Black Spire was written by Delilah S. Dawson. It was released in 2019. I was given the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition of this book, which contains a painting of Black Spire Outpost. The painting opens up into what is meant to look like a hand drawn map of the location.
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Star Wars: Canto Bight includes four short stories about the Star Wars version of Las Vegas. Each is written by a different author. It was released in December of 2017, and connects to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie.
Readers can enjoy the short stories in this book without having watched The Last Jedi movie. That said, those who have watched the movie will have the advantage of knowing what a Fathier looks like.
Canto Bight includes four short stories that connect to each other in subtle ways. I recommend you read the stories in the order that they are presented, so you can enjoy recognizing what carried over from one story to another. To me, it felt like I was finding little “Easter eggs” woven into the narratives.
Continue Reading “Star Wars: Canto Bight – by Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller”
Wade Owen Watts, a poor kid who could be described as homeless, embarks upon an adventure in a virtual world. The OASIS is a vivid, incredibly detailed, virtual reality world that provides more opportunities than the real world does. Ready Player One can be described as a science-fiction dystopia story.
The OASIS was created by James Halliday and his business partner, Ogden Morrow. (The two grew apart over the years.) Upon Halliday’s death, a contest was announced. The first person to find Halliday’s “Easter egg” would receive Halliday’s entire fortune and corporation. Wade becomes an egg hunter, or “Gunter”, and makes a few friends who are on the same quest.
WARNING: This book review contains some spoilers!
Blood Sky is the fourth part of The After Series. I highly recommend that you read the first three books: Fallen, Cold Light, and Far Shore. You will get much more out of Blood Sky if you take the time to read through the earlier portions of the story first. Relationships are made, and broken, and sometimes repaired along the way.
Traci L. Slatton does a good job of reminding readers about the most significant things that happened in the previous books. This is not meant as a replacement for reading them, though. It is important that you “live through that” with the characters before jumping into the fourth book of the series. One of the things I love about Slatton’s books is that she makes the reader truly care about what happens to the characters (both major and minor).
Blueprints of the Afterlife is one part science-fiction (from the not so distant future), one part dystopia (masquerading as a utopia in parts), and one part a story about the importance of knowing who you really are.
It’s a gigantic puzzle for the reader to put together, as told by characters in chapters that are juxtaposed out of context with chapters from the viewpoint of other characters. Some of the characters never meet each other, and yet, are connected in a string of events directed by a mysterious man named Dirk Bickle.
I love it when books make me think about how all the pieces fit together, rather than spelling it all out for me. This is one of those books that had me thinking about the “universe” it exists in, and how it functions (or dysfunctions), long after I’d finished reading the story.
Continue Reading “Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot”
Far Shore is the third book in the After series. I highly recommend that you read Fallen (the first book in the series) and Cold Light (the second book in the series) before diving into Far Shore.
This book picks up not too long after the second book left off. I get the feeling it might be only a few months later. The post-apocolyptic world is still plagued with deadly mists that dissolve almost everything in their path.
At first, it appears that Emma has found some stability, but this changes quickly. She has to make some tough decisions, yet again. This time, however, her choices require her to give up everything she loves (but not at the same time).
Cold Light is the second book in the After Series by Traci L. Slatton. The first book is called Fallen, and I fell in love with it immediately.
I recommend reading Fallen before reading Cold Light, in order to get the full story. That being said, I think Cold Light might stand up on its own. Some of what happened in the first book is mentioned, or at least eluded to, in the second book.
Cold Light picks up not long after Fallen ends, in a post-apocalyptic world that is in constant danger. Mists that eat metal, turn buildings to dust, and dissolve people, are still roaming the world. In addition, there is the danger that happens when desperate people, struggling to survive, see others as their enemy.
Star Wars: The Last Command is the third book in a series that has been referred to as “The Thrawn Trilogy”. The series is not considered to be cannon, which is a shame, because it is an excellent story.
I would highly recommend that people who are interested in this book take the time to read Star Wars: Heir to the Empire the first book of the trilogy and Star Wars: Dark Force Rising before beginning Star Wars: The Last Command. The entire trilogy reads like one, big, story. You will miss out on some very important information if you skipped right to the third book.
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Star Wars: Dark Force Rising is book two in a three-book cycle. It is part of what has been referred to as “The Thrawn Trilogy”. All three books were written by Timothy Zahn. It is my understanding that this trilogy is not considered to be canon in Star Wars lore. Personally, I enjoyed the first book in the series, Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, and was equally impressed by this second book.
I would recommend that people read Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, the first book in this trilogy, before diving into the second book. Book Two picks up shortly after Book One left off. Skip the first book, and you miss out on much of the plot that continues to weave through the story. In short, this book has an impressive amount of characterization and backstory on a race that could easily have been neglected. It also is filled with political intrigue.
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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire is part one in a three-book cycle. It is also referred to as “The Thrawn Trilogy”. (Thrawn is a main character in the trilogy). All three books were written by Timothy Zahn.
There seems to be some debate over whether or not The Thrawn Trilogy is considered to be canon in Star Wars lore. Some say it is (or that it should be). Others point out that the upcoming Star Wars movies aren’t following closely to what happens in this trilogy, or that they may have thrown it out altogether. I haven’t done much digging into that whole debate, so I’ll simply note it here and move on.
Continue Reading “Star Wars: Heir to the Empire – by Timothy Zahn”
