The Imperial Perspective (Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've read Dark Empire 1 and 2, Mara Jade: By the Empire's Hand, and the first four Clone Wars trade paperbacks, and this beats all of them. (Though Clone Wars #3 comes close.) Anyways, this volume contains the issues 13 and 14, as well as 16-19, for a total of 6 issues. #15 is in Volume 2. These stories range from great to outstanding, but if you want to read about main characters other than Vader, space battles, or Jedi, than look elsewhere.
Here's a brief overview:
What Sin Loyalty? is about a stormtrooper on the Death Star who tries to unravel a plot to kill his commanding officer. It's a satisfying story that deals with the morality of the Rebellion.
The Savage Heart is about Vader getting back to Coruscant from the blown up Death Star. Some aspects of the plot were a little bizarre, but it's a good story with decent characters.
To the Last Man, originally 3 issues, is an exceptionally good work of military science fiction. It deals with one lieutenant who must lead his troops through a desperate struggle against a superior alien force. It has all the definitive qualities of comradery, sacrifice, and duty. There's also lot's of great combat.
Target: Vader had a decent plot, but the story has fantastic insight into Vader's character. It really works after seeing Episode 3. This is definitely a worthwhile story.
Anyways, this is a great comic, definitely worth getting.

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Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel) Review

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(More customer reviews)James Luceno, walking EUncyclopedia, returns once more with yet another of the type of novel he's best suited to write. His particular strengths and weaknesses are ill-spent on smaller novels such as Agents of Chaos; however, with his comprehensive grasp of GFFA minutiae, he's very well suited to novels such as Cloak of Deception and this newest, Labyrinth of Evil (and to an extent, The Unifying Force), which exist as much to tie multiple plots together into a comprehensive, coherent whole as to tell stories of their own. Here he manages to take a very impressionistic view of the Clone Wars, told piecemeal in various media and through various relatively unconnected novels, and meld it all into a whole, as well as tying events back to pre-TPM and doing his best to make it look like there actually has been a lot more structure and continuity and causality in the stories we've gotten of the Clone Wars than there really has been.
There's not really much need to talk about his style; by now you already know whether you like it or not. He has an odd mix of typical third-person POV and near-omniscient viewpoint, without a particularly memorable writing style and with a sometimes-annoying but often useful and fun (at least to the more-than-casual Star Wars fans like me) tendency to infodump and show off just how much he knows about what he's writing about.
This novel doesn't stand terribly well on its own, but then it's not supposed to. It's more a summation and drawing-together of what's gone before in anticipation of Revenge of the Sith. To that end, the first two-thirds of the book follow a very straightforward connect-the-dots plot, with the dots being a lot of fun action sequences and the connectors being lots of encyclopedic, almost history-bookish descriptions tying together all that's gone before. Then, for the final third, the book takes a dramatic turn for the better -- and more exciting (especially for me, since I've been keeping myself spoiler free for Revenge of the Sith) -- as the book leads straight into what will prove to be the HUGE opening moments of the final Star Wars film.
Here we see Anakin and Obi-Wan, Mace and Yoda all in fine form. Padmé, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and other familiar faces also all show up. Dooku, while not quite as fleshed-out as in Dark Rendezvous, is still an interesting character. Palpatine and Sidious are as good as we've ever seen them, if not better (and worse). And finally, finally we get an introduction to the character of General Grievous, whom we've seen in comics and television shows but has been conspicuously absent from the novels. Also in this book we've got some pointed political commentary that those leaning more to the right probably won't particularly appreciate, we've got a fine antecedent for a key moment in ANH, and, in true Star Wars fashion, plenty of dis-arming and other dis-memberment.
In the end, this is for the most part an okay Star Wars novel that blossoms in the end into one of the better ones, and leaves you salivating for Revenge of the Sith.

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Star Wars Tales, Vol. 5 Review

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(More customer reviews)THis is one of the thickest of the SW tales TPBs. As you can see, there's alot to this issue. It's probably not the one that you want to read to your kids before bed time, though. I wouldn't even want a teenager read #2 or #6. The first part is much too dark and evil for my liking but other comedy, Fett mania, and thought-provoking stories in the book made up for it. I knew Jar Jar would come in handy someday. Here's a brief Synopsis of each tale: (I really liked *)
1. Han Solo do-gooder story with zombies.
2. Teen Sith Wanabees.
3. Cover character's one appearance.
4. Chewie do-gooder story with phantoms.
5. The reason there's only two siths at a time.
6. Wicked, Twisted, Freaky Jedi chick.
7. Boba Fett is #1.*
8. Boba Fett Rules.*
9. Boba Fett has a heart.
10. Boba Fett has a cool dad.
11. Boba Fett won't die.*
12. Arachnid Artoo Mech-wierdness vs. Luke.
13. Space farers leave Gibbela alone.
14. A forgotten Clone Wars tale.
15. The Breakfast Club on the Death Star.*
16. Where Luke's first Lightsaber landed.*
17. Bigfoot story with a Harrison Ford cameo.*
18. C3P0 inspires a revolution in the devolved future.*
19. Jar Jar is an idiot.
20. Luke I'm your father practice.*
21. Jawas rip off the Oakies.
22. Young Luke solves a murder.
23. What became of the Wampa's severed arm.
24. Jar Jar is an idiot, still.*
25. Anakin and Padme work out the wedding details.
26. There's no place for Ewoks in the new republic.
27. Boba Fett's cousin demonstrates why no one has ever heard of him.*
28. Lando impersonates a Jedi.
--- Cover art Gallery*
--- A whole bunch of corny gag shorts by the editors.

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Star Wars Storybook Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a terrific children's storybook that came out about the same time or shortly after the original movie was released back in the '70s. Yes, the movie was great, but so is this book. Every page has at least one full-color live-action shot from the movie. Many of the pictures nearly take up the entire page, but there is still room for Geraldine Richelson to retell the classic story in terms a child can understand. If parent's still read bedtime stories to kids, this should be one of them.

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The intergalactic adventures of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance as they battle the evil Imperial forces which have overthrown the Old Republic.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Final Showdown (Star Wars Jedi Quest #10) Review

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(More customer reviews)The entire book I was tense and on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next, I was surprised around every corner on Korriban. Jude Watson must have researched alot for this one, because it went well with what I saw in Knights of the Old Republic, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The tu'kata beats, sounded exactly like those in Kotor. The book starts out with Anakin working on Tru's lightsaber, and then they start talking about how much they hope they are on the team together to find Granta Omega. Darra walks in and says that their masters and Ferus are in with the Council, when they are called to join them. It turns out Ferus was chosen to be the first to test out a "Knight acceleration" program. Anakin is furious, of course, because he thinks he is better than Ferus. They are than told they are to capture Omega and Jenna Zan Arbor on the Sith world of Korriban. He becomes angry at Obi-Wan when they start talking and Anakin finds out that, in Anakin's words, Obi-Wan "voted" for Ferus. Once on Korriban, Anakin starts taunting Ferus and they turn the mission into a contest of which one of them acan capture Omega first.
Since it is a showdown, it has to leave to death. But unfortunately, towards the end one of the Padawans dies. In my opinion, this was probably the book with the sadest death, that Jude Watson has writen. The deaths of Tahl and Yaddle, were very sad also, but this one sorta tops those, partially because Anakin keeps repeating things that they said in past books. It was also one of the sadest because they were one of my favorite characters in the entire Star Wars saga. The thing that was really bothersome, was the fact that Anakin but a petty contest, before friendship, and lost everything and yet after a pang of guilt and sadness he didn't care, and was completely power hungery, Korriban had effected him greatly. Many things that caused what he lost was because of his arrogance, and his anger. The book was very well written, and really got into the Sith world. There was brief forshadowing in the beginning of who would die, but its hard to catch, especially when it appears later another will die, because of more forshadowing. It was a very good book to end the series with, though it leaves you wanting another one.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are closer than ever to capturing their fiercest rival, the mysterious Granta Omega.But in order to do it, Anakin will have to betray one of his fellow apprentices . . . and Obi-Wan will be pushed farther than he's ever gone before in his search for justice - and revenge. This is a book every Star Wars fan will have to own.

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Rebel Force: Firefight (Star Wars) Review

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(More customer reviews)Picked this up this past weekend. I've kind of been hanging on to this last young adult Star Wars series hoping that it pulls some of the plot strings together from Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Quest, Last of the Jedi, etc. Although it is an entertaining read, I feel it pulls a little too much from the Prequels. As much as it is practically a standard nowadays in Star Wars literature to include canon from the new movies which have shed a great deal of light on history in that galaxy far far away, some of these stories seem to force it. It almost seems formulaic that each of these novels will visit a planet or major plot point from episodes I-III. While results are often interesting, the intention is clear: Tying Original Trilogy characters with their Prequel Counterparts. Heck: SPOILER: Practically this entire novel takes place on Kamino. And while this could push the story in an intriguing and new direction pertaining to clones, it decides to give us a story more on par with a modern day monster movie. There is the inlclusion of a character from past series that makes the read rewarding, but the plot has less to do with his past than it does with in your face thrills and chills. If you've read the series up to this point, don't give up, but don't expect any huge new developments.

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The Unknown Regions: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement Review

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(More customer reviews)A great addition to the RPG. Too bad it's the last book in this incarnation of the game. There is some great info in here, mostly what you'd expect: new races, weapons, planets, etc. We've all created our own worlds for Star Wars, but this is a good way to not have to do the work. My major complaint is it is too short. But then I say that about all the books. I wish they could all be a hundred million pages with everything about everything. But, alas, it would be not a good thing to have to lug around. This has actually impressed me more than some of the other books in the set (and I own every single one). Not that they are bad, they do well for what their slant is, but some have seemed a little tossed together. This one seems well thought out and put together. it gives some easy ideas for your adventures if you want to get off "the beaen path" in your game. I can see this getting heavy rotation in my campaign.

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Explore the uncharted reaches of the Star Wars® galaxy.Far from the cityscape of Coruscant, beyond the fringe planets of the Outer Rim, lies a vast region of space called the Unknown Regions. The Unknown Regions are mysterious and uncharted. They are home to strange aliens, violent slavers, and the forgotten remnants of ancient civilizations that have lived in isolation for eons.This sourcebook gives players and Gamemasters everything they need to run and play in campaigns featuring scouts, exploration, and adventure in the uncharted reaches of the Star Wars galaxy. The Unknown Regions allows Gamemasters to take their existing campaigns in bold new directions, or this book can be used to jumpstart a new campaign that focuses on exploring the unknown.

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