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Yes, I bought that one a while ago myself. Same edition. Sadly, still not had the time to read it yet. I thought it might be interesting background reading for a possible article on Trump and James Bond villainy. Well, we all know how that thread ended, but the article may still yet appear...
Funny I bought it too same edition. Also on my reading list for after Halloween.
Great! I forgot to add that I bought it in Waterstones.
I bought it in the independent bookshop of Wallingford.
An independent is much better choice of bookshop, but we're pretty limited here in NI. I make up for it somewhat though by regularly shopping in secondhand bookshops too.
Good luck with the article, @Dragonpol!
Independent bookshops are a rarity. I only know of a few near my place.There is the one in Wallingford that always has great stuff you don't think of buying until you see it. And there is one in Marlow which is quite nice but not a real independent one: it's part of a very small chain.
They do author talks and signings, book club, free wine...I'm very lucky. And there's another indie place a little further away with a wonderful secondhand section.
Taking a break from Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books, I decided to first read STAR WARS GUARDIANS OF THE WHILLS, a short novel that talks about Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, two of ROGUE ONE's fan favourite characters. Comic book writer and novelist Greg Rucka clearly wrote this book with a particularly young readership in mind. The prose is simple, the typesetting anything but dense and the book even contains drawings and several empty pages which reduce the already small page number to something well below the equivalent of 100 pages in an adult book. It's easy to sit down and finish GUARIANDS OF THE WHILLS in one take. However, should you?
Truth is, if you liked Chirrut and Baze in ROGUE ONE, I strongly recommend you give this book a try. It won't consume too much of your time and you might actually find things to enjoy. You see, the book explains a few details about the "Protectors of the Temple of the Kyber" and so for the sake of completism alone, you mightn't regret reading GUARIDANS OF THE WHILLS at all. However, if I'm being totally honest, other than those extra bits of mythology, there's not a lot in the story to get excited about. In the end, it all narrows down to one little adventure with nothing of the scope and grandeur of the cinematic battles that Îmwe and Malbus were involved in.
Those weren't words of reproach by the way; Rucka knows exactly what his readers can endure and he delivers precisely that: a fairly simple, straight-forward, uncomplicated story about good versus evil. Any twelve year old who may have found certain aspects of ROGUE ONE to be complicated enough, will no doubt appreciate the easily accessible background story of the Guardians of the Whills. Rucka furthermore makes Chirrut and Baze come off as really cool and gives them some of that highly enjoyable banter we've gotten bits of in ROGUE ONE.
Whether or not I recommend this novel, largely depends of whether or not you are prepared to read a simple but solid and, given the target demographic, well-written story about two very unique characters from the Star Wars cinematic universe. All I can say is, kudos to Greg Rucka for finding the right tone and striving for a balanced treatment of the subject matter. And if you're a Star Wars fan, even as an adult, you'll find things in here to enjoy, that at least I guarantee.
3/5
Thank you, @Agent_99. It's an idea anyway. I may not be brave enough to actually write it and put it out there!
The Divine Pymander
of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus
Translation by John Everard
[1650]
Timothy Zahn's follow-up to ALLEGIANCE is in many ways a direct sequel. He brings back most of the characters from that novel, and he unites Admiral Thrawn and Captain Pallaeon from this original HEIR TO THE EMPIRE trilogy for the first time.
The empire and the rebellion both have an immediate issue to deal with. It involves an Outer Rim war lord, capable of threatening any established order in the galaxy. Various parties are each committed to unravel small and at first seemingly unrelated pieces of a grander mystery. Han, Luke and Leia do their thing while still three friends with no official love or brother-sister relationships. Mara Jade follows the Emperor's instructions, once again coming very close to her future husband Luke. The five dissident Stormtroopers from the previous novel continue to aid in conflicts where they take the side of innocents. Imperials under the leadership of the likes of future captain Pallaeon prepare for battle with an unknown enemy. They will be assisted by a rising power in the form of future Grand Admiral Thrawn. Some unknowns board the imperial ships. On a dual system of planets, another militant group is ready to strike against the local order. And even Darth Vader comes into the picture at one point.
Zahn once again felt the need to introduce countless characters, so that we can spend most of the book grasshopping between plot lines which only converge in the last couple of chapters. The reward is there for those who labour through a dozen and a half chapters, cut up into individual story bits. All of it is well-written and serves to build tension, but too many details and characters can forcefully evacuate the oxygen from one's reading experience. So it really is a matter of not giving up, of pushing through, and those who have read Zahn before, know that it all works out spectacularly well in the end, but patience is a virtue, with or without The Force.
CHOICES OF ONE is another good chapter in Zahn's 'trilogy' of books set between Yavin and Hoth. Though mostly meant for Star Wars fans who have also read Zahn's other books, you can do worse than read this book, if, of course, you're into Star Wars EU. Unlike the HEIR TO THE EMPIRE trilogy, which I would recommend to all Star Wars fans, CHOICES OF ONE was written only for those knee-deep in the Legends books written by Zahn himself. And speaking as one of those fans, I can honestly say I had a great time.
3/5
With STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDI nearly upon us, I thought the time right to dive into one of the 'Journey To' books Disney seems anxious to put out these days. PHASMA, written by Delilah S. Dawson, was perhaps one of my more eagerly awaited books from the Star Wars department because the somewhat mysterious character of Captain Phasma has been a source of interest for me since she first appeared in THE FORCE AWAKENS. Marvel's comic book miniseries was satisfying but didn't answer any questions about Phasma's past. My hopes for the novel were understandably great.
Vi Moradi works for the Resistance. During a routine survey she is caught and brought aboard a Star Destroyer. A crimson armoured stormtrooper who calls himself 'Cardinal' knows that Vi can share incriminating information about Phasma, whom he desperately wants out of his way. Under torture, Vi will tell him Phasma's story. Cardinal is about to discover how Phasma met Brendol Hux, who after several adventures with her and her tribe on a dying planet invited her to join Snoke's New Order.
Truth be told, Delilah Dawson's prose is pleasant and accessible to readers of all ages. I had a fairly good time reading the book insofar as the language is concerned. Phasma's story, however, no doubt heavily 'steered' by Disney, was slightly disappointing. Another outsider, who at a reasonably advanced age (in her twenties) has a chance encounter with a more civilised key player in the ongoing galactic conflicts and rises to the highest echelons of a power structure in seemingly no time. Not unlike farm boy Luke or alien Thrawn, Phasma spends a large portion of her life practically unaware of what's going on in our beloved 'star wars'. But Phasma's unawareness is really stretched to the extreme. She doesn't understand the concept of a 'city' or even of 'droids'. The way Dawson describes her tribe, Phasma strikes me as someone who could have grown up among the lost children from MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME. Jumping from such a barbaric woman with little to no understanding of modern technology, politics and societies to the prime stormtrooper under Snoke's leadership flirts with being totally incredulous. It wasn't a permanent source of aggravation for me, but each time Dawson stressed how ignorant Phasma had once been, I silently cursed Disney for making this her origin story.
Furthermore, Dawson's narrative choice to tell the story from the point of view of observers rather than of Phasma herself, works well for the most part but not always. At certain crucial times we aren't allowed to know what Phasma is thinking, nor how she's feeling about her actions; we're only told what she's doing. I see that as one of the book's main weaknesses, though here again, it's not necessarily an irredeemable fun killer.
Overall, PHASMA isn't a bad book, and it certainly isn't poorly written. Some of the choices made would never have been my own, but then again, that's a highly subjective remark. I'm curious to see if any of the stuff that I now know about Phasma will change my perception of the character in the upcoming Star Wars film. If I get one moment with THE LAST JEDI in which I feel privileged after reading this book, I'll highly recommend it to every Star Wars completist out there. But if those couple of hours I spent reading the book turn our to earn me no extras when watching the new film, I'll happily declare that you can pick better Star Wars books than this one.
3,5/5
I'm only 150 pages out of 700, into it.
I don't like it much. Seems to me the kid wrote it, with the dad chirping in here and there, maybe.
It doesn't flow like an SK novel which I usually can't put down, and I've read all the recent SK stuff.
Dad put a lot of himself into his books. You could get a feel for what the author was about.
Owen is a different sort. I don't find him as interesting. The dad was more relatable.
I kind of warmed to the dad when reading, not so much the son.
I will probably finish this, but it will take a while.
I actually put down Dark Tower III, to read this.
I may finish Dark Tower first.
Re Sleeping Beauties, I am not quibbling with the story. It is interesting enough, but I am not getting the SK attitude and feel, reading what I think is more an Owen King book.
Mind you it's just my opinion. I'm just not feeling it.
Other King readers though,might get a better vibe.
The story is really only now getting started after 150 pages.
It's a slow build.
by W. Wynn Westcott
[1887]
I've just finished this! To be honest I found it hard going; the writing style and humour felt old-fashioned (and I speak as one who reads and enjoys a lot of older books) and there was a large cast of characters with slightly silly names to keep track of. Every now and then, though, something would 'wham' surprisingly hard.
I'm now on M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster, which is a lot of fun: very accessible prose, and plenty of absurd goings-on.
I do know that this novel was written before both appeared, but you know what I mean!
Any relation at all to MyHerpesHermes, Thundy?