Star Wars: Master and Apprentice Book Review

Star Wars: Master & Apprentice Book Review

A novel written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Claudia Gray.

Master and Apprentice was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Claudia Gray. Gray has written a few other excellent Star Wars books; Bloodline and two YA novels, Lost Stars and Leia: Princess of Alderaan. The book was published by DelRey. This is the first canon novel to take place before the events of The Phantom Menace

SUMMARY: The Jedi Council extends an invitation to Qui-Gon Jinn to join the council. Before he can find the opportune time to discuss this with his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kenobi hears of the news from someone else. Uncomfortable strife between master and apprentice will have to work together on an unexpectedly dangerous mission. A Jedi Knight named Rael Averross, requests the assistance of Qui-Gon Jinn to the planet Pijal, to help resolve a political dispute. A treaty is to be signed by the Pijali princess and a major mining corporation, Czerka. This treaty will open a new hyperspace corridor, and initiate other fine print controversial laws.

Qui-gon believes the force provided him a horrific vision. He reports the vision to the council and Averross. Well, because of his interest in ancient prophecies, the other Jedi believe his interests are interfering with his sleep and duty.

Will Qui-Gon join the council? Will master and apprentice come to an understanding of each other? Is Qui-Gon losing his mind? If you’d like to know the answer to these wild questions, I suggest you pick this book up and read it!

CHARACTERS: In this book we read about two familiar characters as well as a few new folks. I’ll mention one familiar and one new character.

Qui-Gon Jinn: It’s nice to learn more about Qui-Gon’s history. We get a glimpse of his days training as an apprentice. As we know from The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon is somewhat of a rebellious Jedi. He values archaic, mystical writings over text of the Jedi Order. His favorite interest of study is of the ancient prophecies and language. Diving into the prophecies is frowned upon by most Jedi, as it can potentially lead to the dark side; seeing the future and wanting to possibly manipulate it.

Rael Averross: He’s a Jedi Knight, sent on a long mission to watch over the princess of the planet, Pijal. For eight years he served as the Lord Regent, assisting the princess while development and construction of a new hyperspace corridor was developing. He and Qui-Gon shared the same master in their youth, Dooku. Rael struggles with his past. Like Qui-Gon, he struggles with some aspects of the Jedi Order.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Master and Apprentice explores the relationship not only between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, but Qui-Gon and Dooku. This novel is well balanced with action, politics, and the force. The book starts off strong and exciting, exposing fascinating little cannon nuggets, such as a historical fact about the galaxy. It was a lot of fun to read a novel that takes place before The Phantom Menace, especially about the relationship of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Toward the middle of the book… it got weird. Hope of Master and Apprentice being a great read began to dwindle. There were a few cringe worthy moments, like when it came to a few droid names and the way the prophecies were written. I think it was supposed to be cool, however, it was a little too corny. As I’ve said in other Star Wars reviews and other content I post, explicit sexual content/references do not belong in the Star Wars books. There is no reason for it whatsoever.

After a mid-story decline, the book picked back up for an enjoyable ride. The Jedi Council causes division and conflict between Kenobi and Qui-Gon. It was interesting to see how they managed to overcome differences as well as work together on a mission that every which way but simple.

Gray did well with the development of each character for the most part. Glimpses of the past that we witness of Dooku are a joyful, exciting, and mysterious highlight in the novel. While a lot has been revealed about the past for some characters, a lot is also made more mysterious. While it’s cool to add bits to a character’s past and tease events throughout the book, it’s not cool to finish the book with those bits left unanswered. As a result, I feel a little cheated and unsatisfied with some aspects of the story.

There was one issue I had with the dialogue. While it was wonderful and very Star Warsy, the use of the word damn was record breaking for a Star Wars book. I can understand its use occasionally but damn… it was used way too much! I don’t want to end on a sour note, the book was a lot of fun. I don’t really know what else I can say about it. Like I said already, it was an enjoyable ride after a bit of turbulence in the middle. Claudia Gray is an outstanding author that delivers a good story with every Star Wars book she writes.

Do I recommend you read Star Wars: Master and Apprentice? Yes, it’s got action, politics, and of course, the force.

RATING: I give this book an B+.

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Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances Book Review

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Timothy Zahn.

This is the second novel in canon staring the legendary character, Thrawn! The novel takes place on the timeline after the first Thrawn book, as well as A New Dawn and during events in the Rebels television series.

SUMMARY:

So the Clone Wars era, Padme answers a call on Batuu, a planet on the edge of the unknown regions. She runs into trouble, causing Anakin to search for her. On this quest, Anakin meets Thrawn. It’s great stuff… but I’ll leave it at that.

During the Galactic Civil War era, Emperor Palpatine senses a disturbance in the Force generated from a great distance, the unknown regions. He calls upon Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader to seek out the source.

The duo isn’t too thrilled to have to work together, but they do so. Vader is appalled by Thrawn’s social/leading tactics, he lets his subordinates speak to him freely. Vader does not trust Thrawn, he’s suspicions of his loyalty to the Empire.

On this mission. They indeed discover a looming threat over the galaxy. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert, I’m going to mention the threat in 3… 2… 1… The Grysk! An alien species on the prowl ton concur the galaxy! They are brutal, and they have been watching the Empire, studying their tactics.

CHARACTERS:

Anakin: He’s the complete opposite of Thrawn and he’s a Jedi! He’s arrogant, likes to shoot first, (or slash with a lightsaber) and ask questions later. Who needs a solid plan when you can wing it? He’s demanding and focused on executing his will.

Vader: Bits of his past still linger, though now, he’s a Dark Lord of the Sith. He’s angry, takes nothing from nobody. He takes charge with force (pun not intended). He doesn’t trust Thrawn or his loyalty to the Empire. Vader uses a familiar Force power in an all new way that I found incredible. (Not spoiling it in this review)

Finally, I didn’t expect to mention Padme… but I will. She’s whiney, and expects others to drop what their doing to assist her in accomplishing her goals. She’s also a horrible liar, but what else can you expect from a politician?

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

The alternating timeline doesn’t bother me in this book, Zahn does a great job switching between the timelines and with writing the characters as they would appear to be during the time in which the story is taking place. However, as interesting as the story is during the Clone Wars era with Anakin, Padme, and Thrawn… I couldn’t help but want to skip over it to get to the Galactic civil war era material.

Bringing some things from the prequel era is important, and when I say that, I’m meaning the films. We have Anakin and Padme together, we have R2D2 and his jet boosters. I wonder if those boosters were always in George’s mind for R2?

I really hope that this book is the introduction to a much larger universe that will continue on in other books, shows, and future films. There is a possible hint at the origins of The Skywalker name as well! The Chiss are an amazing species that I’d love to see more of. The threat in the unknown regions seems legit. I don’t know we’d get anything more with that within the Skywalker saga. However, in other novels, we’ve read that the First Order had to overcome a powerful force. I think it would be great to have this threat explored in a film or streaming show!

Do I recommend you read Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances? Well, if you’ve been waiting for the Star Wars galaxy to Expanded in canon… yes!

RATING:

Star Wars: Last Shot Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Last Shot Book Review

Star Wars: Last Shot was written by Daniel Jose Older. This tale takes place a few years after Aftermath: Empire’s End. However, the story transitions back and forth through time to cover certain events in Han and Lando’s life.

SUMMARY: Lando Calrissian is attacked and threatened by a manipulated reprogrammed droid and a mysterious figure! A threat is made on the life of Lando and the imminent massacre coming to Cloud City. Unless, the owner of the Millennium Falcon hands over the location of the Phylanx Transmitter, to Fyzen Gor, which was stolen some 10 years ago.

Lando goes to Chandrilla, angry, because the owner of Falcon 10 years ago, was Han Solo! Lando express his anger and his plea for help in this situation to his old buddy. Han has the yearning to right this wrong, he can’t sit back and leave Lando to a horrible fate.

Lando, Han, and an assembled crew of all new characters go on a wild adventure to find the Phylanx Transmitter. This device is an apocalyptic mechanism with the capability of reprogramming droids across the galaxy, turning them into homicidal machines! Fyzen Gor is the madman behind this destructive power. Fyzen desires to unleash this device, to reconstruct the galaxy to his design.

CHARACTERS: There’s a new bundle of characters in the book, like an Ewok slicer named Peekpa and a Twi’lek named Kaasha. Even Sana Staros from the comic series makes an appearance! But, I’m going to talk about Han, Lando, and Fyzen Gor.

Han Solo: He’s a scoundrel, war hero, husband, father, and finally… head of the Republic Pilot Union. He’s the same old Han, his mind always drifting to open space, missing action. He’s full of regret for signing up to head the union, he can’t stand meetings and doesn’t understand how Leia enjoys political banter of her own position in the New Republic. Han struggles with being a father to Ben, who’s two years old now. He doubts himself at every turn, with fear of screwing up his family by not being there mentally and emotionally. When he gets pulled into the Phylanx mess, he feels at home, though he does indeed miss his wife and child.

Lando Calrissian: He’s also a scoundrel, war hero, not a husband nor a father… but he’s head of his own droid manufacturing company. He likes to wear a cape and tight pants that show off his butt in the back and support his bulge in the front (seriously… what the heck Del Rey?) For the first time, we see Lando speechless and lovesick. Lando really starts to think about his life. If he survives this Phylanx fiasco, he wonders if he’s capable of putting aside his scoundrel lifestyle to settle down. He may be a scoundrel, but his desire to keep bad people for doing harm to good people, is strong. He truly is a hero.

Fyzen Gor: He’s a Pau’an, which is a humanoid being from Utapau. He’s gone mad, wanting to set off a droid apocalypse, meaning he’d use his Phylanx Transmitter device to reprogram droids to go on a killing rampage. Fyzen is demented, he redesigns droids using parts and limbs from organic beings like humans and other alien species. His goal is to reshape the state of the galaxy and come out on top.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The main character or headliner of the book, in my opinion, is Lando Calrissian featuring Han Solo. It’s nice to finally get a meaty story staring Lando! I believe the characters were consistent throughout the book and true to who they were in films. However, I was not thrilled with the new cast of characters. The idea of an Ewok slicer is a little goofy, but it did lend to some humor. I believe the chemistry between Han and Lando was realistic, their on this adventure together and over time they get irritated with each other, so Jose Older did get there.

There are a few things I was confused about. Back in the day when Lando had the Falcon, he also had a droid called L3. While everything about Lando is sleek and stylish, his droid is a mess of unpolished covering and lose exposed wires. This droid is also a bit odd, didn’t like it at all, most of what happens in the book could have been prevented by this droid. I found that very irritating.

As I got to the last quarter of the book, a sudden realization hit me. The plot of the book is very similar to a legends book, The New Rebellion. In that book, the villain also wants to cause chaos throughout the galaxy by reprogramming droids. I have to admit, this revelation took me out of Last Shot once it crossed my mind. Was this plot point hijacked from legends or is it merely coincidental? I’m going to hope it’s a coincidence.

Overall though, it was an okay book. The climax was pretty anticlimactic. When we know for certain what characters are in other films or books, why would we have any concern or worry? Fyzen Gor, was a pretty lame character, he comes off like a villain of the week.

I think this may be the first Canon book that has absolutely no mention of Jedi or Sith, and maybe only one mention of the force. But hey, I could be mistaken though, there might be another book without those things.

Do I recommend that you pick up Star Wars: Last Shot? Sure, it brings a few things from legends into canon. If you’re a big Lando fan… this is the book for you.

RATING: Will I give this book a rating based on the size of Lando’s bulge? No, we didn’t get that much info…. thankfully. I will give the book a C+.

Star Wars: Canto Bight Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Canto Bight

Journey to The Last Jedi

SPOILER FREE

Star Wars: Canto Bight, is a collection of four novellas.. The authors involved are Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller. This book is part of the Journey to The Last Jedi.

SUMMARY: On the planet Cantonica, the city of dreams, the oasis of the galaxy, is the city Canto Bight. Canto Bight is a playground for the rich, the root of sorrow for the unlucky and down-trodden. Don’t let the bright lights and wealthy smiles fool you, because this place has some shady underground mafia like shenanigans going on.

Here’s the list of stories in order from best to worst, in my opinion:

1. Rules of the Game: by Saladin Ahmed – A vacation gone wrong for a poor, trusting little alien.

2. Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing: by Mira Grant – A masseur who gets caught up in some dirty underground mafia-like action.

3. The Ride: by John Jackson Miller – A gambler down on his luck, may have found a little, in the package of three annoying little aliens.

4. Wine In Dreams: by Rae Carson – A wine saleswoman gets caught up in some drama with competition and two very weird sister aliens.

CHARACTERS: Each story has different characters, so there are quite a few. But I will only mention one.

Kedpin: He’s the main character in the first story, Rules of the Game. I like him because he’s relate-able. He won an all expenses paid vacation to Canto Bight for being salesman of the year within the company he works for. He’s a hard worker, mostly innocent, and almost always down on his luck. He doesn’t like bending the rules either. He’s friendly, vulnerable, and a little too trustworthy of strangers.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This book was decent. It’s cool seeing the different things going on to different folks in Canto Bight. It’s very much like Las Vegas.

Do I recommend that you read Star Wars: Canto Bight? Sure, it’s got some fun stories all based in the Canto Bight city.

RATING: I will give this book a 3.5 out of 5.

Star Wars: Phasma Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Phasma

– A Star Wars Book Review –

SPOILER FREE

Star Wars: Phasma was written by Delilah S. Dawson. She wrote a short story for Star Wars in 2015, The Perfect Weapon. Phasma appears on the novel timeline after Bloodline.

A BRIEF SUMMARY

SUMMARY: Vi Moradi, a resistance spy, sent by General Leia to verify the First Orders presence at a specific location. When Vi drops out of hyperspace, she is immediately captured, caught in a tractor beam from First Order ship, Absolution.

A red clad stormtrooper meets Vi when she’s brought aboard his First Order destroyer. He quickly takes her to an isolated interrogation room before anyone else really notices. The trooper straps her into a torture chair and sends electrical shocks through her body. He gets straight to the point, making it clear he will do what it takes to get what he wants; information on Phasma.

Vi knows this trooper as Cardinal. What she doesn’t know, is that Cardinal knows that she’s a resistance spy, her name is Vi Moradi, and that she has family. Cardinal is aware that Vi recently visited Parnassos, Phasma’s home world. He wants everything she’s learned about Phasma. He believes Phasma is a threat to the First Order and she has already committed treason. He just needs to prove it.

The story Vi tells is of Phasma’s life and how she was able to get off her desolate world of Parnassos. It was a tough time, leading up to her joining the First Order.

ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

As always, I’m going to mention a few characters. With this novel, I’ll go ahead and talk about three.

Phasma: She’s a mighty warrior of the Scyre people of Parnassos, where the young rule over the elders. Parnassos is a barren world, its’s hard to survive. While she’s the fighter, her brother is the leader of the Scyre. She’s hard edged, she’s serious, and to her enemies, menacing. She doesn’t speak often, when she does it’s too the point. The other Scyre warriors look to her for guidance, and trust her with their lives. However, Phasma is a very selfish person. She’s all about herself and keeps others at a distance. Her entire life, she still remains a bit of a mystery.3

Siv: A Scyre warrior. She’s also tough, yet emotional. It is her duty to pass on the ritual of the detraxors. The detraxors are used to extract the essence of life (the fluid) from the fallen Scyre bodies. They put the salve on their skin to protect from the elements, “your today will help our tomorrow.” It’s a mystical type tradition and it’s up to Siv to continue this tradition by teaching it to others.

Cardinal: He’s taken under the wing of Brendol Hux, on Jakku. He was raised up as a First Order stormtroomer. He excelled in all his duties, granting him promotion after promotion. Cardinal was the first to done a unique trooper outfit!, and it’s RED! He became the right hand man of Hux, personal guard. Cardinal trains the youth to become stormtroopers, while Phasma fine tunes them and makes them great warriors. He’s supposedly a tough guy, but he’s a softy. He’s angry that Phasma seems to get all the glory that should be his.

NOW FOR MY OVERALL THOUGHTS

Phasma is certainly entertaining, mostly. I’ve gotta say, I’m not a huge fan of the way this story was told. There were many times this novel stepped over the line from Star Wars and reality. We’ve got that classic line you’ve heard many times, “it tastes like chicken.” So now we have chicken in Star Wars. There’s also that ridiculous sand quote from Anakin, from the mouth of Phasma! I literally put the book down and walked away from it a few times with irritation. The Scyre warriors pull a Poe Dameron from The Force Awakens… they meet stormtroopers, and as you know they have ID numbers, not names. Well, PT-number number number… we’re not gonna call you that, we’ll call you Petey… Petey! LE-2003, you’re Elly. That… is stupid! The mention of R&R time with umbrellas in drinks also irritated me… a lot.

The Detraxors thing, it’s interesting, but it’s extremely gross. Not complaining about that, thought it was a cool idea for the culture.

Do I recommend you read Star Wars: Phasma? Sure, parts are cool… but be prepared to get irritated by many earthly things.

AS FOR THE RATING

I will give this book a rating of 2 out of 5.

Check out another review… Thrawn, right here.

Star Wars: Aftermath Empire’s End Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Aftermath Empire’s End

Star Wars: Aftermath Empire’s End was written by Chuck Wendig, a New York Times Best Selling Author. It is the third and final installment in the Aftermath trilogy.

SUMMARY: All the characters from the previous Aftermath novels are present in this tale. Our team of heroes are on the search for Grand Admiral Sloane. They desperately want to find her, and bring her in, so justice can be served.. if they don’t decide to kill her first.

The antagonist, Sloane, is on a mission of her one to find out more about the mysterious Gallius Rax. She want’s to find out what his plans are for the Empire. She’s desperately wants to seize control for herself.

Finally, the Battle of Jakku takes place! This confrontation is the last desperate attempt for the Empire to recover, to heal its wounds before the rebellion/new republic takes them completely out.

CHARACTERS: Gallius Rax was interesting, in the previous book. In Empire’s End he remains mysterious, until the end. His character and his plans were a major let down.

The other characters were consistent and honest to who they were in the previous Aftermath books. They were just so boring, dramatic, or gay.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Thank you Lord, this trilogy is over. I was really hoping this book was better than the previous books. Life Debt was better than the first book, this one sinks right back down to the crap of the first book.

The best part of the book was that it was fast paced. The rest of it, an intense build up to a major… major let down.

RATING: I will give this book a 0 of 5

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