World of Warcraft: Before the Storm Book Review

World of Warcraft: Before the Storm Book Review

Written by New York Times Best-Selling Author, Christie Golden.

World of Warcraft: Before the Storm was written by New York Times Best-Selling Author, Christie Golden.

SUMMARY: The Burning Legion has been defeated. Both the Horde and Alliance seek solitude to mourn, heal, and prepare for the future. The defeated leader of the Burning Legion, Sargeras, struck Azeroth with a mighty sword for his final blow in his lost war.

A substance with great power is discovered in Silithus, the location in which the giant sword pierced the world. Goblins are mining this newly discovered material. The Alliance discovers the happenings in Silithus and concludes that the majestic material not fall into the wrong hands, especially the horde.

In this brief time, absent of war, The King of Stormwind, invites the Warchief of the Horde and her forsaken people, to an event that all say will be impossible. While the King of Stormwind extends his hand in a peaceful gesture, Sylvanas Windrunner, warchief of the Horde, boils with hatred.

CHARACTERS: There are quite a few characters in the book, and they’re all fleshed out very well. I’ll be talking about two, Anduin Wrynn and Sylvanas Windrunner.

Anduin Wrynn: He’s the king of Stormwind. What he desires most, is peace in Azeroth. He is proud of his people, yet humble in his actions. He’s young, but bears the weight of leadership well. He trusts his loyal advisors, though he does not always act on their advice.

Sylvanas Windrunner: She is the Warchief of the Horde, the Banshee Queen, and Dark Lady of the Forsaken. She’s fueled by hate. However, she does care for her forsaken people. She is occupied with Horde business on Kalimdor, while her people dwell in the Undercity on the Eastern Kingdoms. She is very war hungry.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Christie Golden delivers an enthralling, emotional story driven by hope and rage. This book is wonderful.

This story introduces so much for such a short book. By the end we have a lot of loose ends that don’t get wrapped up in the novel. I think another hundred pages… even two-hundred more would have been welcome. Christie Golden knows how to write characters extremely well. Each character stands out individually with rich backstory that could easily grant them their own story.

Scene setting is always important to me, I like to get a real since of the atmosphere our characters are experiencing. Golden does this wonderfully. The flow of the story was smooth, at no time was a bored or thought things dragged on. I wasn’t counting down the pages wondering when I’d finish a chapter.

Call me a gnomist and goblinist if you want, but I’ve never really liked those races in Warcraft… but in this book I really got a kick out them. They brought in some welcome humor and played an important role on things to come in Azeroth.

There are times in this novel I had to hold back tears. I didn’t expect the book to be an emotional rollercoaster at times! It’s political (in the Warcraft since) and a little adventurous.

Do I recommend you pick up World of Warcraft: Before the Storm? Yes, but I also highly recommend you at least read Rise of the Horde as well, if not before reading Before the Storm.

RATING: I will give this book an A.

Star Wars: Most Wanted Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Most Wanted

A Young Adult Novel by Rae Carson

Star Wars: Most Wanted was written by New York Times Best-selling Author, Rae Carson. This tale takes place before the events that take place in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

SUMMARY: Corellia, A planet known for its outstanding ship manufacturing, is now held in the tight grip of the Galactic Empire. The Empire uses the massive shipbuilding plants to manufacture their star-fleet.

On the the streets, even in the sewers below, life is rough. The white-worm gang, run by Lady Proxima, recruits orphans to run criminal errands in exchange for shelter and a meal.

An auction is to take place in the underbelly of Corellia. Lady Proxima sends two of her best and mature white-worm members, Han and Qi’ra, to do her bidding in the deal. However, the auction goes sideways, forcing a trio of characters to work together. Though not only just to survive, but by coming up with a solution to fix the unexpected turn of events.

CHARACTERS: as you can see on the cover, our main characters are Han and Qi’ra, so I’ll mention them and a new Character. Each of these characters are scrumrats, working for Lady Proxima in the white-worm gang.

Qi’ra: She’s one of the oldest in the white-worm gang. She puts her trust in no one but herself. Others, especially Han, view her as a stuck up, know it all. She wants out of the sewer life, going as far as having a secret safe-house out in a ship boneyard. Rae Carson did an excellent job writing Qi’ra, giving her a complete arch for this tale.

Han: He’s a survivor, loves driving, had a strong desire to pilot a ship. He’s daring and risky. He’s also one of the oldest in the white-worm gang. He’s kind, somewhat oblivious to things. His character is consistent with how he’s portrayed in the Solo: A Star Wars Story film.

Tsuulo: He’s a Rodian, somewhat of a whiz as he’s pretty good with technology. He has a strong belief in the force, trusting in it to guide him.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Although it doesn’t dive too deep into the backstory of Han’s youth, we get a better understanding of the relationship between Han and Qi’ra. Rae Carson did an excellent job writing Qi’ra and Han. Qi’ra has a drastic and complete character arc before we meet her in the Solo film.

I only have two complaints with the book, one is the name of the rodian, Tsuulo… it’s a little to close in sounding like Solo. The other thing I don’t like, is the cover of the book! The art is just fine, but this little image of the Falcon that looks like a sticker… is not a sticker, I can’t remove it! It’s printed on the cover! It says, “Read this book! Then see Solo A Star Wars Story, now in theaters!”

We have a fun tale here, the event was on a much smaller scale. I think we need more stories like this, that don’t always tie into some major galactic scale event. (Looking at you Last Shot.). The book is a quick read and like the film, I had fun with it.

Do I recommend that you pick up and read Star Wars: Most Wanted? Yes! It was a face paced read that gives a rich backstory of Han and Qi’ra.

RATING: I will give this book an A-. A solid companion for the Solo film.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Fatal Alliance Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Fatal Alliance Book Review

Fatal Alliance was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Sean Williams.This novel is the sixth event on the Legends timeline. This tale takes place during the Old Republic Era. The book also counts as the third installment in The Old Republic series. It takes place 3,643 years before A New Hope.

SUMMARY

A smuggler is doing work for a Hutt, when he and his crew come across a mysterious ship. When they attempt to capture it, it self-destructs. However, they collect two interesting pieces from the debris; the Navicomp and a strange metallic cylinder.

The Hutts invite many factions across the galaxy to Nal Hutta to inspect and have an opportunity to place a bid on the rare, mysteries items. There’s a Mandalorian warrior who shows up and causes all kinds of trouble, activating the strange metallic cylinder, revealing a dangerous new threat.

The factions involved include; the Republic, the Empire, the Jedi, and the Sith. After the violent actions of the Mandalorian, they begin to hunt the warrior down and seek out the location of the metallic cylinder’s origin.

CHARACTERS

There are a ton of characters to choose from, too many, but I’m only going to mention two.

Jet Nebula: He’s a pilot and smuggler for hire. He really doesn’t seem to care about much. His primary objective is just, staying alive. He’s laid back and observant. He’s no hero, but he’s no villain. Was this character super important? No.

Eldon Ax: She’s a Sith apprentice under Darth Chratis. For a Sith, she really doesn’t have a desire for power, she doesn’t seem to care about the glory of the Empire. Maybe she has the personality of the average Sith? However, she was punked by a Mandalore and wants revenge.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

So, wow. There are a ton of characters in this book. I don’t really like that, especially for just one novel, unless they appear in the next book in the timeline, which I highly doubt they will. This isn’t an epic tale like Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, was curious if the author was trying to have a memorable cast like those tales. The conflict within and around the characters didn’t come across organic. They were boring, and in a week or two, I’ll probably forget everyone’s name in this book.

I actually got lost in most of the action scenes. At many points I was a bored with the story and the characters. The novel tries to tell a tale of a grand, galactic doomsday scenario. It falls flat at the end. I was waiting for some amazing climax to redeem the story… but the book just ends.

Do I recommend you pick up Star Wars: The Old Republic – Fatal Alliance? Absolutely not. I don’t understand why this story was told, it’s completely different than the previous books in The Old Republic series.

RATING

I give this book an F. It didn’t hold my attention and sometimes I just got a little confused.

Star Wars: Red Harvest Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Red Harvest Book Review

Star Wars: Red Harvest, was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Joe Schreiber. This novel is the fifth event on the Legends novel timeline. This tale takes place during the Old Republic Era. It takes place 3,645 years before A New Hope.

SUMMARY

A Dark Lord of the Sith intends to live forever. He’s on a personal quest to make it happen, by experimenting on unwilling Sith students, at his very own Sith Academy. This Sith needs a special ingredient for his sinister concoction, a Murakami orchid, s a force sensitive flower.

The Sith, Darth Scabrous, has hired bounty hunters to search for the precious flower. When the prize is brought to him, it comes with baggage… a Jedi that’s bound to it. Without the Jedi, the flower would die.

Chaos ensues. Darth Scabrous manages to bring the dead back to life. In the process, an infectious disease is born and spreads quickly throughout the academy. In the horror, the bounty hunter and the Jedi, fight for survival as they desperately search for a way off the planet, Odacer-Faustian.

CHARACTERS

There are a few interesting characters but the only two I’ll mention are Darth Scabrous and Hestizo Trace.

First up is Darth Scabrous: He’s in charge of the Sith Academy on Odacer-Faustin. He dwells in his high tower, shrouded in mystery. Scabrous is disturbing, he lusts after an immortal life. His madness drives him to commit heinous acts and experiments on his own Sith students.

Hestizo Trace: She’s a Jedi in the Agricultural Corps. She has a life/force bond to the rare Murakami black orchid. She is pretty confused but has valid reasons for that. She isn’t the greatest Jedi when it comes to battle. Her primary focus is on her flora understanding. She is focused and has a strong telepathic power.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I honestly don’t really know how I feel about this book. It was entertaining but geez, it gets into some weird places. Yes, Star Wars is a fantasy, a sci-fi fantasy. Red Harvest feels less sci-fi and more like a horror fantasy with a few elements of Star Wars. Druid-like Jedi and zombies… talking trees and force flowers.

Joe Schreiber is an excellent writer when it comes to character development and descriptions. The way he describes events are unique and so very gory. It’s so good how he does it. I’d say the way he writes gore, is nastier to read than it would be to see.

I liked most of the Characters, though the bounty hunter, Tulkh seemed to have changed his personality throughout the story. The others were consistent. I like how the main Jedi character has some deep thoughts and internal soul searching going on.

So, do I recommend you read Star Wars: Red Harvest? Sure. It’s not spectacular, but it isn’t horrible. Pick this up around Halloween.

RATING

I will give this book a C. It was fun, weird, and creepy, but only “great” half the time.

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: The Old Republic Decieved Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived, was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Paul S. Kemp. This novel is the fourth event on the Legends novel timeline. This tale takes place during the Old Republic Era, it also counts as book two in The Old Republic series. It takes place 3,653 years before A New Hope.

SUMMARY

A war has been raging between the Sith Empire and the Republic. In this tale, the two factions sit on opposite sides of a table to negotiate a peace deal. While the peace negotiations are taking place; Sith Lord Darth Malgus, his companion Eleena, and a Mandalorian, spring a surprise attack on the Jedi Temple on the Republic world of Coruscant.

A Jedi knight feels the disturbance in the force and will do anything it takes to get back to Coruscant to avenge the attack on her fellow Jedi.

CHARACTERS

There are many great characters I’d like to mention, but I’m only going to talk about two, Darth Malgus and Aryn Leneer. An honorable mention goes to Zeerid Korr.

Darth Malgus: He’s s an absolute beast. He’s one angry Sith. This guy is so full of hate! His desire for conflict is his driving force, the thought of peace drives him deeper into madness. Looking at the cover of the book, he looks like pure evil, intimidating to all in his path. Malgus has one weakness and with a slip up in battle, exposes it to his foes.

Aryn Leneer: She’s a Jedi with empathic force abilities. She is powerful in the force, feeling what others cannot. While the galaxy she knows begins to crumble, her will does not allow her to sit idly by and wait for a solution as her peers do. She comes to a fork in the Jedi road, one that leads to light… the other to darkness.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Paul S. Kemp is such a good high intensity writer. I really enjoyed reading this novel. I think it’s important I mention that there is a whole other storyline that takes place in the book that I didn’t mention in the summary, not because it’s bad, but because I don’t want to give you all the information.

For me, it’s rare to sit at the edge of my seat while reading a book. The first few chapters were so intense. I couldn’t peel my eyes from the words. The character development was excellent. The chemistry between all characters was fluid. I really hope to come across these characters again somewhere in The Old Republic timeline… but I doubt it. Darth Malgus is so disturbingly awesome. I can’t think of anything negative to say about this book. I loved every page of it.

Do I recommend that you read Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived? Absolutely. Buy it now. Read it now.

RATING

I give this book an A+. It was fast paced, surprising, and just so cool. I have nothing negative to say about the book.