Rancors Love to Read: Star Wars Book Reviews

Andrew's Review of Star by Star

2012-01-23T20:15:00.003-05:00

5/5 Rancors - Troy Denning's Star by Star is the centerpiece of the New Jedi Order, the plunge the first eight books have built toward (some directly and some in a more meandering way). The book itself is massive: I don't have a word count but it is certainly one of the longest works in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The action is almost non-stop and the stakes have never felt higher as the Yuuzhan Vong finally make their assault on Coruscant itself. The Jedi are forced into action, desperate to save the shreds of the New Republic and the lives of countless innocents.

The prior two books spent a great deal of time building the character of Anakin Solo, seemingly positioning him to be the heir to Luke's mantle and allowing him to develop into a fully interesting personality. He takes center stage in Star by Star, accompanied by his twin siblings Jacen and Jaina and a host of young Jedi from the Young Jedi Knights stories. I confess I have not read those, so some of these characters most likely resonate more strongly with those who have, but Mr. Denning sketches in enough detail and history that I felt comfortable with the rather large group that becomes a Jedi strike team. Enough at least to give the series of horrific events to follow some weight.

The primary storyline of Star by Star concerns itself with the aforementioned young Jedi forming a strike team and venturing to a worldship that hosts the voxyn queen, the source of the voxyn clones which have been hounding Jedi across the galaxy. It is a well-written, tense, and extremely engaging plot. The Jedi struggle with how close to the Dark Side to dance as they are confronted with unrelenting darkness aboard the Vong vessel. There were points where I found this storyline a trifle overdone, where I was ready for events to come to their conclusion and move along, but in its defense the mental and physical exhaustion of the team shines through as Mr. Denning devotes so many pages to their mission.

The secondary storyline involves the political and military maneuvering as the net tightens around Coruscant. Borsk Fey'lya, the shifty Bothan familiar from many prior novels, is trying to hold the New Republic together as he thinks best and he receives quite a few great scenes throughout the story. The battle of Coruscant itself is certainly cinematic in scope and Borsk's final scene in the book is absolutely stellar.

Star by Star has been out for years and the key events of the ending are likely known to most Expanded Universe fans, but I am still unwilling to spoil them here. The biggest character shock came out of nowhere for me, as it was handled in a manner that would make George R. R. Martin proud (and I intend that as a compliment). I frantically finished the novel, expecting something to reverse the tragedy that had just occurred, but it was for real. It's challenging to analyze further without risking spoiling the event itself, so I will leave it by simply acknowledging it as a very bold choice and one that fundamentally changed all novels to follow.

I struggled a bit with a rating for Star by Star, wavering between four and five rancors. My uncertainty stems from a feeling of fatigue finishing the book, a sense that it may have overstayed its welcome and dragged out some plots for too long. Of course, I cherish many far longer non-Star Wars books: it is simply a standard for a brisk story I tend to hold these stories to. However, my net feeling is the length and repetition of dark happenings gives weight and credence to the storyline itself, and the reader feels the exhaustion that the characters are enduring. So I will round up for full marks. There is no denying that Star by Star is one of the most significant Expanded Universe works and is a required read for anyone intending to delve past this point in the chronological history.

Andrew's Review of Darth Plagueis

2011-12-27T14:37:00.010-05:00

5/5 Rancors - I was lucky enough to read this via an advance copy a month before its public release date. James Luceno has long been one of my favorite Star Wars Expanded Universe authors and my anticipation for this particular story was rather high, especially in light of its multi-year path to publication. Mr. Luceno has always excelled at weaving obscure aspects of the Star Wars galaxy into his tales and with that attention to detail combined with the opportunity to explore the origins of Darth Sidious via his master Darth Plagueis, it’s safe to say my expectations could not have been much higher.

Happily, Darth Plagueis does not disappoint. By telling the story of Plagueis’ rise to power, Mr. Luceno unlocks secrets of the corresponding rise of Palpatine and his eventual ascension to Sith ruler of the galaxy. After a prologue, notable for being a scene that we already know about from Revenge of the Sith’s opera discussion but one that we don’t know the WHEN of, the story jumps back to over sixty years before the Battle of Yavin. Several politically-oriented story hooks are embedded here, ones that may try the patience of a reader looking for a more battle-oriented tale, but they do pay off as a complex Sith plot is put into place throughout the novel. It is certainly helpful to have some working knowledge of Star Wars species and locales, as references to both are varied and numerous. If not, have the Star Wars Encyclopedia handy.

Two of the more intriguing topics introduced by the prequels that this novel touches upon are the nature of the controversial midichlorians and whether the Sith played a role in the creation of Anakin Skywalker. It’s difficult to broach these topics without spoiling specifics of the book. On the first, Mr. Luceno posits theories on the nature of the midichlorians which permit them to have a role in the Force without completely demystifying the beloved Yoda dialogue from The Empire Strikes Back. On the second I’ll only say I prefer there to be some mystery around Anakin’s origins and that I was content with how it was treated here.

I found Darth Plagueis a reasonably intriguing main character to follow but the book shines brightest when giving Palpatine the stage. His story follows a logical progression from his Naboo origin to his years as a political novice followed by his movement into the Senate. Scenes from Palpatine’s POV have been rare in the Expanded Universe and there are a wealth of them here. Some moments are downright fascinating to picture, such as the first time Palpatine tests his ability to conceal his Sith nature from a Jedi at a social event. The book depicts Palpatine’s plans as being more fluid than they appear in the films, as he navigates ever-changing situations and strives to balance his public and private personas, along with handling both a Master and an apprentice.

Darth Plagueis ends strongly and with a treatment of events from The Phantom Menace which adds layers of complexity and interest to what is already so familiar from the film. After the years of anticipation for this book, Mr. Luceno does not disappoint, and while I think more casual fans of Star Wars may find sections of it dry (due to the numerous EU references and plot points), readers who are versed in a cross-section of the books and comics and who want to know more about Palpatine will be richly rewarded.

David's Review of Star Wars: Knight Errant

2011-11-26T08:34:00.011-05:00

4/5 Rancors - Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller is an original adventure featuring an inexperienced Jedi Kerra Holt, the star of the Knight Errant comic series by Dark Horse. The action takes place in ancient times, approximately 1,000 years before A New Hope and Luke Skywalker and a generation before Darth Bane. The Republic is going through critical times, and the Sith are numerous and powerful. The Sith also seem to spend most of their time maneuvering against each other or going to war when they think there is anything to be gained. Kerra Holt has mounted a one Jedi campaign to create chaos among the Dark Lords whenever she can.

All of this makes for interesting reading, although it can be a little hard to follow at times. It can be disconcerting to read a Star Wars book and not know a single character. However, we get to meet Lords Daiman and Odion, two crazy Sith brothers with separate empires, plus a number of other individuals who we have not met before. The Sith Lords are all actually part of an interrelated network of Sith leaders who may be related but still hate each other. The Machiavellian intrigues are incredible, and basically morals do not exist.

Jedi Holt is prepared to go against such Sith and do as much damage as she can. She does manage to find some help along the way from a mysterious Sith spy and a resourceful mercenary general. She faces numerous perils along the way and manages to find ways to deal with most of them.

Mr. Miller has written an interesting book with a look at a very different part of the Star Wars saga. Give Knight Errant a try.

David's Review of Star Wars: Darth Plagueis

2011-11-15T20:35:00.010-05:00

5/5 Rancors - Let me first say that my copy of Darth Plagueis is an advance copy obtained through the Amazon Vine program. The book is not scheduled to be officially released until January 10, 2012. The wait will be well worth it.

James Luceno's Star Wars books have always been among my favorites, and Darth Plagueis also ranks high on the list. This was a much-anticipated book, and it delivers beautifully. Star Wars fans have thirsted for more information about Darth Plagueis ever since the memorable scene at the Squid Lake performance by the Mon Calamari Ballet in Revenge of the Sith when Palpatine tells Anakin the tale of The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. He succeeds in introducing to Anakin the idea of creating or extending life through manipulation of midi-chlorians.

Now, Mr. Luceno has given us the back-story we wanted. We are introduced to Darth Plagueis' history, and we get to see how he connected with Palpatine and gradually turned him into Darth Sidious. We are also introduced to Darth Maul. The interesting times just never stop. The book has a great deal of technical information about the Sith and about the Force, a huge amount of political intrigue, and some outstanding action scenes. Mr. Luceno does an excellent job of expanding situations that we first saw in the films.

I could go on, but I expect that you get the idea that I like the book. Darth Plagueis should not be missed.

David: Rancor Spotting #23

2011-09-20T11:34:00.004-04:00

Star Wars: Complete Locations illustrated by Hans Jensen and Richard Chasemore

Pages 160-161

Complete Locations is an excellent coffee-table size book that gives you detailed information and drawings about many of the locations in the Star Wars saga. So, of course it would include the Rancor pit below Jabba's throne room. The pit is rumored to have been hollowed from a sacred B'omarr grotto and is now littered with the regurgitated bones of the Rancor's meals. Try to remember the first time you saw Luke fight the beast and the disconsolate reaction of Malakili, the beast wrangler. This is an excellent book to peruse at length.

David's Review of Choices of One

2011-09-16T21:47:00.008-04:00

5/5 Rancors - Mr. Zahn is best known for his eight previous Star Wars books, and I have always found his work to be extremely good, especially the novels with the Imperial officer Thrawn. Choices of One is another excellent effort and is great fun to read. It takes place in the period after A New Hope but before The Empire Strikes Back. We have Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Mara Jade in lead roles. What could be better?

The plot revolves around Rebel efforts to find a new base eight months after the battle of Yavin. Governor Ferrouz of Candoras Sector offers an alliance that would provide the Rebels with sanctuary. In return, the Rebels would offer protection against the alien warlord Nusso Esva. New characters in the Star Wars world. That's a good thing. Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are given the mission of evaluating the deal. This requires a trip to Candoras to see if the alliance is indeed possible.

Of course, very little is simple in Mr. Zahn's books. It turns out that our heroes are not the only ones headed in that direction. Mara Jade, known as the Emperor's Hand, and the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment are headed in the same direction to stop Ferrouz and ambush the Rebels. From there, one betrayal leads to another, and things are not always what they seem to be. Mr. Zahn excels in character development and in descriptions of action scenes. His portrayal of Han Solo back in those days is just classic. Sarcastic, questioning, cocky - but at the same time, extremely capable. The byplay between Han and Leia is great fun as the two strong-willed characters deal with each other.

Timothy Zahn's classic book Heir to the Empire from twenty years ago is given credit for reigniting the world of Star Wars publishing. It is a wonderful book. LucasBooks has now released a 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire, complete with annotations by the author, exclusive commentary from Lucasfilm and Del Ray, and a brand-new novella starring Grand Admiral Thrawn. The hardcover edition looks great, and I cannot wait to read it.

Mr. Zahn's books are always worth reading, and Choices of One is no exception.

Andrew's Review of Edge of Victory II: Rebirth

2011-09-15T21:36:00.003-04:00

4/5 Rancors - In Rebirth, the concluding volume of the Edge of Victory duology, Greg Keyes widens the scope considerably from the first book Conquest. This time around there is a familiar Star Wars-style juggling of several important plotlines and more time is devoted to action rather than discussion/exploration. Still, the pace rarely flags, interest is maintained throughout, and it is a worthy successor to the superb first book. Also, even though both books in the duology are on the short side, Rebirth is distinct enough from Conquest that I accept the decision to split the story in half with no qualms. Conquest was an internal character study at heart, while Rebirth steps in to propel the story forward and set the stage for Troy Denning's massive Star by Star.

The title plays into several elements of Rebirth, but at its core appears to represent the rebirth of hope, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Mara Jade's pregnancy has progressed to a critical point and the sudden resurgence of her illness throws her health, along with the future of the Skywalker line, into doubt. The Yuuzhan Vong restart their invasion as they move on the Givin planet Yag'Dhul, a memorable locale where the natives are periodically exposed to the vacuum of space and have evolved accordingly. Shaper Nen Yim returns, demoted from the events of Conquest but developing an alarming desire to exact horrible vengeance on the New Republic and all inhabitants of the galaxy.

Tahiri and Anakin travel together as she rehabilitates from her torture at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong. She now has a second personality implanted in her, a Vong that surfaces periodically, much to Anakin's alarm. This split makes her an interesting character, as does Anakin's vision of what she might become. Her rebirth from the depths also shines a light on new ways to bridge the gap between the galaxy's inhabitants and the Yuuzhan Vong, as she understands them in a way no other outsider can.

Political events take an intriguing turn in Rebirth as the government issues an order for the arrest of Luke Skywalker. The concept of this uber-powerful sect of Force-wielding individuals and their uneasy balance with the official government has always been fertile ground but not always fully utilized. Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya is not a one-sided character at this point: sure, he's a career politician, but we see between the lines that he may be a bit more sympethetic a character than he has often been portrayed. Luke's reaction to learning of his pending arrest is completely in character and provocative as a discussion point, depending on how each individual reader views the ideal role of the Jedi.

Rebirth was a bit more of a standard Star Wars Expanded Universe entry than Conquest before it, but it held up fine to the high standard set by its predecessor. The pace continued to be brisk, the dialogue well-writen, and the characters pushed forward in satisfying ways. To this point in the New Jedi Order, the Edge of Victory duology offers the most bang for your buck.

Andrew's Review of Edge of Victory I: Conquest

2011-09-15T21:31:00.003-04:00

5/5 Rancors - Greg Keyes' Conquest, the first part of the Edge of Victory duology, breaks new ground in the continuing New Jedi Order and represents a blast of fresh air in its approach. The six books prior to this one all followed the standard Star Wars methodology of interweaving several plotlines of varying levels of intensity. Mr. Keyes throws that out the window and locks down an almost singular focus on Anakin Solo. He does present some chapters from a Yuuzhan Vong's point of view, and a few bits involving Talon Karrde, miscellaneous Jedi in the prologue, and others, but this is definitively Anakin's tale. This razor focus pays off in spades: the book moves quickly and for the first time in a while I found myself thinking "just one more chapter..." when I was trying to put it down and go to bed.

So, kudos for a different approach are in order. The story itself is first-rate as well. The Vong have temporarily halted their assault on the galaxy and claim a true peace is possible, as long as the New Republic hands over the Jedi. This edict puts all Jedi at risk, especially ones in isolated regions of the galaxy far from the head Jedi on Coruscant. It also, to Anakin's sudden realization and alarm, puts at risk the younglings in the training school on Yavin IV. Defying orders, Anakin tears out to the Yavin system and ends up entangled in a conflict with both Peace Brigaders and the Vong themselves as he attempts to rescue his closest friend Tahiri and a few other academy members.

Anakin Solo comes into his own in Conquest. At the start of the book, he was just one of the three Solo kids and not any more or less interesting than his older twin siblings, at least to me. By the end of Conquest, you can't help but be fully rooting for him. He comes to terms with his Jedi heritage; he divines new insights into the Yuuzhan Vong; he chooses a course of action many readers have likely been aching to see a Jedi take over the first six books, one centered in good and humbleness, unlike the at-times murky motivations of fellow Jedi Kyp Durron and his followers. Anakin Solo shows every sign of becoming a great Jedi and a great leader.

He is also given two solid foils in the book: the first is his best friend Tahiri, a young woman who he realizes he is starting to have more complex emotions about. A tragic event that befalls Tahiri is central to propelling Anakin's character arc forward and does so perfectly. During her absence from Anakin's side, he meets the outcast Yuuzhan Vong warrior Vua Rapuung. Their dialogue is tightly delivered, as each attempts to reach a sort of uneasy alliance to further his own goals. Rapuung's philosophies are unveiled by Anakin's probing questions, and as a reflection of that Anakin better understands himself and his own beliefs. The action-packed climax driven by Rapuung is also excellent, cinematic in its tenseness and pacing.

The other triumph of Conquest is its exploration of the Yuuzhan Vong shaper culture. We are given many scenes from the point of view of Nen Yim, a Vong apprentice shaper. Through her we learn about aspects of the Vong culture outside of the warriors the prior books depicted. We glean more of the reasoning behind their assault on the New Republic and also possible points of commonality as Nen Yim dares to apply a modern scientific approach to her research. Conquest also introduces the Shamed Ones, a downtrodden lower caste who don't necessarily share or support the views of their leaders. All great material set up to be used in future books.

For all these reasons, Conquest is the best book in the New Jedi Order to this point. Anakin Solo becomes a fully-fledged hero in these pages and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion is given some sorely-needed subtleties and inflections it was lacking beforehand. Highly recommended!

Andrew's Review of Balance Point

2011-09-06T19:32:00.004-04:00

3/5 Rancors - Kathy Tyers returns to the Star Wars Expanded Universe with Balance Point, the second hardcover and sixth novel overall in the New Jedi Order. I call out that it was published as a hardcover first for this reason: Del Rey indicated at the time that the key events of the New Jedi Order would take place in the hardcovers, and that if one only wanted to read them, they would be sufficiently knowledgeable to enjoy the overall story. On one level, I agree with that: I see no major issues in picking this up after reading Vector Prime. Of course, much of the color and detail would be lost, but the core of the story would be intact. On another level, I find it interesting, because Balance Point doesn't stand out to me as any more meaningful than the four paperbacks before it. The war grinds on. We learn a little more about the Vong. Jacen debates. There is one major development for Luke and Mara but that alone doesn't seem to warrant a hardcover.

Balance Point is primarily set on the devastated factory world of Duros. There are multiple refugee camps on the surface in sheltered domes. The Duros themselves live in space facilities surrounding the planet. The setting is evocative enough but I was as happy as the characters were to put it behind me at the end of the book. Like various species before them, the Duros attempt to make a deal with the Vong, a deal we know the whole time will go horribly awry. The payoff at the end to this storyline is sufficient but unsurprising.

Spoiling one detail, Mara Jade is surprised to realize she is pregnant. Ms. Tyers nicely depicts Mara and Luke's feelings over this development: their joy at the prospect of a child but their fears of bringing a new life into such a troubled galaxy. Mara being who she is, her mother-to-be status does not stop her from actively continuing in her role as a Jedi and in fact deepens her commitment, as she has even more worth fighting for. I found Luke and Mara's story to be the most rewarding part of the book.

The Solo family has a needed reunion as all three children along with Han and Leia are placed together on Duros. Han and Leia finally reconcile after all the bitterness of the prior four novels and it is good to see. Anakin is growing rapidly into his persona and beliefs, while Jaina struggles to recover from an injury and a blow to her self-confidence. Jacen debates his relationship to the Force at length. His meditations are interesting yet wearisome all at once.

Balance Point is an adequate continuation of the New Jedi Order but at this point the storyline needs to advance in more unexpected ways. There's a feeling of dots being connected as the various authors offer their entries and then step aside.

Andrew's Review of Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse

2011-09-06T19:28:00.005-04:00

4/5 Rancors - James Luceno's Jedi Eclipse, the conclusion to his Agents of Chaos duology, ratchets the pace up a notch and provides one of the more memorable events of the New Jedi Order in its climax. The invasion of the galaxy continues. As the story starts we find Princess Leia desperately attempting to aid New Republic citizens about to be overrun by the Yuuzhan Vong. The opening also features arrogant Jedi Wurth Skidder and sets his story on a very intriguing arc, as he permits himself to be captured by the Vong. Han is continuing to travel with Droma and needs to complete Droma's quest to find his missing Ryn relatives to help heal his own emotional turmoil. Jacen and Anakin Solo set off to the Corellian system as part of a plan to re-activate Centerpoint, the massively powerful space station featured in the earlier Correllian Trilogy.

Wurth's journey as a Vong captive provides new insights into the culture of the extra-galactic invaders. He is forced to serve a yammosk, the massive creatures which serve the Vong as war coordinators. The risk is high, as the yammosk is able to peer into sentients' minds. Wurth walks a fine line of attempting to maintain contact with the yammosk while keeping his identity as a Jedi unrevealed. Eventually things fall apart, and Wurth takes a character leap forward as he accepts his destiny. I liked what Mr. Luceno did with the character and his sacrifice sets up interesting themes to come in the New Jedi Order, especially as a young Hutt travelling aboard the Vong ship comes to idolize him. At a point in the series where Luke and many of his closest advisors are taking relatively little action, Wurth provides a needed Jedi alternative.

Han and Droma continue to journey through the galaxy, and we also spend time with the refugee Ryn they are tracking as the Ryn are shuffled through a depressing series of refugee ships and camps. Han's emotional state continues to stabilize as action helps him to put the events of Vector Prime behind him. I can't say I find this emotional arc to be a story I ever particularly wanted to read but Mr. Luceno handles these stages of Han's journey well. While Han moves around the galaxy, Leia ends up in the Hapan system with her old suitor Prince Isolder. Nice to see a tie to The Courtship of Princess Leia, and though I found the duel storyline a bit trite, the end result of the Hapan commitment to the war is staggering.

Which brings us to the most interesting aspect of the climax: the Solo boys arrive at Centerpoint station in the middle of conflicting internal and external pressures. Jacen is continuing to question his relationship to the Force. Anakin is dealing with guilt from Vector Prime. Thracken Sal-Solo reappears and unsurprisingly is not entirely benevolent in his intentions. The Corellian system itself feels ill-used by the New Republic, a theme which will be explored thoroughly in later series. In the midst of all this, there is a simple scene where Anakin must decide whether to fire the weapon or not. His decision and the following ramifications are excellently depicted and the debate over what the right course of action was is fascinating.

Mr. Luceno handles the end of his duology quite capably, and of course manages to work in numerous call-outs to other Expanded Universe material. In the grand scheme of things, these books are part of a larger issue I have with the New Jedi Order storyline, as book after book hit similar points and the invasion drags on, but this one is a standout within that framework.

Andrew's Review of Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial

2011-08-16T21:58:00.006-04:00

3/5 Rancors - James Luceno's command of the intricacies of the Star Wars Expanded Universe makes him one of my favorite authors of tales of the galaxy far, far away. The Agents of Chaos duology, started by Hero's Trial, finds him fitting a story into the larger framework of the New Jedi Order. Some themes from the first three volumes carry straight into Hero's Trial and are very little changed. The New Republic politicians continue to grapple with the government response to the broadening war and humanitarian crises. The arguments for and against involvement have not changed much from the prior books. The Yuuzhan Vong continue to scheme and invade worlds. We do learn more about their separate castes, including spending time with an elite member of the priest caste. Han continues to grieve for his loss depicted in Vector Prime, but in this case Mr. Luceno does take this element and expand upon it, making Han's journey through grief the central focus of the duology.

Some closure is brought to the tragic events of Vector Prime as the heroes attend a funeral near the start of the story. This scene was a nice retrospective of a hero's life but it didn't pack the emotional punch one might wish for. It is more a summary of events than a deep-feeling send-off. Still, it works well enough, and sets the stage for Han's journey to come. After returning to Coruscant and meeting surprise old friend Roa (from the Han Solo Adventures), Han sets off on a journey to ascertain what has become of Roa's wife and also to deal with a new threat, the Peace Brigade. The Peace Brigade are an interesting addition, essentially mercenary traitors to the New Republic willing to sell out anyone to the Vong for money. The public persona they depict is one of reasonably working with the invaders (hence the name) but their motivations are much more selfish.

Leia has given up on a wide-scale official response to the invasion and is off aiding refugees as best she can with limited resources. Otherwise she spends most of the novel reacting to Han's lashing out. Luke continues to debate with his Jedi the best course of action. At this point in the New Jedi Order, I'm ready to see the Jedi take decisive stances, but their ongoing deliberations do play well off of the tragic events involving Corran Horn in Ruin, the prior novel.

The most interesting new storyline of Hero's Trial focuses on a Yuuzhan Vong priestess named Elan and her cryptic familiar Vergere. Elan is ordered to inhale a virus with intent to expel it upon a gathering of Jedi. She will accomplish this by pretending to be a defector. Her loyalty is never in doubt through her story arc, but Vergere's is considerably more intriguing, especially her last action of the story. Her role is greatly expanded upon in future novels but is well introduced here, and for readers who have already explored Mr. Luceno's prequel-era novel Cloak of Deception, her appearance here is extremely interesting indeed.

Mr. Luceno does introduce an entertaining, if rather stereotyped, companion for Han to travel with in the form of Droma, a Ryn. Droma has some lively sparring with Han and a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments. The hanging plotline at the end involves Droma; otherwise Hero's Trial is largely self-contained (with the exception of the overall invasion which of course continues through all nineteen books). I always thoroughly enjoy Mr. Luceno's ability to reference past events and characters of the Expanded Universe and that does not disappoint here. What does disappoint a bit is that the story doesn't seem necessary, with the possible exception of redemption for Han. Most of the larger plot elements just spin along and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion feels very similar at the end to how it did at the start.

Andrew's Review of Dark Tide II: Ruin

2011-07-20T12:27:00.004-04:00

3/5 Rancors - The conclusion of the Dark Tide Duology, Michael Stackpole's Ruin resumes the Corran Horn-centered storyline started in Onslaught. Unlike that first volume, here Mr. Stackpole frequently writes scenes from the Yuuzhan Vong point-of-view. Their war leader Shedao Shai has become fixated on the remains of his ancestors that were desecrated by Corran in the prior volume (from Shai's perspective). In the grander scheme of things, the Vong invasion continues to roll into the galaxy while the Senate squabbles and the Jedi attempt to define their role in countering the assault.

Ruin delves further into the overarching Vong philosophy. We are introduced to the Embrace of Pain, a ritualistic torture device they use to become closer to reality. In the most gripping storyline of the book, pacifist Caamasi Senator Elegos A'Kla journeys to meet with the Vong and foster understanding between the Republic and the invaders. The interplay between Elegos and Shedao Shai is fascinating as it reveals key cultural differences which appear insurmountable. The tension is high, as Elegos is well aware he could meet with a violent end at any moment, and the final end point of the relationship is the most memorable scene in the book.

Ruin's primary action piece centers on the invasion of the peaceful jungle world Ithor. It is well-written but the tone of these stories continues to be somewhat oppressive when compared to earlier "high-adventure" Star Wars tales. Planets burning, numerous decapitations, constant mentions of pain, droids being destroyed en masse: it is grim stuff. The New Jedi Order authors were simply working within the larger framework of a story designed to bring "darkness" to the galaxy far, far away, but there is a sense of diminished fun overall, and here it is noticeable when compared to Mr. Stackpole's earlier works.

Other story elements work satisfactorily within the larger plot: Luke and Mara set off after a rogue Jedi seeking a superweapon, Han is still locked away grieving on Coruscant, and Leia negotiates with the remnants of the Empire to gain their assistance in the war. The return of Admiral Pallaeon is certainly welcome and seeing the New Republic and Imperial Remnant work together to repel the invaders is gratifying when taken in its in-universe historical context. The net result is Ruin certainly continues the story of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion capably enough, but beyond the plot focused on Elegos A'Kla, it does not prove to be one of the more memorable entries.

Andrew's Review of Dark Tide I: Onslaught

2011-03-25T16:17:00.005-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Michael Stackpole’s Dark Tide I: Onslaught picks up the New Jedi Order baton from R.A. Salvatore’s Vector Prime and is the first in a duology. Mr. Stackpole is a veteran of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, loved for his superb series of adventures featuring Rogue and Wraith Squadrons. The Yuuzhan Vong invasion storyline takes a darker turn than those earlier stories but Mr. Stackpole still manage to insert his trademark humor along with the dynamic starfighter battles.

Many of the ongoing Star Wars authors have a favorite self-created character and Mr. Stackpole’s is Corran Horn, Corellian investigator-turned Rogue Squadron pilot-turned Jedi. In some stories Corran’s presence has been a bit overbearing but here it is well-balanced with other plot lines, particularly one following Anakin Solo and Mara Jade to Dantooine. Corran has grown into a mature Jedi leader and a strong supporter of Luke’s in his efforts to rebuild the Jedi. A newer crop of younger Jedi is emerging, headed by Kyp Durron, and in Onslaught Corran is paired with the arrogant but generally good-intentioned Knight Ganner Rhysode. The two have a highly memorable assault on a Vong outpost that requires Ganner to inflict direct pain on Corran to free him from a Vong torture device. They make a good pair to read about and also to provide more viewpoints on the Jedi evolution, going along with the many musings of Luke’s we’ve read about over the various novels.

One technique that Mr. Stackpole chose for Onslaught which was highly effective is keeping the reader in the protagonists’ viewpoints for the entire book, minus the ending scene. With so many books to go in the New Jedi Order, a sense of mystery was needed to keep readers engaged, and while we had many scenes from the Vong POV in Vector Prime, I found it more effective to lose that and keep them an outside force. It allows us as readers to take the journey with the heroes, rather than granting us an omniscient third POV from outside the action.

Anakin Solo and Mara Jade are also well-handled and key parts of this story, as Mara battles a Vong-spawned disease and Anakin struggles with his guilt from the last book while striving to mature into a full-blown Jedi. Rogue Squadron makes always-welcome appearances throughout, giving a nice sense of continuity to Mr. Stackpole’s earlier adventures. They also help balance the serious considerations of the various Jedi characters and the grimness of the war and the refugees fleeing from it.

Onslaught is an exciting kick-off to the Dark Tide duology and solidly carries forward the New Jedi Order, while especially shining in its focus on the heroes while leaving the antagonists mysterious.

Andrew's Review of Vector Prime

2011-03-25T15:08:00.004-04:00

4/5 Rancors - If you hear a sort of mechanical grinding sound as you delve into Vector Prime, it may be the sound of the Star Wars Expanded Universe shifting gear to its new, “darker” direction. To give a bit of context to this change, at the end of the 1990s the Star Wars adult fiction publishing license changed hands from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey. Apparently Del Rey wanted to make a big first impression, and so their starting project out of the gate was the sprawling and so far unsurpassed in length nineteen book New Jedi Order. While the main film characters continued to be the dominant focus of the story, along with a few EU creations from the Bantam era, the primary villains of the New Jedi Order were the extra-galactic invaders named the Yuuzhan Vong. As the series evolved, the galaxy’s efforts to repel the invasion were coupled with Luke Skywalker’s attempts to define direction for the future of the Jedi.

One interesting challenge posed to the creators of the New Jedi Order is that the nineteen books were to feature a large roster of different authors. As I review the individual books, I’ll speak to how consistently the story and tonal transitions were handled. For the first book, Del Rey selected R.A. Salvatore, an author famed for his fantasy character Drizzt Do’Urden and for his extremely dynamic action sequences. Mr. Salvatore faced a steep challenge, with the typically heavy expectations of fans being further increased by the buzz that a major character would be killed off in the story.

The rumors about the major character were true, but even though the details are fairly common knowledge, I won’t spoil them here. While I was sad to read the scene, I felt Mr. Salvatore handled it gracefully and that it was a reasonable choice in the larger storyline of the galaxy far, far away. The core question of this death (and the ones to follow in later books) is whether readers wanted to go in this new direction with their beloved characters. Part of me is pleased imagining a largely worry-free destiny for Luke and friends post-Return of the Jedi, and another part would be content with reading the following novels but stopping at Timothy Zahn’s superb Vision of the Future. However, I enjoy reading the books too much to stop, and so while the darker tones and character deaths don’t thrill me, I do find them well-done enough to continue following the various series Del Rey has tackled.

Back to focusing on Vector Prime: Mr. Salvatore does an excellent job of propelling the story along and setting the stage for the massive conflict to come. His early scenes with the Vong are full of mystery and he effectively renders them as villains quite different from any we’ve seen before by spending time on their cultural developments and belief systems as well as their organic technology. The cryptic scenes out at the edge of the galaxy where the Vong front-line emerges are balanced with getting Han, Luke, Leia, and all their usual compatriots into the conflict. Luke continues to struggle with the future of the Jedi and questions whether a new formal order is the best path forward. The action sequences are as exciting as expected, with a particularly vivid sequence featuring the Solo children running asteroids paying off later in the climactic battle sequence as they gamble their lives to repel the Vong assault on Dubrillion.

The political changes to the New Republic are both logical and intriguing. Power-hungry Bothan Borsk Fey’lya has finally ascended to the top of the heap and is the President of the New Republic. His council is a realistic mixture of bickering individuals, each with their own agenda. Leia is not held in high regard by some of the newer politicians, who see her role as a hero of the Rebellion as something to be relegated to the history books and museums. She herself struggles with her evolving identity, no longer Chief of State but still influential, and also a potential Jedi-to-be. Her life journey compared to Luke’s continues to make for compelling subject matter, along with her ongoing work to balance saving the galaxy with caring for her family.

The Solo children become fully functional members of the ongoing cast of the adult novels in Vector Prime. Each has their own identity and their scenes aren’t nearly as painful to read as were some of the earlier books they were in (i.e. The Crystal Star). Jacen’s questioning of the role and future of the Jedi provides a nice counterpoint to Luke’s musings, while Jaina is much like her father and Anakin is on the path to being a straight-up Jedi hero. They all want to do the right thing but approach it in different ways. Mr. Salvatore does a very good job of integrating them with the film characters and making them integral to the ongoing story.

Vector Prime is a solid kick-off to the eighteen books to follow and an engaging story on its own terms. The Yuuzhan Vong are interesting villains, although for me they simply aren’t as fun to read about as the Imperials and Sith littering other EU works (too overtly “dark”, perhaps). I wouldn’t recommend Vector Prime to someone new to Star Wars novels, but if you’ve followed the story to this point, jump right in!

David: Rancor Spotting #22

2010-12-29T20:47:00.002-05:00

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp
Page 156

Another reference to a spacecraft moving like a rancor. "The sudden rush arrested the backward motion of the ship and Fatman bucked like an angry rancor." Fatman is a ship belonging to Zeerid Korr, a human smuggler who plays a key role in the story.

David's Review of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived

2010-12-29T20:32:00.003-05:00

5/5 Rancors - The Old Republic: Deceived is the story of a Sith Lord who rebels against the Empire, and it comes from the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Darth Malgus is the Sith Lord who leads Empire troops into Coruscant, destroys the Jedi Temple, and kills Ven Zallow, one of the strongest Jedi Masters. Malgus is driven by his intense beliefs that the Empire should rule, the Jedi should be wiped out, and no mercy should be shown. He is a feared leader among the Sith Lords, but he does have one weakness. He loves a Twi'lek female named Eleena.

Malgus wants to see all of Coruscant leveled but is overruled by the Emperor. The result is the Treaty of Coruscant that gives what is left of the planet back to the Republic in exchange for several extremely important gains by the Empire. Malgus seethes at the weakness of his leaders in not completely wiping out the Republic when possible. His triumph over Ven Zallow also has unexpected results when a young Jedi knight named Aryn Leneer returns to Coruscant seeking a showdown with Malgus for the death of her Master.

The story introduces us to additional interesting characters and moves along at a rapid pace through a number of twists and turns. I found it to be extremely enjoyable to read. The book also gave me one of my new favorite expressions, although I don't know when I will use it. At one point Darth Malgus is ordered by a superior Sith Lord to do some things he does not want to do. Here is how Malgus feels at that point. "In the span of a day he had gone from the conqueror of Coruscant to a second-tier Darth." I love the expression "second-tier Darth."

Andrew's Review of The Clone Wars Gambit: Siege

2010-12-28T16:21:00.003-05:00

4/5 Rancors - Siege is the concluding book in Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit duology, picking up several hours after the climactic battle of Stealth. There is no discernible difference in tone or focus from the first book to the second: it’s simply a longer (by Star Wars standards) story split into two. The strengths of the top-notch character scenes, including the interactions between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, carry over from book one, as do the weaknesses of a slow pace and the rather bleak tone (again, by Star Wars standards). There are some excellent sequences written from Palpatine’s POV, and Ms. Miller lets us know what exactly the concealed Sith Lord is thinking and plotting. Good stuff.

Rather than summarize the plot, there is one scene I’ll comment on. Anakin and Obi-Wan get stuck out in a remote damotite mining village for most of the novel. They integrate themselves into the community by posing as natives of Lanteeb (the planet they’re on), but as time passes and the action ramps up, they are forced to drop their disguises and defend the people as Jedi are charged with. The village is protected by an energy shield, which depends on some ill-maintained equipment to keep it active. The scene that knocked my socks off is when the shield fails and Anakin starts to hold it in place single-handedly, using the Force like a supernova to save the innocents nearby. THIS is how a Jedi should feel: heroic, selfless, powerful, and doing anything necessary to help others. Perhaps it was just something in me that needed a scene like this at the time I read it, but it really struck me deeply, as did the tension of the entire action sequence that follows.

Ms. Miller truly does some excellent work with the familiar film characters and is also adept at introducing new ones of her own. At points I was sorely tempted to give this book five stars, but there were still some pacing and tonal points that held me back. I do hope she will continue to write in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and would look forward to any future contributions she should make.

Andrew's Review of The Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth

2010-12-28T16:17:00.003-05:00

4/5 Rancors - I was thoroughly impressed with Karen Miller’s depth of characterization in her debut Star Wars novel Wild Space. However, I found the portion of the story featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa endlessly slogging through space and then across the surface of Zigoola drawn-out and rather tedious. So I was curious to see if Ms. Miller would be able to build upon her strong portrayal of the film characters while reducing the repetitiveness in her follow-up novels, the Clone Wars Gambit duology.

For my taste, she succeeded. Although making this story a two-parter does cause things to drag out too long, the pace is brisker and she shines in the multitude of scenes highlighting Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker’s relationship and viewpoints. Rarely has the Expanded Universe (or arguably the films themselves) made these two seem like close friends, the “brothers” that Obi-Wan speaks of on the Mustafar lava ridge. Ms. Miller devotes a great deal of space to the emotions, beliefs, insights, and personalities these two developed over the years together, and since they are so central to the entire saga, the focus on the duo is worthwhile.

Lok Durd returns from his Clone Wars first season two-parter as the primary adversary. This Durd is considerably more diabolical than what we saw on the cartoon: sure, he PLANNED to wipe out entire species with his doomsday weapon, but we didn’t actually see that happen. The Durd of Clone Wars Gambit is a loathsome, malevolent, vile creature, delighting in pain and suffering. He makes a good villain but I did get weary of his scenes about halfway through the story.

Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth is a very solid if somewhat overblown set-up for the conclusion in book two. If you are more interested in the action-packed galactic space opera side of Star Wars, these books probably won’t be a great pick, but if you’re intrigued by a more emotions-centered exploration of two primary Star Wars characters along with some nice sequences from the supporting cast, give this one a try.

David's Review of Red Harvest

2010-12-16T19:59:00.003-05:00

4/5 Rancors - Let me just say right off the top that I am not normally a fan of horror books. I realize that the genre is popular now, but zombies and the undead hold no particular appeal for me. However, Red Harvest is a Star Wars book, so I decided to give it a try. I read Death Troopers by the same author last year, so I had some idea of what to expect.

Red Harvest is not a sequel to Death Troopers. The book stands alone. The great majority of the action takes place at a Sith Academy on Odacer-Faustin. Mr. Schreiber does a excellent job of describing the daunting conditions on the planet and the grim atmosphere at the academy. Sith Lord Darth Scabrous is the man in charge at the academy but seems to spend most of his time at the top of a black tower doing mysterious experiments. As seems to be the case with several Sith Lords we have read about, what Scabrous really wants is to find a way to make himself immortal. Of course, his experiments go wrong and we end up with undead creatures all over the place. We also have two Jedi who are caught up in the horror.

Mr. Schreiber's writing is acceptable. The story moves along quickly through short chapters, and I did find that I wanted to see what happened next at the end of each chapter. I suspect that the book will do well enough so that more tales of this Star Wars genre will be published. They are just never going to be my favorites.

David's Review of The Clone Wars Gambit: Siege

2010-10-26T14:39:00.004-04:00

3/5 Rancors - Clone Wars Gambit is a two-book series relating some of the adventures of Obi-Wan, Anakin, and company during the Clone Wars. Stealth was the first book, and Siege is the second. The series is set in a time when the Separatist Alliance is winning the war. Separatist agents have succeeded in infiltrating Republic forces, obtaining sensitive information, and planting bugs in communications systems. Count Dooku's troops always seem to be a step ahead. One of the results has been to create significant doubt and worry in the Republic. Even the Jedi are worried.

In this atmosphere, a new concern creeps in to the Republic leaders and gradually turns out to be a massive problem that Anakin and Obi-Wan have been sent to deal with personally despite serious misgivings from Yoda and Bail Organa. Word has come from the apparently insignificant planet of Lanteeb that something on the planet has drawn intense interest from the Separatists. Our two Jedi heroes are assigned the task of finding out what is going on at Lanteeb. To their rising dismay, they find that a scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is attempting to use Lanteeb's only natural resource to develop a devastating bioweapon. Anakin and Obi-Wan don disguises, make their way onto the planet, succeed in getting a rough idea about what is going on, and then are exposed as everything begins to go wrong. At the end of Stealth, they are on the run, the bioweapon research is still proceeding, and things are not going well.

When Siege takes over, the two Jedi are on the run from Lok Durd's droid army and end up trying to hide in the mining village of Torbel. They gradually win the trust of the locals and are put to work in the mines where just about everybody works. Their predicament is dire. They have no ready means of communicating with the Jedi Council in Coruscant. The work on the bioweapon is proceeding, and they have no real way of knowing whether any aid is being sent to them or not. Things look bad, and then they get worse when the droid army learns where they are hiding.

At this point, thanks mainly to Anakin's amazing technical prowess, the village is able to deploy an energy shield that the droids cannot penetrate. The trouble is that they have been forced to jury-rig the shield by using whatever resources they can find. The resultant siege is described very well, and it really seems to be endless.

The story itself in Siege is fine. I enjoyed reading about Anakin and Obi-Wan and the siege of Tarbell. The villagers do the best they can, and the two Jedi are heroic. However, as was true in Stealth, I think that Ms Miller gets carried away with introspection. We are bombarded with a steady stream of the characters' innermost thoughts. Plus, the siege goes on too long. I did find Anakin's emotions to be particularly interesting when he discovered that Obi-Wan had years ago had a relationship with Taria Damsin, a female Jedi Master. You can imagine his feelings when you remember all of the discussions he has had with Obi-Wan about the need for Jedi to avoid attachments.

Clone Wars Gambit: Siege is a good tale with a lot of ups and downs. It has two of our favorite characters in the main roles, and some others like Ahsoka arrive late in the story to offer invaluable assistance.

David's Review of The Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth

2010-10-25T18:49:00.004-04:00

3/5 Rancors - Clone Wars Gambit is a two-book series relating some of the adventures of Obi-Wan, Anakin, and company during the Clone Wars. Stealth is the first book. It is set in a time when the Separatist Alliance is winning the war by stopping at nothing. Treachery and ruthlessness are not a problem when you are on the side of Count Dooku and General Grievous. Separatist agents have succeeded in infiltrating Republic forces, obtaining sensitive information, and planting bugs in communications systems. Dooku's troops always seem to be a step ahead. One of the results has been to create significant doubt and worry in the Republic. Even the Jedi are worried.

In this atmosphere, a new concern creeps in to the Republic leaders and gradually turns out to be a massive problem that Anakin and Obi-Wan must deal with personally despite serious misgivings from Yoda and Bail Organa. Word has come from the apparently insignificant planet of Lanteeb that something on the planet has drawn intense interest from the Separatists. Our two Jedi heroes are assigned the task of finding out what is going on at Lanteeb. To their rising dismay, they find that a scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is attempting to use Lanteeb's only natural resource to develop a devastating bioweapon. Anakin and Obi-Wan don disguises, make their way onto the planet, succeed in getting a rough idea about what is going on, and then are exposed as everything begins to go wrong. At the end of the book, they are on the run, the bioweapon research is still proceeding, and things look bad. Resolution will have to wait for Clone Wars Gambit: Siege, the second book in the series.

The story itself in Stealth is fine. I enjoyed reading about Anakin and Obi-Wan and the nefarious deeds of Dooku and Grievous. However, I think that Ms Miller gets carried away with introspection. We are bombarded with a steady stream of the characters' innermost thoughts. Some of this is interesting, but she goes too far. I just kept wanting her to get on with the story. I do give her credit for the attempt. Most authors don't try to delve deeply into their characters' thought processes, at least on the printed page. However, I thought her narrative could have used some additional editing.

Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth is a good story. It has two of our favorite characters in the main roles, the story itself is interesting, and the action moves right along. I just wish she had spent more time on the story and less time on introspection.

Andrew's Review of Survivor's Quest

2010-09-24T15:22:00.004-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Survivor's Quest occupies an interesting place in the Expanded Universe, set between the brilliant Hand of Thrawn duology which wraps up many loose ends from the prior novels and the start of the dark and sprawling New Jedi Order series. It is a lighter tale than the adjoining novels in the timeline and for the most part tightly focuses on Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade Skywalker. The book ties heavily to Zahn's Outbound Flight, which he wrote later but which is set decades earlier. Reading Outbound Flight first is not required (I didn't myself the first time around) but it certainly helps flesh out this story.

The strongest aspects of Survivor's Quest are Zahn's exploration of Luke and Mara's new marriage and the mysterious plot he weaves around the semi-legendary Outbound Flight project. Luke has had numerous ups and downs throughout the various Star Wars novels but he ended Vision of the Future on a high: ready to push forward with the continued rebirth of the Jedi and also madly in love with Mara. Mara also came out of that story in a good place, finally putting many of her demons from her youth as an assassin for the Empire to rest and moving on to a brighter future. Zahn picks up where he left off and portrays a balanced, happy couple. Realistically for a newly married couple, they are still finding their roles and adjusting to life together, but it is nice to have a book that goes light on the Skywalker angst and lets the characters breathe and even relax a bit.

The other high point of this book is the carefully constructed plot centering on the disappearance of the Outbound Flight project and the thousands of people onboard decades earlier. Zahn excels at parcelling out enough information to keep the book moving briskly along. A mysterious message leads Luke and Mara to the Chiss, Grand Admiral Thrawn's people. They link up with a mix of Chiss diplomatic and military leaders, a group of Imperials (including the stormtrooper squad featured in Zahn's Fool's Bargain), a puzzling alien race apparently wronged by Thrawn decades earlier, and Dean Jinzler, brother to Jedi Lorana Jinzler featured in the Outbound Flight novel. Zahn deftly juggles his large cast while keeping the limelight squarely on Luke and Mara.

One particular action scene I thoroughly enjoyed came near the end and featured a destroyer droid (or "droideka") from the prequel films squaring off against Luke and Mara. These droids are quite a threat in the prequels and this combat does not disappoint. Luke and Mara are forced to carefully strategize to deal with the droid and even with a solid plan, the risk factor is high. It's a tense sequence and also a nifty echo of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fighting the droids above Naboo on the Trade Federation ship in The Phantom Menace.

Zahn picks up a few other threads from his Hand of Thrawn duology, such as the Empire of the Hand, and weaves them with the elements detailed above into a quite entertaining little tale. Survivor's Quest stands well on its own, but also serves as a nice lighter break between the larger stories that bookend it in the Star Wars chronology.

Andrew's Review of Fool's Bargain

2010-09-24T09:45:00.003-04:00

3/5 Rancors - Timothy Zahn's Fool's Bargain is a short story originally published in e-book form and set before the events of his novel Survivor's Quest. This tale covers an assignment Aurek Company of the Imperial 501st receives on the embattled planet Kariek. The focus is on the four troopers who comprise Aurek-Seven and in particular their leader Twister. This is the same squad that plays a part in Survivor's Quest, minus one personnel change which is detailed in this story. There aren't many Expanded Universe stories that take the Imperial point of view, so this is a welcome perspective here. By this stage in the galaxy's history, years after the Battle of Endor, certain elements of the Empire have developed a more enlightened perspective of the universe around them. These troopers are honorable soldiers fighting for a government they believe in, one that no longer ruthlessly oppresses subject populations but rather plays more of a protector role.

The Empire of the films is notably a human-centric organization. Zahn opens the door to alien Imperials in this story with the introduction of Su-mil, an Eickarie and a Kariek native swept up in a civil war. There is a clever bit of deception on Su-mils part involving the Eickarie concept of a lie (they term a lie "left-handed," vs. a truth which is "right-handed" - this must be awkward for the native left-handed Eickaries!). By fighting together, Twister sees a potentially valuable ally in Su-mil and we get a perspective of how a stormtrooper unit might be something a soldier would actually aspire to join, rather than simply being cannon fodder for Rebel heroes.

All in all, Fool's Bargain is an enjoyable vignette of Imperial life that expands a bit on characters from Survivor's Quest and also provides an interesting preview of the Imperial perspective Zahn went on to explore more thoroughly in his novel Allegiance. It can be purchased in electronic form and is also available in the paperback version of Survivor's Quest.

David: Rancor Spotting #21

2010-09-09T19:36:00.005-04:00

Sculpting a Galaxy: Inside the Star Wars Model Shop by Lorne Peterson
Pages 128-129

Sculpting a Galaxy is a beautiful book that gives you an excellent idea of the work involved in creating characters, machines, and environments for the Star Wars films. The two pages for the rancor include a picture of a rancor puppet that takes up most of the two pages plus a column explaining how the puppet was made and how the film of the rancor sequences was shot. I might also add that this is a coffee table size book, so the picture is huge.

Designer Phil Tippett explains how their first efforts involving a human in a rancor suit did not work. They then developed an eighteen inch puppet to be shot in a miniature set. Three people were required to work the puppet. This approach seemed to work although a great deal of additional effort was required to make things look realistic. The result was a classic film sequence.

David: Rancor Spotting #20

2010-09-08T13:50:00.003-04:00

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams

Page 70 - Shigar, now clad in the snarling visage of a rancor racer, blended in perfectly.
(Shigar is a Jedi Padawan.)

Page 74 - They squeezed into a niche and Shigar gratefully rid himself of the mask and a large amount of his leather rancor-riding gear, leaving him wearing just pants, boots, and a tight black vest on his upper body.
(Hard to imagine trying to travel incognito wearing rancor-riding gear. Actually, it is hard to imagine riding a rancor at all.)

Page 148 - She felt like a rancor had gripped her in its jaws and was shaking her back and forth.
(That cannot have been a good feeling. Larin Moxla, a former Republic trooper, is under attack by the Mandalorian warrior Dao Stryver.)

Pages 164-165 - Ax skirted the edge of a deep rancor pit. The massive beasts snapped and roared at her, enraged by all the commotion. The handlers did their utmost to restrain them, using chains, hooks, and heavy weights, but the rancors' wild natures weren't so easily subdued. The truncated scream of one of the handlers followed Ax as she Force-leapt across the enclosure in pursuit of her quarry.
(Ax is a Sith apprentice.)

Page 257 - If his deal with Tassaa Bareesh had gone awry, she would have ended up rancor food for certain.
(Shigar, the Jedi Padawan, is worrying about his friend Larin Moxla, a former Republic trooper. Tassaa Bareesh is a notorious leader of the Hutt crime cartel.)

David's Review of The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

2010-09-07T20:28:00.005-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Fatal Alliance is based on the hugely popular Knights of the Old Republic video game that takes place about 3,500 years before A New Hope. The key event in the tale is an auction put together by Tassaa Bareesh, a monarch in the Hutt crime cartel. The only items in the auction are from a mysterious ship that was destroyed by Jet Nebula, an extremely capable and wily smuggler existing through his own efforts and cleverness. Pieces of the cargo on the destroyed ship survive and are thought to be extremely valuable to certain groups even though their exact purpose remains a mystery. As a result, the auction draws a great deal of attention. Representatives come from both the Republic and the Sith Empire, along with a Jedi Padawan, a disgraced trooper from the Republic's elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. This makes for a very interesting and combustible mix of characters.

Of course, some of the groups interested in the items have no intention of bidding in an auction. They simply mean to acquire the items by any means necessary. Mr. Williams develops the action nicely and the story builds consistently without even telling us what the valuable items are until well into the story. The different groups compete vigorously with each other until they reach a point where a significant common enemy appears. The relationships from that point on are extremely interesting.

I found many of the characters in Fatal Alliance to be unique, and their efforts to cooperate do not go well many times. The author also introduces us to a new type of droid that is almost impossible to destroy. The history of the development of the droids is a key part of the conclusion to the story, and the strength and intelligence of the droids are amazing. Even the Sith and the Jedi are in trouble.

Mr. Williams has told a wonderful story. My only reservations were that the ending seemed to be a little contrived and involves a little too much explanation. The tale moves along rapidly for most of the book, but then bogs down a little. Even so, I found Fatal Alliance to be great fun to read, and I recommend it highly to the Star Wars readers.

David's Review of Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

2010-08-27T17:51:00.005-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Dynasty of Evil is the third book in Drew Karpyshyn's trilogy about Darth Bane and the Old Republic. The action in the three books takes place about a thousand years before the time of A New Hope. The first book was Path of Destruction which introduced us to Darth Bane when he first became a Sith and developed the maxim of having only two Sith - a master and an apprentice. The second book was Rule of Two with Darth Bane training his apprentice Zannah and growing ever stronger in the Dark Side with the help of the barnacle-like orbalisks.

Now, in Dynasty of Evil, we see Bane become even more powerful as he waits to see if his apprentice is ready to challenge him. If Zannah is not up to the challenge, Bane may need to find other alternatives. One that particularly appeals to him is to find a means of extending his own life. His scheme intertwines with a mission that he assigns to Zannah, and additional characters play important roles. Serra is the daughter of Caleb, a healer who once saved Bane's life. She is now a princess of the mining world of Doan. Lucia is Serra's bodyguard and, interestingly enough, used to be a member of the Gloom Walkers regiment at the same time as Bane. Then we have The Huntress, who is a Force-sensitive assassin, and Set Harth, an artifact hunter who used to be a Jedi. They all are interesting characters who are heavily involved with the tale.

Mr. Karpyshyn does an excellent job in moving the story along and has some great action sequences as well as an ending that is open to interpretation by the reader. I look forward to seeing what he writes about next in the Star Wars universe.

David: Rancor Spotting #19

2010-08-15T20:11:00.003-04:00

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia
Page 16

We learn that the infamous pirate and bounty hunter Aurra Sing is wearing a pair of well-worn boots made of rancor skin. No information is provided as to who dealt with the rancor in order to obtain the skin.

David's Clone Wars Bonus Reviews: The Complete Season One (DVD), The Official Episode Guide - Season 1, The Character Encyclopedia

2010-08-15T18:17:00.002-04:00

5/5 Rancors - I have recently watched Season One of The Clone Wars on DVD while, at the same time, reading The Official Episode Guide to see if I missed anything while I was watching. The DVDs are wonderful, and it has been great fun to watch the episodes again after seeing them originally on TV. Each episode includes a featurette showing director Dave Filoni and other key members of the production team talking about the development of the episode. All were very interesting. Also, a few of the episodes are presented as director's cuts, so they show some footage we have not seen before. Great fun. The package also includes a booklet showing drawings and pictures.

The Official Episode Guide is very useful. Each episode is covered separately with a synopsis, pictures, background information, and lists of the cast, characters, weapons, and vehicles. I found the book to be helpful if you read about each episode after watching them on the DVD.

Then there is the Character Encyclopedia for Clone Wars. The book covers more than 200 characters and gives you a description, statistics, a picture, and specific background information for each. The characters are listed in alphabetical order so you can always look up a particular one you might be interested in. As is true with most Clone Wars items, the book has a great look to it.

I am pleased that The Clone Wars series has been successful enough to spawn all of the books and the DVDs that have been issued. The quality of the packaging has been excellent, and I am optimistic that we have a great deal more to look forward to.

Andrew's Review of Vision of the Future

2010-07-19T12:45:00.003-04:00

5/5 Rancors - Timothy Zahn's Vision of the Future delivers on the excellent setup of Specter of the Past in every respect. The story is sprawling and doesn't drop the ball on the numerous plotlines introduced in the first book of the duology. Some may find these two books a bit slow relative to the typical Star Wars tale, but the extra time spent fully developing the story is quite appropriate to these books' role in wrapping up many loose ends from the earlier Bantam Spectra novels. The pacing lends gravitas to the proceedings in the finale, in particular the moment that finally comes in the first sentence of Chapter 43. This sentence, so wonderfully understated, represents an immensely satisfying moment for both the galaxy far, far away and for any readers who have been following the book storyline post-Return of the Jedi.

Luke Skywalker's journey to confident Jedi Master continues here. Some authors have struggled with Luke's portrayal, erring on diluting his character for fear of making him too powerful. This watering down of Luke's capabilities may have made sense for some storylines, but I'm glad to see Zahn stabilize him here. Mara Jade's personal journey comes to a climax as well as she and Luke draw strength from each other's fears and hopes to forge a new future together. Mara, along with Grand Admiral Thrawn and Talon Karrde, are clearly Zahn's pet characters, but he does an excellent job of bringing them to well-rendered life without stealing any thunder from Luke, Han, Leia and friends.

The civil war plot comes to a head with an epic battle over the capital city of Bothawui. The Caamas document continues to play a key role and the device of this simple document having such far-reaching implications continues to be a sound foundation for the story. The Bothans occupy an enjoyably gray area in the Star Wars universe, generally on the "good" side but with a side dish of virulent scheming, political ambitions, and a dash of selfishness thrown in. A standout new character from this plotline is Elegos A'kla, Trustant of the Caamasi Remnant and a true voice of reason in the middle of madness. His quiet strength in the face of such great suffering for his people underscores the alternatives to vengeance and hatred anyone can choose in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology represents a true turning point in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The Empire has been dramatically reduced and changed. The New Republic has created a chaotic alliance of disparate systems but is managing to hold it together despite many challenges both internal and external. Luke has found love and a new vision for his role in the future of the Jedi Order. After this story, the universe takes a darker turn with the intergalactic invasion story of the New Jedi Order saga. For readers who loved the tone and stories of the Original Trilogy, this duology might be a jumping off point, before the beloved movie characters are thrown into the proverbial wringer once more. I highly recommend this book and the duology, although I will toss in a caveat: I believe these books will be most rewarding to readers familiar with the EU history leading up to this point.

David: Rancor Spotting #18

2010-06-24T19:57:00.005-04:00

Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds, James Luceno, and Ryder Windham

Pages 245 and 262-263

We learn that Jabba the Hutt's rancor was discovered in a mysterious crashed ship in the Tatooine desert by Bib Fortuna and his associate. Jabba treated the rancor as harshly as possible in oder to encourage ferocious behavior. The book shows nearly a full-page illustration of a rancor with pertinent details pointed out. The beast looks quite fearsome. It doesn't say anything about how rancors love to read.

David's Review of Fool's Bargain

2010-06-05T20:28:00.006-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Included with Survivor's Quest is Fool's Bargain, previously available only as an eBook. Fool's Bargain tells the story of the legendary Empire of the Hand's 501st Legion as they go on a mission on the planet Kariek. Their objective is to capture a Warlord alive. The planet was traditionally the scene of endless violence due to disagreements among the many tribes of the native Eickarie race. However, since the Warlord arrived with his troops fifty years earlier, he had held all the power. As the 501st arrives, the Eickaries have forged an alliance, and the Warlord appears to be trapped in his fortress.

A unit of the 501st is captured by the Eickaries and presented with an offer to join forces, release a number of political prisoners, and then grab the Warlord. The question is can the Eickaries be trusted or will the 501st be making a fool's bargain.

It's a good story with lots of twist and turns. Mr. Zahn comes through once again. I enjoyed reading about stormtroopers named Twister, Shadow, Cloud, and Watchmen as the 501st tried to fulfill its mission.

David's Review of Survivor's Quest

2010-06-05T18:17:00.006-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Survivor's Quest has Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker as its two main characters, and the action takes place after all of the adventures described in Mr. Zahn's two-volume series The Hand of Thrawn. The author is one of the best in the Star Wars genre, and he has turned out another good book with Survivor's Quest. The plot is focused primarily on the remains of Outbound Flight that have been found on the planet Nirauan fifty years after the flight took place. Outbound Flight was a pioneering Jedi expedition that was destroyed by the alien warlord Thrawn. Up until this point, the reasons for the destruction of the flight have been a mystery. Now the beings who discovered the remains of the flight have contacted the New Republic and Luke in particular with an offer to turn over what is left of the flight to the New Republic. Luke finds the offer irresistible, so he heads off with wife Mara Jade on a long and perilous voyage to see what they can learn from the wreckage of Outbound Flight. Many surprises await.

Luke and Mara run into unexpected enemies and have to rely heavily on their Jedi skills to get out of one tough spot after another. Mr. Zahn does his usual good job with the plot, although I did feel that the action bogged down once in a while, especially when compared to the Hand of Thrawn books. It was great fun to see Luke and Mara fighting together, and a number of intriguing new characters were introduced. All in all, I thought Survivor's Quest was a worthy addition to the Star Wars world.

David: Rancor Spotting #18

2010-04-28T20:46:00.002-04:00

Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn

Page 135 -
Major Tierce: "I'd remind you that three brand-new treaties is a very good return for a week's work."
Moff Disra: "Only if Coruscant doesn't come down on us like a wounded rancor."

Page 151 -
Luke snorted. "No, his style was to rancor-roll some brilliant strategy over everyone."

Page 218 -
"Of course they're dangerous," Mara snorted. "You ever hear of the topshot in any clan who picked a name that made him sound calm and reasonable? This has to be the Qom Jha version of kick-the-rancor."
"Kick-the-rancor?" (Luke)
"A slang term in Palpatine's court," Mara said. " Any stupid stunt where the risks were way out of proportion to the gain."

Page 328:
The moment of shock passed, and Disra's expression of stunned disbelief suddenly changed to that of a crazed rancor. "Back!" he snarled at Dreyf, his hand slashing at him as if trying to ward away a dangerous animal. "I'm all right. Just stay back." (Moff Disra, during a private meeting with Admiral Pellaeon and his aide, has just received a most disturbing message from his desktop comm informing him that the pirate Zothip was in his private quarters.)

Page 377:
His own people had been overridden, nudged aside, superseded, or flat out run over as this oversized rancor of a restoration crew lumbered through his ship. (Booster Terrik - as he lets the New Republic borrow his Star Destroyer for a mission in return for upgrading the ship's systems)

Page 415:
Mara nodded. "If the Outer Rim was a torture cell, the Unknown Regions was a fully populated rancor pit," she said

Page 573:
Bel Iblis shrugged slightly. "We are an Imperial Star Destroyer," he reminded him."I think we'll be able to rancor-roll our way out without too much trouble."

David's Review of Vision of the Future

2010-04-28T20:20:00.004-04:00

5/5 Rancors - In my review of Specter of the Past, the first book in the two-volume series The Hand of Thrawn, I offered my opinion that Timothy Zahn was the best author in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Vision of the Future, the second book in the series, does nothing to change my mind. Mr. Zahn has done an outstanding job once again as he gives us remarkable action with memorable characters while at the same time actually making the reader think a little bit.

The setting of the tale is during a time when the New Republic is on the verge of civil war and the remains of the Empire are putting together a master plan to get back in power. According to rumor, the legendary Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned from the dead to lead the Empire's troops once again. He has joined forces with Moff Disra and Major Tierce to build a formidable fighting force that is creating chaos for the New Republic.

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian are all facing significant challenges in trying to deal with the Empire's new strategies. Luke joins with Mara Jade to penetrate a mysterious fortress and find out who is there and what trouble they are causing. Leia, Han, and Lando go their separate ways to deal with major threats against the New Republic. They all have to overcome huge hurdles to have any chance of success.

The book is full of Machiavellian dealings, and problems seem to arise one after another. The action in the story rolls right along, and the characters easily maintain the reader's interest. Mr. Zahn even gives us a little romance under perilous circumstances as Luke and Mara find their way into the imposing fortress.

I highly recommend both books in The Hand of Thrawn series - Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future.

David's Review of Specter of the Past

2010-04-26T22:37:00.011-04:00

5/5 Rancors - About four years ago, two of us launched a blog at "rancorslovetoread" in which our goal was to read all of the books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe in as close to chronological order as we could and then publish reviews of each book. So far we have read about 90 of the just less than 150 books on the list. My personal feeling is that the best author writing in the Star Wars world is Timothy Zahn. His stellar efforts have included Outbound Flight, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. Those last three, of course, make up The Thrawn Trilogy.

In Specter of the Past, Mr. Zahn continues his winning ways. This first volume in a two-part series is outstanding. It is set in a time when the Empire appears to be on the verge of a complete collapse. New Republic forces are busy around the galaxy dealing with a myriad of problems, and the Empire turns out to have a few tricks left. A plot is in place that could destroy the New Republic in a civil war. Plus, the truly disturbing news is that Grand Admiral Thrawn, a military leader of unparalleled skill and cunning, appears to have returned from the dead to lead the Empire's forces once again.

Mr. Zahn's plots are always excellent, and the tale in this book is certainly no exception. On the one side, we have most of our favorite heroes going off in different directions to see what is actually going on and what can be done. Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, Mara Jade, C-3P0, and R2-D2 all have major roles to play. On the other side, Admiral Pellaeon, Moff Disra, and Grand Admiral Thrawn (apparently) are leading the way. Other characters come along for various stretches of the book and play important roles. Character development is one of the author's strengths, and he certainly does well with it here. He also can tell an excellent story. Some of the Star Wars authors go overboard with philosophizing and trying to analyze the motives of key individuals. Mr. Zahn does not get bogged down in such things. His story moves along and holds the reader's attention.

Specter of the Past is a must-read book for any fan of Star Wars. I look forward to the second volume, Vision of the Future.

Andrew's Review of Specter of the Past

2010-03-19T16:33:00.004-04:00

5/5 Rancors - With Specter of the Past, Timothy Zahn returned to the Star Wars Expanded Universe and starting tying a neat little bow around the Bantam Spectra era of the publishing license. Bantam published a wide array of Star Wars stories in the 1990s starting with the superb Heir to the Empire. The majority of Bantam's novels were set in the post-Return of the Jedi era and took a wide variety of directions while still maintaining a reasonably cohesive overall storyline. Just as he kicked off the Star Wars literary renaissance with his Thrawn Trilogy, here Mr. Zahn is afforded the opportunity to provide some closure to this era and set the stage for the new (at the time) publisher Del Rey's gritty New Jedi Order saga.

Despite Grand Admiral Thrawn's apparent demise at the end of The Last Command, his persona haunts this story in a gripping and imaginative way. His mysterious reappearance frightens the New Republic deeply and breathes new life into the dwindling Empire. Beyond that, though, his mentorship of Admiral Pellaeon motivates the Admiral into making a necessary but humiliating decision regarding the future of the Empire's remnants. Pallaeon determines that making peace with the New Republic represents the Empire's only hope for the future. He bravely puts aside his own feelings and ego to lead the way down this bold path.

Concurrent with Pellaeon's plan to surrender is a fascinating storyline centered around the devastation of the planet Caamas decades earlier (an event brought to further light in the second Coruscant Nights book Street of Shadows). This plot could have been ripped from today's contentious and vindictive headlines, as the entire Bothan race takes heat for the actions of an unknown number of individuals years ago. Politicians scramble to benefit from the controversy and across the galaxy numerous petty grievances flare up, using the Caamas debate as an excuse to revisit ancient vendettas.

I relished the use of the Caamas document as a primary plot device. While I enjoy the scheming of evil Sith and Imperial warlords as much as anyone, this was an engaging change from the villain- and superweapon-of-the-week stories found fairly often in the Bantam era. Battle lines are drawn but good and evil are often not clearly delineated, a theme shown on a micro scale by the numerous local conflicts and on a macro one by the overall shift in the New Republic's leadership compared to the spark of benevolence found in Pallaeon's vision for the Empire. Of course, lest anyone think the entire Empire has suddenly changed character, we do get the evil Moff Disra, his co-conspirator Major Tierce, and the actor Flim trying to flare up the minor disagreements in the New Republic's constituencies into the downfall of the galactic government.

Mr. Zahn brings back several favorite/pivotal characters from throughout the Bantam books. Smuggler Talon Karrde returns along with Mara Jade, both still aiding and abetting the New Republic despite trying to keep their distance. Duplicitous-but-not-quite-evil Borsk Fey'lya is back and finds himself the center of an unwelcome spotlight with the resurgence of the Caamas holocaust. There are many minor nods to other stories and Zahn also lifts bits from Star Wars short stories he wrote for the Tales books and other sources.

Specter of the Past is an excellent start to the Hand of Thrawn duology. Strong and accurate characterizations, an intelligent plot, and a rapid pace set a rock-solid foundation for the sequel Vision of the Future.

Andrew's Review of Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

2010-03-10T14:02:00.004-05:00

4/5 Rancors - With Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil, Drew Karpyshyn ends his trilogy chronicling the powerful Sith Lord's ascension to power and formation of an order based on the Rule of Two. In the second book, Bane and his apprentice Darth Zannah firmly established their working relationship and additionally managed to deceive the galaxy into believing the Sith Order was extinct. Bane had ostensibly trained Zannah to one day overthrow him and take an apprentice of her own, furthering the Sith cause and continuing the slow progression to overthrowing the galaxy. As Dynasty of Evil starts, Bane is still waiting on Zannah to challenge him, and indeed has begun to wonder if she has what it takes to be the next Sith Lord. Therefore, Bane is looking for alternatives, one of which would be prolonging his own life to ensure the future of the Sith (and of course perpetuate his own power).

Two key elements from the prior books feature in this story. One is Serra, the daughter of Caleb the healer who saved Bane's life in years past. She is living a new life as a princess on the harsh mining world of Doan (a place reminiscent of Bane's own childhood world Apatros). The other is Lucia, a member of Bane's old Brotherhood of Darkness regiment the Gloom Walkers: she's now Serra's bodyguard and friend. Completing the main cast is The Huntress, a Force-sensitive assassin who revels in the hunt and uses her latent Force abilities to her advantage, and Set Harth, an ex-Jedi artifact hunter who lives purely for his own pleasure. These two play into the plot as candidates for new apprentices as Bane and Zannah scheme to their own ends.

Dynasty of Evil features two particularly page-turning action sequences (along with quite a few other battles, naturally). The first is an ambush where the Huntress and some minions attempt to actually capture the Lord of the Sith in his own mansion. It's grippingly cinematic and realistically portrayed, with sound tactics employed by both sides. The second big action beat is in the gloomy and secretive Stone Prison on Doan, as all six of the main characters are brought together, each with their own agenda. Great chase scene and a very intense interrogation sequence showing Serra overwhelmingly out of her depth.

From the comics detailing ancient times in the Old Republic Mr. Karpyshyn borrows Darth Andeddu's holocron. Within this relic is the secret to life transference and possibly the key to Bane's ambitions. Bane visits Prakith in the Deep Core to forcibly retrieve the holocron while distracting Zannah with a separate assignment. The pacing is excellent as the two each start to realize what the other has in mind and as they accept their inevitable confrontation to determine primacy.

Speaking of the end, there is a fascinating twist in the climactic battle. I won't detail it any further in an effort to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say it's one that will inspire debate as to its true nature. Personally, I felt there were enough cues provided that the outcome was fairly clear, but I'll leave that discussion to messageboards rather than this review. I was satisfied with this ending for the trilogy but it does leave at least one significant question mark about the continuity of the Sith line.

Mr. Karpyshyn did an excellent job in the Bane trilogy of rendering an evil protagonist in a balanced and intriguing manner. He gave plenty of background and insight into what made Bane tick and after the first book showed a talent for taking the story sketched out in the older Jedi vs. Sith comics and running with it. This set of books is over for now, but I would welcome further Star Wars contributions from Mr. Karpyshyn in the future.

Andrew's Review of Death Troopers

2010-02-25T13:45:00.005-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Joe Schreiber's Death Troopers took me by surprise. I am not particularly fond of the horror genre, at least in its gorier aspects. I do enjoy a good thriller, though. So my initial reaction when I heard that Star Wars would be getting its first horror story was quite mixed. I enjoy seeing the saga taken in new directions and stay open-minded as it mutates through many permutations of what I first saw on the big screen in 1977. However, I really wasn't convinced that horror would be an appropriate choice for a universe that has stayed rather, for lack of a better term, family-friendly to date.

It turns out I'm glad I took a chance on Mr. Schreiber's first Star Wars contribution (his second, a Death Troopers prequel, is already underway as I write this). There were points where the gore factor was excessive for my sensibilities, and a particular scene involving a toddler Wookiee didn't sit well with me. Fortunately, these qualms were allayed by a very fast-paced and gripping story that didn't pause to take a breath between chases and creeping around in the dark.

The size and creep-factor of a seemingly deserted Imperial Star Destroyer adrift in space is well underscored. I also enjoyed the time spent on the prison barge Purge in the opening chapters: penal vessels and procedures aren't an aspect of the Expanded Universe that has received much focus in prior novels. The method by which Death Troopers introduces its version of zombies to the Star Wars universe is believable. I liked that the zombies weren't the sole drivers of the horror elements of the story: the actions the prisoners take against each other early on and the choices a group of Imperial survivors on the Star Destroyer have made to stay alive are good examples of things as unsettling or more as the creatures themselves.

The characters are on the thin side, mostly subservient to the action. They filled their purposes well enough, although there isn't much about them that stands out to me after finishing the book. Captain Jareth Sartoris has a nice little character arc at the end, although it is fairly predictable. The Longo brothers and Dr. Cody act as the reader's primary lens on the outbreak, since they have the least life experience and react with presumably the same horror as the reader to what is taking place.

In what is not a well-kept secret at this point, two movie characters materialize midway in the story and have key roles. I recognize that their presence undermines a general principle of a horror story, in that we as the reader know these two will come out relatively unscathed. However, as a Star Wars fan first and foremost, I confess I was pleased to see them arrive on the scene and they helped greatly in establishing this tale as one set in that galaxy far, far away.

Although the darkness of Death Troopers did not remind me of the Original Trilogy, the excitement of Mr. Schreiber's rapid storytelling and focus on dynamic action sequences did, and for me that's high praise. Although I'm not likely to track down his non-Star Wars horror stories, I will be ready for the Death Troopers prequel and look forward to it with much more confidence than I did this first one.

David's Review of Book Three of The Corellian Trilogy: Showdown at Centerpoint

2010-02-24T18:01:00.003-05:00

4/5 Rancors - Showdown at Centerpoint is the final book in Roger Macbride Allen's Corellian Trilogy. In the first two books we followed Han, Leia, and their kids along with Chewie, Lando, Luke, and our two favorite droids as they all took various paths to end up in the middle of what appeared to be a rebellion in the Corellian sector. In this book, Luke and Lando uncover the Starbuster that is part of Centerpoint Station and that is programmed to explode the star Bovo Yagen and destroy millions of people. The Sacorrian Triad started rebellions on each of the five planets in the Corellian system and gained control of Centerpoint Station as part of a master plan to force the New Republic to acknowledge the Corellian sector as an independent state.

Centerpoint Station is an enormous gray-white space station in the Corellian system located at the balance point between the twin worlds of Talus and Tralus. Approximately 350 kilometers long, it is even larger than the original Death Star and can fire a tractor-repulsor hyperspace burst. The Sacorrian Triad discovered that the station could destroy stars, but it had been stable for thousands of years until suddenly two stars were destroyed. The Triad activated massive interdiction and jamming fields over the entire Corellian system and had a fleet of ships ready to do battle with New Republic and Bakuran forces.

All of our heroes were involved with foiling the Triad's plan with different ones of them coming at the problem from entirely different approaches. They were assisted in their efforts by Gaerial Captison, who had been an Imperial Senator from Bakura during the final years of the rebellion and led her planet to freedom. Admiral Hotel Ossilege commanded the Bakuran fleet. Mara Jade also offered valuable assistance.

Some of the most interesting roles in the tale are played by the Solo kids - Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. We find that, even at their young ages, they are skilled enough to fly the Millennium Falcon, at least well enough to escape from the clutches of Han's evil cousin Thracken Sal-Solo on the planet Drall. Plus, Anakin's force powers enable him to control the planetary repulsor that is on Drall. Pretty impressive kids.

Showdown at Centerpoint is the best book in the trilogy and tells a tale that moves right along. My only real quibble with the book is that I felt it could have been severely edited in a few places.

David: Rancor Spotting #17

2010-02-04T17:25:00.004-05:00

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Ultimate Sticker Book, page 8

Clearly, rancors appeal to all ages, and when you use the sticker book, you get to place the rancor yourself. What fun! Here's what the book says.

Jungle rancor These ferocious monsters are covered in rough armor-like skin, which can withstand blaster fire.

David's Review of Book Two of The Corellian Trilogy: Assault at Selonia

2010-02-04T17:05:00.006-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Assault at Selonia is the second book in The Corellian Trilogy. It continues the travails of our well-known and much loved Star Wars heroes as they travel several different paths. Han Solo has been imprisoned on Corellia by his cousin Thracken Sal-Solo and appears to be in serious trouble. Sal-Solo plans to reinstate the Imperial system and seize total power himself. Han must join forces with a female alien in order to escape and warn Luke, Leia, and Lando. Leia is under house arrest in what used to be the Governor's residence and must work with Mara Jade to escape and search for her family. Luke and Lando have returned to Coruscant and are now on their way to Bakura to convince Gaeriel Captison to let them borrow the Bakuran fleet to put down a revolt in the Corellian system. At the same time, Han and Leia's children are with Chewie on yet another world. Serious problems exist everywhere.

The book is an improvement over the first book Ambush at Corellia. We have more action, more plot, and no story involving Lando's search for a rich wife. That particular search was a real weakness in the first book. A number of major questions still remain. Who is trying to use Corellia's powerful repulsors and why? What is going on at the mysterious Centerpoint Station? Who is causing major stars to explode? There is plenty still left to lead one to look forward to the third book in the trilogy.

Andrew's Review of The Corellian Trilogy Vol. 3: Showdown at Centerpoint

2010-01-12T15:17:00.003-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Roger MacBride Allen's Showdown at Centerpoint completes the Corellian Trilogy and neatly ties up the storylines laid out in the first two novels. It continues the accelerated pace found in Assault at Selonia and includes a handy synopsis at the beginning for anyone who hasn't read or doesn't remember the prior books (Star Wars novels rarely contain a synopsis of what's gone before, making it worthy of note). Events in the Corellian system have turned into a race against time, as our heroes struggle to discern the truth behind the murky maneuverings of the Human League and other splinter groups. If they can't solve the plot quickly enough, they will fail to stop the annihilation of millions of sentients whose sun is targeted for destruction by the mysterious starbuster device.

The most intriguing portion of this book deals with the massive Centerpoint station, a facility of unknown origin and purpose sitting in space between Corellia's Double Moons. It doesn't take too much effort for the reader to connect Centerpoint with the destroyed stars and this hunch is quickly confirmed. The only significant new character introduced in this final volume appears on Centerpoint: Jenica Sonsen. She serves primarily as a guide to the station, which has developed a strange little culture unto itself in the isolation of space. The introduction of Centerpoint and the mysteries that still surround it at the end of the book make a lovely little hook for future authors to build upon.

A key storyline of Showdown at Centerpoint (actually started in the prior book) revolves around the three Solo children and their efforts to locate a planetary repulsor on Drall. Once it is located, Anakin Solo cannot resist delving further into the machine's secrets, leading to a great action sequence when it is turned on. Unfortunately, this also leads to one of the nastier events for the kids, when their malicious uncle Thracken Sal-Solo shows up to kidnap them and take control of the repulsor. Thracken doesn't get to do much in this book beyond chew some scenery and show a cold-blooded willingness to harm his own flesh and blood. The notion of Thracken as a sort of "shadow" Han Solo has plenty of promise, but overall the trilogy doesn't take this as far as I'd like. The most interesting interaction between the two is in their shared scenes in Assault at Selonia.

The trilogy delivers a substantial amount of information about the three native Corellian species and their unusual system of five worlds. I enjoyed the exploration of the Selonian culture in particular. They pretend to conform to human societal standards but in reality have a whole separate social system working just under the surface (literally). Their travel by underground tunnels seems rather impractical but it does make for some good entertainment. Also, their reliance on negotiation, especially when contrasted with their impressive physical skills, makes for some unexpected dynamics when they try to come to terms with Leia, Han, and Mara Jade.

Some other good points: the Tendra Risant storyline which originated in Lando's ridiculous search for a rich wife comes to a satisfactory conclusion. There's a terrific escape sequence with the Solo children featuring a nifty little display of a seldom-used Force ability. One character I hadn't mentioned in my prior reviews of the trilogy is Q9-X2, a modified astromech that speaks Basic and exhibits a rather marked streak of paranoia. Q9 continues to entertain here just as in the prior novels, and one pairing I would love to see would be him with I5 of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Medstar, and Coruscant Nights fame.

The Corellian Trilogy is not an earth-shaking piece of Star Wars literature, but it is a fun ride and quite enjoyable while it lasts. The books got progressively better and Centerpoint itself is truly an interesting place. The series is worth reading for anyone who is a fan of the Original Trilogy heroes and wants a fairly light and adventurous romp.

Andrew's Review of The Corellian Trilogy Vol. 2: Assault at Selonia

2010-01-12T10:51:00.004-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Assault at Selonia, the second volume in Roger MacBride Allen's Corellian Trilogy, picks up the pace considerably from the leisurely first book. The story opens with our heroes stuck in various predicaments. Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian have left the fringes of the interdiction field blocking all access to the Corellian system and are on their way back to Coruscant to report and formulate a strategy. Han Solo and Chief of State Leia Organa Solo are being held prisoner in separate facilities by Han's treacherous cousin Thracken Sal-Solo. Han and Leia's children have escaped along with Chewbacca and are on the run looking for a hiding hole. The New Republic is working to identify the true puppet masters behind the Corellian situation, on the theory that Thracken's Human League and the other Corellian splinter groups simply don't have the wherewithal to have put together such a large-scale conspiracy.

There is quite a bit more action in Assault at Selonia than is found in its predecessor. The book opens with Thracken conducting an interrogation of Han followed by a forced fight pitting him against an intimidating Selonian named Dracmus. A great sequence, full of typical Han swagger and showing us that even when it is in Han's best interests to throw a fight, he still has trouble backing down. Another excellent sequence features Leia and Mara Jade escaping Thracken's clutches, and Mr. Allen devotes quite a bit of detail to the mechanics of their exodus. Other scenes are more forced, most notably one in which Luke and Lando take an inexplicably dangerous journey through Coruscant's underbelly to attend a meeting (there's an explanation provided for this but to my mind it was thin).

One welcome reappearance from earlier novels is Gaeriel Captison, featured in Kathy Tyers' The Truce at Bakura. Gaeriel and Luke's reunion forces them to explore what might have been had they followed the burgeoning feelings for each other they felt fourteen years earlier, and also underscores how long Luke has been searching across the galaxy for a meaningful relationship. It's a nice tie to the earlier story to bring Gaeriel and the Bakurans in. We also learn more about the Bakuran military structure and are introduced to the efficient, thrill-seeking Admiral Ossilege. The Bakurans bring a rather intriguing hyperspace technology to the table designed to counter the effects of an interdiction field.

The story of Lando seeking a rich wife is furthered but in an improved manner from Ambush at Corellia. Lando is too busy with the military situation to continue his quest, and besides, he has taken a fancy to Tendra Risant, who he met in the last story. Tendra takes a daring solo flight into the interdiction field to find Lando and spends the book creeping through space alone. Although her plan is not a very sound one, people often do crazy things, especially when L-O-V-E is involved, and Tendra is seemingly no exception. She also brings warning of an outside fleet likely to play a key role in book three.

Mr. Allen's trilogy features a notable level of hatred for droids. Lando is downright nasty toward C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke shows tolerance for the pair, but many of the other characters are shown to despise droids. There are glimmers of a superior attitude many organics feel toward droids in the films, with Han in particular having some choice moments with 3PO, but there is no grounding for the outright prejudice shown here. I got tired of Lando's interactions with them and wished someone would put him in his place. The droids have saved their friends countless times across the films and books and this is simply not believable characterization.

Assault at Selonia is a step up from the somewhat tedious first entry in the trilogy. It is a quick read and sets up a decent mystery involving the true perpetrators of the starbuster plot. We learn more about the three species that comprise the Corellian system's native population and there are several fun action sequences along the way. I look forward to finding out the resolution of the multiple hanging plot threads in Showdown at Centerpoint, especially after the grim climax of this story.

Andrew's Review of The Corellian Trilogy Vol. 1: Ambush at Corellia

2009-12-29T14:13:00.002-05:00

2/5 Rancors - Roger MacBride Allen's Ambush at Corellia is the first volume of the Corellian Trilogy and was published in the heyday of the Bantam Spectra Star Wars license in the 1990s. Set fourteen years after Return of the Jedi, this story sets up a conflict in the Corellian system, which comprises five planets and three distinct sentient species. Han Solo is a native Corellian and a trade conference brings him and his family back home after many years away. Overlooking an early warning of danger brewing in the Corellian system, Han and Chief of State Princess Leia, along with Chewbacca and their three children, all travel together to attend the summit. Events start building towards a crisis and by the book's resolution, full-out war threatens the entire system.

Despite the action implied by the plot summary, I found this book a slow read. At its core, it felt like an elongated setup for the next two books, one that could have been condensed into a few chapters. It's mildly interesting learning more about Corellia, and the system itself is one of the more intriguing of the galaxy far, far away. Its mix of three species plus various outside influences from the Empire and New Republic creates a potent stew of simmering tension. This material is good background and perhaps will pay off in the next two volumes, but taken on its own there simply wasn't that much to this story.

The Solo family is at the center of the novel, especially with the revelation of the identity of the Human League's Hidden Leader at the climax. Leia continues to be a sympathetic and inspiring figure as she deals with balancing work and family life. We explore some of Han's emotions as he revisits his past on the Corellian trip, but this exploration doesn't illuminate anything significantly new about his character. The three children are frequently present but don't get the limelight as often as they did in The Crystal Star. One oddity in the portrayal of the children is Anakin behaves more like a toddler than a seven-year-old, both in speech and in actions (at least, based on my own 2.5 year-old daughter, who talks quite a bit like Anakin in this book).

The "B" plot follows Lando, Luke, R2-D2, and C-3PO as they embark on a quest to find Lando a rich wife. This is as silly as it sounds. I can understand that Luke might need a break from carrying the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders, but a Jedi Master wasting time on a trip like this is a lot to swallow. Lando is a good character but surely Mr. Allen could have found something more meaningful for him to pursue: this plot would have been better left "off-screen," as it were.

Ambush at Corellia is not a difficult read or particularly long. It simply felt slow because of the dragged-out storyline. The stage is set in the climax for the rest of the trilogy to accelerate significantly, so it will be interesting to see what follows.

David: Rancor Spotting #16

2009-12-20T14:16:00.007-05:00

Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide by Ryder Windham, pages 99 and 123

The Ultimate Visual Guide presents wonderful pictorial coverage of all six Star Wars films, including a little bit about rancors.

A birthday gift to Jabba from Bib Fortuna, the fearsome rancor is a semisentient beast who dwells in a pit below the crime lord’s court.

Rod Puppet
To create the rancor monster for Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, creature designer Phil Tippett used a 61-centimeter (2 feet) tall, foam-rubber rod puppet, controlled by three puppeteers.

David: Rancor Spotting #15

2009-12-20T10:19:00.004-05:00

Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds, pages 60-61

The Visual Dictionary is a useful guide to Star Wars characters and creatures in the original trilogy. Of course, it includes information about rancors as well as an excellent photo. Here is what we learn.

Standing five meters tall, this fearsome carnivore possesses an armored skin and colossal strength. Jabba keeps this beast in a pit beneath one of his palace courts, feeding it a live diet of unfortunate victims and watching its attacks for amusement. Jabba keeps the origin of his bizarre, freakish pet a mystery, though there are little-known legends of rancor-like monsters on the remote planet of Dathomir.

We are also shown a picture of the rancor’s handler.

The animal handler Malakill became an outlaw when some of his circus beasts escaped during a show and killed much of the audience. Jabba then hired him as keeper of the murderous rancor, which Malakill has grown fond of.

I am still looking in the Star Wars lexicon for an actual reference to the reading habits of rancors. It must be in there somewhere.

Andrew's Review of The New Rebellion

2009-12-15T15:37:00.003-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The New Rebellion is a standalone tale set thirteen years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Our familiar heroes from the Original Trilogy are all present and accounted for. Princess Leia Organa continues in her role from prior books as the New Republic's Chief of State, and while she may not have had much time to further her Jedi training, she has developed her political skills considerably while maintaining her sense of loyalty and caring that made her such a beloved leader of the Rebellion. Luke Skywalker continues to oversee his Academy on Yavin IV as he searches for a sense of purpose and mission for the Jedi. Han Solo is happily married to Leia and the three Solo children keep him, C-3PO, and Chewbacca hopping, as children are wont to do.

The New Rebellion deals with what happens when a splinter resistance faction becomes the government and must start granting a voice to all citizens under its rule, including its former enemies. Various ex-Imperials have started to gain power in the New Republic Senate, and Leia struggles with accepting their presence and not judging them by their checkered pasts. A mass bombing in the Senate early in the book does not make Leia's life any easier, especially when she must sift through the aftermath to determine responsibility and a course of action. This is fertile ground to explore as Ms. Rusch gets into Leia's psyche and examines the balance between career and family concerns.

From the bombing the story branches into three primary plots: the first, Leia's efforts to lead the government through the crisis; the second, Luke's journey to track down Kueller, a malicious Force User linked to the terrorist plot; and lastly, Han and later Lando's adventures at Smuggler's Run, a group of asteroids housing numerous sentients on the wrong side of the law. Some Star Wars novels have a tendency to introduce storylines without much balance or connection to the main storyline (see Lando's adventures in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy), but Ms. Rusch adeptly juggles the three and brings them all together quite satisfactorily in the end.

I particularly enjoyed Han's travails at Smuggler's Run and Lando's attempt to aid him. The asteroids house distinctly varied environments, including Skip 5, which contains caverns full of sand and Jawas, and Skip 6, crime lord Nandreeson's swampy lair. Amphibious Nandreeson forces Lando to tread in fetid, murky water to keep himself from drowning as punishment for a past difference between the two. It's quite an evocative sequence: I could almost feel my own arms getting tired as Lando struggled to hang on to life. Han's barnstorming rescue of Lando is reminiscent of the lack of planning and spirit of adventure in his escapades on the Death Star in A New Hope.

Kueller, once known as Dolph, is a failed Jedi candidate from Luke's past. He is accompanied in his villainous schemes by Brakiss, another of Luke's ex-associates. Kueller wears a skull-mask and is seemingly rather akin to Skeletor from Masters of the Universe in appearance. Kueller was a flat antagonist for me. There's not enough feeling generated from the Luke/Kueller/Brakiss back-story to emotionally invest me in the personal outcome of their struggle. I felt empathy as Kueller wantonly destroyed sentients with his bombs hidden in droids, but the final conflict mostly engaged me via the rarity of seeing Luke and Leia fight together and the unexpected role in the battle of the Thernbee (an animal native to Kueller's planet Alamania). Brakiss and Kueller were both ciphers to me, and while their plot was well-realized, they weren't especially memorable as individuals.

The New Rebellion is a solidly entertaining Star Wars tale with a strong vibe of the Original Trilogy. My primary reservation about it is the lack of connection I felt to the new characters and to the actual significance of Kueller's plot. The bombs housed in droids is an innovative concept and kudos to Ms. Rusch for developing a story involving both sides of the Force without explicitly relying on the Sith as a plot device.

David: Rancor Spotting #14

2009-12-14T10:28:00.007-05:00

Dee Bradley Baker – the voice of the Geonosian Queen Karina in The Clone Wars: Legacy of Terror.

I just read an interview with Mr. Baker on starwars.com. He is the voice of many creatures and clone troopers in The Clone Wars. I could not resist the Rancor quote from his interview. I would also suggest being on the lookout for Rancor noises in the produce section of your local grocery story. This could be the start of something big.

When you're in the grocery store, are you ever tempted to make Rancor noises when you're in line?

Actually, when I'm in the produce section of my grocery store, there's a guy who works there who's a showoff like I am and he'll start making animal sounds, so I'll make animal sounds back. And we'll do that back and forth while I'm shopping for groceries. But in most cases, I give my voice a rest.

David: Rancor Spotting #13

2009-12-05T19:24:00.007-05:00

The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide by Terryl Whitlatch and Bob Carrau, pages 42-43 and 123

What better place to find information about rancors could there be than in a field guide to Star Wars wildlife? This is a fun book to go through, and the illustrations are excellent. With particular regard to rancors, the book gives great illustrations as can be seen below. We also learn that rancors are typically seen on Dathomir serving the witches. They have survived on Tatooine as exotic transplants. The females often give birth to twins that ride on the mother’s back for the first three years of their lives. Take a look at the drawings.

David's Review of Death Troopers

2009-12-03T09:54:00.003-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Let me just say right off the top that I am not normally a fan of horror books. I realize that the genre is popular now, but zombies and the undead hold no particular appeal for me. However, Death Troopers is a Star Wars book, so I decided to give it a try. I was not familiar with Joe Schreiber as this is the first of his books I have read.

The basic plot of Death Troopers is fairly straightforward. The Imperial prison barge Purge is packed with 500 prisoners being transported to an isolated penal colony. In the first stages of the book we have the normal kind of prison story with prisoners fighting prisoners, guards exercising their power, a warden of questionable character, etc. We are introduced to most of the main characters. Then everything changes. The barge's thrusters fail and the barge comes to a halt in the vicinity of what appears to be a deserted Star Destroyer. A boarding party is sent on to the Star Destroyer to see if any engine parts can be found. The Star Destroyer is dark and spooky, and things quickly go amiss. Only part of the boarding party makes it alive back to the Purge, and they unknowingly bring a horrible disease back with them that quickly attacks the barge's population. Death comes for almost all. Then the dead begin to rise and come after the six survivors, including two surprise characters not listed in the Dramatis Personae in the front of the book.

The primary characters are just superficially developed in the book. We only get to know a little bit about them. The book is almost nonstop action, but it never seemed to be particularly scary. Gross in places, yes. Lots of blood and gore. Lots of shambling undead and lots of disgusting scenes, but not really terrifying. One of the contributing factors to this is that the two surprise characters are icons in Star Wars lore, and you know that they are not going to die.

Mr. Schreiber's writing is acceptable. The story moves along quickly through short chapters, and I did find that I wanted to see what happened next at the end of each chapter. I suspect that the book is doing well enough so that more tales of this Star Wars genre will be published. They are just never going to be my favorites.

One last aside - I would like to have seen how Darth Vader or a Master Jedi would have dealt with the situation on the barge and the Star Destroyer. That could be interesting.

David's Review of Book One of The Corellian Trilogy: Ambush at Corellia

2009-11-25T13:55:00.003-05:00

3/5 Rancors - Ambush at Corellia is the first book in The Corellian Trilogy. In this initial story, Han and his entire family plus Chewie go back to his home world of Corellia for a trade summit and a vacation. Han also plans to show his kids the world where he grew up many years ago. The level of excitement in the family is high. However, as usual, things are not as simple as they seem to be.

Shortly before the trip, Han is visited by an operative from New Republic Intelligence who informs him that many things are going wrong in Corellia and that he needs to be careful on the trip. The warning is couched in mysterious terms. Han decides to go ahead with the trip against his best judgment. On the approach to Corellia he realizes that things are in fact going wrong, and the problems escalate from there. The five inhabited worlds of the Corellian Sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful co-existence of the three leading races - human. Selonan, and Drallan - has come to an end. By the end of the book Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless they can meet a fanatical Rebel leader's impossible demands.

All of this sounds good, but I kept feeling that nothing much was actually happening. Possibly the next two books in the trilogy will pick up. I also had significant problems with a venture that Lando and Luke are involved in, i.e., finding Lando a rich wife. None of this rang true at all to me. I cannot imagine Lando being a part of such an effort, and I don't know as yet why we should care.

Time to move on to the second book, Assault at Selonia.

David: Rancor Spotting #12

2009-11-21T14:55:00.016-05:00

The Art of Return of the Jedi, pages 35-38

This outstanding book includes sketches, storyboards, matte paintings, blueprints, production paintings, and costume designs as well as the complete script of the film. Shown below are the pages illustrating the famous rancor scenes in the pit below Jabba's throne room.

David's Bonus Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Visual Guide - Ultimate Battles

2009-11-20T19:07:00.016-05:00

5/5 Rancors - The Visual Guide – Ultimate Battles offers the Clone Wars fan a great look at images of the significant battles in Seasons I and II. This book is a follow-up to The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide. As is true with Mr. Fry’s previous book, Ultimate Battles is loaded with shots from the series and explanations of the action. All of the main battles are shown, and significant sections of the book cover weapons, troops, and key characters.

As you would expect, the book is heavily visual, and the illustrations are outstanding. You can ponder at length many of the scenes that you have watched on the TV show. The presentation of the material in the book is excellent, and the quality is first-rate.

If you like Clone Wars, you are certain to enjoy this book.

Where's the Beef?

2009-11-18T22:03:00.003-05:00

I admit, I have been not giving Rancors full attention lately and will confess to being unfaithful. Recently other fiction, such as the latest Weis/Hickman Dragonlance book and, presently, David Copperfield have been claiming my affections. There have been sporadic flings with graphic novels and even RPG rulebooks mixed in as well. I did finish The New Rebellion but haven't gotten around to a write-up yet.

Lately when I spend time on Star Wars it centers around either my collection or the new TV show, both the current episodes and the excellent Blu-Ray box set of Season One. I have no doubt my interest in the chronological reading of the EU will resume soon. I believe the Bantam era has bogged me down, despite some shiny highlights scattered through it. I look forward to the Zahn duology's putting a neat little bow on the Bantam era, although the tonal shift taken with the New Jedi Order and beyond will present its own set of challenges.

Some musings for anyone wondering where Andrew's Star Wars reviews have gone as of late. :-)

David: Rancor Spotting #11

2009-10-28T19:35:00.004-04:00

Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham, pages 198-200

Rancors pop up in this book in the section titled Other Force-Using Organizations as part of a summary of Force Wtches. These witches lived in enclaves on various planets and drew their power directly from the light side of the Force. On the other side were the Nightsisters, a group of witches that had embraced the dark side and were exiled to form their own clan. The most noteworthy of the Force Witches were the ones on the planet Dathomir. See Rancor Spotting #9 for more information about Dathomir.

The book points out that a banished Jedi Knight named Allya tamed the rancors on Dathomir to do her bidding and instituted a symbiotic relationship between rancors and Force Witches that continues to this day. It also informs us that a rancor named Tosh, herd leader of the Singing Mountain Clan’s rancors, provided the following narrative, which had been passed down over many generations.

Listen, children, to the story of how our ancestors first met the Witches.

A sickly female rancor met a Witch who healed her, and the Witch rode on the rancor’s back, and learned to speak the rancor’s tongue. By riding the rancor’s back, the Witch was able to spot food better with her sharp eyes that see well even in the daylight, and the rancor thrived and became huge. In time, she became a herd mother, and her herds prospered while others died out.

Back then, the rancors did not know how to make fine weapons like spears or nets. They did not know how to protect themselves with armor. Because the Witches have taught them such great things, the rancors must always love the Witches and serve them, even when they make unreasonable demands to give them rides through the wilderness or ask us to fight the Nightsisters.

Never serve the Nightsisters, children. They’ll treat you badly, as if you were mere slaves. Their taste is foul, so it is best to crush them. If you cannot crush them, then escape from them, for then you can continue to serve the good Witches, and hope to crush the Nightsisters another day.

Try to imagine a rancor covered in armor and brandishing a spear. Whew!

David: Rancor Spotting #10

2009-10-24T16:31:00.014-04:00

Return of the Jedi by James Kahn

Star Wars fans were first introduced to the Rancor in the film of Return of the Jedi. We all remember when Luke dropped into the pit in Jabba’s throne room, what he faced there, and how he dealt with the situation. An unforgettable moment. Clearly, this should have been Rancor Spotting #1, but such is not the case in this blog. Sorry.

Here is how Mr. Kahn sets the scene in the book.

In the pit below, Luke picked himself up off the floor. He found he was now in a large cavelike dungeon, the walls formed of craggy boulders pocked with lightless crevices. The half-chewed bones on countless animals were strewn over the floor, smelling of decayed flesh and twisted fear.

Twenty-five feet above him, in the ceiling, he saw the iron grating through which Jabba’s repugnant courtiers peered.

The guard beside him suddenly began to scream uncontrollably, as a door in the side of the cave slowly rumbled open. With infinite calm, Luke surveyed his surroundings, as he removed his long robe down to his Jedi tunic, to give him more freedom of movement. He backed quickly to the wall and crouched there, watching.

Out of the side passage emerged the giant Rancor. The size of an elephant, it was somehow reptilian, somehow as unformed as a nightmare. Its huge screeching mouth was asymmetrical in its head, its fangs and claws set all out of proportion. It was clearly a mutant, and wild as all unreason.

As we all know, Luke’s battle with the Rancor continues from this point and ends several pages later with the Rancor keeper weeping openly. Truly a classic moment in the Star Wars saga.

David: Rancor Spotting #9

2009-10-23T11:12:00.009-04:00

Star Wars: The Essential Atlas by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry, page 56

The Essential Atlas is beautifully done and is an excellent reference book for those who want to know where the events of Star Wars actually take place. With particular emphasis on our rancor spotting efforts, the atlas points out that the planet of Dathomir is well known as a home for rancors. Here are the key references.

“Dathomir is notorious among spacers for its two primary exports – rancors and witches. Though the planet boasts stunning natural beauty, nothing can overcome its reputation as a place of animal savagery and dark magic.”

“Two warm-blooded reptilian species have developed intelligence on Dathomir. The first, the Kwa, built a pre-Republic empire before their reversion into primitivism as the Kwi. The second species are the famed rancors, whose complex familial bonds have led researchers to classify them as semi-sentient.”

“In 600 BBY Allya, an exiled Jedi Knight, took command of Dathomir’s Paecian descendants and established a matriarchal society with a genetic Force component on Dathomir. Thus began the legend of Dathomir’s witches – female rancor tamers who used totems and incantations as props to work their Force-triggered wonders.”

David: Rancor Spotting #8

2009-10-21T11:46:00.004-04:00

Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis / Helen Keier (text) and Chris Trevas / William O’Connor (illustrations), pages 136-137

These two pages offer the most detailed summary of rancors in all of the Star Wars literature. Home world – Dathomir / Ottethan. Average height – 5+ meters. They are described as huge, mostly vicious reptilian creatures with huge saliva-dripping fangs and long, sharp claws. They are fearsome fighters and prefer fresh, raw meat. The influence of rancors goes beyond their own environment. Rancor Rising is a sequence of movements in the teras kasi martial arts tradition. Rancor hide is used in leather consumer goods such as boots. Items carved from rancor teeth are often valuable.

These items are just teasers. There is much more. Check out The New Essential Guide to Alien Species for good information on rancors as well as many other Star Wars creatures.

David's Review of The New Rebellion

2009-10-18T16:10:00.004-04:00

5/5 Rancors - The New Rebellion is the first book written by Kristine Kathryn Rusch that I have read. I thought she did an excellent job in describing the characters’ actions and in establishing the appropriate Star Wars atmosphere. Plus, the book was just fun to read.

The tale she weaves has the New Republic in serious trouble. Some mysterious force in the galaxy has caused the deaths of millions of beings marked by the associated result of a major disruption in the Force felt by Luke at his Jedi Academy and by Leia on Coruscant. Then a bomb explodes in the Senate Hall causing death and destruction. Allegations soon surface that Han Solo was involved. The mysterious force turns out to be a former student of Luke’s who has assumed the name of Kueller. He has strong powers in the Force and is bent on the destruction of Luke, Leia, and Leia’s Force-sensitive kids.

Ms Rusch tells a good story. We have Han going back to Smuggler’s Run in an attempt to obtain information from some of his old smuggler associates. Han gets in trouble and Lando comes along in a rescue effort. Then Lando gets into serious trouble and Han mounts a rescue effort. Chewie is involved being his usual self. Luke is caught up in a personal battle with Kueller. Leia resigns her office as Chief of State and goes to help Luke. The book has a lot going on.

The New Rebellion also has one of my favorite scenes from the entire Star Wars saga. Artoo and Threepio are on their own for a while on a planet that is primarily a droid factory. Droids of all types are built there, most of them from used parts. The factory has room after room of droids, and our heroes end up in a room full of dormant astomech droids. R2 manages to spur the droids into action and mobilizes them in a flight to freedom. While R2 leads the astromechs, Threepio follows along constantly lamenting their fate but actually lending a hand in the fighting once in a while. I loved reading it.

The New Rebellion is an outstanding Star Wars tale.

David's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis Book 3: Tyrant's Test

2009-10-17T18:28:00.004-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Tyrant’s Test is the third book in The Black Fleet Crisis, a trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. It picks up where Shield of Lies left off. The New Republic is in a tough situation. The Yevethan have turned out to be a real threat. They have continued their campaign of genocide, and now they have Han Solo as a hostage. As Chief of State, Leia has to convince the Senate to approve a war against the Yevethan. At the same time, as a wife and mother, she has to deal with having her husband being brutally tortured by Nil Spaar, the leader of the Yevethan. None of the solutions that are open to her appear to be ideal.

As was true in the first two books, we have three main stories going on. Lando, Lobot, R2, and Threepio are aboard the Teljkon vagabond and are trying to understand why such a mysterious craft is just moving aimlessly through space. Luke continues his mystical journey with Akanah in search of the Fallanassi. This section remains by far the weakest of the storylines in the trilogy, even though Luke and his new friends do play a major role in the conclusion of the book. It was refreshing to see that he finally got something useful to do, and his story does tie in with Leia’s. Leia continues to have the best storyline. All of the political maneuvering is interesting, and her efforts to defeat the Yevethan and save her husband are strong.

One new storyline in this third book brings Chewbacca into the action, and he is a welcome addition. Chewie learns of Han’s capture by the Yevethan, and he immediately springs into action. Chewie, his son Lumpawarrump, and some other Wookies head for the Koornacht Cluster to rescue Han. Nothing seems to hamper their efforts and they have a wonderful sequence on the Yevethan flagship as they work their way to Han.

Mr. Kube-McDowell is capable of writing an interesting story. He loves to introduce new alien species, and his descriptions of political maneuvering are excellent. However, he may have spread himself a little thin in making The Black Fleet Crisis a trilogy. He could have omitted a lot of Luke’s story throughout the three books and obtained a stronger result. The Black Fleet Crisis is fun to read, but it is not a top-notch effort.

David: Rancor Spotting #7

2009-10-13T16:59:00.005-04:00

The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, page 383

In The New Rebellion, everybody is in trouble. Han and Chewie went to Smuggler’s Run on a mysterious quest. Lando then went after them to warn Han that he was being set up. R2 and Threepio are basically trying to save the New Republic on their own. Luke is battling a mysterious villain who seems to have overwhelming powers. Leia has resigned her office as Chief of State to go help Luke. Whew!

The following quote describes Luke’s state of mind as he fights a Thernbee:

“But he had to move. This thing couldn’t beat him. It would be a horrible way for a Jedi Knight to die. He’d fought rancors and Tusken Raiders all by himself. He could survive anything.”

Once you have defeated a rancor, you feel as if you can do anything.

Clone Wars Season 2 Premiere

2009-10-02T22:10:00.002-04:00

What a great start to Season 2 we just witnessed. Tonally we appear to be headed in new directions this year. Two dead Jedi in two episodes, dubious "victories" at best for our heroes, and even the lighting and animation have kicked things up a notch. The scene of Bane and Sidious negotiating on Coruscant was pure noir goodness, down to the beautiful slanted light coming in through the blinds. There were many moments in Holocron Heist where dialogue and space between the action beats took center stage, moments where the show could breathe for a minute and we had time to invest more fully in the narrative. Todo 360 was a choice piece of comic relief and I was sorry to see him go so soon, although sometimes comedy like that is better as a brief flame than an overstaying-its-welcome source of humor.

Cad Bane continues to impress. Kudos to the scriptwriters for letting him be so talkative but remain so aloof and mysterious. I think Lucasfilm may have very well found their next Darth Maul in Bane, difference being that Bane has already had more screen time to his credit! I welcome seeing the Jedi face a credible threat and am glad to move away from Separatists a bit.

Nicely done second episode as well, particularly the Anakin-Bane showdown at the end. Bane got very lucky in getting the one Jedi with the biggest attachment issues in the Order, one who couldn't bear looking his Padawan in the eye and then sacrificing her for the good of the order. Can't wait to see next week's ep - looks like Anakin's choice to open the holocron will have some rather severe repercussions.

I am so HAPPY to have Star Wars back on TV!

David's Bonus Review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide

2009-10-02T17:58:00.030-04:00

5/5 Rancors - What could be more appropriate than to talk about The Clone Wars Visual Guide on the day that the second season of the animated series of The Clone Wars opens on TV? The Visual Guide offers the reader an excellent look at the first season. The book is packed with shots from the series and explanations of what you are looking at. We learn about individuals such as the Jedi, clone troopers, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Jabba the Hutt, etc. The various types of ships and weapons are covered, and brief scenes from some of the episodes are included.

This book is far from heavy reading as it lives up to its name by being predominately visual. The idea is to look at and study at your leisure many of the things you enjoyed watching in the TV series. The presentation of the material in the book is excellent, and the quality is first-rate.

I recommend that any fan of The Clone Wars take a look at The Visual Guide. I am confident that you will enjoy it, and I believe you may find reasons to go back and look at it again numerous times.

Andrew's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis III: Tyrant's Test

2009-09-30T15:54:00.003-04:00

3/5 Rancors - The Black Fleet Crisis started off strongly holding my interest but by this concluding third volume I found my attention beginning to waver. Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s final entry in the trilogy, Tyrant’s Test, picks right up with the three primary storylines from the earlier books. Once again he experiments with the layout of the story: this time around the Leia and Luke plots are intertwined, occasionally interrupted by a segment dubbed Interlude to spend some time on Lando’s adventures. This format is indicative of the eventual importance of the three threads. Leia’s story is clearly the primary one, focusing on her efforts to hold the New Republic together and unite squabbling factions against the nastily xenophobic Yevetha. Luke’s plot eventually ties in with one important tactical element in the final battle, but it’s a loose connection. Lando’s tale ends up having very little to do with anything, although it entertains on its own merits.

The book opens by finally bringing Chewbacca into the trilogy. Learning of Han’s imprisonment by Yevethan Viceroy Nil Spaar, he and his son Lumpawarrump (of Star Wars Holiday Special infamy!) set off for the Koornacht Cluster to mount a rescue. Mr. Kube-McDowell opts to translate the Wookiee language Shyriiwook directly rather than have Basic-speaking characters paraphrase the Wookiees’ utterances. I prefer this approach, as it fosters a more direct engagement with the Wookiees’ thoughts and emotions. While not given a large amount of time in the novel, the Chewbacca story is exciting and leads to an unusual action sequence on the Yevethan flagship Pride of Yevetha, where a clandestine agent aboard the vessel assists in clearing a path to Han.

Poor Leia is beset on all sides: she sees video of Han being savagely beaten within an inch of his life, old Senatorial friends from the past turn on her politically and force her to expend energy simply retaining her office, and her brother Luke has run off with a strange Force user named Akanah who claims to have information on their mother. Watching her grapple with the various situations she encounters and eventually build toward a climactic moment where she is able to unify the government behind her is the strongest part of the story. By this third volume, I often found myself wincing when I opened a page and saw the name Luke on it: his plot simply didn’t hold enough interest. Akanah’s manipulations of him were nausea-inducing, especially at the end where her abuse of the truth is revealed, and by this age in his life Luke should be a more mature character than the one the EU authors insist on portraying (I don’t subscribe to the dropping-my-responsibilities-to-chase-around-the-galaxy idea in this trilogy).

Not much is done here to expand the Yevethan culture. They place survival-of-the-fittest on a pedestal and live short, violent lives dedicated to that tenet. Nil Spaar sinks to new depths in several bloody moments, but for the most part the other Yevethan characters are interchangeable, more there to provide points-of-view rather than to be fleshed-out characters. There’s an excellent exploration of the remnants of the Imperial occupation force the Yevethan conquered twelve years earlier, and their sudden arrival in the storyline is entirely logical and fundamental to the final victory. Nil Spaar’s own demise is open-ended: I can’t say I hope to ever see him again in a future story.

Besides sporting a timely and key intervention from Luke using a nifty new Force power he learned from Akanah, Lando’s adventure on the vagabond starship doesn’t really relate to the rest of the trilogy. I continued to enjoy the interactions of Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 on the vessel, but was disappointed at the anti-climactic ending of their tale. Still, it’s OK to have a sidebar in a story, and even though this one wasn’t very important, it is still fairly intriguing taken on its own merits.

The strengths of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy taken as a whole are the innovative and detailed depictions of alien species both new and old, the exciting pacing of the political and military actions underlying the eventual confrontation with the Yevetha, and the breathing room the stories get by spreading them over a trilogy. However, this spreading out also is a weakness at points, as the Luke and Lando plots run out of steam to varying degrees. Overall, the trilogy is a worthwhile Star Wars story, particularly for readers interested in the New Republic government or the many fascinating aliens of the Expanded Universe.

Andrew: Rancor Spotting #6

2009-09-27T11:05:00.003-04:00

This spotting comes to you straight from the pages of Dark Horse's Zam Wesell one-shot, recently reprinted in the excellent Menace Revealed omnibus. No page number, but about one-third of the way in a small street urchin is being threatened by some unsavory Coruscant hooligans. Cornered in a desolate dead-end, things look grim for the little four-armed tyke.

Little do these thugs know, though, that a rancor is on its way to the rescue! In one spectacular panel, we see an immense toothy beast magically appear as back-up to our small hero. The rabble can't believe their eyes, but nonetheless, they have the brains to take to their heels when a rancor, king of beasts, shows up on the scene.

Strangely, the little one seems as mystified as anyone by the turn of events, but the timely arrival of Jedi Master Yarael Poof swiftly sheds light on the situation....

David's Bonus Review of The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

2009-09-22T17:47:00.016-04:00

Note: I consider this review to be a bonus review because the book is not part of the official reading list of Star Wars books that Andrew and I are working our way through. However, it is an excellent addition to the Star Wars canon, plus it is really a visual treat to enjoy as you go through it.

5/5 Rancors - The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a coffee table book that looks excellent and is packed with renderings from the theatrical release and Season I of the TV series. The book also includes a quick peek at Season II. The emphasis is on concept art and you can get a real feel for the development of characters and places. My suggestion would be to take your time going through the book. Study the pictures and absorb the artwork.

Each picture in the book has a caption explaining specifically what you are looking at and what the artist’s name is. Many of the pictures also come with much longer explanations giving excellent background information, e.g., a particularly interesting write-up on the influence of Ralph McQuarrie. We hear from Director Dave Filoni a good deal as he explains the initial concepts of The Clone Wars and takes us through some of the changes that took place as the project came to fruition.

If you are a fan of The Clone Wars and enjoy the visual presentation, then this book is for you.

David: Rancor Spotting #5

2009-09-21T21:14:00.010-04:00

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Visual Guide by Jason Fry, pages 50-51

As was previously noted in Rancor Spotting #2, a major sequence that was cut from the film The Clone Wars was to have been a lightsaber battle among Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano atop a rancor. This scene is also referenced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Visual Guide with a very nice drawing of a jungle rancor and a picture of Anakin and Asajj on top of a rancor. Most rancors are described as having dull brown hides but breeding by animal dealers has produced giant rancors, horned rancors, and ones with skins in bright colors.

David's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis Book 2: Shield of Lies

2009-09-20T21:49:00.009-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Shield of Lies is the second book in The Black Fleet Crisis, a trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. It picks up where Before the Storm left off. The leadership of the New Republic is gradually accepting the fact that the Yevethan are engaged in a campaign of genocide against anyone who is different from them. The campaign is one of no mercy and utter destruction. The question Leia is faced with as the leader of the New Republic is how to deal with the situation. Decide that it is not their problem and ignore the morality of the issue? Try to arrive at a diplomatic solution? Force the Yevethan to stop through engaging them in open warfare? The decision is one that may very well cost Leia her job as Chief of State.

The book is divided into three different sections. The first is Lando and his continuing search for the Teljkon vagabond, the mysterious craft that drifts through space and refuses to be investigated or even approached. Lobot, R2, Threepio, and a crew supplied by the military are all along with Lando to help learn about the vagabond. This section of the book is interesting. The concept of a large ship apparently just drifting through space with no identification and with powerful weapons systems is intriguing. However, as Lando and company succeed in actually getting aboard the ship, the entire concept of what the ship is and how it operates gets vastly complicated. The explanations may be more than you want to know.

The second section is Luke as he continues his mystical journey with Akanah to find the Fallanassi and possibly his mother. This entire section drags significantly as not a whole lot happens and we are subjected to endless philosophical discussions of the powers of the Fallanassi and how Luke should be using his powers purely for peace and not for any violent purposes. This continues a string of books in which Luke spends much more time thinking about what he should be doing rather than actually performing any useful functions. I’m tired of it. The Republic and Luke’s friends are in serious trouble, and he is trying to figure out what to do with his life.

The third section is Leia’s and is by far the most interesting. She is beset by problems on all sides, not the least of which is whether or not she can stay in office. She feels a moral obligation to confront the Yevethan, but many of the Republic’s other leaders do not agree. The situation becomes very personal for her when Han is captured by the opposing forces. The book ends as a cliffhanger with perilous situations all over the place. I look forward to the third book, and I fervently hope that Luke will see his way to actually helping out his friends.

David: Rancor Spotting #4

2009-09-16T22:13:00.006-04:00

Tyrant’s Test: Book 3 of The Black Fleet Crisis by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, page 203

Republic ships are attempting to make a surprise attack against a Yevethan T-type ship in the battle in the Koornacht Cluster. Commodore Brand’s ships have been following one Yevethan vessel and plan to attack as soon as the vessel reappears from behind a planet. The only trouble is that when reappearance happens, the one T-type ship turns out to be three T-type ships. Oops. Here is Commodore Brand’s reaction.

“Three!” Brand said in surprise, loudly enough to be heard at most of the bridge stations. “Three, “ he repeated to himself. “Well, that yanks the rancor’s whiskers.”

Andrew's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis II: Shield of Lies

2009-09-09T17:05:00.003-04:00

3/5 Rancors - Shield of Lies is the second entry in Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis trilogy and has many of the standard hallmarks often found in middle chapters of a longer story. There is no particular beginning or ending point and the three primary storylines of Before the Storm are carried forward without any significant conclusions or new plots introduced. One tweak to the format is a reorganization of the three main plots: rather than interweaving them, they are presented in three completely separate parts. This is a welcome change if you don't enjoy jumping storylines from chapter to chapter, but maybe not so much if one or more of the scenarios taking place does not particularly engage you.

Mr. Kube McDowell's strengths from the first book continue unabated. His portrayal of alien species remains strong, his use of politics as an arena of battle alongside the detailed military engagements gives the book an exciting military fiction slant, and more unsettling aspects of the viciously memorable Yevethan culture are revealed.

The three storylines are distinct enough in tone and content that it is unlikely any reader will enjoy them all equally. My take is that the Luke Skywalker plot is the least engaging. Luke and the mysterious White Current adept Akanah continue to seek evidence of the whereabouts of her people and Luke's mother. Of course, thanks to the prequels we know Luke won't find his mother but that's beside the point. Their quest doesn't have enough narrative thrust behind it to sustain the story. It's hard to credit that Luke would be spending his time running around the galaxy on this personal mission while his friends back home are preparing for a possible full-scale war. It comes off as selfish and weak rather than mystical.

Faring better is Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2's continued exploration of the strange vagabond spaceship they have been trapped on. While they don't make much forward progress in Shield of Lies, they do have some entertaining moments, and Mr. Kube-McDowell's juxtaposition of Lando's impulsive humanity with the attitudes of the droids (and the cyborg Lobot occupying an interesting space in-between) continues to intrigue.

By far the most gripping part of the book is Leia's portion that deals with the actual Black Fleet situation. I would have liked more of the book devoted to her struggles with her own emotions, her fellow members of the New Republic government, and the malicious Yevetha. There's a terrific space battle at Doornik 319 that drives home the seriousness and scope of the Yevethan threat and more in this vein would have been welcome too. However, what there is of this story in the book is well executed, and the ending does leave quite a cliffhanger for the final volume.

Shield of Lies is a reasonable continuation of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, but it does not add very much of substance to the overall story and does not stand well on its own.

David: Rancor Spotting #3

2009-09-06T17:25:00.003-04:00

Shield of Lies: Book 2 of The Black Fleet Crisis by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, page 247

In a time of crisis for the New Republic, war with the Yevetha appears to be inevitable. However, for political reasons, the Republic forces would rather not be thought of as the instigators . General Etahn A'baht, the commander of the New Republic's Fifth Fleet, has a large armada of ships patrolling the perimeter of the Farlax Sector. He is trying to decide whether to keep his vessels where they are and just remain watchful or to push forward bit by bit to see if he can spur the opposing Yevetha forces into action. He is receiving advice from Admiral Hiram Drayson, chief of Alpha Blue, a super-secret intelligence group in the New Republic.

A'baht - "Are you saying that we were sent here to draw the Yevetha into a war?"

Drayson - "I am saying that you may decide for yourself how much of your arm to place into the rancor's mouth."

Could be a useful expression in today's world.

David's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis Book 1: Before the Storm

2009-09-05T18:59:00.012-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Before the Storm is the first book in The Black Fleet Crisis, a trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. Now the book had a couple of things going for it before I even opened it up. First, I always like the idea of a trilogy. Second, I think The Black Fleet Crisis has a nice ring to it, slightly ominous. Then I discovered that Luke, Lando, Leia, Han, and our two favorite droids were major players in the story. That made everything look good, and I am pleased to say that the book met my expectations. Fun stories to read for the most part.

The series takes place in a time of relative peace for the New Republic. The Empire is in tatters. The Jedi Knights are emerging once again as a force to be reckoned with. However, as one would expect, everything is not just good times and happiness. Leia is Chief of State and spends her time administering the Republic while resolving a multitude of problems and trying to raise a family. Her current focus in this book is a period of negotiations with the ruthless leader of the Duskhan League. Everything is not as it seems with the Yevetha who opposes her.

Luke is off in a wilderness area of Coruscant acting as a hermit and trying to get in touch with the Force or something. He does not seem to need clothes, food, water, or contact with other people. Leia has begged him to help her raise her kids and teach them the ways of the Force, but Luke is not going for it. Then suddenly one day a woman named Akanah appeared in his house without warning and asked Luke to go with her on a quest to find the Fallanassi and possibly to find news of his mother. Just like that, Luke agreed to go with her. Needless to say, Leia was not pleased. This section of the book requires an adjustment for readers who have seen the prequels and are comfortable with the story of Padme. Keep in mind that the book was written in 1996.

My favorite storyline in the book so far is Lando's quest as part of a military team to investigate a mysterious spacecraft that seems to have extremely destructive weapons and a mysterious mission. The craft is unapproachable and either jumps to hyperspace when approached or destroys any ship getting near to it. I love the mystery of this unknown vessel just traveling through space with an unknown purpose.

Before the Storm is a good effort by Mr. Kube-McDowell. I look forward to the next two books in the trilogy.

David: Rancor Spotting #2

2009-09-02T21:22:00.008-04:00

The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars - pages 48-49

A major sequence that was cut from the film The Clone Wars was to have been a lightsaber battle among Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano atop a rancor. Too bad that it didn't make it. Apparently this rancor would have been way different from the one in Return of the Jedi. More of a Godzilla-like Japanese movie monster.

David: Rancor Spotting

2009-08-25T19:51:00.004-04:00

Since our website is rancorslovetoread.com, it stands to reason that we would have some interest in rancors. Everyone remembers the huge rancor that Luke dealt with in Jabba’s palace, but as I have read my way through the Expanded Universe for the past couple of years I couldn’t help but notice that rancors turn up in the books every once in a while, often in unexpected places. I have decided to keep track of these with a Rancor Spotting each time I see a reference to one. Unfortunately I am beginning my Rancor Spottings after we are already more than two years down the road in the Expanded Universe books, so I have already missed several. If you know of any good ones, send me a comment and I’ll make sure your spotting gets published in our blog.

Here is a Rancor Spotting from the book I am currently reading.

“Fun?" Skids shook his head. "Fun like having a rancor sit on your lap is fun.” - Skids, a weapons tech on a K-wing bomber in the Fifth Battle Group

Book 1 of The Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm by Michael P. Kube-McDowell - page 13

David: What Ever Happened to Luke Skywalker?

2009-08-24T19:37:00.005-04:00

Remember when we first met Luke Skywalker, the young farm boy on the desert planet of Tatooine – untrained, inexperienced, naive, restless, but still a great pilot, eager to learn, and anxious to explore the universe and see other worlds? Remember how he went on to blow up the Death Star, resist the Emperor, and help to establish the Republic as a functioning governing body? He was a genuine hero. Where is he now? What has happened to the Luke we first knew?

Anyone who has been following our blog knows that Andrew and I are reading all of the Star Wars novels in a particular order and writing reviews of each book. This is a process that will take several years to complete, but it is great fun. However, I have become more and more bewildered lately by Luke Skywalker’s state of mind and his inability or unwillingness to help out when things go badly for his friends in the Republic.

Currently I am about halfway through Michael Kube-McDowell’s book The Black Fleet Crisis I: Before the Storm, and once again Luke is having problems. He abandons Han, Leia, and their kids to spend all of his time in a hermit-like existence communing with the Force or something like that. He apparently doesn’t eat, doesn’t really need clothing, sees no one, and is completely out of contact with the rest of civilization. He gets a surprise visit from a mysterious woman and agrees to go with her to try to learn something about his mother. Just like that. Sure, I’ll go. What else do I have to do? But first let me tell my sister Leia what I am planning to do. I was pleased to see that this visit to Leia did not go well. She was not understanding and could not grasp the importance of why Luke needed to go off searching for ghosts while she was busy in Coruscant being married to Han Solo, trying to raise three kids with Force powers, and, oh yeah, serving as Chief of State for the Republic. No, I don’t need any help, Luke. It’s just your niece and nephews we’re talking about here. Anybody should be able to teach them about the Force. We don’t need the top Force guy anywhere around to help us. You go ahead.

My opinion of Leia soared with that outburst. I think she has become the real hero figure in the Star Wars Universe. She runs the government, raises her kids, and still has time to physically help with various battles that come along. Luke, on the other hand, is so conscious of the dark side that he is almost paralyzed. He has to analyze everything. He is reluctant to fight, and he always seems to be in situations where his powers are severely restricted. Plus he whines a lot. Of course, he whined about going into town to look at some power converters or something in the first film, but now he is older and wiser or should be. Stop all the whining.

I want the old Luke Skywalker back. I want to see him decisive, skilled in the Force, and not afraid to use it to kick some tail all around the Universe. Maybe he is coming back in future books. I hope so.

David's Review of No Prisoners

2009-08-19T21:23:00.004-04:00

4/5 Rancors - The previous Star Wars books by Karen Traviss have been extremely good, and No Prisoners also reaches her high standard. Her special area of interest in her books is the clone troopers that the Republic uses to fight the Separatists. This book continues that pattern. Captain Rex is back, and he is sent on a routine three-day shakedown mission along with Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka. Anakin hopes to use the time to spend a couple of days with Padme. The mission turns out to not be routine when they are sent off to rescue Hallena Devis, a Republic undercover agent who is caught up in the middle of a Separatist invasion.

Things become even more complicated when a band of Jedis led by Master Djinnn Altis joins forces with them. Master Altis' followers do not think that attachment between Jedis causes any problems or necessarily leads to the dark side. Ahsoka has big problems working with them because their beliefs are so different and because the entire situation challenges some of her core beliefs. Anakin, of course, is very anxious to talk privately with Master Altis and learn more about his philosophy regarding attachments. A further complication is that the ship they are on is commanded by Captain Gil Pellaeon. He and Agent Devis are lovers, so he worries that any actions he takes may be construed to have been influenced by his relationship with Devis. We also are able to meet Callista and see her function as a real Jedi instead of as a spirit and as the new person she becomes when she and Luke Skywalker fall in love in the Callista Trilogy.

I have enjoyed all of the Star Wars books written by Karen Traviss. I was disappointed to read on her blog recently that she will no longer writing any books for the Expanded Universe. The Clone Wars stories are heading in a different direction from the path taken in her previous books. She will be missed.

David's Review of The Crystal Star

2009-08-16T15:30:00.004-04:00

1/5 Rancors - Reading The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre led me to wonder how selective the publishing companies were back in the nineties when it came to selecting authors' works to be issued as official Star Wars novels. This book is simply not up to par. I found it to be a complete mishmash, and I had to force myself to wade through it. First of all, I just do not want to read a book where three-year-old and five-year-old kids have been ripped away from their parents and are in serious trouble. Then the plot of the book wanders all over the place, confusingly strange aliens with Godlike traits play a major role, and the small children lead a miraculous escape from the clutches of the book's evil genius. Too much of the book is just impossible to accept. Obviously, being a Star Wars fan means a person has to suspend belief in reality as we currently understand it. However, Ms McIntyre goes way too far.

Key plot points - Han and Leia's twins Jania and Jacen along with their younger brother Anakin are kidnapped. Chewie is seriously injured. Han and Luke have gone off on a guys' vacation trip. Leia makes an effort to follow the kidnappers' trail and stumbles onto a group of disabled refugee ships. We also have the charismatic alien Waru and a powerful Imperial officer who wants to restore the Empire. All of this might seem to bode well for a good tale, but it never comes together.

This is also another book in a stream of books that present Luke as a weak, confused character. The popular plot twist fifteen years ago seems to have been for Luke to lose his grasp of the Force. I cannot wait to read once again about Luke's being a powerful Jedi and dealing with bad guys in an effective manner without whining.

I will give the author credit for making me laugh out loud once. She briefly has an alien described as a hairy being approach Han and beg for money. "Has it got a coin in its pocketses for me?" Then a few lines later the same hairy being says "They're mine. Mine!" I took this as a tribute to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. That was good, but not enough. The Crystal Star falls way short.

Andrew's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis I: Before the Storm

2009-08-13T16:33:00.004-04:00

4/5 Rancors - Michael P. Kube-McDowell's novel Before the Storm kicks off the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy and is set some twelve years after Return of the Jedi. The New Republic has continued to struggle through the growing pains of a fledgling government, led by head of state Princess Leia Organa Solo. The galaxy has experienced a time of relative peace since the predations of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Daala several years prior. Han Solo is adapting to life as a spouse at home looking after the three Solo children, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. Luke Skywalker is continuing to seek out new Jedi and improve himself and others in a quest to rebuild the Jedi legacy and decipher his true self.

Into this tranquil time come the Yevetha, a highly xenophobic alien race led by the cunning Nil Spaar. Spaar comes to Coruscant for an ostensible peace mission, but as events develop his agenda becomes murkier and his motives more mysterious. I enjoyed Mr. McDowell's carefully paced development of Spaar and his people: he allows insights into the Yevethan mindset to unfold at a pace roughly parallel to Leia herself learning more about them, helping sink the reader deeper into the story. The Yevetha come across as a credible threat to the galaxy's peace, and by leaving their full plans unstated, the reader is left with heightened anticipation for what is to come in the next two novels in the trilogy.

While the Yevetha and their possible ties to the group of Imperial capital ships known as the Black Fleet are the central focus of the tale, there are two other important storylines given close to equal weight. The first and better of these follows Lando Calrissian, C-3PO, R2-D2, and the quasi-obscure cyborg Lobot (first seen on Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back). New Republic Intelligence asks for Lando's help on a mission to recover the Teljkon vagabond, a legendary space vessel of unknown origin, design, and contents that has recently been located. Lando's sparring with the task force leader Colonel Pakkpekatt is good fun, as is watching his team develop an approach for boarding the vagabond and learning its secrets. The vagabond itself makes for a compelling mystery and the interactions between Lando, Lobot, and the droids are humorous.

The third storyline is the weakest and deals with Luke's quest to learn more about his mother. He is approached by Akanah, an orphaned child from a group of Force users known as the Fallanassi. Akanah claims Luke's mother was a Fallanassi, and that they can work together to track down Akanah's missing people and learn more about Luke's past. It's not fair to the novels published in the 1990s to judge them too harshly for not connecting with the still-to-come prequel trilogy, but I must say this plot feels very disjointed from what we now know about the broader saga and Luke's mother Padme. Also, there's simply not as much interest in the interactions between these two characters as there is in the rest of the novel. However, it is book one of a trilogy, so perhaps things will develop better as the story moves forward.

One place Mr. Kube-McDowell really shines is in his depiction of alien races and cultural mores. His aliens truly behave in non-human ways, from the motivations of the Yevetha to the odd cultural clashes amongst the Senators on Coruscant. He does a great job with making the fantastical seem quite real. He also delves more deeply and deftly into political maneuvering than the typical Star Wars novel: the time he spends fleshing out the decisions behind the government's actions and the clandestine discussions happening behind Leia's back is well-spent.

Before the Storm is a promising start to the Black Fleet Crisis. I'll reserve final judgment on the Luke storyline for now, and I very much look forward to reading further about the Yevetha and Lando's adventures with the vagabond.

Andrew's Review of The Crystal Star

2009-08-13T15:14:00.004-04:00

1/5 Rancors - Vonda McIntyre has garnered many accolades over the course of her writing career, including the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. As such, I can only assume that Ms. McIntyre may have deliberately chosen to write The Crystal Star using simple language and short paragraphs, perhaps targeting a perceived audience of younger children. This book talks down to its reader, most painfully in the very long chapters dealing with the adventures of the Solo children. Names are continuously restated in place of pronouns, as if the reader might not have the attention span to remember which characters are present in a scene. Granted, the storyline does ultimately center around child characters to a large extent, but it feels underserved by being presented as if seen through the eyes of a child.

The events of The Crystal Star revolve around an intriguing area of space in which a white dwarf star is orbiting a black hole and slowly being drawn in by the immense spatial forces at work. Parked near this black hole is Crseih Station, an unpleasant radiation-baked locale used by both the Empire and smuggling groups throughout the decades. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo receive a strange message in an ancient language from Crseih warning of unspecified ominous doings at the station. They set off to investigate, while Princess Leia, currently Head of State of the New Republic, participates in a separate diplomatic mission with the three Solo children in tow. The children are kidnapped and taken aboard a giant worldship owned by Hethrir, a manipulative and cruel Firrerreo (and ex-Procurator of Justice for the Empire) with evil plans for the dozens of Force-sensitive kids he has stolen.

As I mentioned earlier, the Hethrir/children chapters feel interminable and occur too frequently throughout the story. There is a spark of interest in reading about Jacen and Jaina's attempts to escape, but mostly this storyline just plods along, using very basic dialogue and concepts in an effort to present the story as seen by the children. It's a fine line to walk, trying to write a child's POV without coming across as childish, but here it doesn't work and it certainly seems incongruent with most of the other Star Wars Expanded Universe. Also, Hethrir's Empire Reborn idea does not have the grandeur or credibility to seem threatening: he's just not enough of a powerful presence to engender any worry in the reader.

Paling next to Hethrir's shortcomings as an adversary is the central villain of the book: Waru. Waru is a multi-dimensional slab of quivering meat covered in gold scales. He wishes to consume Force-sensitive children so he can gain enough power to return to his own dimension. Hethrir is helping feed him so he can gain additional power and insight in return. Waru is silly, there's no two ways about it. In an attempt to make him threatening, Ms. McIntyre pulls one of the favored tricks of the Bantam era of Star Wars novels: she makes Luke weak and stupid. I've noticed over several of these books a consistent theme in depicting a laughably weak Luke, presumably in hopes of bolstering the new book-based characters or plots in comparison. The idea that Luke would be screaming at Han about perceived infidelity, generally acting irrationally, and is finally seduced by the promises of a giant gold meat-altar? Ick.

The Crystal Star is not a book I can recommend, except to the most avid Star Wars EU enthusiast.