Reading Wrap-Up: January 2020

I would apologize for this wall of text, but walls of text are just who I am as a person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-A Canticle For Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller – (reread, because I was in the mood for some futuristic/post-apocalyptic Catholicism) This book is set in three six-century intervals post nuclear annihilation, focusing on an order of monks tasked with preserving pre-Deluge books and engineering diagrams through the new dark ages and beyond. I like the first two sections much better than the third section (the comparison between euthanasia/physician assisted suicide and beating an injured cat to death with a shovel is kinda... yikes), but overall I like it.

-Marvel’s Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet written by Robbie Thompson, art by Leonard Kirk- I finally got around to watching Solo: A Star Wars Story, and am now catching up on the expanded universe stuff as well. This comic was... just okay. The pacing felt pretty rushed at both the beginning and the end, maybe trying to shove Han's 3 years at the Imperial Academy into a 5 issue comic miniseries was a little overambitious?

There was also a one-shot about Beckett thrown in at the end. The story itself was fine, but it was inexplicably broken up into 3 "chapters" in a way that made no sense whatsoever.

-Page by Tamora Pierce – Reread. I read and reread this book an uncountable number of times in elementary/middle school, it's nice to finally have my own copy so I can reread it whenever I want. I used to get it from the library, I probably paid enough in late fees for it over the years to have bought my own copy of it back then but my mom never cared to listen to that argument.

-Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron Volume 3: Legend Lost (issues 7, 14-19) written by Charles Soule, art by Angel Unzueta- another reread, I'm trying to catch up on the Sequel-era expanded universe. This whole series is really good- really well paced, good characterization, (one of the issues in this volume clearly came out just after Carrie Fisher died and I am chock full of emotions about that part). Also- (and I kinda hate that I constantly view the EU as the place to fix the films/main series stuff when it's contradictory or just bad or lazy)- it expands on why the New Republic didn’t view the First Order as a threat until too late even when the First Order was so obviously evil. This storyline also has a nice little commentary on journalism, spin, and propaganda.

I really like Unzueta’s art, Phil Noto (who drew the previous issues) isn't bad but his is much more stylistic, where Unzueta's is very detailed and clean.

(I'm trying not to go off onto a side rant about narrative stakes and how JJ Abrams can't seem to come up with something other than an EVEN BIGGER EXPLOSION, which is neither here nor there.)

-Marvel’s Star Wars: Lando: Double or Nothing written by Rodney Barnes, art by Paolo Villanelli- I liked it better than Han Solo: Imperial Cadet, but it's not going to be up there with my favorite comic miniseries. I'd say the characterization was better than the plot, which again felt like it tried to cram too much action into too few pages.

-Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron Vol 4: Legend Found (issues 20-25 + Annual 1 (annual 1 is set before issue #16, the timline is kind of hard to figure out) - still written by Charles Soule with art by Angel Unzueta - We finally find Lor San Tekka, but he's been arrested on Cato Nemoidia and Black Squadron needs to break him out. Leia wears Padme’s gowns, and there are heists and double plots, which I absolutely love. It ends with Lor San Tekka riding off into the sunset to find the information he gives Poe at the start of TFA, so there’s still room between this and TFA for more adventures. Also, it finally puts to rest the nonsensical belief that Luke gave Lor San Tekka the map to Ahch-to, which most of the fandom seemed to have latched onto when TFA first came out.

-Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron Vol 5: The Spark and the Fire (issues 26-31 + Annual 2)- The first few issues pick up on the Falcon immediately after the end of TLJ, with Poe, Finn, and Rey catching each other up on what happened offscreen during TFA & TLJ, mainly Poe getting off of Jakku and what Black Squadron was up to during TFA & why they weren’t there to get blown up alongside Rose’s sister during the beginning of TLJ.

#29-31 covers Black Squadron’s adventures without Poe during TLJ.

Annual 2 is set sometime before TFA, and has Leia sending Poe to steal some merchandise a smuggler is trying to sell to the First Order, but unbeknownst to them the "First Order" is Han pretending to be the First Order to steal it first. 

Poe Dameron has legitimately been my favorite part of the new expanded universe. I'm sad it's over but I cannot recommend it enough. Soule also wrote the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith series that is set immediately after ROTS, which is also excellent, and he's writing the new comic series coming out this year set between ESB and ROTJ, so I'm looking forward to that.

-The Fire’s Stone by Tanya Huff- reread, because I got hit with a bout of the sad. If you're in the mood for fantasy that reads exactly like hurt/comfort fanfic this book should be right up your alley. It's got an OT3 where one side of the triangle is a reluctantly arranged between a younger prince and a wizard who has sworn off love and personal attachments, and the other side of the triangle is the prince and a thief who gets captured trying to break into the palace, and they all bond by going on a quest to save the city. There's soul bonds, mental health issues, and family drama all rolled into one.

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I also reread significant chunks out of the middles of The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey, but not enough for me to count them as full-on rereads.

I'm about 50 pages into the Solo: A Star Wars Story novelization, but it's slow going. I can't tell if the issues I have with it are with the prose or just reflections of the issues I had with the movie itself. Up next I also have Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse, and Marvel's Star Wars: Allegiance (not to be confused with the Legends novel Allegiance by Timothy Zahn, they sure are reusing names a lot), both set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.