe entertaining and likeable.
Other books:
Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy. My book club decided to start up again, and we picked this book to read. It was one of my suggestions, as I like this author–I read Once There Were Wolves a few months ago and loved it. Her style seems to be rooted in writing about the natural world, with a traumatized woman with a secret or a dark past as the protagonist, lol. It works for me, though: the environment is a character in itself, and mirrors the violence and churning emotions of the characters in the story.
This one takes place on a remote island in the Antarctic, where a seed vault is protected by a group of researchers. The main protagonist, Rowan, washes up on shore, badly injured but alive, and a family finds her and nurses her back to health. The family consists of father Dominic Salt, daughter Fen, and sons Raff and Orly. Both Rowan and the Salts have their secrets, and it’s the slow unraveling of these secrets that lures you into the story and keeps you there.
That’s about it this month. I’ve been continuing my rewatch of Enterprise, as well as Lost, both of which are shows I loved more than twenty years ago, so I must be feeling nostalgic, lol. It’s funny, because the story I’ve dredged up to work on was begun by me about eighteen years ago (!!!) and was left unfinished in the archives to collect dust. But something brought me back and I’ve revived it, changed it around a bit, and have been slowly working on it these past few months. It’s been fun.
Anyway, what’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Hello friends! Hope your summer (or winter, depending on where you are) is going well. I’ve been busy working on a new writing project, so I decided I’m only going to blog in some detail about Star Wars entertainments for the time being and simply list the rest with a few lines (well, I’ll try, no promises!). Here we go!
(SPOILERS ahead!)
Star Wars Books:
Sanctuary, by Lamar Giles. You all know I’m a huge Bad Batch fan, so it’s no surprise that I was super-excited when I heard about this book. It’s finally here, and I read it in a day and half, lol (it’s fairly short at 328 pages and I dropped everything to read it).
It takes place in a very particular time-slot: just after Episode 13: Pabu from the second season. So no Crosshair or Echo, but with the added attraction of Tech still being there. I’m in.
If you remember, Pabu is the island planet Phee brings the Batch to in order to lay low after leaving Cid’s service; but while there, a devastating tsunami occurs. The community needs funds to rebuild, and in the book, Phee has come up with a few jobs that will help in that regard. One is procuring (ie, stealing) an expensive artifact from an auction put on by icky, rich criminals that they will then sell to a buyer, but it goes bad after Phee’s droid, Mel, screws up.
They get out with the artifact anyway and move on to the next job before going to the artifact’s buyer: picking up passengers on Mygeeto that want to get to Felucia. The woman they pick up is very pregnant and her companion’s face is covered by a mask. As fate would have it, the woman, Sohi, is wanted by an ISB agent named Crane who pursues them to the planet where the artifact buyer is. Turns out, the buyer, Cellia Moten, is a narcissistic murderer and they barely get away with their lives.
In the meantime, Crane has followed them there, and he’s after Sohi because she used to be a pupil of his in the spy game and they’d worked for the Separatists. She got away from him and wanted a different life, but he’s a bit obsessed and wants her back, calling her his “daughter.” He also wants her baby, his “granddaughter.” Turns out, Sohi’s masked companion is a clone named Ponder and the father of her baby (mystery solved! Clones CAN reproduce). After some trouble, they all get away and flee to Dallow, where Sohi gives birth and after some MORE trouble, escape both Crane and Moten.
So, the plot line here is fine, but I didn’t really care what it was, to be honest. All I wanted was to see the Batch in action again (which it delivered) and some character interaction and insight (which it also delivered). Every member of the Batch had their time to shine in this book, especially Hunter and Tech. Hunter was particularly intense, maybe a bit more than in the show, but his arc was to learn to let go of control, as well as to get more in touch with his feelings. I liked that we did get more of his special enhancement, which I felt was underused in the show. I also loved that Crosshair was mentioned, and that Hunter was personally struggling with his betrayal and absence. A dream sequence in which he talks with Crosshair is wonderful.
Tech was showcased mostly in his interactions with Phee, which I loved. I’m one of the people who loved their flirtation in the show, which was mostly on Phee’s side. But here, we got to go inside Tech’s head and see what he was thinking and how he actually felt about all that. And yes, it was slightly confusing for him, but he also had a growing affection for her. They had a really fun, sweet dynamic, and it just twisted the knife a little bit to know they’d never get to play it out fully. There was nothing too dramatic about it, just conversations, little touches, and them being totally unaware that time was short and that Tech would be gone in a matter of days or weeks. (I’m still not over it).
Wrecker had some wonderful moments, too, showing that he’s not just a big dumb muscle-guy. He’s got some good ideas, and he’s keenly in-tune with his team and has opinions on whether or not they should stay on Pabu. Omega is shown as the brilliant and capable kid she is, particularly with her medical skills that she garnered on Kamino with Nala Se. She remains the bright heart of the group, and her character didn’t really have an arc. She’s the optimistic Omega we’ve always known, and that’s okay.
The villains were fine, both of them crazy in their own way, but clearly dangerous. I felt like the book spent way too much time with them, frankly, but I understand wanting to flesh them out. Crane and Cellia wound up playing their own dangerous game with each other, which was kind of interesting, but also tedious, lol.
There was a lot going on in this book, but the author handled it all deftly; he knew the characters so well it was like watching an episode, but more, if you know what I mean. I loved it, and I really hope we get more Bad Batch novels in the future.
Star Wars Comics:
I don’t normally read comics, but every once in a while, I’ll check one out for a specific character that I’m interested in (like Obi-Wan Kenobi, for instance). Lately, there’s been a few that have piqued my interest:
Legacy of Vader, by Charles Soule (Marvel). This one’s about Kylo Ren and how he learns about his grandfather Darth Vader as told to him by Vader’s servant, Vane (pronounced “vanay”), as well as how Kylo goes about trying to “kill the past.” It’s seven issues in, and I’ve gotta say, it’s a little weird. I’ve always liked a bit more insight into Kylo, but this one is only making him seem more nuts than usual, lol. I’m invested at his point, though, so I’ll keep going. It takes place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents, by Michael Moreci (Dark Horse). Of course, I had to read the latest Bad Batch comics. This takes place during the Clone Wars, so no Echo or Omega, but Crosshair is still part of the team. The Batch are sent on a mission to retrieve intelligence on Republic spies that has been stolen by a Separatist agent. Spoiler: the agent is Asajj Ventress (and later, Aurra Sing). Ventress wears a mask, though, so they don’t know who she is, and won’t immediately recognize her later in the show’s third season, when she shows up on Pabu. The story of the comic was fine, but I didn’t particularly care about it; I just loved seeing the Batch together before being broken up by Crosshair’s betrayal in the show. The comic was four issues. I think there’s another Bad Batch comic down the pipeline, this fall, I think, and I’m sure I’ll check that one out, too.
The Rise of Skywalker Adaptation, by Jody Houser (Marvel). I don’t usually read comic adaptations of movies or shows, but I heard this one was pretty good (courtesy of Star Wars Explained) because it had a little bit of extra stuff that gave insight into some characters. There’s extra dialogue and scenes with Leia, as well as Kylo Ren and Rose Tico, that was great. This one was five issues.
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: Codebreaker, by Ethan Sacks (Dark Horse). This one is a Poe Dameron story, and since he’s one of my favorite characters, I had to check it out (I need to check out some earlier Poe comics, as well). Poe must infiltrate a First Order base and retrieve some code-breaking technology; however, the codebreaker turns out to be a young Cerean girl that he then has to protect and save. Again, the story is fine, but I just love listening to Poe’s snark, lol. There are four total issues, and three are out right now. The fourth will be published in October.
Other Entertainments: I’ve read and watched quite a few other things lately, such as:
Books:
Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son, by Lois Lowry. I read The Giver in June and found out it was the first in a quartet, so naturally I had to read the others! These fantasy books, though written for middle-grade, are fantastic.
The Ferryman, by Justin Cronin. I loved Cronin’s series beginning with The Passage, and thought I’d check out this stand-alone novel. It’s a great “what in the world is really going on here?” book, and the answer is satisfying indeed.
All The Water in the World, by Eiren Caffall. This book takes place sometime in our near future when climate change has caused horrific storms and polar melt that has flooded coastal regions. It focuses on Nonie, a young girl who has been living on the roof of the American Natural History Museum in a flooded New York City. She and her sister, Bix, her father, and their friend Keller, survive a “hypercane” that destroys their home, so they embark on a dangerous journey to the Berkshires (not far from where I live in Massachusetts, by the way) to a family farm and hopefully a new, better life.
On the screen:
North and South (BBC). Just randomly saw this on Youtube and decided I was ready for another period drama. It’s based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s book North and South, published as a serial in 1854-55, at the time of the Industrial Revolution. Love amid the soot of Northern England, lol. It’s more than that, obviously; it’s about worker’s rights, the clash between the factory owners and the workers, the horrific conditions of the poor. A highlight for me was that it starred Richard Armitage, who I only know as the “hot dwarf” Thoren Oakenshield from the Hobbit movies, lol. North and South is made up of 4 one-hour episodes, and I loved it.
High Rise. Tom Hiddleston, people living in a high-rise apartment building in some sort of dystopian scenario where the rich live on the top and the poor live on the bottom, what’s not to love? Answer: this entire movie. I don’t say this about many movies, but this one was BAD. Not just, “Oh, it’s not really my thing,” but a really awful, terrible, horrible mess of a movie. Nothing, and I mean nothing, made sense in this whack job. Two hours of my life I can’t get back. Maybe I just don’t “get it,” in which case, it’s painfully pretentious.
Fantastic Four. Now, this is a good movie. A Fantastic movie, in fact! I really liked the 2005 movie and its sequel, The Silver Surfer, despite not being perfect; the 2015 reboot was totally forgettable; but this one! Ah, perfection. At least to me. I loved everything about it, from the great cast, the omitting of the origin story (who needs to see it again?) and the futuristic retro look of an alternate timeline Earth. The sixties vibe was so cool. It’s enough to make me excited about Marvel again, when my interest has been waning lately. Super fun and good storytelling.
Star Trek: Enterprise rewatch. I’d been casting around for a new show to watch, but couldn’t decide on anything, so I went for an old favorite. Enterprise ranks probably second after The Next Generation for me, and it’s been years since I watched. Super fun.
So, I tried to keep this as brief as possible, but if you’re still with me, thank you and I’m impressed! Have you read/watched any of the above-mentioned? What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Hello friends! I hope your summer (or winter, if you’re in the southern hemisphere) is going well. There’s been a lot of rain and steamy weather where I am (New England), so a lot of time for reading, watching, writing, and a bit of drawing. Let’s get started! (As usual, SPOILERS!!! ahead).
Trials of the Jedi, by Charles Soule. This is the last novel of the ambitious High Republic project (initially called Project Luminous) and it is luminous, indeed. It’s not perfect–I had my nitpicks–but it brought all the multiple threads of this vast story to a satisfying conclusion.
One of my nitpicks (and not just about this particular book, but the High Republic as a whole) is that a lot of the story is told through comics. I tried to read the comics from the first phase, but there were so many I knew I’d never keep up. And oftentimes, elements or storylines or characters from the comics cropped up in the books, and whenever I ran across this I was left wondering, Okay, where did that come from? What does this mean? Who is this person? Etc., etc. The authors try to catch you up within the book, but it’s still disorienting.
So anyway, In Trials, a group of Jedi that comes to be known as The Nine (it’s got a Lord of the Rings kind of ring to it, doesn’t it?) must travel to Planet X, the Nameless home world, so they can release some Nameless creatures that they’ve captured. Their hope is that by bringing them home, it will stop the Blight that is ravaging the galaxy and bring balance back to the Force. With them, they have an ancient relic called The Rod of Ages. I had no idea what that thing was or where it came from, but apparently, it’s super important in controlling another relic Marchion Ro has–the Rod of Power, which I also have no idea how he got or where it came from–which controls the Nameless. Ah, the comics, I thought. Whatever, I’ll just roll with it.
So of course, the mission goes south almost immediately. The Veil they must pass through is vicious and they crash land. Some native creatures immediately attack them. The Nameless escape their cargo hold. And naturally, Marchion Ro has followed them. And he’s determined to not just kill the Jedi or defeat the Republic–he wants to end all life in the galaxy (he’s fundamentally nihilistic, get it?), and he’s in a pretty good position to do it.
While the Nine (Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, Reath Silas, Bell Zettifar, Burryaga, Terec, Torban Buck, Ty Yorick, and Azlin Rell) fight to save the galaxy on Planet X, a battle with the Nihil has been raging on the planet Eriadu. The RDC (Republic Defense Coalition) and the Eriaduans (led by several noble houses, one of which is Tarkin) fight off the Nihil once the Stormwall comes down. This happens when Marchion Ro blows up his own ship the Gaze Electric, from which the Stormwall is held up. This is another weird inconsistency–in the YA and middle grade books that came before Trials (Into the Light, A Valiant Vow) the Stormwall was down, but it was never explained how it happened. It was a bit confusing.
Anyway, a few threads are wrapped up outside of the Planet X storyline: Jedi Knight Porter Engle finally kills the Mirialan Nihil General Viess, the woman who was responsible for his sister taking the Barash Vow and disappearing centuries ago. I don’t know the whole story (again, the comics–The Blade of Bardotta), but Viess has been his nemesis all this time and he finally killed her, realizing that he could have done it a long time ago; but that would have meant letting go of the memory of his sister.
On X, Bell confronts Marchion and defeats him, getting justice (revenge?) for his master Loden Greatstorm’s death (he doesn’t kill him but he REALLY wants to); Reath, Ty, and Azlin use the Rod of Ages to stop Marchion’s Rod of Power from destroying the Nameless; And Azar and Elzar figure out how to save the galaxy and bring balance back to the Force: they both must stay on X until the planet heals itself, which will take many decades (and with no way off the planet and its existence a secret, even then they can never leave). It’s kind of weird and complicated, but Avar will be the Light to the darkness, and Elzar will be the darkness to the light. Like this:
Hmm, look familiar?
They will be separated, with Avar down below ground in the darkness, and Elzar on a mountaintop. I had feared their relationship (which they finally accepted and consummated in Temptation of the Force) would end in tragedy. This isn’t so much tragedy, as them sacrificing their love and their lives together for the galaxy. Because in the end, they are Jedi.
The back-up team, which includes Vernestrah Rwoh (who was mostly absent in this book, but it’s okay since she got her own book in Wayseeker last month), picks everybody else up and brings them home. Marchion Ro stands trial and is sentenced to life in solitary confinement, alone in a prison cell on an asteroid. He spends the rest of his natural life alone, unable to hurt, manipulate, postulate to, or lord over anyone else, and this, above all things, is what defeats him. He dies an old, sick, pathetic being whose actions in the galaxy ended up meaning nothing. Or did it mean nothing? I think it’s safe to say that the Nihil conflict was the beginning of the end of the Jedi–it changed the Jedi, it changed the Order’s relationship with the Republic and allowed it to weaken enough for the Sith to destroy them. I think perhaps Marchion Ro, if he had known, would be triumphant at their eventual downfall. But he didn’t know, and that’s his personal tragedy.
Reath takes off to search for Azlin Rell, who had slipped away from Planet X on an old, abandoned ship where he finds a lightsaber. It belonged to a Jedi named Barnabas Vim, a name that sounds familiar to me and I’m sure he was in Phase 2 at some point, but I can’t quite remember, lol. Anyway, Rell bleeds the crystal, and he has a red lightsaber. I think at this point it doesn’t mean he’s a Sith or anything, just a rogue darksider, and Reath feels responsible for him. I hope we get a story later about what happens with these two.
And Chancellor Lina Soh makes a speech about the Republic and mentally ruminates on its relationship with the Jedi moving forward. She understands that the Jedi just saved the entire galaxy and is therefore very powerful indeed. The Republic and the Jedi up to this point were partners in a peaceful galaxy; now, after the Nihil conflict, the balance of power has changed, fundamentally if not openly. It sets the stage for the Republic getting into Jedi affairs and vice versa as the prequel era looms ahead.
So this High Republic initiative has ended, and I have to say it’s awesome and I loved every minute of it. I’m sad to see it end, but it ended satisfactorily, with the hope of more High Republic stories to come. In the meantime, I can maybe read all the other High Republic stuff I skipped (those darned comics!), some manga, and a few audio dramas. It’s not goodbye forever, thank the Force.
Gifts, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I read LeGuin’s Earthsea Trilogy many years ago and really enjoyed them but haven’t read anything by her since then. I came across this book at a used bookstore and decided it was time to revisit this author. This is a YA book, but this old person thought it was great anyway. Here’s a blurb from Amazon:
In this beautifully crafted novel, the first of the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world’s darkness, gifts of light.
Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability—with a glance, a gesture, a word—to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness.
The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill.
LeGuin is a wonderful writer and I’m glad I revisited her, but now I have to get the other two books of the trilogy: Voices and Powers. The TBR list grows!
The Giver, by Lois Lowry. My daughter read this book several years ago in middle school, and I thought it sounded like a good read. I put it on my mental list, and when I saw it at a library book sale recently, I picked it up and decided to read it. Here’s a synopsis from Amazon:
In Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal–winning classic, twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community.
Life in the community where Jonas lives is idyllic. Designated birthmothers produce newchildren, who are assigned to appropriate family units. Citizens are assigned their partners and their jobs. No one thinks to ask questions. Everyone obeys. Everyone is the same. Except Jonas.
Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Gradually Jonas learns that power lies in feelings. But when his own power is put to the test—when he must try to save someone he loves—he may not be ready. Is it too soon? Or too late?
Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.
Would you give up true emotions, choices, even color, for peace? When I look around at the world right now, the hellish mess it’s in, and all the hell humanity has gone through, it’s tempting. Some freaking peace wouldn’t be a bad thing. But of course, I don’t mean it. What’s life without love? Without art, without true relationships, without joy? It would be a stale affair. The problem is, we have to accept the bad with the good–the differing points of view, the crimes of passion. Hatred and war. It’s the quintessential conundrum of being human, and this book explores it simply but effectively. There are three other books by Lowry in the “quartet” and I have them on my shelf, but I won’t get to them for a bit. Looking forward to them.
The Giver, Movie (2014). So of course, I wanted to watch the movie version of the book. The movie was…fine. It changed a few things, naturally, but I’m fairly flexible about that as long as it works. The cool thing was seeing a young Cameron Monaghan in it as Jonas’ friend Asher (our very own Cal Kestis of Jedi: Fallen Order fame. See? Monaghan is obviously a screen actor, so let’s get him in a Star Wars show or something!)
Station Eleven, Series on HBO Max. Station Eleven, the novel by Hilary St. John Mandel, is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was excited to see some time ago that there was an adaptation of it. However, when reading about it, I was put off by what I saw as major deviations from the book and so didn’t bother trying to get the channel to watch it. But once I got Max to watch The Last of Us, I saw it there and decided to give it a try.
And I’m glad I did. Yes, there are some major changes to the book, but once I started watching, it drew me in anyway. And I decided that I actually liked the biggest change, which puts two characters together that only met briefly in the book. In fact, I never knew I wanted that until I saw it onscreen, and I ended up loving this show.
The premise is that humanity is depopulated by a super-flu-type virus. Kirsten, one of the survivors, is a member of The Traveling Symphony, a group of musicians and actors who travel “the Wheel,” an area around Upper Michigan near Chicago (though they never go into the city). Their motto is “Survival Isn’t Enough,” and they put on concerts and Shakespeare plays for the few small settlements that are left. The “present” of the story takes place twenty years after the flu, and there are flashbacks to the beginning of the flu and various characters that are central to the plot.
Kirsten was eight years old and playing young Goneril in King Lear when the flu struck. Lear is played by Arthur Leander, a character that dies of a heart attack on stage the night the flu exploded, and one that ties all the other characters together. When Arthur collapses on stage, Jeevan Choudhary, who is in the audience, leaps onstage to help, though it’s too late. He meets Kirsten and decides to get her home, as no one else is around.
Jeevan gets a call from his sister, a doctor, who warns him about the flu and insists he go to their brother, Frank. When Kirsten’s parents are nowhere to be found, he takes her to Frank’s with them. (This is where it deviates from the book; in it, he meets Kirsten at the theater but goes to Frank’s alone. He ends up somewhere in Virginia with a family and never meets any of these other characters). These three–Jeevan, Frank, and Kirsten–spend the next several months together in Frank’s apartment as the flu ravages the population. Kirsten has with her a special comic book called Station Eleven, which was written and drawn by Arthur’s first ex-wife Miranda. There are only two copies; Kirsten has one, given to her by Arthur, and Arthur’s young son Tyler has the other. The two children become obsessed by the comic book, which is about an astronaut who finds himself on a space station (Station Eleven) after Earth has been invaded by aliens and has become uninhabitable. There’s some war going on within the station between factions, and it’s kind of vague and confusing, lol. But the theme is that of damage, isolation, of not belonging. Of trying to find home.
In the meantime, Arthur’s friend Clarke ends up stuck in the Severn City airport, as he was traveling from England to go to Arthur’s funeral, but the flu grounded the plane. Arthur’s second ex-wife Elizabeth was on the plane as well, with their son Tyler. The people on the plane end up forming a community there, and Clarke starts a “Museum of Human History,” putting cell phones and driver’s licenses and what not from the time before, as a sort of homage. The problem is, Tyler is a troubled boy and causes trouble, and ends up leaving the group, faking his own death in a fire. But he shows up later as “The Prophet,” someone the Traveling Symphony must deal with years later.
There’s a lot of complicated threads and intertwined characters, so it’s hard to succintly summarize. This post would go on forever if I wrote about all of them, but trust me, it’s a great show and I enjoyed it, in a different way than the book. I loved the book because its themes of art, memory, grief and connection spoke to me. It was different than any other “apocalyptic” book I’d ever read, and the show did a good job translating those themes, even if they changed some things to make it work onscreen.
My drawing of the month:
Sadly, I’ve only done one drawing since last month, as I’ve been busy with the blog, shows, and reading. But it’s a good one, I think!
Tracking us? “Not this ship, sister.”
I intend on continuing to draw, but at a lesser pace right now, as I get back to writing in various forms for the time being. I’m hoping for at least one with each monthly update.
So that’s it this month. What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll talk about it!
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