Category Archives: Books

Review: Hullmetal Girls

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This is a book that did the impossible: it made me wish my metro ride was longer so I could keep reading. Twice.

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie is the sort of book that I’ve been wanting for ages. Two young women undergo a literally life changing procedure that turns them into mechanically enhanced soldiers who aren’t exactly human anymore, each for their own reasons. Aisha Un-Haad volunteers for the procedure in a last ditch attempt to help her family while Key Tanaka has nothing but a blank space in her memory when she tries to remember why she would give up her life of privilege to become a Scela especially since many don’t survive the modification process. Aisha, Key, and the two other members of their squad have to learn not only how to live in their new bodies but also how to work together. If they excel, a top placement would mean that Aisha’s siblings wouldn’t have to worry about money. If they fail… To make matters more complicated, there’s a rebellion brewing in the fleet and Aisha and Key find themselves swept up in it, whether they want to or not. Continue reading →

Review: Kill the Farm Boy

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A sense of humor is mandatory for reading this book.

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne is delightfully absurd and laughs in the face of how one would usually expect a Chosen One fantasy story to go. Every last trope is engaged with in a way that flips it on its head and makes it hard for readers not to laugh out loud. (Unless you hate puns. Don’t hate puns when you read this book.) When Staph the Pixie tells the farm boy Worstly that he’s the Chosen One and also makes his goat talk, Worstly does what any Chosen One would do and finds a quest. But when his quest doesn’t go quite as planned, it’s up to a motley crew to try make things right and save both him and an entire enchanted castle worth of people. Continue reading →

The Most Dangerous Game? Reading Jay Schiffman’s Game of the Gods

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A judge who has lost faith in his government. An uneasy global political climate. A world on the brink of all-out war.

Jay Schiffman’s debut novel, Game of the Gods, has all the ingredients to be the action-packed, sci-fi political thriller for our times. Wrestling with huge, fascinating themes, the story pits religion against science, individual against country, and one man against a prediction that he will destroy the world.

In the Earth’s far future, Max Cone is the High Judge of the Federacy, one of the nations carved out of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once North America. A former war hero and current arbiter of Federacy citizenship, Max is renowned for, well, being a really good guy–honest, responsible, and strong of both body and morals. All of his best qualities are tested, however, when he is drawn into a global conflict in the most personal way possible: His family is kidnapped by foreign government, propelling him on a revenge tour that takes him through nations run by rogue military factions, independent cartels, and a mysterious pope-like figure who is not as holy as he seems. Continue reading →

Review: Most Wanted

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If you’re like me, you walked out of Solo: A Star Wars Story wanting to know everything you possibly could about Qi’ra and read dozens of stories about her. Thankfully, Most Wanted by Rae Carson came out the same day as the film and I was eager to dive into it especially since I’m a far of Carson’s Fire and Thorns trilogy. Even better? Most Wanted definitely did not disappoint.

Most Wanted introduces us to both Han and Qi’ra not more than a year before Solo begins with Lady Proxima pitting the two of them against each other to determine who will be the next Head Child of the White Worms. Given that the promotion comes with extra rations (including real food!) and other “privileges,” both of them really want it. Badly. When a deal goes very wrong, Han and Qi’ra realize that the only chance they have of salvaging either of their hopes of becoming Head is to work together and find themselves on a crazy adventure that neither of them could have ever forseen. Continue reading →

Review: The Mighty Chewbacca and the Forest of Fear

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What’s a wookiee to do when the daughter of the Emperor’s advisor has taken his partner hostage and will only free him if said wookiee goes on a dangerous assignment for her? Complete the mission, of course! The Mighty Chewbacca and the Forest of Fear by Tom Angleberger is a middle grade book that teams up everyone’s favorite wookiee with a young woman who’s trying to help her people and the galaxy’s snarkiest KX security droid.

Angleberger has a delightfully wry yet fun style of writing, providing direct commentary on the story as the narrator. Writing Chewbacca can be a challenge since his words are traditionally not translated directly but given vague meaning. Angleberger finds a way to make it fun and feel logical. The narration is really what makes the book veer more towards special and away from “this is fine” and I actually found myself laughing out loud once or twice.

Star Wars, as of late, has seemed to have fun pairing Chewie up on his solo missions with a spunky and relatively young girl to be a foil. That girl also usually has her own agenda that just happens to somewhat line up with Chewie’s own mission but they end up doing good and becoming friends at the end. It could have very easily been tedious this time around but Angleberger found a way to keep it interesting. When in doubt, toss in the K-2SO wrench apparently. (I love that droid so much, I really do.)

The Mighty Chewbacca and the Forest of Fear is a book that kids in the middle grade age range will likely find delightful but may be less appreciated by the older ones/teenagers. It’s a fun little adventure with Chewie that could be an amusing divertissement for adults or a great journey for kids.

Thank you to Disney Lucasfilm Press for providing a copy of the book for review purposes.

Review: What Is A Wookiee?

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We have an emerging reader in my house, which means our Star Wars bookshelf has gotten a recent injection of titles designed for the preschool set. From time to time, I’ll be popping in with words about how my little guy is enjoying the parts of Star Wars designed for enjoyment by the franchise’s youngest fans. I’m happy to report that the age-appropriate offerings are plentiful and entertaining. A current favorite is the DK Readers Level 1 book What is a Wookiee.

We were a little surprised that the book isn’t a tell-all about Wookiee culture as we’d thought. It is, instead, a primer on many of the creatures we meet in a galaxy far, far away, with spotlights on individual characters the kids may encounter in the Star Wars films. The book is from the point of view of C-3PO, who takes readers through this catalog of creatures and droids with just enough of his own editorializing baked in for the adults in the room to recognize him. The pages on what characteristics differentiate aliens from droids, and how to tell the difference turned out to be a conversation starter in our house.  Continue reading →

Review: It’s Your Universe

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Since 2008, Ashley Eckstein has had a huge, positive impact upon the lives of fangirls everywhere as both Ahsoka Tano and the founder of Her Universe and now she’s written a book too! Out today, It’s Your Universe: You Have the Power to Make It Happen is a biographical and inspirational account of Ashley’s journey from being a young Disney-loving girl in Florida to a Star Wars star who runs a company focused on supporting fangirls.

Towards the start of the book, Ashley encourages readers to use the book as their own journal for writing down their hopes and dreams and what the path towards that dream might look like. She even leaves lines and little prompts for readers to do so. This turns the reading experience into something interactive.

Admittedly, It’s Your Universe is not a book intended for me. (I’m a 28-year-old pessimist who masquerades as a realist.) But that’s okay. Not every book has to be for every person and there are plenty of people out there, young girls in particular, for whom this book will be amazing. The suggested age range for this book is 12-18 but I think younger fans would appreciate it even more than older teenagers.

Throughout the book, Ashley incorporates some of her favorite quotes and storylines from Disney films, both classic and new. Between descriptions of times when Disney Princesses had to keep going in the face of adversity and Ashley’s own candid descriptions of instances where she experienced set backs, readers are reminded that the path to success isn’t always a straight line. What matters is that you keep believing in yourself and come up with a new plan when your first one doesn’t work out.

It’s Your Universe is likely the perfect book for a young fangirl and especially one who needs a little positive reinforcement as she strives towards her dreams. And hey! While it might not be the book for me, it could very well be an inspirational book that older fans adore as well. In short, if you’re a fan of Ashley Eckstein and Her Universe, you’ll likely find something to like about It’s Your Universe.

Thank you to Disney Editions for providing an advance copy of the book for review.

Review: Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure

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I had absolutely no idea what I’m doing when it comes to a choose your own adventure book but you know what? That’s actually pretty in-character for Han Solo so I’m going to say it works. Star Wars: Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure by Cavan Scott with illustrations by Elsa Charretier is precisely what it says on the label and hey to top it off, it’s actually rather fun.

As I said before, I’m not exactly a connoisseur when it comes to choose your own adventure books so this was a brand new venture for me. Turns out that I’m not actually all that great at picking the right option: I led Han and Chewie straight into their journey’s premature end at least five times if not more. That’s actually part of what makes this fun because the right choice isn’t always immediately evident. Sometimes, this is because Han has two equally hair-brained ideas such as telling someone that he’s Jabba the Hutt when he’s in a less than ideal situation. (Honestly, it’s actually somewhat impressive how many people in the galaxy don’t know what a hutt looks like…) I only went through the book once but there are apparently twenty different outcomes (although I suspect that I found about a quarter of those given how many times I unsuccessfully guided our favorite smugglers.) This could easily keep someone entertained for a few hours if they wanted to try and find all the different endings.

The bottom line? If you like these sorts of books, you’ll enjoy Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure. If you’ve never tried a choose your own adventure book, this could well worth giving a try. It’ll keep you (or kids in particular) entertained for a little while and let you have fun flying the Falcon alongside Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Thank you to Disney-Lucasfilm Press for providing a copy of the book for review purposes.

Review: Last Shot

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What do you get when you take Daniel José Older, toss him into the Star Wars universe, and let him play with two of the most famous scoundrels in the galaxy? A goddamn delight. You get a goddamn delight. Okay, fine: it’s actually called Last Shot but that doesn’t mean it’s not also a delight. Set two years after the Battle of Jakku, Last Shot follows Han and Lando on a mission with an eclectic team as choices they made over a decade before rear their ugly heads to bite them in the rear. What could possibly go wrong?

While the idea of a novel told over three different time periods may leave some readers a little wary, Older quickly sets us as ease. Right from the start, Last Shot is engaging and difficult to put down. Han and Lando’s in-the-past story lines weave in and out of the current day tale, all building together until you can’t imagine reading about the main adventure without knowing about the journeys that Han and Sana and Lando and L3 went on before. Continue reading →

Go/No-Go: The Last Jedi Novelization

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nasa-mission-control-3Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the novelization that is! Some of us *coughNancicough* have been very eagerly awaiting this book especially since it’s Star Wars veteran Jason Fry’s first adult novel. What did we think once we actually read it? To mission control for the verdict! Continue reading →