Star Wars Canon Book Reviews Archives - Page 10 of 13

Star Wars: Thrawn Book Review

SPOILER FREE

Star Wars: Thrawn is written by New York Times Bestselling Author Timothy Zahn. Zahn is no stranger to the Star Wars galaxy, he is the mastermind behind the Legends canon epic known as the Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. I’ll provide links to amazon below so you can pick those up if dont already have them!

Summary: The empire takes a mysterious alien into custody. Due to the rarity of the individual, the officer in command decides to deliver the alien directly to the Emperor as some sort of trophy. The bond is formed immediately between the Emperor and this alien, a Chiss named Thrawn. Thrawn swears his loyalty to the Empire. His impressive background and military expertise leads Thrawn to many successes in the Empire, climbing the ranks faster than anyone else. Because of his alien species he does face adversaries which brings him some strife, but there isn’t much he can’t handle.

The antagonist in the novel is brilliant, only Thrawn stands a chance at piecing the puzzles together that are laid out by this individual, called Nightswan. He’s responsible for theft of a strong material that is being used by the Empire to build a certain military space station. The side story involves a young woman, Arihnda Pryce and her struggle with power and success. I want to tread lightly and not reveal spoilers, so moving on.

Characters: Because Thrawn was loaded with so many fantastic characters, I’m going to mention three of them.

Thrawn: calculated, well spoken, and well trained. The mains a military genius. He is a strange being to the known galaxy, only myths exist of the alien species, the Chiss. Thrawn is the man you’d want on your side. I found myself routing for him… I should be, because he’s a filthy imperial. To better understand his foes, he studies their art. Thrawn is one of the most elaborate and impressive character we’ve been gifted in the new canon.

Pryce: A woman from Lothal. I was actually impressed by this character, she was secondary, and somewhat disconnected from the story of Thrawn, but her story was just as fun and interesting. Her path is a crazy one. I liked this character but by the end of the book, I hated her. Not because she was poorly written, but because of her personality and what she does. Only after this book did I find out she’s in the Rebels TV show.

Finally, Eli Vanto: The character I feel a lot of us regular guys can relate to, you have plans, you can see your success paying off, then crap just hits the fan and you wind up in places or situations you never expected. I routed for Vanto from page one.

Overall Thoughts: This book is absolutley amazing! If you are a Legends fan who can’t bring yourself to read a canon book… but your watching or reading this review anyway, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Timothy Zahn can seriously write a novel. I’ve heard folks complain that there wasn’t enough action in the book, I found just the right amount. The perfect balance of action and politics. This novel focuses on thing that is very very important, that a lot of books on both the new canon and Legends lack. STORY!

As of now, I’m going to claim that Thrawn is definitely in my top 3 canon novels. I think this is the first book I’ve read that demands a trilogy. I hope Thrawn survives season 4 of Rebels… a show I don’t watch, so we can get more books focuses on his character.

Rating: I give this book a 5 out of 5

Star Wars: Adventures In Wild Space: The Nest Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

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

Star Wars: Adventures In Wild Space: The Snare Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

SPOILER FREE

Star Wars Adventures In Wild Space: Book One – The Snare
The Snare is written by Cavan Scott

This Star Wars book is for young readers, but it’s canon and there are several more books in this series coming soon. I’m not sure where this book takes place in the timeline because it wasn’t made clear, but the empire is ruling the galaxy.
Summary: The empire has plans to explore and expand to the reaches of wild space – the unknown regions. Adventurist Auric and Rhyssa Graf were well known for their work on mapping out wild space, because it wasn’t an easy job. The Empire had sought out the Grafs and had taken them against their will to work for the Empire. The children of Auric and Rhyssa, Milo and Lina and trusty droid CR-8R, are on the run.

The children and droid pilot their ship, Whisper Bird, to the planet Thune. There, they have high hopes in gaining more information from an old family friend on how to retrieveretreive their parents. One problem leads to the next as the children do what they can to avoid imperial entanglementsentaglements and scummy individuals as they take on their personal mission to rescue theirthier parents. Traps are set and sprung as this wild adventure is just getting started.

Characters: Lina Graf is the oldest of the two children. She wants to protect her little brother the best she can, that’s what older siblings do! She puts the weight of responsibility on her shoulders to not just to care for him, but protect him from the wide range of dangerous situations they find themselves in. She’s a smart girl that wants the best for her family.

Captain Korda, a ranked imperial who is responsible for taking Auric and Rhyssa Graf. His jaw is made of steel, that’s not some euphemism for a strong fighter or a mouth filled with witty comebacks, he literally has a steel jaw. We don’t really get much on the character in this book. We just learn he’s desperate to capture the Graf children. He wants them alive, but comes pretty close to other options as he gets upset. I hope to learn more about Korda the deeper we get into this series.

Overall Thoughts: The one major complaint is not knowing where in the timeline this tale takes place. The dialogue was decent, the droid was the most annoying character. The humor was ok, of course it’s written for children but I still found some things humorous. Cavan did a great job introducing us to new characters. The actions scenes were written very well in this young readers book.
This story is not required reading to get a better grasp of any other tale in the Star Wars canon, at least not yet. I do hope that the deeper we get into the series, more events will tie into other major events we’ve either seen on screen or read in other books.

Rating: I give this book a 2.5 out of 5

Star Wars Book Review: Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide was written by Pablo Hidalgo with illustrations by Kemp Remillard and a foreword by John Knoll, the Executive Producer & Visual Effects Supervisor for Rogue One. The book was released by DK Publishing.

In the Forward, John Knoll expresses his praise for Star Wars, released in 1977. He was amazed at the design and high quality execution of the film. He admits that the film is what set him on the path to a career in entertainment.

Rogue One was an epic film! I could even argue that the novelization by Alexander Freed was even better! I have enjoyed all the extra material that surrounds Rogue One and can’t wait for more stories focused on the new characters we were introduced to.

This visual guide is pretty much an encyclopedia for the film. It has so much detail about every little thing. First thing I’d like to mention, is that it has the updated galaxy map with all the new planets from the film. I love maps, and it excites me that these books are staying up to date with the films.

On characters, we get some awesome details about the characters seen in Rogue One. One of my favorites is Admerial Raddus – we get to know more about where he came from, his personality, even his height! There is so much information with photos of characters I didn’t even notice in the film! The Death Troopers are intimidating warriors, we get close up visuals of the weaponry and armor with information on what the equipment is capable of.

This book is loaded with cool stuff! If you love Rogue One like I do, or just have to have all the details on pretty much every character that man an apperance in the film… get this book.

Star Wars : The Art of Rogue One

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: The Art of Rogue One was written by Josh Kushin and released by Abrams Books.

The Art of Rogue one starts off with forwards by Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont, and Gareth Edwards. Doug Chiang is the Lucasfilm VP creative director and Co-production designer, Neil Lamont is a Co-producer, and Gareth Edwards is the Director.

When I first heard the news about Rogue One, I thought… why this story? why the Death Star? We’ve been there. they came, they saw, they blew it up! After seeing the film four times in theater, I can say it’s one of my top three Star Wars films. I believe the novel, Catalyst, enhanced the film even more so. Rogue One and tie in material, expanded on the Lore of Star Wars and the mythology of the force.

The creators of Rogue One had a daunting task, to design a film so close in the canon timeline of A New Hope, released in 1977. The look had to be familiar but it also had to be something fresh. To accomplish such a task, several concept artist would put their pen/paint/pencil to paper or canvas, and let there imaginations run wild… but not too wild. That “Star Wars look” is important.
The Art of Rogue One is gorgeous. It’s more than just beautiful pictures of the wonderful concept art. The written words beside the pictures are definitely worth reading, a wonderful look behind the scenes. It’s amazing how a design can change the story, or the story can change the design, how many variations a character would be drawn before the final product.

So much time and effort was spent on bringing the best, familiar, fresh design from paper to the screen. Bringing imaginary places and characters to life.

Star Wars: Rogue One Novelization Review

by Matthew Wilson

SPOILER FREE

Rogue One the novelization, it was written by New York Times Best Selling Author, Alexander Freed. This is his second novel in canon, his first book was Battlefront Twilight Company.

Alexander Freed… can do no wrong!

Summary: The Empire successfully constructs the ultimate battle station! The oppression and tyranny of the Empire expands as an underground alliance is built on hope. It’s purpose, to strip power from Emperor Palpatine and reinstate the Republic. As intelligence unveils a secret planet killer, it’s realized that a peaceful transfer of power is unlikely. The transition may very well have to be executed through rebellious force!

Intelligence reports that an imperial pilot has defected! He contains highly classified imperial information regarding the Empire’s new battle station. Jyn Erso, a rebellious young lady, is intercepted by the rebel alliance. She may be the key to extracting more information on the dreaded space station. It is known that her father has played a role in its construction.

We go on a wild chase to put an end to the planet killer, meeting a few new characters and landing on new unfamiliar planets! This tale leads right up to the moments just before A New Hope.

Characters: There are several characters that I could talk about from this book, but Im only choosing two.

Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, the man responsible for constructing the Death Star’s powerful weapon by order of the Empire. Jyn is strong willed, she’s held onto hatred for those who have abandoned her over the course of her life… even though her father was taken against his will. Saw Garrera, a rebel who is known as an extremist amongst the alliance and the Empire, also left her behind. As she is forced into an explosive force of events, she must either free herself of the mental and emotional prison she is trapped in… or close herself off to reality and remain behind her personal prison.

The other character to mention is Bodhi Rook. He was the imperial shuttle pilot who defected from the Empire. It took a lot of courage to pull off what he had to do. In the book we find out a more about his past. He’s pretty rattled by his actions… from imperial pilot to full blown rebel. The man was tortured during his transition but overcame the pain. He’s got a conscience, he’s honorable, a true hero of the rebel alliance.

Overall Review: This novelization… is phenomenal! So I saw the film a few times in theater. This book doesn’t take away anything, it actually adds a few things that are completely necessary. As expected there was added dialogue that wasn’t in the film. It’s not distracting at all but adds to the story. Between some chapters are “Supplemental Data” logs. Documents of various sorts such as messages between imperials or journal entries of the rebel alliance.Alexander Freed perfected the dialogue and development of each character. We get into their minds and discover who they are psychologically and emotionally. He paints amazing visuals with his words.

I loved this book so much! If this wasn’t a novelization but just a standalone novel, I’d probably have to put this as number one on my list. It’s debatable, but as of now, I will not rank the novelizations along with the other novels.

Rating: I give this book a 5 out of 5

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