Star Wars: A New Hope - The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy (Star Wars Enters into a new Universe)

 If you have read some of my reviews of EU Star Wars you will know I like when I see a female author writing in the universe.

   I first saw the new Star Wars EU books back in 2015 in a Walmart in Mohegan Lake NY which I recorded in this POST HERE

   I normally don't buy books until they a 2nd hand or greatly reduced. I simply could not afford to read them otherwise! Most of my book are from Ebay or surprising hauls at Goodwill where someone clearly donated a number of them at once. I did buy paperbacks of Catching Fire and Mockingjay from a store as it was the only way I could get them at the time, I did later acquire hardbacks of both second hand later on because I loved the series so much! I have yet to find the 1st book in hardback... maybe one day when we are no longer in a pandemic, and we can go to stores normally again...

   It was unknown at the time I saw these how the EU would be handled in the new movies and at this point I had read quite a few EUs by then.... So, my plan was to finish the old EU and then start on the new whatever way it went. I started reading the EU back in 2011 (first book I read was the Clone Wars in 2010 which I took to NY with me when I moved) because I wanted Star Wars to continue to live not knowing it was going to be bigger than I have ever seen it in my lifetime very very soon! Star Wars was NOT a thing in 2011... but I got the news in 2012 things were going to change!

   But yes, I was around for the sequels when they came out, but I don't remember it being as big of a hype as these movies became plus finally, we reached a time where it was at last acknowledged there are FEMALE lovers of Star Wars and item were put on the market for them. And as I said in the beginning... having women involved was something I wanted to see because I was a girl fan since I was a child and kept it on the down low because it wasn't looked at as a girl thing.

   There were several women author in the old EU such as writing Tatooine Ghost & The Planet of Twilight  

   But as I said I don't normally buy books new... however I found this one and several others at the Dollar General for $2! Not too long after I found a couple at Dollar Tree, meaning I only paid ONE DOLLAR for them! I'm not sure what that says about the books but glad to get my hands on them to find out!

   Now for thoughts about this particular book.

   It is basically a retelling of A New Hope. Each section focuses on a different character, The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy... It talks of adding new incite to the story, but I just wasn't too excited with the added content. It's a fine retelling but not a great read if you are already very familiar with the story.

The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
by Alexandra Bracken

  Here's what got me though... the Author's note part that talks about Star Wars has been in much of her life... you learn the author started out with writing fan fiction... now I don't have anything against fan fiction... but when did Disney start hiring fan fiction writers? I mean Fan Fiction is kind of legally questionable... I'm sure many good writers have done Fan Fiction but who actually talks about it in their bio in a legit book??? It's just weird! Anyway...

   This is the first book in a series of 3. I have not gotten my hand on books 2 & 3 nor really motivated to do so. I would read it if I found it cheap somewhere but still... not a must read. If you have a young fan just starting out in reading Star Wars this might be a good start but not so much for a more established fan.

   There are illustration in this book.
They look to be concept art.
As you can see, Leia is a blond here?
... and who is the person walking with Luke and Han?

The New Jedi Order: Refugee

The new Jedi order: Refugee
     I read the first book in this trilogy over a year ago. I was unable to find Refuge online for a price I wanted to pay. I ended up reading The Hunger Games which kept me in thrilled for quite a while. I didn’t know when I was going to get back on track on my Star Wars reading. I did manage to read through Outbound Flight which I haven’t gotten to blogging about yet. But anyway, I always hit Goodwill books section and hit gold one day with find 1? Star Wars Novels! All later books which call for a higher price on Ebay. But the kicker was one of the books was Refugee! At last I can continue with The New Jedi Order.
The book before it had been good and left me with a bit of a cliff hanger which made not being able to buy it all the worse. But Refugee did not live up to my expectation. This trilogy is basically wrapping up what happed with Bakura which was a very good book. This one I feel could have been better or maybe left alone completely. It is an interesting comparison on how opposite the Vong are to the Surook. I do like that they did go back to answer what would happen if these two foes crossed. Maybe in the long run the inclusion of this will fit together in the long run of the series. We will see.
Just a note, the fact there are no chapters was annoying me though I don’t remember it bothering me of the last book.
    Sometimes it’s interesting how current event are playing out relate to a book you are reading. The title is “Refugee”. What is happening in America now? One of the big news stories being Trump banning emigrants. Here in this book they are letting aliens into Bakura who claim they have escaped there oppressors. The end game turns out to be just a trick to get inside Bakura to take it over. In fact nothing is at it appears as the enemy is even worse than thought. The Vong are truly behind the set up. I point this out as an example of why people are afraid of free open doors to emigrants. Your worst enemies will pass themselves off as anything they can to strike us. However you fall in this debate you have to see the sense in that fear?
   But the end of the book picked up a little. Maybe most of the book was a lot of filler… it felt that way. I had a hard time getting through it. And I yet understand what is going on with this planet. Why again are they looking for it and how in the galaxy is this going to help them? I just don’t understand why this planet is important! They sure want to find it though... Makes me think of Rey finding Luke on that planet at the end of The Force Awakens. Ah, Luke finally found it!

Allegiance

    How did I miss this book before now?! The reason I have a copy is that when I find a EU Novel at a good deal I'll will buy it knowing I'm going to read it eventually. This has been a good practice and saved me the time and the pain of cliffhangers due to having to track down the next book! (I'm currently dealing with a cliffhanger in the New Jedi Order! Till I get my hands on a copy I picked up this one.)

   Really I started off reading Choices of One. I had been looking forward to reading it. I knew it was about Mara Jade when she was working for the Emperor as "The Emperor's Hand". It takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. About 2 chapters into Choices of One I realized I was missing something! Something came before this book... characters I have never heard of were too well established. It didn't take me long to figure out it was Allegiance. And as I said before I already had a copy. I had not looked at it sooner being the cover of storm troopers and I had never seen anything about the book being about main core Star Wars characters. I thought it was about some pack of random storm troopers. But it was a Zhan novel so I picked it up at some point in my adventures of Star Wars book hunting.
 
  The only other novel that takes place in this time period is Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a good book. I recommend reading it if you're a Star Wars Fan but it was written as an alternative sequel had A New Hope not done well in theaters. It's a good "what if" but doesn't work with Star Wars as it later became. I have to wonder if the next movies by Disney are going to turn this EU into something similar... we shall see...

   Why is it that Zanh is the only writer that is able to capture Mara and Luke dead on. I mean yeah, Zhan created Mara Jade but other writers can not capture her spirit, fire, and strength very well. He seems to understand Mara and Luke so well. I love the super hero type character Mara is in this novel. In the Thrawn Duology a point is made that Mara believes Luke has willfully gone to the dark side in the past and therefore effected in his life up to that date. But you're thinking, she has a lot of room to talk! She was the Emperor's Hand! But she claims she never willingly went for the dark side. The explanation seem to be that she is young, idealistic, and ignorant about what is going on around her. She repays kindness with kindness... you have to wonder if Darth Sidious is aware of Mara's rebellious nature for doing good.

 And what about Vader? They went to all that trouble to destroy the Jedi but now Sidious is training this young girl. Could the plan be to use her against him to take his place or at least make him uncomfortable that Vader could be replaced. After all he used Luke against him later on... and hey, they are Sith, they like mind games. It is clear Vader does not like the girl but there is no clear answer as to exactly why.

    I wish I could recall if Mara had a light saber ever before Luke gave her his father's. In this book she does carry one. The color being magenta. An interesting color choice being she's sort of a bad guy cause it's in the red spectrum but yet it's not red either. Ah, symbolism!

Mara Jade

    One inconsistency I noticed, correct me if I'm wrong, was Mara being able to put herself into a healing trance. In the Thrawn Duology Mara is injured but she was unable to put herself into a healing trance so Luke had to put her in it. As he does so she remarks that is something she needs to learn how to do.

    There were a few other flaws in the story but hey, don't really care. That was just the one that really jumped out at me.

    So... is Disney going to do away with Mara??? She is one of the most loved EU characters in the Star Wars EU galaxy! And she is such a strong female hero... I don't know if Disney will use her but it's a sad for those of us who love her if they don't. We can only hope they can create an equally dynamic female to replace her with... let's have it Disney.... gives us what you got!

Destiny's Way

 

 

 

   The Theme of The New Jedi Order is can we kill at least one important character a book? I'm going to have to test my theory and make a list!
 

   I will spare you the spoiler. This book compared to Traitor it is really not good. But being Traitor is the best Star Wars EU I have read... it's a hard book to follow. I don't understand why most of the books published in hardback are not the best ones in the series!

 

   In this one we do learn more about Vergere and at last Jacen is reunited with his family. But emotional depth is an afterthought to this author which is such a disappointment.

    At one point they decide to "Knight" the younger Jedi. What is the point in this?! They have been listing them as "Knight"s the whole time... they just up and say, hey we should "Knight" these kids? What about the older Jedi like Corran and Kyp? They don't get to be knighted?!

   Second, why is Luke saying things he doesn't even know what they mean himself... it's kind of weird/creepy... Sounds like Jaina's going to be having a hard time ahead of her by what Luke said at her Knighting.

Balance Point

 I'm having to backstep here. I read a couple of books while on a work/vacation in Westchester NY. I had little to no internet so I have fallen behind on reporting on what I read last fall.


   Written by Kathy Tyers I was a little disappointed. This was not as good as The Truce at Bakura. It didn't capture the personalities like The Truce at Bakura. It did however end with quite a cliffhanger.
  I don't know how to say anything about this that is not a spoiler so... Fair warning. +Star Wars
_____

    I've been waiting for this for a while now! Mara and Luke discover they are having a baby... Mara has been so upset that she may never have one. She's been on the losing battle against an illness brought on to her from the Yuuzhan Vong. At last they found a semi-cure from the tears of Vergere a bird like creature that for reasons unknown left for Mara to help her.

  So when Mara notices the unknown being inside her she mistakes it as alien there to attach her life again but before destroying it she realizes she senses Luke in it and the pieces come together...

   So hears the thing that got me. She's wanted a child with Luke for so long and her first reaction is, NO! NOT NOW! and is considering for a moment even abortion?! What Mara Jade is this?!?! She'd be the biggest best mama bear in the galaxy!!!


 Ok, so in comes Luke after she abandons him during a mission... she lets him realize what is in her and he's happy... her? Nope. I will admit to a little fear that the child might not be well or even tainted by the dark side since she still hasn't over come her unknown illness... but really, that is not a Mara Jade reaction! Please bring the REAL Mara back!



Relaxing with a book, a costume I was making,
 and my lovey dovey plopped at my feet!

   Meanwhile Jacen is fighting a personal battle with his and everyone's future and now will no longer use the force. He holds out on this until his mother's life is in stake. This action leaves you at the cliff hanger. Because of the outrage over Jacen's actions all Jedi now have a price over their heads. Jacen having the highest.