Category Archives: Star Wars

Review: Vader Immortal, Episode II

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More than anything else, Vader Immortal: Episode II is a lesson in the dangers of episodic content.

Being one of the relatively few Star Wars fans who can afford to play the Vader Immortal saga has been a bit of a roller coaster: if you look back to my review of Episode I when it first came out, my mind was blown. Two months later, when discussing the experience on Book Wars Pod (shameless plug), I had a lot of nagging issues with the story and the gameplay. With all that said, Wednesday’s surprise release of Episode II made me really excited to recapture the feelings of awe I had when going through the introductory chapter for the first time. Continue reading →

The Choice is Yours If You’re Willing to Choose

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Let’s go ahead and say this right off the bat: ‘Cool motive, still murder’ is the world’s biggest truth. I am not in any way, shape, or form excusing the truly horrible actions of some of my favorite characters. Bad things are still and always will be bad. However, how people find themselves on a darker path and what they choose to do about it is inherently fascinating and worth some further musings. This? Would be that musing.

For a long time now, I’ve thought a lot about the paths and lives of some of my favorite male characters in Star Wars. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about Del Meeko, Kylo Ren, and Armitage Hux who have all, at one point or another, found themselves on the bad guy side in a galaxy far, far away. One made a choice to be better, one fell to the dark side, and one never knew any other way in life. Their paths are uniquely their own, informed by their experiences, the worlds they were born into, and their choices. Continue reading →

Go/No-Go: Black Spire

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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: Black Spire. In Delilah S. Dawson’s latest Star Wars book, we’re headed off to the spires of Batuu so those of us who don’t live near Disney can experience a little part of Galaxy’s Edge from afar but how did we like the book? To mission control for the verdict! Continue reading →

Review: Star Wars: Myths & Fables

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From the minute one picks up a copy, it is immediately obvious that Star Wars: Myths & Fables is not like other Star Wars books. Written by George Mann with illustrations by Grant Griffin, Myths & Fables collects nine brand new stories set in the galaxy far, far away, some of which feature familiar faces and others which star completely new characters. Throughout the book though runs an inherent sense of the galaxy and the sort of stories that bring all of us together. Myths and fables are, after all, universal. Continue reading →

Review: A Crash of Fate

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Although Star Wars has plenty of well-known romances, it could always use another love story. Thankfully, Lucasfilm is giving us exactly that this summer with one of its Galaxy’s Edge tie-ins A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova. Out today, the novel tells the story of Izzy Garsea and Jules Rakab, two childhood friends who are brought back together thirteen years later for one wild day on Batuu that neither of them ever saw coming. To get out of the fine mess they’ve found themselves in, they’re going to have to trust each other and hope luck’s on their side… and just maybe also see if love’s around the corner too. Continue reading →

Review: Thrawn: Treason

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“It’s treason then…”

Well. Sort of.

Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn is the latest installment in what we’ve all been doing a disservice in calling the new Thrawn Trilogy instead of Thrawn series. (And to be clear, I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else.) At Celebration Chicago, Zahn said the Thrawn books were not originally conceived as a trilogy. We got more books about Thrawn because they were continuously so well received. The point I’m trying to make here is don’t go into Treason expecting any sort of grand closure. This is just another week in these characters’ lives. And that’s ultimately somewhat frustrating but also okay. Continue reading →

Holonet Blast #113

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HAPPY DAY BEFORE Thrawn: Treason, y’all! (Unless you were lucky enough to get a copy at San Diego Comic-Con—then, ugh—I’m jealous.)

Speaking of, io9 has an exclusive excerpt from the new book. Check out both the text and Marc Thompson’s audiobook narration. We Stan a blue boy (and Eli, for that matter).

In exciting nomination news, Star Wars Resistance is up for for “Best Animated Series on Television” at the Saturn Awards. Oh, and no big deal, it’s also up for a primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program!!! Vader Immortal is ALSO nominated for an Emmy: 2019 Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media. Best of luck to these great titles and the teams behind them—fingers crossed for some wins!

Now, over to the comics side of things. IDW Publishing announced that Star Wars Adventures #27 (coming in October) will feature a three-part storyline that will nestle into the so-far untouched time between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. This series takes place in part on Kashyyyk, which is all I needed to hear to be excited. There’s more fun where that came from, so be sure to check here for the full story.

More comics: THE RISE OF KYLO REN IS COMING. It’s set for a December release date and should cover—you guessed it—Kylo becoming Kylo. That news came during a SDCC panel full of all-stars led by Michael Siglain, Lucasfilm’s creative director of publishing. No, seriously, the panel had Lou Anders (Pirate’s Price), Katie Cook (Creatures Big & Small), Zoraida Córdova (A Crash of Fate), Delilah Dawson (Black Spire), E. K. Johnston (Queen’s Shadow), George Mann (Myths & Fables), Brian Rood (The Skywalker Saga), Cavan Scott (Dooku: Jedi Lost), Kevin Shinick (Force Collector), Charles Soule(Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith), Timothy Zahn (Thrawn: Treason), and Rebecca Roanhorse (Resistance Reborn). Really, if you were lucky enough to be at that panel I am truly jealous. Other news via that panel included the announcement of Return to Vader’s Castle, written by Cavan Scott, dropping in the “Halloween season” and featuring spooky stories focused on the baddies. October will also bring a text version of Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost, which was released originally as audio-only. The panel also covered some very fun and interesting questions answered by some of our favorite authors. The rundown is definitely worth checking out and can be found here.

So, LOTS going on in the Star Wars universe—and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Until next time!

Review: Alphabet Squadron

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You are not ready for Alphabet Squadron. No really: you’re not.

More than likely, you have an image in your mind for what you think Alexander Freed’s latest Star Wars book may be like. Maybe you think it’s going to be like the X-Wing books from Legends or maybe you’ve read his other Star Wars books and know how weighty they can be. You think you’re ready for this book but you’re not… and that’s not even remotely a bad thing. Continue reading →

Review: Dooku: Jedi Lost

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Something Star Wars, something new! It’s always a good day when we get to experience a new story set in the Star Wars universe and Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott is something likely familiar to fans of a certain science fiction franchise across the pond but brand new to Star Wars. It’s an audio drama with a full cast in addition to all the excellent production value we’ve come to expect from Random House Audio. Jedi Lost takes us through much of the life of Dooku before we ever meet him, pulling back the curtain on one of the most charismatic and enigmatic characters in the galaxy far, far away.

Set at some point during the Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress has been given a mission by her master Count Dooku: find his sister Jenza. To help, he gives her some of the correspondence that had passed between the siblings dating all of the way back to Dooku’s time as an initiate at the Jedi Temple. Ventress being Ventress though, she pokes around and finds out more than the Sith Lord probably would have preferred and gains a deeper understanding of Dooku than perhaps anyone left living. Continue reading →

Review: Alien Archive

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Editor’s Note: The following is something a little different from our usual book reviews… because it’s written by someone from the intended audience for Star Wars: a kid! Olivia W. is nine years old, a member of the Galactic Academy, and one of the biggest Star Wars fans I know. I thought it only fitting to ask her to review the book for us. Enjoy! 

Alien Archive – A Guide to the Species of the Galaxy, illustrated by Tim McDonah is an in-universe reference book for explorers, travelers, animal lovers, and those looking to learn more about the galaxy around them. This book includes over two hundred alien species from all times of galactic history and locations. It includes some that are well known to all fans, and others that are only seen briefly in a classic battle scene or mentioned once in a book. Information is laid out in the form of a journal written by some unknown traveler. In addition to facts and details about aliens, their homeworlds, and their characteristics, there are amazing drawings of all of them.

Species are categorized by their habitat, so if you are looking up a specific species you will need to know something about them to get started. Or, this is a book that you can pick up and open to literally any page to learn something about any creature big and small, well known or not. Alternately, there is a good index in the back of all the species by name and by some of the locations where they are found. Some species include notes about famous figures in the history of their kind. Some references have handwritten notes with the observations from the traveler.

Strangely, this book includes no direct references to humans, maybe the author thought that humans weren’t worth talking about in a book of interesting species. On the other hand, if you are desperate to hear about tales of the humans there are many familiar figures and heroes included in the articles about species like the Rodians, or the Lanai. Also, there are multiple entries for “species: unknown; homeworld: unknown”. This book even includes information about aliens when we don’t know what species they are classified to be, like Yoda and Maz.

This book includes characters and species from the movies, books, tv shows (even Resistance!), comic books and more. It will be best appreciated by a true fan that may have wondered just what a Momong looks like, or where a Frigosian is from. This is a colorful and informative addition to the bookshelf of any true Star Wars fan.

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