Novelizations are inherently tricky to review fairly and purely on their own merits. In the case of Star Wars novelizations, readers have definitely seen the movie before picking up the book and formed opinions, myself included. So let’s go ahead and get my biases out of the way: I came into this book with a fondness for Rae Carson’s writing and with something less than love for The Rise of Skywalker. I don’t say the latter to grind an axe with the movie but rather to offer a bit of clarity regarding my approach to such a polarizing film.
(Usually, I’d put a summary of the story here but you don’t really need that, do you? Besides, it’s fun to change things up sometimes.) Continue reading →
Hello, friends! We’re still a week out from Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse, but last week Del Rey whetted our appetites with a new excerpt via io9. This one features our favorite pilot, Poe Dameron, as he tracks down Maz Kanata (my cat’s namesake) at, of all places, a spa. Because why the hell not? Poe’s hair can’t possibly stay that pretty on its own, right?
In news that surprises no one, but is still nice to have confirmation nonetheless, the Disney Parks blog announced that yes, Star Tours will be updated with new modules for The Rise of Skywalker. This is great news as most of the Star Wars focus at the parks has been on Batuu, and Star Tours is still such a great ride, I’m glad it’s not being neglected. The Starspeeder 1000 will take guests to the ocean moon of Kef Bir (where the Death Star ruins are located – presumably another moon of Endor or at least in the same system?), as well as a location yet to be determined. Color me interested! The new modules will debut on December 20, the release day of The Rise of Skywalker.
Oh, and speaking of The Rise of Skywalker…I guess we got the final trailer and tickets went on sale? Not sure if that interests anyone here. But I thought I’d mention it.
Kidding! Of course that’s the biggest news of the past week. We already broke down the trailer on Tosche Station Radio, which you can download on all your favorite podcatching apps. In case you have not yet bought tickets, Star Wars dot com has the scoop on special events and giveaways associated with different theatre chains. And, because why not, here’s another look at the trailer itself. See y’all next week!
Not a lot of news dropped this week, but that doesn’t matter – it was Vanity Fair week! Just like for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, Annie Leibovitz photographed the cast of The Rise of Skywalker. The pictures, as always, are gorgeous. There’s also a rather long article by author Lev Grossman, heavy on speculation but also with some new tidbits. The Knights of Ren are officially back; Keri Russell was “revealed” to play the masked scoundrel Zorri Bliss; Richard Grant is Allegiant General Pryde; there’s a year between TLJ and TRoS; J.J. Abrams commented on using archival footage of Carrie Fisher for new scenes with Leia.
Check out the photos and article here. My favorite photo, of the two coolest cats in the galaxy, is below.
Novelizations are inherently tricky to review fairly and purely on their own merits. In the case of Star Wars novelizations, readers have definitely seen the movie before picking up the book and formed opinions, myself included. So let’s go ahead and get my biases out of the way: I came into this book with a fondness for Rae Carson’s writing and with something less than love for The Rise of Skywalker. I don’t say the latter to grind an axe with the movie but rather to offer a bit of clarity regarding my approach to such a polarizing film.