Star Wars: Medstar I: Battle Surgeons

Star Wars: Battle Surgeons, part one of the Medstar Duology was written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the Clone Wars in the Rise of the Empire era, 21 BBY (21 years before the battle of Yavin)

SUMMARY & THOUGHTS

Jedi Padawan Barris Offee was sent to the planet Drongar to assist the Clone medic team and use her force ability as a healer. Her other task is to to keep an eye on Bota harvesting. Bota is a plant with several medicinal benefits and is in high demand across the galaxy… It’s value is high.

Admiral Bleyd is not happy to be on Drongar, in charge of the Medstar medical frigate. He’s upset, so naturally, he comes up with a get rich scheme and aligns himself with Black Sun.

This story focuses on a few characters going about their daily tasks. Life is hard during war. We tend to think only of the warriors during the Clone Wars, this novel sheds light on the other heroes… the surgeons.

I’d say the authors did a fine job of expressing the chaos of war, especially within the medical units. Although the clones are disposable, the medics do what they can to prolong and heal the injured.

This book starts off pretty gross with some surgical gore. The clones have a tough, dangerous job fighting on the front lines of a galactic war. Spare body parts/organs are grown from cells, so when a clone is in need of say, a spare lung, the surgical team may have one in a cooling tank.

The cast of characters is great, I enjoyed the bits with the villain of the story, Bleyd (silly name). He gets cocky, which leads to stupid decisions. I also enjoyed Barris Offee’s role in the story. Some in the galaxy really have a distaste for the Jedi and the force.

The little link to some other EU tales with the arrive of I-5, Lorn Pavan’s droid, Lorn was from the EU book I really enjoyed, Maul Shadow Hunter, which was also written by Michael Reeves. There were few sexual things that are unnecessary, I’m guessing that’s Steve Perry’s doing. A lady is trying to seduce Jos, but he want’s to reserve himself.

While I thought the story was decent, it is much slower than I’d prefer. I’m not the biggest fan of the Clone Wars era (which I’ve said multiple times on the channel). Sometimes slower stories that focus on characters is much more enjoyable than constant – flashy action.

RATING

I will give Star Wars: Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, a B.

Star Wars: I, Jedi Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: I, Jedi was written by bestselling author, Michael A. Stackpole. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the New Republic Era, 11 ABY (11 years after the Battle of Yavin).

SUMMARY

The dangerous Invid Pirates causing havoc throughout the space ways and manage to evade New Republic forces! Rogue Squadron hero Corran Horn learns that his wife, Mirax, is taken by the network of bandits. He’s denied intel by General Cracken; if Corran Horn goes off on his own to be a hero, it could put many other lives in danger.

After speaking with Luke Skywalker, Corran Horn decides to chase after his Jedi roots and become Keiran Halcyon. He trains at the Jedi Praxium on Yavin, the Jedi Academy. He unlocks force powers within and learns to tame them. Once he saves Luke Skywalker from the evil on Yavin, he has a minor personality crisis. He sheds the Halcyon alians and is reborn once again as Corran Horn, with force powers.

Now, with his new found powers and previous CorSec (Corellian Security Force) experience, he infiltrates the pirates in an attempt to rescue his wife, Mirax.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Before I dive too deep here, I’ve got to say something that I really did enjoy about this book, was the ties to the Jedi Academy trilogy and the time spent at the Jedi Praxium on Yavin. While some of the events are elaborated and expounded upon to push Corran Horn up the “hot shot” ranks, sine if it was decent. I enjoyed getting more knowledge of Kip Durron when he began his fall to the dark side. What I didn’t like, was that Horn was able to best Luke Skywalker in a lightsaber sparring match. The excuse used was that Luke had too much on his mind, with Exar Kun lingering about.

I can’t help it, I’ve gotta say it. I hate the first person writing style for Star Wars. I believe this style is fine in other genres, but it doesn’t belong in Star Wars. To me it feeds into the ego that is Corran Horn and Michael A. Stackpole.

I can’t help but feel that there is a special bias toward this character by the author. Like this guy can do no wrong, he has to be better than everyone, he has to know how to do – everything. Even if he messes up, it only exposes something new that no one else has discovered yet. This character has a few self reflection moments, and I can’t stand that it seems to happen after he gains all the knowledge he needs first, in order to be better than someone else. For example – Corran takes on the alias Halcyon, a family name from his “Jedi lineage.” He gets all the training he needs before he has a personality crisis – he’s Corran Horn, not a Halcyon. I don’t know why it’s so annoying to me.

I think this book has too many coincidences and some characters are given too much knowledge about things they shouldn’t. Somehow Corran knows the way a duel went down invloving his grandfather, like the fighting style that was used.

Do I recommend you read this book? No, it’s a story about a character who seems to be better than everyone else. It gets old.

RATING

I give Star Wars: I, Jedi a C-.

Star Wars: Master and Apprentice Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

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+.

Purchase this title: https://amzn.to/2Dhp1RU

Let’s be friends:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGeeksAttic
* Facebook: www.facebook.com/geeksattic
* Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegeeksattic/
* Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/thegeeksattic
* Google+: google.com/+gozer85
* Anchor: https://anchor.fm/thegeeksattic
* Tumblr: http://TheGeeksAttic.tumblr.com

*PRODUCT – AFFILIATE – LINKS*
By clicking these links and buying the products you are helping to support my channel. There are no additional costs to you. I use these products and stand behind them. I appreciate the support!