Star Wars: Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight

Star Wars
Coruscant Nights I
Jedi Twilight
by Michael Reaves


This was a book I was looking forward to reading as it takes place not long after the Jedi Purge via Order 66. Also it's written by an Author who's books I've also enjoyed reading. Now while it was still enjoyable to read it just seemed as if something was missing from his writing. It was almost like the whole thing was rushed instead of being flushed out more. Or maybe it was not re-written/edited in the same manner as normal.

Of all his books only one other that I've read is by him alone, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, the other 3 books, Medstar duology and Death Star, were written with Steve Perry. Now I enjoyed the writing in all these other books so maybe it was just an off book for him.

This book brings back the reporter Den Dhur and his Droid compatriot I-5YQ, also known as I-Five, from the Medstar Duology. While they are not the main driving force behind this story they do have a big part to play. I-Five is looking for his old partner's son who was given to the Jedi, Jax Pavan, soon after he was born as he promised he would. However, I-Five and Den aren't the only one's looking for Jax. His old Master Even Piell is also looking for him along with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Everyone has their own reasons for locating Jax.

Jax now a Jedi fugitive on the run is trying to fit in any way he can down-level on Coruscant without drawing any attention to his true abilities. He's sent on a mission, by Master Piell, to retrieve information from a droid for the new underground resistance that is starting up. However, he's not the only one looking for this droid as both the crime syndicate, Black Sun, and the Empire are looking as well. Through the mission he meets up with Laranth Tarak, a Jedi Paladin, Nick Rostu, an ex-Republic Army Major now on the run, Den and I-Five.

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Master Piell is caught by some Empire Stormtroopers and is dieing when Nick Rostu enters to drive off the Stormtroopers. Before he departs Piell informs Nick of the mission he has and asks him to seek out Jax for him. Jax meanwhile gets exposed as a Jedi by some henchmen for a local Hutt crime lord, Rokko. When troopers show up to arrest him he and Nick, who shows up just in time to follow the troopers into the building, fight their way free. After explaining the mission to Jax they part ways. This is where the Paladin, Laranth, comes into play as Jax tracks her down. Together they go to to Rokko to work out a deal with him to look for the droid together.

Meanwhile, Den and I-Five are searching for Jax as well. Through some dead ends like finding Jax last known whereabouts deserted and news of a fight with troopers in the area they decide to follow Den's reporter methods. In searching the records they find a video of Jax having a meeting with Rokko and his bully boys. Following this lead they "sell" I-Five to Rokko and interestingly enough his first assignement for the Hutt is to retrieve his guests to come before him. Hmm someone's Karma is working overtime here. Yep I-Five finally meets his old partners son face to face for the first time. Jax's reaction is to just dismiss the droid as he has no use for him. However, fate intervenes as Rokko feel uneasy about his newly aquired droid knows his new partner and hold them all at gun point. I-Five gets them out of that situation and a few more. As time goes on he starts to think differntly of I-Five, but that does take some time, like most of the book.

Meanwhile, Vader has his aide, Haninum Tyk Rhinann, looking for Jax as well. In looking for Jax he tracks down the fight in Jax's building and identifies Nick as a fugitive. Thinking it would be easier to find an ex-soldier versus a Jedi with a very common name he tracks down Nick and has him brought in before Vader. Vader basically blackmails Nick by saying he would wipe out his entire Clan if he didn't turn Jax over to Vader. With no choice but to comply Nick takes off after Jax.

From the Black Son front Prince Xizor is set to find the droid with the data that everyone wants. Also, a second mission is given to the Prince's main rival for an open Vigo spot, Kaird. That mission is to assasinate the Prince and if possible retrieve the droid. Kaird botches the attempt and ends up being the prisoner of Xizor who has already found the droid.

At about this same time Jax and his group, which now also includes Nick, enter the same area just as Xizor is interrogating Kaird. During a firefight Xizor, Kaird and the robot take off for the other side of the planet. Jax and company in hot pursuit. The enter an abandoned section of the planet that is populated with wild species as well as feral droids. This is the lair of Xizor's secret labratory. As Jax and co show up they get attacked by some feral droids. Nick meanwhile moves off to communicate with Vader but ends up running into Xizor. Nick leads them back to the other group. A big fight ensues where Xizor and Jax battle it out.

Even though Nick never made the call to Vader he noticed the traker they put in Nick had moved to the other side of the planet so decided to start heading over.

Xizor end up escaping form Jax and leaves the area. Jax meanwhile senses Vader approaching so he has I-Five use his lightsaber to set a chain reaction off in a reactor below them. With limited time to get out of there they barely make it out of the area before the whole place blows. Vader also barely escapes via an escape bod from his ship.

Next Up: Forest Mage: Book Two of the Soldier Son Trilogy

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Star Wars
Darth Bane
Rule of Two
by Drew Karpyshyn

This is the second book written by the author about Darth Bane, the Sith Lord who made the Rule of Two. In the first book you saw the downfall of the Sith from a large group down to just one. This book picks up where the previous book left off. Darth Bane is now training his Apprentice to one day replace him as the Dark Lord of the Sith. On top of this he is trying to collect all information on the Dark Side of the force that he can and is starting to meddle in the affairs of the Republic so that one day down the road the Sith will take over. Meanwhile, the Jedi are asked to step down now that the war with the Sith is over by the first non-Jedi Chancellor. So the book covers the beginning of Bane's education of his apprentice and also sets up the changes in the Jedi that we see later in the timeline.


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I really enjoyed powering through this book. It was fast pace, probably more so due to the authors limited writing time on it, and had some decent intrigue. Bane's young apprentice is a young girl named Rain that he finds in the midst of some Jedi she killed. But she gives up the name of her youth for Zannah. In her journey which covers a decade in this book you see her go from a reluctant apprentice into a most willing and deceitful apprentice. You see this in how she treats her cousin, Darovit (Tomcat). In the fist meeting after her apprenticeship begins she cuts off her cousin's hand to save his life as Bane would have killed him. By the end of the book in order to save Bane she makes her cousin insane and enraged so that the Jedi would no choice but to kill him. By doing this she also makes the Jedi believe they have killed the last Sith Lord thus keeping herself and Bane hidden once again.

This book also chronicles the life and death of some Jedi. Leave it to happen in a book about a Sith Lord to put a lot of time and background in on some Jedi only to have them slaughtered the Bane and Zannah. With such a setup I won't delve into them too much.

Bane during this book first starts out by testing his new found apprentice by abandoning her on the planet he found her and giving her the task of making it in 10 days to another place where he would meet up with her. He did this one to test but also so she wouldn't be around while he went looking for the Holocron of a dead Sith Lord. In his attempt to find the Holocron he becomes infected by these parasites, Orbalisks. He soon discovers that these creatures feed on his Dark Side energy but in return he gains more strength, healing abilities, armor and a greater strength in the Dark Side. However, as the story progresses his apprentice gets him to start doubting that the trade off is all good. Because for some unknown reason Bane cannot construct a Holocron of his own. Each attempt ends in failure. That is until his apprentice stumbles upon an unlikely source for information of the Dark Side. A noble, Hetton, of a minor house is trying to start a movement to overthrow the Republic but when Zannah meets him he knows what she is and wants to become her apprentice. She as any good Sith Apprentice would do gets him to attack Darth Bane with his Force Assassins. She figures either Bane goes down or Hetton does either way she wins.

Bane of course is the victor and with this new information gained from Hettons resources they find where a Holocron exists that may have information on creating Holocrons. So Bane goes after that and sends his Zannah to the Jedi Temple to do research on removing the Orbalisks.

All in all it's a decent book with a great story line, I mean who doesn't want to read about the Sith doing their thing. I hope he writes more in the Darth Bane series.

I'm still not feeling I'm doing that great of a job in my reviews so feedback is welcomed.

Next Up: Star Wars: Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight

Star Wars: Death Star

I got to thinking and figured I should start posting reviews of books as I finish them. I greatly enjoy reading so figure I should share that joy. Being this is my first book review in awhile it will be a bit short and hopefully outside what is already known from the movies doesn't spoil any of the book. Any feedback on the review is greatly appreciated so I can get better as I do these.

The latest book I just finished is Star Wars: Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. This is the third Star Wars book they have collaborated on and they have also collaborated on a few other books. One of those other books is one I need to put on my reading list, along with suggesting it to my friend Bar, just based on the name "Thong the Barbarian Meets the Cycle Sluts of Saturn". With a name like that you know it's got to be funny or at least you'd hope so! Both authors have also authored alone one Star Wars book as well both of which I've read. Steve Perry is currently a book reviewer for The Oregonian, so those of you in Oregon may have heard of him that way.

This book covers the Construction, Shakedown and Destruction of the first Death Star as seen in Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. The story is told from the point of view of the Empire and people 'working' for the Empire in the Death Star. Along the way you meet a group of characters who's lives seem so very disconnected but through the telling story they meet up for an interesting take on what happened inside the Death Star right before the end. You get to meet the man who actually pulled the switch on Alderaan. Everyone's favorite villain Darth Vader is of course a re-occurring character throughout the book.

Normally knowing the outcome of a book before you even start reading it is not a good thing. However, for me knowing the outcome of what happens with the Death Star seemed to enhance the entire reading experience with this book.

"That's no moon. It's a space station."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

For anyone who is a fan of the Star Wars movies, even if it's just the classic Episodes, this book is a must read.

Next up: Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Lego Mania!

On the Gamecube a few years back a game was released called Lego Star Wars. I bought it for being a Star Wars game more so then for a Lego game. I had some worries that it would be too kiddie of a game. But was that further from the truth. It was such a great game I'm not even sure where to begin describing the game.

Lego Star Wars is set in Episodes I-III of the Star Wars movie franchise, of which I'm a huge fan of all the movies. So you start out with just two playable characters of Obi-Wan (Padawan) and Qui-Gon Jin aboard the Trade Federation ship. Oh and you are the Lego version of them! Sweet! When you blow things up in the world, oh by the way did I mention everything on the screen is made of Legos, they shatter into their the core Lego pieces and spit out collectible Lego studs. As you progress through each chapter of each episodes you unlock more playable characters and earn studs to buy things with. Also, after completing a chapter you can the go back and play in free-play mode which allows you to switch between more characters then the story play mode. And you'll need to in order to find everything you need from a chapter some things are only reachable by certain characters.

A few months later they released Lego Star Wars for Episodes IV-VI for those who like the classic better. It's game play was the same with maybe some upgrade character interaction stuff. But still a great game! For the Wii they released both games as a combined game. I haven't picked it up as I don't know if there are any changes to the games I have and can play via my Wii.

Well just this last week the released Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. I naturally picked it up. It's great just like the Star Wars versions. Here Indy's got a whip instead of the force and a lightsaber. But the game still rocks especially running form a big Lego ball that's rolling at you! I've only played the first chapter and ran around the holding area a little bit so far. Tough to get too much grinding in yet with the little one! But I'll try!

Books, Books and Books

Well now that I have some time to do things during the day I've gotten a chance to read more books. Unfortunately sometimes it's hard to remember what I have and what I don't of certain series I'm on due to them being in storage back in Oregon. But since I've been down here I've read a couple of books.

First book was Book 2 of the Darkwar Saga: Into A Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist. Now REF is one of my favorite authors of all time. How this came about was I got my first book by him for a Birthday many years ago by one of my Best Friends Bar. After tearing through Magician: Apprentice I went and bought his next few books of the Riftwar Saga. Magician: Master, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon. This first two books were actually one book upon first publication called Magician. The books center around an orphan boy named Pug and his adopted, well somewhat, brother Thomas. The stories follow the path of both boys throughout the war. I'll keep from explaining more so as not to give it away to anyone who would like to read them. He since has gone on to write more books and stories for award winning video games that center around the world him and his friends created while making their own RPG based on the D&D core rules but which they found not up to snuff (See. Midkemia Publishing). Well for most of his books Pug is usually found with the exception of his one book outside this realm of fantasy called Faerie Tale which is set in the real world but is fantasy. I'd say more but it's been a while since I read this. Anyway, back to the book at hand. I blasted through this as I can never seem to set down one of REF's books ever. It was good but just not as good as the original series and the series he did with Janny Wurts which are probably the two best complete series he did. I continued the story of the Epic battle between the Conclave and a certain Diety. But in order to continue the struggle Pug and some friends have to make a trip to the dimension below theirs. Which without the proper guide and training would kill them within minutes of arriving. It also brings in the story of one young Dasati to give you, the reader, a look into the enemy's point of view. Good book can't wait for the next one as it left me wanting more.

After finishing this book I immediately dove into the Final Chapter of the Harry Potter books The Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling. Ok you might be asking how I got into this series. Well at first I thought they were just kids books but after seeing the first movie I loved the story line, characters, and originality so much I just started pounding through the books. One thing I love about these books is they are written for children but unlike many children's books these don't talk down to children. As she's gone through the series she has almost made them like a progression for children to increase their reading skills by including more vocabulary as she's gone along. The books are quick and easy reads for me as an adult but they also speak to me greatly. As for the latest, and possibly last installment from her on this subject matter (but that is a debate for another post), book it just one up the previous book as that book did to the previous and so forth.

See Possible Spoiler

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In this book we see Harry finally grow out of his angry teenager phase into while not quite adult at least a maturing young adult. While I appreciated his angry phase as I was once a unreasonably angry teenager mad at the world and everyone around him it was nice to see him come out of that. After the last book everyone was wondering who is Snape and what side is he on. I read one article that was quite nicely done if I could find it I'd link it. It was about is he on the side of the OOP, a Death Eater or possibly his own side. I personally thought Snape killed Dumbledore at his own request, which turned out to be true, but I also thought it was a elaborate ruse and that Dumbledore was still alive, which turned out not to be the case. I was truely bummed out about that one not being true. The body count in this book continued along and some characters we've loved time came to an end. Well in War people die and at least she wasn't afraid to go there and take down some characters she had devoted a lot too in order to make it more true to real life. The biggest tragedy for me was Dobby the freed House Elf. That was truely a tragedy for he was an Elf who fights the bonds of his master to help Harry out even if he almost got him killed/expelled, which as we all know is the same thing to Hermione, a few times. Dobby will be missed but his death brought about a key turning point in the chase for the Horcruxes so it was not in vain. Voldemort goes down with some help from the stories subtle other Hero Neville who takes out the final Horcrux before Harry finally brings Voldemort down. I aslo enjoyed the first day of school for the next generation of children and Harry's tribute to Snape.

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I'm now working on plowing through the next two books in the Star Wars series Legacy of the Force. I'm a big Star Wars fan. My friends and family call me fanatic but in the grand scheme I'm probably just a big Star Wars fan compared to the people I've seen at convensions and movie premieres. Ok yeah if I was artistic enough I'd make my own Stormtrooper, Chewbacca and Jedi outfits but alas my talents do not lie in that arena or at least I'm not sure where to begin on that. So maybe I'm just a fanatic in the wings. I've always loved Star Wars but never thought I'd get into reading the books since there were so many and I wasn't sure which would be the good ones. Then one day I got a shipment from the Science Fiction book club by mistake and it had a book called I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. I read the book and immediatly got into the character of this book and Stackpoles writing. So I started at the begining of the story line with the X-Wing Series of books by Stackpole and others. These told the tale after RoJ and take place before the much acclaimed books by Timothy Zahn. In these books the Rogue Squadron group grows and then a second unit gets formed called Wraith Squadron. A great set of books if you want a good read and are into Star Wars at all. Since then I've read almost all the books in the Star Wars universe. I'm still short by about 10 or less books I think. The New Jedi Order series in my opinion changed how stories are told in book series. This was a refreshing idea they mapped out a story line over 20+ books and then assigned different Authors different points along the story arc. This gave the series an advantage over other long series in that you got a different voice to hear from in each book. Now that could have easily backfired on them but I think it worked out great as you never felt like you had read this before as you do with some long running series with only one Author. This led to the next mixed Author story chain Legacy of the Force which I'm now reading. It is a 9 book series writen by 3 authors who will each write 3 books in the series. I'm currently reading the 5th book Sacrifice. This is the story so far anyways of a potential Second Empire to come about by a new Sith Lord. One different twist in this series is we the readers got a chance to submit names for the new Sith Lord to take. So this gave us some ownership which is unique to anything I've seen before. In these books you see a rift forming in the Skywalker/Solo clans who throughout the years together have kept things going but apart will it tear everything they worked so hard for apart? Will history repeat itself? Well we'll have to stay tuned and find out.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them. If you'd like more detailed reading lists for REF or Star Wars please let me know and I'll give you my opinion on where to start to see if you'll be into it or not.

Comic Convention

Well this weekend I attended my first Comic Convention with my friends Bar, his wife and Mr. Green. It was a fun experience but a bit overwhelming when looking for a specific set of items in all that mess. I went to this convention looking for the comic series based on my favorite author's, Raymond E. Feist, book Magician: Apprentice. Most booths were very helpful in letting me know they did not have what I was looking for (Heh-heh *Nelson Muntz voice*). But only one booth was so kind as to say while they didn't have any there that they did have some back at their shop and might even have all the issues I was looking for. Thank you Karen's Comics for actually being helpful and having great employees. Luckily I checked this booth out right before we left the convention and actually found a couple of items to purchase there. So I'll be giving them a call this week to see if they have all the issues I'm looking for. Even if they don't have what they thought they did I will still visit them for the helpfulness they gave.

Also, at this convention the Dark Side Troopers were there and we got a group photo taken. Unfortunately they have not posted our picture on their website for us to download yet otherwise I'd show it to you (Update: 3/4/2007 we scanned the picture in via our printer see here). Bar and I got to stand next to the big guy himself, Chewbacca!!! Nice suit by the way man!! Many of the other suits were very sweet. I wish I was talented enough to even think of trying to make a Star Wars suit myself.