Star Wars - Dark Nest - The Joiner King

A Del Rey Books Mass Market Original

Written by Troy Denning

Copyright 2005 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

In The Joiner King, Jedi Knights involved in a strike force in the book Star by Star, including Jaina and Jacen Solo, go missing. Luke, Han, and Leia leave home and to search for their kids in the Unknown Regions. They encounter a colony of alien insects led by a former disfigured old friend as king.

It is interesting to see how the Young Jedi Knights have grown and changed. Being under the influence of the aliens is rather frustrating, especially if you are familiar with their characters from earlier books. The alien insects are on the verge of all out war with the Chiss as the insects expand into Chiss space. This jeopardizes any alliance between the Republic and the Chiss and the insect Killiks. Having Luke get a glimpse of his mother from an old record file is rather heartbreaking.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - VOYAGER - FULL CIRCLE

Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Written by Kirsten Beyer

Copyright 2009 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In Full Circle, the U.S.S. Voyager goes on a mission to search for B'Elanna Torres and her daughter, Miral kidnapped by radical Klingon warriors. Then later, Voyager is sent on a deep space diplomatic and scientific exploration mission to lead a fleet back to the largely unexplored Delta Quadrant.

This book is basically two books with Captain Chakotay, and especially with his first officer Commander Tom Paris looking for his missing wife B'Elanna and kidnapped daughter Miral - who is believed to be the chosen one for the Klingon people. Then later, after Admiral Janeway is killed, are the political dealings with Starfleet trying to send Voyager back to the Delta Quadrant where Voyager was stranded far from home for seven years.

The second half of the book takes place after the events that have occurred in previous Star Trek books, one of which Janeway was killed from a Borg threat. My initial reaction is that Voyager and her crew suffered enough and should not go back, but there is the logical reason for Voyager to return - in that Voyager's crew has the most experience with the Delta Quadrant and would know how to deal with the many dangerous and violent species they might encounter. And with new engines, there is no chance Voyager and the fleet will be lost in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay, after greatly suffering from the loss of his love Admiral Katherine Janeway, must undergo psychiatric evaluation to prove he is capable of commanding Voyager. The results of which causes him to make a major career decision.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - ERRAND OF FURY - SACRIFICES OF WAR

POCKET BOOKS
A Division of Simon & Shuster, Inc

Written by Kevin Ryan
Based on the Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy"
Written by Gene L. Coon

Copyright 2009 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.



In Sacrifices of War, the U.S.S. Enterprise is sent on a mission to a planet near Klingon space that has been enslaved by the Klingons in order for the native inhabitants to produce weapons for them. Later, Kirk and Spock get stranded on the planet Organia - when the Klingons arrive to enslave Kirk and Spock as well.

In this novelisation of the TV episode "Errand of Mercy" there are two stories in the book which are basically the same in tone for the book in that the crew of the Enterprise comes in support of occupied Klingon planets as the Enterprise encourage the local population with different results. This book is a more in depth novelisation than the James Blish adaptation from The Star Trek Reader I . There is also  more political involvement in Sacrifices of War with the President of the Federation and his staff as they prepare for war in this part of the galaxy between the Klingons and Earth.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - A Time to Be Born

POCKET BOOKS

Written by John Vornholt

Copyright © 2004 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

In A Time to Be Born, a part of the A Time to... series, Traveler Wesley Crusher returns in disguise and observes the crew of the Enterprise as they patrol an interstellar graveyard. As tragic events occur in the space graveyard under his watch, Captain Picard is sent home to Earth to undergo court-martial proceedings.

You can see the frustration mount in the book the longer you see everyone spending time in the graveyard. The various anomalies and the patrolling for alien scavengers take their toll on the crew of the Enterprise and of her Starfleet allies. The counselor in charge of Picard's evaluation seems to be determined to prove that he is incompetent.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

INDIANA JONES and the LAST CRUSADE

Scholastic Inc.

Written by Ryder Windham
Based on the story by
George Lucas and Menno Meyjes
and the screenplay by Jeffrey Boam

Copyright © 2008 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.


Search Amazon.com for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The Scholastic novelization to the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has Indiana searching for the legendary Holy Grail in order for him to find his missing academic professor father. Along the way Indiana encounters Nazis who are also looking for the sacred Holy Grail.

As this is a Scholastic book, the adaptation of this book is geared for kids. The adaptation is a straight-forward novelization of the movie and not a religious book, even if there are religious elements in the book. There are pictures of the movie compiled in the middle of the book with 1940's thrill captions for the pictures to get the feeling of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Because I had seen the movie, it was nice to picture the movie in my head as I was reading the book.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language


Search Amazon.com for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

STAR TREK - INCEPTION

Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Written by S.D. Perry & Brittra Dennison

Copyright © 2010 by CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In STAR TREK - Inception, written by S.D. Perry & Brittra Dennison, Dr. Carol Marcus assembles a terraforming project on Mars and brings on botanist Leila Kalomi onto her team. The project gets sabotaged by extreme environmentalists trying to protect rocky Mars natural climate. Kirk and Spock help Carol and Leila search for a way to control the sabotage.

It seemed a natural subject for Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi to be paired up in a novel. Their relationships with Kirk and Spock are so similar, and the women themselves are so similar, that it makes perfect sense - although Leila's relationship with Spock is not as mature as Carol's relationship with Kirk. Unfortunately, neither of the women's relationships works out. While the initial intentions of the environmentalists are admirable, the sabotage of the project has dire consequences to Mars.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR WARS - THE LAST COMMAND

Bantam Spectra

Written by Timothy Zahn

Copyright 1993 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

In The Last Command, Volume 3 of a Three-Book Cycle of Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Coruscant, the home capital world of the New Republic, is under bombardment by cloaked asteroids from space being delivered by Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet. Meanwhile, smuggler entrepreneaur Talon Karrde tries to build a partnership of smugglers to go up against the Empire. Luke and Mara go up against an insane Dark Jedi named C'boath in C'boath's secret fortified cloning facility who is determined to make Luke and Mara as his apprentices as well as shaping Leia's unborn Jedi twins into his own image.

After searching for, and locating, the lost Katana fleet of warships in the last book Dark Force Rising - the Katana fleet is hardly mentioned at all in The Last Command, which was a disappointment to me, when you consider how powerful the Katana fleet would have made the Republic if the Republic were the ones who had found the Katana fleet instead of the Empire. This is a shame as I was expecting that the fleet of warships would be utilized against the Republic in massive space battles, especially under the strategic command of Thrawn. While they may have been out of date, a fleet of warships is still pretty powerful and it was sad for me not to see them utilized. It is curious at how I was not sure which way Mara Jade would side with, as Mara used to be known as the Emperor's Hand. Insane Dark Jedi C'baoth was a very frustrating and formidable foe that I had looked forward to C'baoth being beaten.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.