Nathalie
In a way, it's kind of like Rogue One got the most direct EU canon connections out of all of the movies so far, between this and Catalyst, Guardians of the Whills and the Rebels series (and more to come). Though (ROGUE ONE SPOILER) it makes sense, as we won't see anything of these characters post-Rogue One, and they won't contradict any of the events in the sequel trilogy or beyond.
Rebel Rising is one of the two YA novels that came out last May, centering on a few of the Rogue One characters. This one centers on Jyn, but in a way also tells the story and downfall (in a way) of Saw Gerrera (whom we'll see more of in Rebels' fourth season).
I thought it was great, and interesting. Though there were a few scenes I could have done without. (You see why it gets the YA tag, but then in other scenes this does tend to get a bit more adult). It fits in perfectly well as a prequel to Rogue One, and makes the character of Jyn a bit more emotionally rewarding (if that makes sense?) than she was in the movie. A lot of her backstory in the movie is told or implied, but having her actually go through these things and how she feels about these or just her general thought process helps a lot in that regard.
When I finished seeing Rogue One, my main thought was probably more like “I want more of these characters”, and I think this is all we can possibly get out of Jyn Erso as a character. Which is perfect, as you're not left hungry for more (BOOK SPOILER) as the book ends where the movie begins for Jyn. It feels very complete.
I honestly never really got the hype over Heir To The Empire, which was the series that introduced the character of Thrawn to the Star Wars EU back in the 90s. I feel like people remember it more fondly than it actually is, or appreciate it for what it did to the expanded universe back in the day.
Grand Admiral Thrawn remains a fantastic character though, so I was glad to really get to know him in the Star Wars Rebels series, and now in this book (which serves as a prequel to that series).
Technically, we get Thrawn's origin story in this, but also Governor Pryce's story, which I eventually also found incredibly interesting. The book itself had a really strong start, wandered a bit towards the middle, and then really picked up again by the end. Excellently written, and probably my favorite Empire-focused novel so far. I hope Timothy Zahn ends up tackling a few other novels and characters outside of Thrawn, because I'd definitely be interested in seeing that.
This book definitely was more of a random pick-up, as I know Claudia Gray mainly from her ventures into the Star Wars galaxy and I wasn't a fan of the one YA novel of hers that I did read. This however, was a pleasant surprise. Very enjoyable story, and anything that makes me not mind a romance is a-okay for me. (She IS pretty good at getting characters to start liking eachother, even if they start out from an inseemingly possible place).
If I had one gripe, it's more a nitpick about the audiobook version. The book switches POV between each chapter (so you alternate between Noemi and Abel), and each of them had their own voice actor. So it's just a little weird to have both actors have to do several other characters you were already used to from the other actor. (And Kasey Lee Huizinga's “male voices” all kinda sounded alike.) But this is of course, details!
Greg Rucka is one of the coolest Star Wars author to mostly dabble in young adult and junior novels for it. They're honestly a pleasure for either age, so you don't need to be scared off by the “junior” tagged to this one.
This (relatively short) book follows a pre-Rogue One story featuring Chirrut and Baze, and it does a wonderful job of making you care about the secondary characters and give you more character info (as well as on their relationship) between those two.
I wish all of the other members had books like these (though of course I still need to get to the Jyn one) because if they could all be like this, then excellent.
From the way it was written at the start, I thought this was just going to be an entertaining and fun story. But man, things got dark real fast.
This story and its main character grab you from the get-go. She's likeable, and you instantly kind of get her as a character. The rest of the characters work really well too, but a lot of these character either have a ~twist attached to them or aren't going to last long.
Events do happen super fast in this. I sometimes had to go back a bit because apparently someone had died and I had apparently missed the sentence in which that happened. It also tends to go from one emotion to another on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, which can kinda throw you for a loop, as it feels like what just happened simply cannot be real (and sometimes it wasn't even real). But don't get me wrong, this book does mess with your emotions quite successfully at times. (Grant :().
Though I am very unfamiliar with a lot of history, a very worthy read. Might get onto the sequel soon.
From a technical standpoint, this is a really good audiobook. Its cast is chockfull of great actors, including Mark Hamill, Simon Pegg, Kal Penn, Nathan Fillion... all doing great performances. There's great moody interlude music too.
But as for the story itself, it is pretty interesting, but there's a lot of different ones with one general theme - the apocalypse, which at this point has already happened. So most of your interest in the current chapter depends on how engrossed you are in the current story or in its voice actor, as the story they're telling isn't happening in current time.
Unfortunately for me, I found the concept to get pretty tiring at about the halfway point of the book. There were still a few highlights after that, but I wouldn't say I needed every single one of those interviews to be in this. I guess I'd have preferred to have fewer stories, and have each of them a bit longer. Then you could make each of the stories very good and not have so many one-offs with one that you're into and then followed by one that you're not.
This may have been a case of mismanaged expectations. I fully expected to be in love with it and having this be a new favorite series, as I really love anything Riyria and I like Michael J. Sullivan's writing, but for some reason this just didn't do it for me. I kept waiting for the moment I'd be so engrossed in it I'd barely realize I was almost at the end, but instead this just took ages for me to finish because I was so bored.
I may have just not been in the mood for this at this particular time or something like that, and I might give the second book a shot if it improves just like Riyria did. Talking about Riyria though, I wasn't in love with that from the beginning, but I at least was in love with the characters, and the ones in this just never clicked for me.
This has all the ingredients of a book I could see myself obsessing over. A great group of friends, on a mission, mixed in with some humor and a lot of drama. Unfortunately what I missed was a bit more depth to it.
There's a lot of events in which things go unexplained because I feel like they just can't. (How did the Tailor know where they were going to be?) and a lot of what are normally pretty traumatic events are very much glossed over afterwards (There's a few days of torture which they talk about afterwards as just a thing that happened) and then other things I would have liked to see but we didn't because Falcio wasn't there to see it (Kest defeating the Saint).
If any of the above things were handled with a bit more care, I would be all over this book and this series.
However, I do like the three main characters and their dynamic (even if I want to see it fleshed out a bit more) but that might be something that any of the sequels fix. I am going to check out Knight's Shadow in the near future.
I liked The Lies Of Locke Lamora overall, but I did have to slog my way through it at certain parts, and I was only really invested in it at certain parts of the story. So originally I wasn't going to check out its sequel.
I'm really glad I did anyway.
I can't pinpoint as to why exactly, maybe because I was already used to the characters and the style, but this one just clicked for me. Aside from exciting, it was also humorous and tragic at times, and it worked. During the second part of the story, the flashback chapters were dropped and, as interesting as they were, the story did flow better as a result.
There is however a lot going on, and at times it feels like you can't keep up with all the different parties that are either seemingly against them or with them, but it does all come together in the end. Also I'm just really glad that they took Regal with them :) That kitten won me over in one sentence!
“Kenobi”, or also known by its alternative title, appointed by me, “Tales Of People On Tatooine, With Some Special Appearances By Kenobi”. In the end, that turned out okay though!
In a way, I often felt this was the Legends counterpart of the Ahsoka novel by E.K. Johnston in the current canon. Both are about (ex-)Jedi once close to Anakin, post-Order 66 and on the run, fleeing to a remote planet and trying to stay out of trouble, yet ultimately failing to do so by their inability to not help people eventually.
There is however a big difference, and that's mostly mentioned in my first sentence. This book is not from Obi-Wan's point of view. Our main characters are citizens on Tatooine who've been facing some trouble, when suddenly this stranger enters their lives. So all we really get when it comes to his state of mind is what we can make up from observations that other characters make about him. Though the “Meditation” sections, in which he talks to Qui-Gon Jinn, are perhaps a tad more informational on that front.
I found that this bothered me at first, since I had completely different expectations going in. By the end though, I liked and was interested in a lot of these characters, and I do think we have all that we need to know when it comes to what Obi-Wan was feeling and doing during this time. In a way, this was kind of what the Ahsoka novel lacked. I didn't care about the people she was saving that much, whereas in this one I did.
All in all, super fun, and makes me want to check into some more Legends material for in the future! :)
This was quite a fun (yet short) read! Essentially this is a book that combines a bunch of stories about the Norse gods (Odin, Thor, Loki and the like), all leading up to its final chapter/battle: Ragnarok.
The stories are all great and easily accessible, making them a good entry point to more on Norse mythology. All of them are also structured in a way that they'd make for great (albeit slightly cruel) bedtime stories, and of course, as a great inbetween when you want to take a break from another book for a bit.
Ah, this trilogy. It had a very rough start, but then in books 2 and 3 improved to the point where they became “ok” with a few moments of greatness. Ultimately though, this really didn't need to be a trilogy.
It excels at expanding the universe a bit, telling us what's going on in the galaxy (with interludes and mentions), but it doesn't quite work on the character level. I imagine this ended up being a trilogy so by the end we would at least somewhat care about these characters in the final battle, but I just found them tiring and a bit of a waste. It makes me wish instead this had been a book with only the interludes, maybe expanded a bit, so it'd almost be a short story collection (those interludes are the perfect way to get us to check in with characters we haven't really heard from outside of the movies. One of the interludes in the book is about the ultimate fate of Jar Jar Binks and this was the perfect way/medium to do so). But most of all of course, I wish we'd have gotten characters that would have made the story more engaging.
Of course, not all characters are that bad. Sloane is still the best and Sinjir is pretty cool. Towards everyone else I'm either indifferent or I just don't like them to the point I don't like reading about them. (The latter being most notably Norra and Temmin). In the end, the book works because interesting things are happening, but that alone doesn't elevate the book to being a “must read”.
Ahhhhhhhhhh.
This is just such an excellent example of long-running series and storylines introduced long ago finally coming full-circle. Getting answers to questions asked from even the very first trilogy. Characters finally getting their due and finishing their individual story in such a satisfying way.
I always feel guilty for wanting more of this series, because every time you think Fitz' life can't get any worse, it does. So I am very very very nervous (excited too, of course, but mostly nervous!) for Assassin's Fate, as I very much fear of what that fate is going to entail.
I am a very self-conscious person. To a fault. I constantly question everything I say or do (usually after they've been said or done) and agonize over it, worrying about what other people think or thought of me. All the time.
In short, I give too many fucks.
This is not a life-changing book. I don't think any book truly is. But sometimes you just need someone to tell you something in a certain way to make you look at things from a different perspective, and that's what this did for me.
In the first few chapters he talks about the general principles of the book. Life is a problem to solve. Failure makes us better. Confrontations are better not to avoid. You are responsible for yourself. Choose good values. Decide what to give a fuck about. Those are some of the things I've already tried putting to use at work. Will I keep being able to do that in other aspects of my life for the foreseeable future? Maybe, maybe not, but this book has planted the seed already, and it's up to me what I do with it.
It's clear that Mark is a very experienced person in life, and I loved some of the stories and anecdotes he told. It was a way of seeing how the tips he talked about could work out in real life. It also never made the book feel boring or hard to get through. Quite the opposite!
On a last note: if you have the option, get the audiobook. The narration by Roger Wayne is absolutely excellent and just made it all the better.
I have a bit of a hard time writing down how I felt about this book. On the one hand, I often had the thought of “I don't really care about this”, switching really quickly to “Oh, that's pretty cool”, but it never really went beyond that (except for the first few chapters, which I really liked).
The world itself was pretty interesting, even if the magic system was a bit unnecessarily complicated (so many rules!), especially in its explaining of it. It was much all at once and I feel like I only got a grasp on it in the latter half.
Most of my issues though were with the characterization, I feel like Gavin was definitely one that was more fleshed out, while the others I couldn't really get a grip on and would find them hard to describe when asked. Kip probably had the weirdest “development” of them all, as in you never knew whether you'd get the self-pitying boy or the sarcastic badass. Corvin barely cares about his daughter's decision at the end even if we're told he really cares about her. On that note, I didn't really go along with or believe Liv's motivation for it either. Karris was alright, though it felt like more time was spent having other characters complement her on her beauty than on her character or her part of the story.
The story itself was pretty cool, as well as the powers, but for me it lacked a bit of a human aspect. It focused a lot on being action-packed, and sometimes went by so fast that you didn't know where the characters were at times (they could fly to other locations within a sentence). That could be exciting, but it also got old pretty fast and took me out of the story.
Though this is a fictional novel, it is heavily inspired by Carrie Fisher's own life and issues, with the names changed. There's a couple of scenes in here that she references in terms of her own life in some of her memoirs, so it was nice to recognise those.
It however didn't really engage me all that much, and I can't quite put my finger on as to why that is exactly. I liked the first part (the first 30 days), but then it lost me somewhere after that. It isn't a really long book though, so that wasn't a huge dealbreaker.
I feel like all the Carrie Fisher quotes that have been shared all over the Internet ever since she died, mostly came from this book. And it is a very quotable book, perhaps the most out of all her other ones.
Wishful Drinking focuses more on her mental health, her mother, and her own relationships. Though there's a bunch of less fun things being described, the tone is much more uplifting than in the other two, and it made for a very pleasant read. It was also great to go back, from newer to older, and see what had changed in the meantime.
It's not an exaggeration to say Carrie Fisher had a, to say the least, very interesting life. Each of her memoirs go into more detail on a certain part of it, and this one very much focuses on her family and some of her family's closest friends or connections to them. A lot of interesting stories about people like Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor, but also a lot of heartbreaking stuff, especially when it comes to her relationship with her dad. Having it be narrated by her also really adds to the emotion of it.
This book had a bit of a rough start (the Emperor was in love with our protagonist after one conversation by chapter three), but it turned out alright in the end. The side characters were the best part, even if the whole “attempted assassination” plot was only occasionally interesting.
There's a lot of action going on and it is relatively fun, but don't expect there to be much depth to it, or at least not emotionally.
It shouldn't be surprising, considering the name, that this book was more about the treasure hunters than it was about the pirates itself, but it's still disappointing to me because the latter was just infinitely more interesting whenever it came up.
The story (based on real life events) is about two men who are looking for the ship (The Golden Fleece) of the merchant-turned-pireate Joseph Bannister. The book recounts the events of what led to them eventually finding the ship back in 2009, which was not an easy feat, as they weren't the only ones after it.
Most of the book is about the hunters and their search, but it's also intersected with various history on pirates in general, outside of Joseph Bannister. On their stance on democracy or crew relations or even how they handled amputations. I loved those parts, while I was losing more interest in the hunters' part the more it went on.
I had originally planned for this to be my first read of 2017, but then the end of December 2016 happened and I couldn't quite get myself to start this.
A lot of this book looks back on how Carrie Fisher experienced the first Star Wars movie. Before, during, and after. Inspired by her finding the old journals she wrote during the filming of it.
Carrie was like no other, and this book is at times surprisingly comical, but also really dark. The journals (read by her daughter, Billie Lourd) are touching and beautiful but also sad.
What also takes up a lot of this book is her affair with Harrison Ford, and it's hard to not look critically at it, especially when she was still so young compared to him. But I digress.
This was a great listen, even if she tended to go on rants that seemed to go on and on without really getting to a point. So even with this already being a relatively short book, it wouldn't hurt to have been trimmed down a little or edited a bit more. My only real gripe though, and I'll surely look out for some of her previous books.
Duuuuuude. THAT ENDING.
Once again, as enjoyable and truly heartbreaking as ever. I wouldn't however say this was “more of the same”, since for the first time in the Fitz books, we get an added POV. Which I was unsure of at the start, but does add very much to the story.
Seeing these characters 15-20 years (if it isn't more) from where we last left them feels so natural, and I'm pretty much in awe of how they all seem so real, and how you're able to care for them even with all of their flaws. (I know I've been saying this since Assassin's Apprentice, but it remains true as ever).
I am beyond excited for Fool's Quest, but also equally dreading the upcoming Assassin's Fate. I don't want this to end!
For a while I've been stuck between either 2 or 3 stars, but eventually decided on the former. Characters can either make or break a certain book for me, but in this case I'd say they broke it.
The story is about an apocalypse, happening in 2035. It takes place before, during and after, and it's about a teenage girl and her family (her mom and sister) trying to survive by getting on a generation ship which will leave Earth in order to start anew.
That is basically the gist of the entire story. Denise, our protagonist, finds ways to get the generation ship's captain to allow her on board, and then also tries to find ways to get her family on board. There's not a whole lot of interesting story there, so you have to really care about the characters in order to make it gripping. But unfortunately it wasn't really.
The perspectives, and the characters themselves, are interesting in theory. Denise is autistic, and this being in first-person, we really get a good look inside her thoughts. The problem though was that she just came across as very whiny and self-absorbed, and I had a really hard time trying to root for her when it seemed like everyone else in that world was weirdly civil about things. Unlikable traits can work in characters, but I didn't find her character very compelling and it all ultimately felt flat and incredibly frustrating and I didn't care if she won this particular battle or not, especially when there were other people that were much more deserving of it. (And don't even get me started on the mom, ugh).
As for good notes, I thought the narration was excellent (at times maybe even TOO good, because the “panic-y” voice just annoyed me after a few times), and I love that the story is set in The Netherlands (with mentions to Belgium) and that there's a few Dutch names and place names. The idea is pretty cool too, and I could imagine the world like how it's described. I just wish it was from a different perspective than the one we got.