Happy weekend, my friends!

So I FINALLY received The Fallen Star a week after it was released, and I’m loving everything about it so far. While Light of the Jedi focused on The Great Disaster, and The Rising Storm focused on the Nihil attack on the Republic Fair, this one deals with the insidious Nihil plot to take down Starlight Beacon. Not only do they cripple the station, but they smuggle something on board that affects a Jedi’s access to the Force. “Who will survive when the light of the Jedi goes dark?” I’m afraid to find out! I’ll write a review of the book once I’m done and post it here.

I just barely started the Wave 2 middle grade book Race to Crashpoint Tower, but since I received Fallen Star I haven’t been reading it. Once I’m done with Fallen Star I’ll get back to it, before the Wave 3 young adult novel Midnight Horizon comes out on Feb. 1. I’m in a High Republic tizzy!

This third wave of High Republic books concludes Phase One (Light of the Jedi) of the planned High Republic publishing initiative. Phase Two starts in the fall sometime, and it’s called Quest of the Jedi. I’ve heard that Phase two will take place 150 years prior to the setting of Phase one, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m disappointed that we won’t be seeing most of the Jedi I’ve been reading about the past few months, and will have to start over with all new characters. One character in Phase one we’ll see in Phase 2 is Jedi Master Porter Engle, who is around 300 years old in the recent books, so he’ll be there 150 years ago. I imagine Yoda will be lurking around somewhere, too, though he hasn’t played a huge part in the High Republic yet (at least not in the novels). I’m just going to trust that the writers know what they’re doing, it’s all planned out, and every phase is going to connect with the others, and it’s going to be great. 🙂

If you’re confused about the whole phase and wave stuff with the High Republic, here’s a handy chart:

I haven’t included the comics, in which a lot of events take place, too.

I enjoyed Episode Three of The Book of Boba Fett this past week, though there were some highs and some lows. If you’d like to read my review of the episode, go here.

In Marvel, I watched Eternals, and I really liked it. It felt kind of weird for a Marvel movie; it was just so different. I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy some new Marvel heroes, but since I fell in love with Shang Chi, I knew there was a good chance I’d accept them into the fold. I’m going to write a post on my thoughts on this movie for Monday, so stay tuned.

Speaking of Shang Chi, I watched Assembled: The Making of Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I’ve enjoyed all the other making-of specials, and this one was no exception. I’m so amazed at this being Simu Liu’s first major film, and a Marvel film at that! What an amazing experience for him. And naturally since I watched the special, I wanted to rewatch Shang Chi itself, so I did. This is such a gorgeous movie with a profoundly moving family story. I especially enjoyed Ta Lo and the magical creatures there (that dragon!), and their Tai Chi-inspired fighting style is so beautiful and graceful. I just love everything about it!

That’s it this week. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!