Author Archives: Bria

One Woman’s Expanded Universe Wish List for 2014

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All I want for Christmas is… more Star Wars book announcements!  Now before you say anything, I know.  I know and I understand why they haven’t been able to give us any news about future books in the Expanded Universe.  It is not Del Rey’s fault that they cannot tell us more.  Several projects like the Paul Kemp duology and the Sword of the Jedi trilogy seem to be in book limbo so while we miiiiiiight see those in 2014, I’m not going to hold my breath for them even though I’d love to see them finally be published.  Instead, I’ll use that breath to give you my thoughts on eight different books that I’d like to see Del Rey possibly announce as new projects.  Yes, some of these are definitely pipe dreams.  But hey!  It’s always fun to speculate wildly and close your eyes and wish really hard.

So without further ado and in no particular order, eight ideas that could take place in the already established timeline:

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Review: The Star Wars #3

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It’s a Desert Ambush as the cover proclaims in Issue #3 of The Star Wars, out in comic book stores today.  Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew continue to adapt the original draft of A New Hope in an action packed issue with more sass than you could possibly imagine.  (And hey, I can imagine quite a lot.)

Darth Vader searches for the royal family of Aquilae, hoping to complete the Empire’s victory and a new player joins the search: Prince Valorum; a Knight of the Sith.  Meanwhile, See Threepio and Artwo Detwo disagree about how to handle being stranded in the Dune Sea only to both end up being found by Annikan and Leia as they hurry back to the hidden fortress to the Palace of Lite.  With the King dead, Leia is now the true Queen of Aquilae but for her safety, Queen Breha orders General Skywalker to take Leia and her younger brothers to the Ophuchi system.  But first, they must get safely past the Empire’s army on planet.

For an issue that starts with the droids being stranded in the desert, this issue certainly isn’t lacking for action and goes by so quickly that readers will likely find themselves surprised when they reach the last page so soon.  Rinzler definitely knows how to keep readers coming back for more.  The weirdness of how some of the names are spelled has yet to wear off and I suspect I’ll never be able to type Artwo correctly on the first try but the weirdness is honestly a part of the book’s charm.  It’s difficult to find a reason to complain about Rinzler’s grasp of dialogue and pacing.  Again, his use of lines from the film invokes smiles instead of eye rolls and that is absolutely a good thing.

One of the best things about this particular issue was the banter between different pairs of characters.  To put it simply: the sass levels were off the charts.  I frequently found myself chuckling at Artwo’s lines and downright laughing when Threepio puts an end to the argument.  This version of Princess Leia continues to take none of anyone’s crap.  Some things stay true no matter what alternate universe they are in.  She also has quite the mind for retaliation tactics.

I’m also still not over Mike Mayhew’s artwork.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Mayhew also continues to excel at costume design.  The official royal regalia that Princess Leia and Queen Breha wear in the throne room are truly magnificent.  I haven’t the faintest idea how Leia can sit with that headdress much less stand but wow does it have a visual impact.  Another strength of Mayhew’s artwork is the facial expressions of the characters.  At times, it feels like some of the panels don’t even need the dialogue bubbles for the words to get across.

The Star Wars #3 has elevated this book from a ‘pick this book up if you’re intrigued by the concept’ to ‘you should definitely give this book a try’ so run out and go find the first three issues!

The Hondo Caravan: Bria’s Watching The Clone Wars

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One year ago today, I made a very poor life decision: I decided to reread the Star Wars Expanded Universe.  That train wreck (did you see what I did there?) resulted in what has become known as the Waru Express.  It was a 7 month journey through 130 books with my commentary that ranged from squeeing to flailing to ambivalence to headbashing to gross sobbing.  It seemed to amuse and entertain a good number of people.

Good news, folks!  I’m doing it again.  No, don’t give me that look.  I’m not rereading all the Expended Universe books again.  Instead, I’ll be watching The Clone Wars from start to finish.  So don’t be shy: come aboard the Hondo Caravan!

There are going to be a few differences between the Waru Express and the Hondo Caravan.  The Hondo will have a much steadier pace because my fast reading speed is of no use here and I cannot watch an episode any faster than anyone else.  I’m also coming into the show relatively blind.  I watched the film and saw some of the first season episodes a few years ago but that’s it.  There are some things (such as the finale) where I just couldn’t avoid spoilers but for the most part, I really don’t know much of anything.  (So sorry, Waru groupies: there will no be encore to the Crystal Star event this time.)  If Season Six becomes available in a timely fashion, I’ll definitely add those episodes to my watch through.

A few things will stay the same.  I’ll be watching about 6 episodes or however many episodes are on a disc and then posting my thoughts and commentary on them.  I’ll be posting about once a week, give or take a bit depending on my schedule.  You’ll also be able to follow my progress in relative real time again on Twitter @chaosbria or the hashtag #HondoCaravan.

So sit back and enjoy my latest trip into madness and enjoy your stay aboard the Hondo Caravan!

Check out the master list of episodes/future review links after the jump!

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2013 in the Star Wars Expanded Universe

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It’s the vogue thing to do right now so I couldn’t help but sit down and take a retrospective look at this year’s Expanded Universe books and then rank them in my order of preference. (Because hey!  All the cool kids are doing it!)

Overall, 2013 was a solidly enjoyable year for Expanded Universe releases.  After all, what else could it be when we literally started 2013 with Scoundrels?  I can promise you that I paid no attention to the ball dropping in Time’s Square and was instead impatiently waiting for Scoundrels to finish downloading to my Nook instead.  As those who followed the Waru Express are probably well aware, I’ve had my fair share of problems with a number of the Expanded Universe releases in the past five years or so.  2013 has, for the most part, been a giant breath of fresh air.

We’ll start with my basic rankings and then I’ll go a bit more into detail because this list is going to look deceptive.  My reviews for each of these books are linked.

  1. Kenobi
  2. Razor’s Edge
  3. Scoundrels
  4. Into the Void
  5. The Last Jedi
  6. Crucible

That’s the simplified version of the rankings.  If you really want a better sense of how I felt about these books, it’ll look something more like this.

  1. Kenobi
  2. Razor’s Edge OR Scoundrels
  3. Into the Void.

9. The Last Jedi

87. Crucible

Let’s start with the good. (And a few spoilers that will be said in passing.)

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A Unapologetic Love Letter To The Young Jedi Knights Books

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Sometimes, there are books that you classify as a guilty pleasure and sometimes there are books that you find yourself apologizing for every time you say that you enjoy them.  In the past, the Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights books have fallen into this category for me.  For those unaware: it’s a series of 14 young adult books by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta that focus on the Solo twins and their friends Tenel Ka and Lowbacca during their first few years at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4.

From here on out, there won’t be any more apologies for liking these books.  Despite clearly being written for the younger crowd, they are entertaining reads with fun plot lines and great characters.  Most importantly though, they are some of the best gateways for younger fans to ease into the Expanded Universe and discover a whole new galaxy.  And years later? they still have plenty of fans who look back fondly at the books.  Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why they’re still some of the well-creased and beloved novels on some people’s shelves.

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Review: Star Wars: Legacy #8

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Star Wars: Legacy is back again this month as issue #8 by Corinna Beckho and Gabriel Hardman hits stores today.  We’d consider attaching the label of ‘trouble magnet’ to Ania Solo from here on out but honestly, now she’s just diving head first into it.

This review contains mild spoilers for the issue.

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Jaegers In Star Wars

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We’re a sucker around here for not only a good crossover but also for Pacific Rim.  With the awesome kaiju versus jaeger film out this week on DVD, it seemed like a good idea to ask those of you on Twitter just who you all thought would be drift compatible if there were jaegers in the galaxy far far away.  (Before anyone asks, my contribution was a joke.)


And because some of you had locked Twitters… a few last entries via copy and pasted:

@[locked user 1] Ultra Thunder Music Cloud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figrin_D’an_and_the_Modal_Nodes …
@[locked user 2] idk but the wraiths definitely have like five and are always altering the way they work and pissing everyone off
“YOU CAN’T HAVE A FIVE PILOT JAEGER GOD DAMMIT TAINER.”
but kell and shalla would probably have one and they’d want to call it Facepunch Bam but command probably wouldn’t go for it so
it’d be like Restless Rager or something everyone could agree sounded violent but also someone dignified (which is no fun).

Have some of your own thoughts about what Star Wars characters duos (or trios!) would make a good Jaeger pilot team?  Let us know in the comments!

Review: Star Wars: Ewoks- Shadows of Endor

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Sometimes, a comic book is exactly what it reads on the label and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Out today is Ewoks- Shadows of Endor; a new Star Wars graphic novel for the younglings about everyone’s favorite fluffy little terrors.  Penned and drawn by Zack Giallongo with colors by Braden Lamb, it’s an enjoyable little tale about how Endor is turned on its head when the Empire arrives to build the shield generator for the new Death Star.

This review contains mild spoilers.

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There Is Still Good In Him

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“There’s good in him.  I know… I know there’s still…”  “There is still good in him.”  “I’ve got to save you.”

It’s not a stretch to say that redemption is a main theme of the Star Wars films and neither is it a stretch to say that the same theme continued through the Expanded Universe.  The story of someone’s fall to the dark and eventual redemption to the light has been repeated countless times throughout.  This is, afterall, a franchise built upon the story of the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker.

So why, in recent years, have we seen stories go against this?

I’m talking, of course, about Jacen Solo and also Vestara Khai.  How did we get to a point in the Star Wars universe where Luke Skywalker, Dark Side Redeemer Extraordinaire, isn’t consistently giving it his all to try and bring back his nephew or a young girl from the dark side?  But before we get there, let’s look back at redemption throughout the rest of the Star Wars Saga.

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Dark Horse Exclusives For NYCC

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SWTHE #1 NYCC VAR CVRHeaded out to New York Comic Con this month?  Keep an eye out for the Dark Horse booth and for their convention exclusives.  This year, one of the exclusives will be a special limited edition of The Star Wars #1.  The comic is the adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay which we’ve been reviewing.  There will be only 1000 copies of this special convention edition book sold at the con.  They will be sold for $5 a copy (which is a dollar above the usual cover price) and will be limited to two per person.

Read the entire press release for all of Dark Horse’s exclusives after the jump.

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