She talks to wolves...

Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath has come and gon–no, wait, actually it remains for you to purchase at any bookseller you fancy. I mean, probably. Unless the bookseller specializes only in Cheesemaker Biopics Prior to 1900, or Ball Joint Enthusiast tracts. Still, my point stands! Aftermath, the first post-Return of the Jedi novel is out there, and now you can also read my review at Buzzy Mag.

Spoiler: I liked it, but it was a bit of a mess.

Do you know what the most notable aspect of Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath has been? Not that it’s the first post-Return of the Jedi story given to the galaxy. Not that it’s a gripping and fast-paced yarn. Nope. The most notable aspect per the Internet is that it has several gay characters. And space diapers.

I wish I could say I was kidding, but I’m not. I wish I could Jedi mind trick the Internet into being a less bigoted place, but I can’t. What I can do, however, is tell you that Star Wars: Aftermath is a flawed book, but it’s fun, and a worthy addition to the Star Wars we know.

It’s an incredibly busy and diverse galaxy out there, and Wendig’s got that covered in spades. We get a wide view of multitudinous worlds reacting to the news of the Emperor and Vader’s defeat, the exploding of the Death Star, and how the Empire does not shatter. Instead, it crumbles at the edges and the Rebellion victory seeps in as smuggled propaganda, sowing hope with one secretly-watched holomessage at a time.

Read the rest of the review over at Buzzy Mag.

Mirrored from geekdame.com. Please comment there.

Y’all know I miss The Clone Wars. I make absolutely no bones or Force ghosts about it. Rebels is showing promise, sure, and I’m starved for episodes on this hiatus, but The Clone Wars was where I lived.

Happily for me, an eight-part arc of The Clone Wars – scripted, but never produced – was considered ripe for novelization. Christie Golden took those scripts, and she forged them into one hell of an adventure. Check out my thoughts, fully published at BuzzyMAG:

The story follows Asajj Ventress and fan-favorite Quinlan Vos as they work together to achieve a necessary, yet deplorable goal: the assassination of Count Dooku. The Jedi Council sends Vos on this path, valuing his ability to adapt to deep cover and thus court Ventress’ assistance without her knowing he’s a Jedi. Of course, anyone who spent more than a few minutes considering this plan would realize that even the most serene Jedi might have a little trouble hiding their Force affinity in front of a Nightsister of Dathomir and former Sith acolyte. (Someone as swashbuckling as Quinlan Vos, ever skating along the edges of strict Jedi practice, had no chance.) Also, there’s the little problem that you probably need at least two Force-users working together to take on a Sith Lord of Count Dooku’s caliber.

Honestly. The Jedi Council is often very, very dumb.

(Yeah, yeah, Anakin was but one man. THE CHOSEN ONE, MAN.)

[Click here for the full review at BuzzyMAG!]

Mirrored from geekdame.com. Please comment there.

Look, people, never question how much affection I hold for you. I read Heir to the Jedi. I read the whole damn thing, and I DID IT FOR US.

Don’t you walk away from me! Don’t you leave this thing we have together. If I’m bitter now, you only have yourselves to blame! Yourselves, and Kevin Hearne.

Seriously, though, I did read Kevin Hearne’s Heir to the Jedi, and it was not a very good novel. It’s unfortunate that this was my introduction to Hearne’s work, as many of you have told me of the excellence to be found in his The Iron Druid Chronicles. I promise you I will give them a try, because no one should be judged based on this recent Star Wars novel that reads like nothing so much as a defeated author’s scribblings after being henpecked by a boardroom-based canon council.

Y’all should probably just read the review I wrote for you now, kindly published over at BuzzyMAG:

Heir to the Jedi, by Kevin Hearne, is one of our latest forays into a galaxy far, far away. It promises us mystery revealed, seems poised to take us into the daily life of a certain young Skywalker as he grows from the whiny punk of Star Wars into the more sober, experienced man of The Empire Strikes Back. The foreword promises as much from an evidently keen fan of the franchise. And yet, Heir to the Jedi is the worst of the new canon novels.

From its early pages of reported events to Luke’s frankly crappy reasoning skills, this novel commits the cardinal sin of being boring…

Click this link to read the rest over at BuzzyMAG!

Mirrored from geekdame.com. Please comment there.

Have you ever heard the phrase “as the crow flies”? Well ravens are big damn crows, and that’s how this holiday missive was delivered. All the way from Westeros. So no jawin’ about it being the end of January.

On a serious note, I have found it difficult to post this year’s winter holiday card. Kaylee was diagnosed with cancer in September, but we were assured it was a basal-cell carcinoma and a relatively easy fix. It was not, and it hasn’t been fixed. She is still with us at this time, although she is on palliative care. I’m really not prepared to talk about this further right now, apart from this fervent and succinct conclusion: Fuck cancer.

Kaylee is our indomitable Queen, however long her reign may last. We join her in wishing you all catnip mice of a pleasurable hue, or quick claws and a silent death. Depending on whether you head up her Naughty or Nice list, of course.

As always, Lorraine Schleter illustrated our holiday card. I truly believe she outdid herself this year, and you should find more of her work to admire and also hire her for all your illustrative needs. She is a marvelous person to work with.

Mirrored from geekdame.com. Please comment there.

“Gimme those Star Wars… don’t let them end!”

Bill Murray and I may not have much in common, but we’ll always share a croon-worthy desire for more Star Wars.

…oh, that was a bit? Well, there goes THAT fictional friendship.

ANYWAY, I am here with two thumbs and a huge grin to crow about having an ARC of Heir to the Jedi. That’s right, people! I’m getting my Luke on and nobody can stop me! (I’d rather get my Vader on but, you know, Siths will be Siths. And not have any more canon books until Lords of the Sith which, let’s be real, sounds potentially EPICALLY BADASS.)

While I wander off and reconnect with our dubious young Jedi, check out my opinion on the first new-canon installment: the Star Wars Rebels-introducingA New Dawn. You can find a snippet below, and read my full thoughts over onBuzzyMAG.

If there’s one thing you should know aboutStar Wars: A New Dawn, it’s this: it’s just like The Clone Wars animated series, but with more booze and brawling.

This novel is a straightforward, quick read and serves well as the first salvo in the oncoming cavalcade of new Star Warscanon. We’re introduced to several key characters from the upcoming Rebelsanimated series, which I appreciate – I’m definitely going to be watching the show, and getting some more depth out there on the characters before it starts is good form. I also appreciate the diversity the author (or canon designers) are invested in showing: there were many women of multiple species in positions of import, including a human female POC acting Captain at the helm of a Star Destroyer. She even comes out relatively well in the end – for an Imperial, anyway.

(If you think it’s a spoiler that the Empire does well enough for itself in this novel, have you even seen Star Wars? Come on, now.)

Click to keep reading the review at BuzzyMAG…

Reposted from www.geekdame.com.