My Star Wars Weekend Update

Happy weekend fellow Star Wars fans!

So, I must apologize for not having a Bad Batch review for the last two episodes, “Reunion” and “The Lost Bounty.” Still watching, still loving it, but never got around to the reviews. I’ve been been posting less here (but posting on my other blog, The Star Wars Reader, which has been much neglected lately), mostly because I’m doing more reading right now. Not that there are riots in the streets or anything, but I’ll get back to reviews on Monday.

So what am I reading? Well, as you may know, I’m a huge fan of the High Republic, and the second adult novel, The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott, was just released, so I’ve gotten right into that. I’ve got that in hardcover, but I always have a book on my Kindle that I read at work on my breaks, and the one I just finished is called Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzi Lee. You might also know that I’ve been in a Loki obsession lately, courtesy of the new Disney+ series, and just happened to come across this book on Kindle. I picked it up and just couldn’t put it down.

It’s a story that takes place before the events of the Marvel movies, and Loki and Thor are a bit younger (by, oh, I don’t know, a hundred years or so) and centers around Loki and a character named Amora. She’s the apprentice of a sorceress of Odin, and by a series of unfortunate events she gets banished to Midgard, or Earth. Loki finds himself there years later, on a mission from Odin and encounters her there. It’s the late 19th, early 20th century, and she poses as a spiritualist. She calls herself the Enchantress, and later, uses the pseudonym of Sylvie (hmmm….). He also meets a group of people who call themselves the SHARP Society, who know about Asgard and work for Odin to help with otherworldly visitors to Earth. Loki suggests they change their name to SHIELD (hmmm…..). Anyway, it’s a very entertaining book, and I loved it.

Also, because of said obsession, I bought the book Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. Besides Loki’s charming personality, I think I’m interested in the character because he comes from actual mythology. Loosely based, of course, but I find it interesting that the writers of the movies and shows throw in little tidbits that come from the myths. For instance, one story from the book is about Loki cutting off Sif’s hair (in the myth, she is golden-haired, and the wife of Thor); in the latest episode of Loki, Mobius puts him in a sort of punishment time-loop, and Sif (from the Thor movies) comes to him furious for cutting off some of her hair, slapping him and kicking him in the groin. Over and over and over, lol. It’s fun to pick out little things like that.

My blogging friend, Julie G, and I may take turns doing some mini-reviews of the chapters in this book, so stay tuned for that if you’re interested.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing this past week. What have you been up to lately? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll talk about it!

My Star Wars Weekend Update

So I’ve been mostly absent this past week, just reading and commenting on other people’s blogs. I’ve been cheating with another franchise, as I’ve wanted to catch up with some MCU movies as I watch the Disney+ show Loki. Certainly not all of them, but just the ones with Loki in them (which is 6 two and a half hour movies, at least, lol).

And they’re super fun, and seriously, if you haven’t checked out Loki, do so now, because it’s a real treat. It’s actually been good for me to take a break on the Star Wars and get into something new. I’ve been going full steam on the blogs for about a year now, and it felt good to have a little vacation.

But now it’s time to get back to work, lol. And I haven’t been completely ignoring Star Wars, either. I finished re-reading Claudia Gray’s High Republic book Into the Dark, and have started reading E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Peril, about Padme Amidala. I was trying to wait until the paperback came out just before the third book in the series, Queen’s Hope, comes out in November, but I noticed Amazon offered it on Kindle for just $4.99. So I’m reading it on my Kindle, but will probably buy the paperback when it comes out to put on my shelf next to the paperback of Queen’s Shadow, the first in the series. Cuz I’m like that, lol.

Binding: Hardcover (288 pages) Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press (June 2, 2020) Author: E. K. Johnston ISBN-10: 1368057144 ISBN-13: 9781368057141

Of course I’ve been keeping up with The Bad Batch; I didn’t do a review of last week’s episode, Reunion, but will probably do a brief review of it in this week’s episode review.

I actually had an afternoon to myself this Friday, and decided to go to this great used bookstore a couple towns over called the Montague Bookmill. I’ve always liked browsing books there, but they don’t often have many Star Wars books in their Fantasy/Science Fiction section (although I see plenty of Star Trek books). I managed to scour around and found a couple of middle grade books, which I don’t usually read, but hey, they’re Star Wars and I figured I’d just add them to my collection: Jedi Apprentice #15–The Death of Hope (a series with Qui Gon and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi) by Jude Watson (a series I’d actually like to read), and the young reader’s version of The Phantom Menace (with pictures from the film in the middle!) by Patricia C. Wrede.

I also found The Making of The Phantom Menace by Laurent Bouzereau and Jody Duncan, which is pretty cool. I don’t have many reference books in my collection–in fact, I don’t have any, lol, and this is a great first. I got them all for twenty bucks.

So that’s about it. Looking forward to getting back to Star Wars (but can’t wait until next Wednesday to see how Loki and Sylvie get off that doomed planet, lol).

Happy weekend, and let me know what you’ve been up to lately in the comments!

And now for something completely different.

So I haven’t posted my usual array of blog posts this week, and the reason is simply this: I’ve been using my blogging time to watch Marvel movies, lol.

I started watching the Disney+ show Loki, because I watched the second Thor movie years ago simply on a whim, and the thing I loved most about the movie was the character Loki. I didn’t follow up by watching more Marvel movies, however, because I just wasn’t interested enough.

But when Loki premiered on D+, I knew I wanted to check it out. I’ve watched the first two episodes, and despite not really knowing a thing about Marvel stories or characters, I love it. You don’t really have to; in a way, it’s like The Mandalorian, where a casual fan can just start watching and enjoy it for what it is. But it IS better appreciated if you know a bit more about the Star Wars universe, especially in the second season when all those cameos from other SW content showed up. I figured that would probably happen with Loki, so I decided it might be time to catch up.

I really only wanted to watch the movies with Loki in it, so I began with the three Thor movies. I know there are Avenger movies in between, but that didn’t concern me too much. I finished those, and now I’m halfway into the first Avenger movie.

I have to admit, these movies are super fun. In Thor: Ragnarok, when Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” busted out at the beginning, and again when they faced Hela on Asgard, I just laughed and clapped with delight, it was so awesome.

Despite all the cool heroes in the series, I still feel that Loki is the most interesting character. The “villain” often is, simply because of their complex psychology. What makes them bad? After watching a few of the movies, I think Loki is just a little boy who wants love and attention, lol. Mobius called it by claiming he was a “scared little boy.” But he just can’t help being bad. He is, after all, the god of mischief, the trickster. He covers his pain in humor. He’s so likable in so many ways, it breaks your heart when he betrays someone.

When I watched the first Thor movie, I thought ugh, Thor is such a jerk. Lol. But he grows throughout the movie, and also throughout the series of movies. Loki never changes, really.

But the show, I think, will really start to dig into his psyche, and we’ll see if he’s capable of change. But do we really want him to change?

So I just thought I’d let you know what’s been going on in my entertainment world. I’ll be back to writing Star Wars probably next week. Don’t worry, Star Wars will always be my first love. But here’s Loki with lightsabers for your viewing pleasure:

Have you watched Loki? What do you think of the show? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll talk about it!

My Star Wars Weekend Update

Happy weekend, friends!

Not a lot to talk about this week, really. I loved the latest episode of The Bad Batch, and I’ll talk about that in Monday’s post.

I’ve been working on a post about the heroes of Star Wars–who are my top ten heroes of Star Wars, how would I rank them, and why. I haven’t written a post like this for awhile, and it’s been fun to work on. I’ll probably post that on Tuesday (since I’m not done yet, lol).

Star Wars The High Republic: Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland

I finished my reread of The Light of the Jedi, and am currently rereading Into the Dark, by Claudia Gray. The next YA novel of the High Republic will be coming out in July, and it’s called Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland. I am absolutely loving the High Republic stories, and am fully invested in these characters and this time. I think it’s because it’s familiar, in that it’s about the Jedi and the Republic (and the Jedi are my favorite part of Star Wars), but it’s also different because of the earlier timeline. I’ve always wanted to know a little bit more about the history of the Jedi, and we’re getting some here in the High Republic books. We’re also getting some tantalizing clues about how the Jedi were different, and what might have happened to lead them to become the kind of Jedi in the prequels (and subsequently lead to their downfall). I find it all very fascinating.

That’s really about it. I’ve noticed on Disney+ that Loki has premiered. I’m not a Marvel or DC fan at all (I don’t even know the difference, or which one he’s from, lol), but I do remember seeing a Thor movie with him in it (I just went along with some friends). I wasn’t too wowed by the movie, but I LOVED the character of Loki. He was the best part of the movie, lol. So I’m thinking about checking it out, even though I know nothing about the universe at all. I’ll probably be lost, but I’ll at least check out the first episode. Any DC/Marvel/Loki fans here? Have you watched the show, and what do you think?