I hope everyone got their fill of ‘Watch Bria have an emotional breakdown’ with the last post because we won’t be getting another one of those for awhile.  Now that the Clone Wars are over, we get to look in on what some characters were up to before the Battle of Yavin.  The Coruscant Nights books follow the adventures of Jax Pavan, a Jedi Knight who was lucky enough to survive the Purges and who, for some idiotic reason, is stupid enough to remain on Coruscant instead of fleeing for the stars.

Jedi Twilight
Hey guys.  Do you know who was alive and then died in this book?  Even Piell.  Want to know who I still don’t give a bantha’s butt about?  Yep.  You got it in one.  Literally all I know about him is that there was some continuity snafu and… nope.  Still no caring to be found.

As for the book itself, it’s a decent enough read, I guess?  I could’ve done without everything related to Black Sun because I really don’t care about Kaird or think it was a vital part of the book.  (I mean, out of all the characters to bring back from MedStar, you picked him, Reaves?  Really?)  A lot of things about the plot just felt really convenient.  I still don’t get why Vader is so focused on getting Jax of all the Jedi who might have survive.  I also don’t get why Anakin apparently gave Jax a jewel as a gift a while ago?  Just… what?  Oh and the whole Grey Paladin thing is a bit weird too.  Basically, there are a lot of things I just don’t get but it’s an entertaining enough read to not be a waste of time.  However, I think I enjoyed it more when I first read it a year or two ago.

Oh and when I said I wanted more Nick Rostu, I meant a short story where he and Mace work together to command some battle during the Clone Wars and have lots of humorous exchanges.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still nice to see him being used but it just doesn’t feel like the same Nick although the war can probably be partially blamed for that.  Poor Nick.  He deserves so much better.

Street of Shadows
Reaves, why do you have to make me side-eye this book right off the bat?  Captain Typho being in love with Padme?  Really?  Ayyyyy.  Sorry, I just don’t see it.  In my eyes, any feelings he had for her were more of the siblings persuasion.  I really disliked his inclusion in the book and I’m usually a fan of everything Naboo.  I can buy that he wants to get revenge for Padme but wow does he just not go about it well at all.

The mystery/detective part of the book is good.  I just wish that the rest of the book had stuck to that.  Okay, maaaaaybe the parts with Vader and Aurra Sing can stick around too but I honestly still don’t get why Vader is so obsessed with finding Jax.  In all honesty, I think that if he was going to be obsessed with finding one particular Jedi that it would be Obi-Wan Kenobi but hey that’s just me.  This singular obsession makes no sense.  Just go back to wanting to kill all the Jedi, Anakin.  Also, there are a few issues with characters knowing things that I don’t think they should know and just some general logic and continuity flaws that had me raising an eyebrow but then again, me being confused with these books seems to be a trend.  Aside from that, I was going to ask if light whips are in vogue now but then I got to the introduction of this energy sword and I rolled my eyes so hard.

Again, this isn’t a bad book and I do like the addition of the detective genre to the EU but there are issues I have with the book that just make me disinclined to read it again in the near future.

Patterns of Force
Yeah, I’ve just accepted at this point that these books aren’t my cup of tea but then again, that’s one of the great parts of the Expanded Universe.  There’s something out there for everyone and you certainly don’t need to love all of the published books.

It’s a fine read and actually derives away from three separate plot line issue that bothered me with the previous two books.  It also nicely wraps up a lot of the plot lines from the entire series.  I am, however, still trying to figure out why Vader really cares that much about Jax.  I just don’t get it.  Still.  Really, I’ve been trying to figure it out all day.  The character I think I ended up liking the best was Pol Haus, the police prefect.  Despite his lack of page time, I felt like I knew him better as a character than some of the team members who’d been around since the first book.

Also, Rhinann should know better than to try and get himself Force powers by using bota.  Honestly, that sort of thing NEVER works; just ask everyone in the Marvel Universe who tries to become a mutant.  I-Five might be the only reasonably thinking character in the books.  Good for him.

Like I said, these aren’t bad reads.  The second book is probably the weakest and I do think the third was an improvement.  The books certainly had flaws and redeeming qualities but they just weren’t my cup of tea.  Although I do now have a character and author pair to point people towards when they talk about what a Gary Stu Corran Horn is.  So that’s something.

Next up, we come to some of my favorite guilty pleasure books: the Han Solo Trilogy!  I’m very excited to read about the fantastic adventures of Han Solo and Bria… Tharen.  As always, if you’d like to keep a real time eye on my progress, you can follow me on Twitter @chaosbria or the hashtag #WaruExpress.