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Reading Wrap-Up: March 2021
Apr. 2nd, 2021 11:50 pmMy brain is a bit mush lately, I hope there aren't too many typos/lost trains of thought in this.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 2: Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit (Doctor Aphra Annual #1 written by Kieron Gillen, art by Marc Laming and Will Sliney, Doctor Aphra #9-13 written by Kieron Gillen, art by Kev Walker and Marc Deering )-- Aphra sets up an underworld auction to sell her now-active ancient Jedi artifact, meanwhile BeeTee and Triple Zero have been getting restless with the acute lack of murder they've been doing lately.
( I honestly don't have all that much to say about this particular volume )
Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets (Darth Vader #7-12) & Volume 3: The Shu-Torun War (Darth Vader Annual 1 (art by Leinil Francis Yu) & Darth Vader #16-19) written by Kieron Gillen, art by Salvador Larroca -- Rereads for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
swbookclub. I wrote about them at length there, and I wrote about them when I read them last year as well. I really like this series as a whole (volume 2 has some great moments on Naboo), but I think volume 3 is the weakest link. The plot and side characters are fine, but it's not super connected, like a non-arc episode in a tv show.
Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule -- JFC this novel was grim. I have no idea when Soule started writing it, (it was published January 2021), but if the pandemic didn't influence the bodycount of this novel I would be very surprised. (That said, I did overall enjoy it, but it was not a restful, relaxing, or escapist read at all.)
( Read more... )
Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed -- another reread forswbookclub . This novel follows a Rebel infantry company retreating from the Empire around the events of The Empire Strikes Back. It's one of my favorite installments of the new Expanded Universe, and I wrote paragraphs upon paragraphs about it over there, it has everything from gritty ground battles and imperial infighting to found family and Hope™. 10/10, chef's kiss, etc, etc.
Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose -- Look, I read something that isn't Star Wars related! And it's nonfiction, too! The title is pretty self explanatory, it's about spying and espionage during the Revolutionary War, focusing on the Culper Ring. It's pretty interesting, goes into detail on a lot of the spies' pasts and motivations, and there's some interesting tidbits about ciphers, invisible inks, and the regular intrigues involved in European diplomacy at the time.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction so I'm not altogether sure how to quantify it, there were some parts where I wish it went into more detail, but overall I liked it. I picked it up because last year during quarantine I watched about two seasons of the tv show based off of it (Turn: Washington's Spies (2014). I could tell the show was taking a lot of liberties with the historical timeline and wanted to know more. It's a peak Hey! It's That Guy! show (Jamie Bell, Aldis Hodge, Burn Gorman, and Kevin McNally are in it, just to name a few), and it did some things really well, but it just kind of missed the mark on keeping my interest, and the romantic subplots are so bad and wholly invented for the show.
I also reread significant chunks out of the middles of Page, Squire, and Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce yet again. Around mid-month I was hit by an overwhelming bout of childhood nostalgia. About two years ago I started a big Tortall reread but stalled out halfway through the Trickster duology (coincidentally right where I stopped following the series as a middle-schooler, although there were other extenuating circumstances involved in that). Still, I was really hankering for that style of fantasy novel, so I finally convinced myself that it was okay to just skip over the part I don't like and am now about 3/4 of the way through Terrier.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 2: Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit (Doctor Aphra Annual #1 written by Kieron Gillen, art by Marc Laming and Will Sliney, Doctor Aphra #9-13 written by Kieron Gillen, art by Kev Walker and Marc Deering )-- Aphra sets up an underworld auction to sell her now-active ancient Jedi artifact, meanwhile BeeTee and Triple Zero have been getting restless with the acute lack of murder they've been doing lately.
( I honestly don't have all that much to say about this particular volume )
Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets (Darth Vader #7-12) & Volume 3: The Shu-Torun War (Darth Vader Annual 1 (art by Leinil Francis Yu) & Darth Vader #16-19) written by Kieron Gillen, art by Salvador Larroca -- Rereads for
swbookclub. I wrote about them at length there, and I wrote about them when I read them last year as well. I really like this series as a whole (volume 2 has some great moments on Naboo), but I think volume 3 is the weakest link. The plot and side characters are fine, but it's not super connected, like a non-arc episode in a tv show. Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule -- JFC this novel was grim. I have no idea when Soule started writing it, (it was published January 2021), but if the pandemic didn't influence the bodycount of this novel I would be very surprised. (That said, I did overall enjoy it, but it was not a restful, relaxing, or escapist read at all.)
( Read more... )
Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed -- another reread for
swbookclub . This novel follows a Rebel infantry company retreating from the Empire around the events of The Empire Strikes Back. It's one of my favorite installments of the new Expanded Universe, and I wrote paragraphs upon paragraphs about it over there, it has everything from gritty ground battles and imperial infighting to found family and Hope™. 10/10, chef's kiss, etc, etc. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose -- Look, I read something that isn't Star Wars related! And it's nonfiction, too! The title is pretty self explanatory, it's about spying and espionage during the Revolutionary War, focusing on the Culper Ring. It's pretty interesting, goes into detail on a lot of the spies' pasts and motivations, and there's some interesting tidbits about ciphers, invisible inks, and the regular intrigues involved in European diplomacy at the time.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction so I'm not altogether sure how to quantify it, there were some parts where I wish it went into more detail, but overall I liked it. I picked it up because last year during quarantine I watched about two seasons of the tv show based off of it (Turn: Washington's Spies (2014). I could tell the show was taking a lot of liberties with the historical timeline and wanted to know more. It's a peak Hey! It's That Guy! show (Jamie Bell, Aldis Hodge, Burn Gorman, and Kevin McNally are in it, just to name a few), and it did some things really well, but it just kind of missed the mark on keeping my interest, and the romantic subplots are so bad and wholly invented for the show.
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I also reread significant chunks out of the middles of Page, Squire, and Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce yet again. Around mid-month I was hit by an overwhelming bout of childhood nostalgia. About two years ago I started a big Tortall reread but stalled out halfway through the Trickster duology (coincidentally right where I stopped following the series as a middle-schooler, although there were other extenuating circumstances involved in that). Still, I was really hankering for that style of fantasy novel, so I finally convinced myself that it was okay to just skip over the part I don't like and am now about 3/4 of the way through Terrier.
