SPOILER FREE
Star Wars Adventures In Wild Space: Book Two – The Nest is written by Tom Huddleston
That’s right, this is book two in the Star Wars young reader series! There is something I may have missed in my first review… these books do have an opening crawl. The story takes place during Palpatine’s rule over the galaxy.
Summary: The Graf children flee from Thune and the Empire! Captain Korda of the Empire came pretty close to capturing the two kids, but to his frustration, they escaped. Over the Graf’s ship comm, a signal peaks their interest, a call to revolt against the empire! If they can pinpoint the signal, it’s possible they may find refuge from the Empire!
Their ship Whisper Bird is having hyperdrive issues, so they make a pit stop. On some unknown planet in Wild Space. The kids land the ship and head out on foot to where they spotted a shipwreck not too far from them. They think maybe they can harvest some parts. They leave together, not wanting to split up after their recent run in with danger. They also just want to be sure they aren’t walking into some sort of a trap… it pays to be aware and cautious on unfamiliar turf.
Still, the kids run into trouble. Mercenaries already had dibs on the wrecked ship. Now the children are being held captive be this group. Chaos unfolds involving more than just the crazy mercenaries… there’s nasty creatures and a giant beast that are lurking around.
Characters: Usually I like to talk about two characters, but because there book is under 200 pages and the story isn’t crammed with characters, I’m just mentioning one. I’d have to say the most interesting character in book two was a new character, Gozetta. She is a cocky big game hunter, she’s not to kind to the kids or her own employees or crew. the other characters continuously misjudge the lady. Though I do find her interesting and wouldn’t mind reading a little more about this character.
Overall Thoughts: I liked this book better than the previous book, The Snare. We get a nice break from the empire to enjoy a new terror. The character traits of the children remained the same, no complaints there. However there was one small thing I noticed, a description of a creature changes only paragraphs apart. So the petty silly question is… which is canon, the red or the black eyes?
I like that the story is a continuation of the previous, with that break from the empire, but we still get that feeling they aren’t too far behind. Lina and Milo are still in trouble and we’re still routing for them to find their parents.
There are some really tacky parts, like every line of dialogue from the Graf’s droid CR-8R. Maybe I’m just too critical of droids in most of Star Wars books… does that make me a droidist? Who cares. Once again, I had fun with the book and look forward to the continued adventures in Book 3: The Heist! Oh, side note, there’s actually a Book 0: The Escape. It did not have wide release but it was printed in Europe. I’ve got my physical copy ordered on Amazon! However, it’s available as an ebook here in the US.
Rating: I give this book a 2.5 out of 5