Star Wars - The Clone Wars: Wild Space

A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original

Written by Karen Miller

Copyright 2008 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

In Wild Space written by Karen Miller, Senator Bail Organa from the planet Alderaan comes across intelligence about the rumored Dark Lords of the Sith and persuades Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to search for an aggressive Sith planet.

Wild Space gives you further insight into Bail Organa and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I could see Jimmy Smits continuing his portrayal as Bail Organa's character in this book. Organa and Kenobi grow to respect each other as they go through the heavy trials of surviving on a Sith planet. Although it seemed odd to me that the Dark side of the Force had no effect on Organa, but practically disabled Kenobi.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Grantville Gazette III

Baen Publishing Enterprises

Edited by Eric Flint

Copyright 2007

Grantville Gazette III, a magazine anthology set during the 1632 cross-time alternate universe, edited by Eric Flnt, is the third in the series of the Grantville Gazette magazine anthologies that contains both short fiction and non-fiction articles.

For the fiction in the book, the stories dealing with the ordinary 1632 characters were much more interesting than the stories dealing with the "uptime" characters, mostly because these ordinary characters have to deal with the ramifications of the uptime technology and ideas. The non-fiction articles are very informative as to how to integrate modern industrious technology with the 1632 technology.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Terminator Salvation - From the Ashes

Titan Books


Written by Timothy Zahn


Copyright 2009 T Asset Acquisition Company, LLC.


In From the Ashes, Judgement Day has just happened and John Connor and his Resistance group help protect a group of human survivors in Los Angeles from the aggressive robotic Terminators.

Half the book deals with the Marine responsible for security for the survivors in Los Angeles as well as dealing with a teen aged Kyle Reese - but Kyle never meets the famed John Connor in this prequel to the movie Terminator Salvation. Just like with the movie, this is not really a book about John Connor leading the resistance. This book is more about the resistance butting heads with a human survival group that just wants to be left alone.

See movie review:
Terminator - Salvation

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Marines

EOS An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers

Written by William H. Keith, Jr.

Copyright 2007

Star Marines, Book Three of The Legacy Trilogy is set at a time where Earth's leaders get ready to abandon the planet Earth - after Earth has been bombarded by asteroids from their ancient enemy alien race Xul. The Star Marines are sent across the galaxy to attack a Xul planet to prevent further attacks on their home.

In the second trilogy about the Space Marines, the stakes have grown in the Marines' battles. With the survival of Earth itself at stake - and various government leaders wanting to eliminate the military altogether to prevent the Xul from further destroying the planet - the Marines launch a desperate strike against a Xul controlled stargate to prevent the Xul from locating Earth again. The Expedition seems quite desperate as you realize how little resources the Earth can afford to send on this mission, but it is the dedication of the Marines that make you want to pull for the Marines. It is interesting to see how Marines from other worlds are being integrated into the Earth Marine traditions. I wanted to see more of that integration of Marines from other worlds, rather than the continuing adventures of the Garroway family. While the Garroway family had an important role in the first trilogy, and as much as I like the Garroways, there are other people in the Marines that could take on a leadership role in stories and I wanted to get more involved with the other Marines.

Pancho

All people smile in the same language.

Star Wars: Death Star

A Bantam Sprectra Book/Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry

Copyright 2007 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry is about the construction of the Death Star project, just before the movie Star Wars: A New Hope. The book covers the heavy construction, logistics, personnel, resources, and politics that the movie would never have time to show about a moon-sized space station.

The book gives you more of an idea of how big and complicated the Death Star really is. The characters who inhabit the Death Star makes you realize that most of the people who were occupying and building the Death Star were just ordinary people, such as architects, librarians, and merchants caught up in the Empire's aggressive desire to build the space station - as well as prisoners and slaves that are used to build the Death Star. It could sometimes be difficult to match the pictures you have built up in your mind when reading about the Death Star - with the scenes of the movie when such scenes overlapped in the book. It is almost of a disappointment when most of the characters in the book - who are minor characters in the story - eventually meet and come together, considering the Death Star is the size of a moon. I wanted all of these characters just residing and working on various parts of this vast moon-sized station, and never having to meet each other - just as people who live and work in the same city have never met each other. Other than that, the book is pretty much satisfying about what the massive Death Star really was all about.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.