Review: Resistance Reborn

If I had to describe Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse in one gif, it would be this one:

Resistance Reborn picks up mere days after The Last Jedi ends. The Resistance is in shambles and able to fit entirely upon the Millennium Falcon plus a few starfighters. No one responded to Leia’s call for help but hope still remains. She’s been fighting for freedom for a long time and there are still some favors she can call in. The First Order hasn’t won yet and Leia Freaking Organa’s not about to let them. Continue reading

Resistance Review: Hunt on Celsor 3

So, it turns out — and stop me if this is too shocking — that having pirates on board your ship isn’t always a recipe for success.

Who’d have thought?

In this week’s episode of Star Wars Resistance, “Hunt on Celsor 3,” we learn exactly how much the residents of the Colossus are willing to put up with as they run from the First Order. The problem is, it’s not much. Continue reading

Resistance Review: Live Fire

It’s Griff who speaks the line that sums up the theme of this week’s episode. When Freya makes the comment that she, “didn’t know Imperial Pilots were so concerned about one other,” he answers plainly:

“We weren’t; that’s why we lost.”

“Live Fire” was all about teamwork; it was about team building, trusting your own better nature and that of your colleagues, and learning that we’re all stronger together than any one of us could be all on our own. Continue reading

Review: Spark of the Resistance

The Rise of Skywalker is coming which means our Journey has begun. (Get it? Get it?) Last week, Lucasfilm kicked off their publishing program with Spark of the Resistance by Justina Ireland, a middle grade novel from Disney Lucasfilm Press. Rey, Rose, and Poe are on their way back from a supply mission when they receive a distress call and decide to investigate. Soon, they find themselves pulled into a fight back against the First Order as our heroes race to stop them before they can find a weapon that could spell disaster for the Resistance.

Oh yeah. And also, there are green murder rabbits. Continue reading

Review: Vader Immortal, Episode II

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

Review: Black Spire

Black Spire by Delilah Dawson is an interesting and unique entry into Star Wars canon: it’s a tie in to a theme park expansion. Specifically Galaxy’s Edge, which opened at Disneyland in May and will open August 29 at Walt Disney World. Black Spire is named for the main settlement on the planet Batuu, which the locals refer to as Black Spire Outpos (BSO). When I started this novel, I had not yet visited Galaxy’s Edge, but I finished it in between my two visits, which made exploring the land a little more interesting. (I say “a little more” because the land in and of itself is amazing without any outside knowledge.) But the parts of the novel that described BSO, while making me excited to visit Galaxy’s Edge myself, also took me out of the larger story. Does that mean the novel is bad? No, just different. It’s not every day you read a Star Wars book set in a place you can actually visit.   Continue reading

Review: Star Wars: Myths & Fables

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

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

“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