Book Review: Star Wars: Tears of the Nameless

 

Tears of the Nameless, published in 2024, is a young-adult novel by George Mann. It is set in the third phase of The High Republic after the destruction of the Starlight Beacon and the Nihil setting up the Stormwall. There are a few different intertwined plotlines that intersect at different times throughout the novel, each of them involving the Jedi trying to figure out a way to fight The Nameless creatures/Levelers and The Blight. Reath Silas is working with a Padawan named Amadeo Azzazzo to determine if there is a connection between The Nameless and The Blight, which have similarities in how they affect what they touch. Each seems to be controlled by the Nihil. Another storyline involves one of the Nihil Jedi hunters who is using three of The Nameless to hunt down Jedi. 

The hardcover version of the book is 500 pages long and could have easily been included as one of the adult canon novels. It does a lot to advance the High Republic storyline, including revealing the origin of the Nameless and a civilization of force users who eventually figured out how to control them. It does not close what to me seems like a giant plot hole in that the Nameless were used against the Jedi by the Path of the Open Hand in the early High Republic era when at least Yoda and Yaddle were around, and the Jedi still knew relatively little about them (and were totally blindsided by their use) in the later High Republic era 150 years later. Hopefully, later novels will shed some light on why that is the case, but this one does not. Even so, this tells a decent story and advances the overall plot. So, if you like the High Republic storyline, this is worth the time to read.

Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless

 

Beware the Nameless is one of the Star Wars junior novels set during Phase 3 of the High Republic era. It was written by Zoraida Cordova and published in 2024. It is set after the events of the junior novel Escape from Valo. In it, a group of Jedi set out to capture one of the force-eating creatures that the Jedi refer to as The Nameless and that the Nihil call Levelers, that the Nihil has used to kill multiple Jedi. A group of younglings (who stow away aboard one of the ships embarking on the mission) end up teaming with a young Hutt named Churo, who has been sent by his sister to recover a Leveler egg to bring back to his clan. 

The hardcover version of the book is moderately long, just under 325 pages. Unlike some junior novels, which tell ancillary one-off stories, this one advances the overall plot of the High-Republic era quite a bit. In this book, we learn more about the Levelers, including how they can affect non-force users. The characters in the book are mostly new, although Ram Jomaram (who has been in a few of the junior novels) does appear, and Yoda appears at the very end of the book. Because it is a junior novel, it reads very quickly. It includes a handful of comic illustrations, giving us an actual look at the Levelers, which have been described in very vague terms in the prior novels (and we learn why that is in this book). Even though it is written for a younger audience and some of the dialogue can be a bit silly, it is good enough for adults to enjoy. If you are a fan of the High Republic stories but do not get all the books, this one is worth reading. 

Book Review: Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (2019)

 

If you have any of the other Star Wars encyclopedias, this one is par for the course in terms of what you get. Each character receives a 1-page description, which includes a combination of biographical information and pictures. Not every character in the canon material is included, just characters that have appeared in the movies (updated through the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story). It does not contain any characters from the animated series or the canon novels (like Thrawan, Ezra Bridger, Ashoka, etc.) or any of the new characters that will be in The Rise of Skywalker. Nor does it include much detail about any character, even the "main" characters from any of the trilogies. It is nowhere near as comprehensive as the Han Solo devoted book published earlier this year. Unlike that one, I would not call it a "must get" book, but for those who collect some, or all, of the new books that get put out, it makes a nice addition to any collection as long as you know what to expect.

Book Review: Star Wars: Master & Apprentice

 

Master and Apprentice is an adult canon novel by Claudia Gray, published in 2019. It is a very good story set before Episode I, telling of a mission involving Qui-Gon and a seventeen-year-old Obi-Wan. The Chancellor, who held the position before Vallorum, sends the two to act as the Republic's representatives in negotiations to open a hyperspace lane. The book is a bit of action and mystery, with some political maneuvering mixed in.

The main themes of the book are definitely Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's rocky relationship which was hinted at a bit in The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon's considering an invitation to join the Jedi Council, and at the very end of the book, a further indication that "The rule of two" was more a suggestion than a hard and fast rule.

Overall, the book presents a good ancillary story to the "Skywalker Saga", is a fairly easy read (it is just over 300 pages, but the chapters are kept relatively short), and it provides more character development that the movies could not give. Chances are most people considering getting this collect all the novels and will get this regardless of reviews. If however, you are one that gets some, but not all, of the novels, this one is definitely worth the time to read.

Book Review: Ultimate Star Wars: The Definitive Guide to the Star Wars Universe

 

This is the most complete, up-to-date (at least for now) Star Wars encyclopedia out there. It is comprehensively updated with character, technology, and vehicle profiles for every character, weapon, or other piece of technology and vehicle that has appeared in a movie or one of the animated series like Clone Wars, Rebels, or Resistance. There are small hints that will tie into The Rise of Skywalker, but nothing that would be a major spoiler.

Every character gets at least a paragraph of text in the character section. The main and/or major characters get at least a page if not two, and the most important characters also have a timeline that outlines their lives up to the point we last see that character, whether because they died or their story will continue on. Some character bios are fleshed out with material from the novels (e.g., Quinlan Voss), so this touches on all aspects of the canon material (including the Battlefront II video game).

There is also some behind-the-scenes material that shows concept art, storyboards from the movies, and behind-the-scenes set photographs. Those appear at the end of each section of the book and have a couple pages of material.

Whether this falls into the " must-have " category is really subjective. It is a great "coffee table" reference book that most people will not sit down and read cover-to-cover. It will also very likely be updated as more movies and TV series are released. Even though the Skywalker Saga is ending with the next film, there will still be a ton of new material both on the Disney Plus platform and movies outside the Skywalker storyline released over the next decade. So this will be out of date at some point (as are any encyclopedias that have come before this one). Also, if you are just a casual Star Wars fan, you may find this overkill. But this is an excellent pickup for anyone who is a die-hard fan and has watched all the movies and TV series, read all the novels, etc.

Book Review: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: A Crash of Fate

 

A Crash of Fate is a young-adult Star Wars canon novel published in 2019 and written by Zoraida Cordova. It is not part of the main storyline (not part of the Skywalker saga). Thus, it tells a story about characters who live tangentially in the Star Wars universe but are not the main characters or part of the main storylines of the movies, TV shows, or novels involving those characters. It is set on the planet of Batuu, which has been referenced in the Clone Wars and Rebels series, as well as multiple books. The main characters are two childhood friends, Izzy and Jules, who have a crush on each other as kids when Izzy's parents take her away without warning. Thirteen years later, between the events of The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, she returns to Batuu as a smuggler to be unwittingly reunited with Jules who remained on Batuu as a farmer.

The story is, in part, a love story and in part an adventure involving The Black Spire, smugglers, and the First Order and Resistance acting in the background. It is basically a one-off story that does not really tie into the larger "Skywalker Saga" (i.e., the events of the movies). Even though it is a young-adult novel, it is enjoyable enough for adults too. The love story part of the book is not too sappy (for the most part), and it has some twists to it. The book is just over 300 pages, but it reads fairly quickly with a reasonable amount of characters to keep track of, and the chapters are fairly short (about 20 pages or less per chapter, with some only a couple of pages). So, depending on how fast you read, and how much time you have to do so, you can get through it fairly fast. While it is not a must-read novel, it is enjoyable and worth checking out for those who get some, but not all, of the novels.

Book Review: Star Wars: Queen's Shadow

 

Queen's Shadow is one of the "ancillary" canon novels in the Star Wars universe. It was written by one of the regular Star Wars authors, E.K. Johnston, and published in 2019. As many of the young adult novels are, it is adjacent to the main storyline (which is printed in the front of the Del-ray series of novels) but is still considered part of the official canon, as everything put out under the Disney flagship is.

The bulk of the story is set between Episodes I and II as Padme transitioned from Queen of Naboo to a senator. It has much of the political tone of the Phantom Menace, which may turn off some people, but it also incorporates the relationship between Padme and the handmaidens and how they switch out for one another depending on the situation they find themselves in, and the great lengths and planning they go to in order to pull the switches off. Palpatine makes a couple of appearances both in his role as Chancellor and as Darth Sidious, as does Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, setting up their alliance which, of course, eventually spawns the Rebel Alliance.

For me, the best part of the novel is actually the epilogue, set just after the events of Episode III, with the "main" handmaiden, Sabe, vowing to find out what really happened to Padme. This definitely sets up material for another novel set during the early days of the Empire.

Overall, the novel is a pretty easy read, especially if you are a fast reader. While it is a young adult novel, it is one that people of all ages can enjoy. It does a good job adding to, and filling in, the period between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones which has been lacking in material since the novels written before the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm were relegated to Legends status. I definitely recommend it.

Book Review: Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spark of the Resistance

 

Spark of the Resistance is a 2019 Star Wars story by Justina Ireland. It is a short, one-off, young-adult story set between the events of The Last Jedi (a few months after the battle of Crait) and The Rise of Skywalker. While out on a supply run, Rey, Poe, and Rose receive a distress call from a planet called Minfar. They discover The First Order is enslaving the locals and helping to fight them off.

This is a novel that is ancillary to the "main" storyline novels but is still considered canon, like everything that gets put out under the Star Wars banner post-Disney's buyout of Lucasfilm. It is a short book, just over a couple hundred pages, and an easy read. The story is pretty basic, which is not all that surprising given that it is a children's novel, but it is enjoyable enough for adults. It does not really have any obvious tie-ins to The Rise of Skywalker but does give readers a bit of an idea of what the characters were up to between the movies.

Chances are, if you collect the books, you are going to get this. If you get just some of the novels and not others, I would not say it is a must-read, but it is enjoyable.

Book Review: Star Wars: Myths and Fables

 

Star Wars: Myths and Fables is a collection of short stories written by George Mann and published in 2020. It is not one of the "main storyline" novels. Instead, it is a collection of short stories, much like the Luke Skywalker book that was put out prior to The Last Jedi. As the title suggests they are stories held to be myths and fables, which may or may not be true (in the context of the made-up story of course), in whole or in part. The first story is clearly about Obi-Wan during his days on Tatooine post-Revenge of The Sith. The second is about General Grievous, and there is also one about Darth Vader. The rest of the stories really do not have any connection to the big, well-established characters.

The book is a fairly quick read at 170 pages. The book has a large font size, and there are illustrations throughout so it is not all text. So if you are a fast reader you can easily get through it in a couple of hours (at most). It is in the category of a young adult novel, but the stories are good enough and written well enough that an adult can easily enjoy the book. It is not what I would call a must-read, but worth picking up if you have collected the other books.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Venom

 

Venom is a 2018 Sci-Fi action movie starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Jenny Slate. It is an MCU-adjacent movie that exists in the world of Spiderman, but the decision was to use it as a stand-alone movie without using the black suit version of Spiderman to introduce Venom (as was done in Spiderman 3). Therefore, in this version, multiple symbionts were brought to Earth from a space mission that killed all but one of the astronauts. They were discovered by the head of the company that funded the mission called Life Sciences (played by Ahmed), who then began experimenting with bonding the symbionts with homeless and drug-addicted humans. Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a former reporter who was fired and now doing freelance work. Of course, one of the symbionts joins with him to form Venom.

The movie is a great blend of action and very dark humor. Because they did not use Spiderman, Venom is introduced as the anti-hero version of the character, doing bad things (mainly eating) bad guys. Michelle Williams plays the ex-wife of Eddie Brock. She does a really great job playing off Tom Hardy and brings a lot of comedy to the movie, which is outside her usual acting roles. The best part of the movie is the discussions/arguments/bickering that goes on between Brock and Venom, mostly in Brock's mind which makes it look to everyone else like he is talking to himself. It also requires Hardy to do a lot of physical comedy, which he turns out to be great at.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. On the UHD disc, there is only the movie and a preview of the movie Into the Spiderverse. All the other extras are on the regular Blu-ray. Those include several deleted scenes, including an extended version of the end credits scene which teases where the next movie will go, assuming it gets made, then about an hour's worth of making of and behind-the-scenes material mixed with some featurettes on the history of the Venom character. So there are a lot of good extras.

I cannot say everyone will like the movie, and it definitely pushes the PG-13 rating to the limit, mostly because of the language. There is a lot of swearing and some sexually suggestive jokes. It is closer to Deadpool than it is to, say, Avengers. But it puts a different twist on the MCU movies and sets up a good possible franchise to exist in that universe. It is worth checking out.

Book Review: Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Force Collector

 

The Force Collector is a young adult novel that is ancillary to the "main" canon storyline, set sometime before The Force Awakens. It was published in 2019 and written by Kevin Shinick. It is a bit different in that sense from the other "Journey to the [insert movie title]" in that most of the others have been set between the last movie and the next one, so this would be better under the "Journey to The Force Awakens" than The Rise of Skywalker. The novel is centered around a force-sensitive teenager named Karr who can see history by touching items and runs away from home with his friend, the daughter of a First-Order officer, and his droid to find items linked to the Jedi, in hopes of finding a living Jedi to train him. It is, of course, set at a time when Luke Skywalker is in exile, and for some strange reason, the only memory of the Jedi seems to be of those who were around before the Clone Wars and much of what people do remember of the Jedi is through the lens of disinformation that the Empire used to tarnish their Jedi's collective reputation.

Even though the book is one of the young-adult novels, it is long enough (about 370 pages) and good enough that adults can find it enjoyable, too. Through his travels, the main character visits different locations from the prequels, the original trilogy, and the sequel trilogy. It contains events from the movies, sometimes shown from a different perspective from what was shown in the particular movie scene. The story flows well, and if you are a fast reader, it is pretty easy to get through in a few days or less. Chances are, if you collect all the hardcover novels as they come out, you will get this anyway. If you are one who only gets some, but not all, of the young-adult novels, I definitely think this one is worth the purchase.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Aliens

 

Aliens is a 1986 Sci-Fi action/adventure/horror film written and directed by James Cameron as a sequel to the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien. It stars Sigourney Weaver (reprising her role as Ripley from Alien), Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Paul Reiser, Al Matthews, Mark Rolston, and William Hope. The movie is set 57 years after the events of Alien. At the beginning of the film, Ripley's spacecraft is discovered with her and Jones the cat still in stasis. We learn that the exomoon LV-426 has been colonized by a terraforming colony with no reports of hostile aliens. When Earth loses contact with the colony, Ripley is asked by a representative of the Weyland Corporation named Carter Burke (played by Reiser) to act as a consultant for a group of Marines sent to investigate the loss of communication. Once they arrive on the moon, they find the colony destroyed and evidence of an attack.

The 4k set is a three-disc set containing a UHD disc and two regular Blu-Rays. The UHD disc and one of the regular Blu-Rays just include the two versions of the movie (the theatrical edition and the 1990 remastered expanded edition). There are commentary tracks on each version of the movie by Cameron and members of the cast and crew. Some of the people providing commentary were recorded together, and some were recorded on their own, so the commentary jumps between conversations. The second regular Blu-Ray disc contains bonus features. The bonus disc has over four hours of extras. The most extensive is a three-hour-long making-of documentary (that can be watched in individual segments or in a play-all mode) that includes interviews with the cast and crew from the time the movie was being made, along with interviews made later on. There is also a discussion with Jim Cameron that was made very recently. Finally, there are some stills galleries, trailers, and TV spots.

Ultimately, the movie is very good, with a lot of action and suspense. The longer version of the film adds about 20 minutes of additional footage, mostly at the beginning of the movie before the team arrives on LV-426, which adds a bit more context for Ripley's motivations. The bonus content and commentary tracks provide a lot of interesting information, including the contentious filming process (Cameron, who has a reputation for being hard to work with anyway, butted heads with much of the initial crew that was forced upon him by Pinewood studio), how Weaver ended up getting a massive payday because she was not signed until after the script (which was centered around the Ripley character) was written, and how Cameron was only allowed to direct the movie after The Terminator was a hit. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. This movie looks grainier than many of Cameron's other 4k restorations because of how the movie was shot. Cameron notoriously hates film grain and uses a lot of digital noise reduction to make his older movies look like they were shot digitally with today's cameras, which some people hate. But because of the equipment they used to film Aliens, some of the grain is left in (although it is much less grainy than the VHS or original DVD release). Since CGI was not a thing back in 1986, in the UHD format, you can definitely tell when models or matte paintings were being used to create effects, and some of the effects do look a bit cheesy. Even so, the movie is still very enjoyable and well worth the time to watch.

Book Review: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker The Visual Dictionary

 

The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary was published in 2019 and released shortly after the film. It is very similar visual dictionaries that were put out for the other movies. While it is a good bet that anyone reading this has already seen the movie, you probably want to wait until after you see it to read this because it does give away some things (but none of the major surprises or events) of the movie. It gives a breakdown of most of the characters, vehicles, weapons, and aliens that are seen in the movie, as well as describing the locations where the events play out. It also fleshes out a lot of the "Skywalker Saga" backstory, going back to the prequels. In the front of the book, there is a timeline of all the major events, now measured against the Starkiller incident (when it destroyed the worlds of the New Republic during "The Force Awakens") as opposed to before and after the Battle of Yavin, as the Star Wars timeline had done for years.

The hardcover version of the book is about 200 pages long, but because it has a lot of pictures, it reads quicker than a 200-page novel. It is basically a coffee-table book as opposed to a novel. You can read it cover to cover, but chances are most people will end up skimming it and really reading in detail the parts they are most interested in. It is probably not something that anyone other than die-hard fans is going to invest in, but I do think it is enjoyable enough for even casual fans of the franchise.

Book Review: Star Wars Icons: Han Solo

 

Star Wars Icons: Han Solo is a book published in 2019 devoted to the character of Han Solo. This is not a novel. It is more like the various Star Wars encyclopedias--basically a coffee-table book that has a lot of pictures. The text describes the pictures and gives behind-the-scenes insights into how the character was developed, the casting process, etc. It basically spans from the early concept of the character from notes and excerpts of early drafts of the script for what would ultimately become A New Hope through to the Solo: A Star Wars Story movie. It discusses the casting of Harrison Ford, how the character evolved over the course of the original trilogy, and even how the character was written in the expanded universe of novels and comics. There is also a section on other characters from movies and TV shows that were inspired by the character or outright clones of the character.

Throughout the course of the book, you really get a history of Star Wars in general. It contains quotes from Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, as well as George Lucas, Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams, and many other actors. It seems that at least some were interviewed for the book, but it is possible at least some of the quotes were collected from interviews that occurred over time but not necessarily for the creation of this book. There is a lot of good insight into Ford's well-publicized feelings about the character and the role. It was really the role that propelled him to stardom and was the reason that he could not go out in public as much, which seemed to be the basis of some of his hard feelings toward the character. It was also interesting to read about the advice he gave to Alden Ehrenreich about how to handle playing the character.

Overall, it is not necessarily a book that you will read word-for-word, cover-to-cover. It is definitely something that you will pick and choose portions of to read. There are a ton of great pictures throughout the book, including early sketches of concept art, behind-the-scenes photos and production stills, and pictures of the various toys and other memorabilia that existed over the years. Some of the pictures fold out from the pages almost centerfold style, sometimes there are drawing sheets attached to the pages, so you definitely want to be careful going through it otherwise you may accidentally tear some of the pages and/or inserts.

The book, which is only available in hardcover, is well under 300 pages. Because you do not have to read every word like you would a novel, it is very easy to get through. It is a great character history and provides a large chunk of Star Wars history overall. If you are a fan of the various Star Wars movies, TV shows, novels, or even just a big fan of the character, it is definitely worth picking up.

Book Review: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire

 

Black Spire is an ancillary main storyline canon novel published in 2019 and written by Delilah S. Dawson. It is set between the events of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The Resistance is on its heels and looking not only for places to establish bases and recruit new members. Leia (who has a small role in the book) dispatches Vi and Archex (formerly known as Captain Cardinal, and now a somewhat reluctant member of the Resistance) from the Phasma novel to Batuu (which has been the setting of a couple of novels) where they, of course, encounter a First Order unit. The resulting story is kind of a cat-and-mouse chase between the First Order and the Resistance members and ends up being a good action novel.

The hardcover version of the book is about 400 pages long. The story is kind of a follow-up to the Phasma novel and kind of a bridge to TROS. None of the "main" characters aside from Leia appear, although Rey and Luke Skywalker are mentioned a couple of times. It does introduce a handful of new characters that become the Resistance unit on Batuu, who also have to cooperate with the local crime syndicate and make too many waves. Overall, I will not say that it is the best of the side story novels that are a part of the "main storyline," but it is an enjoyable (and fairly quick) read and clearly sets up the possibility of a follow-up book.

Book Review: Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason

 

Thrawn: Treason is the third novel in the trilogy of novels by Timothy Zahn, reintroducing the very popular Legends character Grand Admiral Thrawn into the rebooted Star Wars canon. It is a part of the main storyline novels, which are considered on the same level as the movies and the TV series that have been released since the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm (or series like The Clone Wars that was put out before the takeover but grandfathered into canon).

As most hardcore fans know, the character of Thrawn was introduced in the 1990s in a trilogy of now Legends novels set after Return of The Jedi as a threat from the old Empire to the New Republic. The backbone of the character was his ability to strategize and use what he knew (or could discover) about an advisory against them. In the first two canon novels, Thrawn and Thrawn: Alliances, much of that skill in the context of action/battle sequences was missing. This novel more than makes up for what was lacking in those novels. I will not go into too much detail about the plot, but the story centers around a danger/threat to the Stardust initiative, which, as everyone likely to read this knows, was the construction of the first Death Star, as well as to Thrawn's species, the Chiss. The novel features appearances by Governor Tarkin, Director Krennic, and The Emperor. While the cover of the novel suggests that the Emperor has a larger role in the novel, he really has only a small appearance, mostly at the end. The novel also alludes to the events from the series Rebels, which first reintroduced the Thrawn character in the TV series, as Thrawn is eager to get back to Lothal and deal with the situation presented by Ezra Bridger.

The hardcover version of the book is just about 400 pages long. It reads fairly quickly, especially since most of the characters that appear in the book are well-developed or have already been established in the movies. Overall, while I do not think this novel is as good as the original "Thrawn Trilogy," which many hoped would be the basis for a sequel trilogy before the original cast members got too old to make that a reality, it is the closest to those novels in terms of all that makes the character of Thrawn great. There is definitely some political strategizing and infighting that has been a part of much of the canon material, but the book has a very good mix of action sequences to keep the story moving along. Chances are, if you are a die-hard fan of Star Wars, you are probably already getting the hardcover versions of the novels as they are released. But, if you are one who is more selective about which novels you get, this one is definitely worth picking up.

Book Review: Star Wars: Dooku: Jedi Lost

 

Dooku: Jedi Lost is a Star Wars canon novel by Cavan Scott, published in 2019.  It tells part of Dooku's backstory as a youngling, a padawan, a Jedi Knight, and then as a master. It also explains how he came to leave the Jedi order, but not how he fell in league with Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine does make one appearance in the story as a relatively lowly senator, but there is little to hint at his grand plan.

The hardcover version of the book is a little under 500 pages. Like many of the books released since Disney took over, it is set in different time periods. One is during the time of the Clone Wars when Ventress was Dooku's apprentice/assassin (further showing the rule-of-two was less of a rule than a loosely followed guideline), and then Dooku's life growing up told in flashbacks throughout the book. Unlike any of the other books (up to the time it was released), it is written in a format as a script for a play or movie. It describes the locations, notes when characters talk in their heads versus out loud, etc. I personally prefer the traditional novel format, with chapters that easily break up the story (since it is not the easiest book to read in one sitting), but that did not bother me as much as it did other reviewers.

Overall, it did an excellent job with Dooku's arc and character development from a very smart but a bit smug padawan to exactly how evil he was as a Sith lord. I do think it missed out on explaining the circumstances under which Palpatine turned him, but even without that, it made clear that he was drawn to the dark side throughout his life. It is certainly not the best of the canon books, and if you are one of those who only get certain books but not all of them, it is not necessarily a must-read.

Book Review: Resistance Reborn

 

Resistance Reborn is a main-storyline Star Wars canon novel set between The Last Jedi and the remaining resistance members' escape from Crait and The Rise of Skywalker. The resistance is beaten down, looking to regroup and refill their ranks. The story is set on the planets Ryloth and Corellia, where the resistance members are trying to regroup and recruit, using Leia's old contacts to aid in hiding from the First Order. I will not give too much of the story away, but it blends action, political maneuvering, and a "cat and mouse" storyline.

The hardcover version of the novel is about 300 pages long, and it reads quickly. All the main resistance characters, Rey, Poe, Finn, Leia, etc., appear in the book to varying degrees. But, like many of the "fill-in" novels, the "main" characters do not really dominate the story, and more ancillary characters take a more prominent role. The author does a good job conveying that Rey is feeling lost, having incomplete Jedi training, and losing the one person who could have trained her. She also does a good job conveying split emotions among the rank-and-file resistance members who are left, with some wanting to fight on, and others seeing the fight against The First Order as a losing battle. Overall, it is a good novel that bridges part of the time gap between TLJ and TROS while also leaving a lot of room for further stories from that time period to be fleshed out. It is a moderately easy read, and the chapters are easily digestible lengths so you can read as much or as little at one time as you want. If you are one of those people who only get some, but not all, of the novels, this one is definitely worth picking up.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Alita: Battle Angel

 

Alita is a 2019 Sci-Fi/Action film starring Rosa Salazar, Keean Johnson, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connely, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Jackie Earle Haley. The story is set in the 2500s in a dystopian future that develops after what is called "The Fall" which is (as you learn if you watch the bonus material) a war between Earth and Mars (after humans colonize Mars). Almost all the humans left on Earth live either in Iron City or a city that floats above it called Zalem. It is partly an origin story for Alita, who wakes up with no memory of who she is, and partly the story of a class system post-apocalypse, with some cyborg bounty hunters thrown in.

The movie is based on a series of Japanese graphic novels that began in the mid-1990s. It mixes action with some drama and even a few comedic moments. James Cameron wrote a very long script from the graphic novels, then passed it off to Robert Rodriguez to make it a movie-length script and direct the movie when Cameron decided to focus on Avatar and the sequels. I have never seen the graphic novels or the anime series, so I don't know how well this stacks up versus those. However, Cameron (at least from what is revealed in the bonus material) kept pretty close to the source material.

The 4k set is a three-disc set that includes a UHD disc, a 3D Blu-Ray disc, and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc and the 3D Blu-Ray just contain the movie, and the regular Blu-Ray has the movie and the bonus material. The film looks great in 4K, and you get a ton of bonus features (somewhere around two hours worth) made up of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, as well as animated featurettes that give a bit of backstory that was not put in the movie to keep it at a reasonable (2hr) running time. The movie is CGI-heavy, using much of the same motion-capture effects used on Avatar, so everything looks pretty seamless.

I cannot say the movie will appeal to everyone. But, if you like post-apocalyptic action movies, this one has good acting and writing and tells a more nuanced story. The creators definitely left the door open for a sequel (and there is more than enough source material), but given that it was not exactly a box-office smash, there is no guarantee that others will be made. They did an excellent job with the film if it does end up just being a stand-alone movie. Given, however, that James Cameron can get any film he wants to be made, there is a good possibility that at least one more movie will result from this one. This is not a film you can have on in the background while doing other things and follow easily. You must pay attention to the movie to understand what is going on. But if you have a couple of hours to kill and are looking for a good action movie, it is definitely worth checking out.

Book Review: Star Wars The Skywalker Saga

 

The Skywalker Saga is an illustrated storybook published in 2019 before the theatrical release of The Rise of Skywalker. You need to be aware that this is not a novel. It is more of a coffee table book that summarizes the "Skywalker saga." There are pictures and illustrations of scenes from every "main storyline" movie (the prequels, original trilogy, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi), along with a narrative summary of the key moments from each film written by Delilah S. Dawson. 

The hardcover version of the book is about 400 pages long. It is not a retelling of the Skywalker storyline from any character's point of view or anything like that. It does not have anything from the ancillary movies like Solo or Rogue One, nor does it give hints or details about The Rise of Skywalker. Because it is an illustrated book, it is very easy to read. It can easily be finished in a day or two. It is not one of the must-read books, but it is worth checking out as long as you do not expect it to be a novel that fleshes out the storylines or provides details that are not known from the movies.