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Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
Many people have been split over this movie. I am a fan of the original trilogy and I loved this one did I not understand why like was the way he was at first yes but I found I can understand why he is the way he was. It was sad to see carrie Fisher for the last time as princess Leia not sure how they are going to do the next movie without her. I have to say I wasn't sure about the porgs but going myself wanting everything that they made. The movie has a few issues but as a whole I really enjoyed it!
  
Collecting issues 7-12 of Marvel's new run of Star Wars tales, like issues 1-6 this is set between the events of the original (later subtitled A New Hope) and The Empire Strikes Back, and again follows the exploits of Luke and Artoo (with a brief interlude back to Ben Kenobi's days hiding out on Tattoine) alongside those of Han Solo, Chewbacca and Princess Leia (plus another newly-introduced character with connections to Han's past).

Of the two main series that I have read - these, and Darth Vader - I have to say, I found these to be the more enjoyable, the more action-packed, the more to give me the 'feel' of a Star Wars film.
  
TG
Tatooine Ghost (Star Wars)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
How do you link a Star Wars book set after the classic trilogy (and almost immediately after "The Courtship of Princess Leia") to the events of the prequel trilogy, without knowing how Episode III is going to play out?

Troy Denning's answer to that question is simple: by having his main characters (Leia, Hand, Chewbacca and C-3PO) return to the Skywlaker home planet of Tattoine, on the trail of a stolen Alderaanian painting; a painting that holds secrets that the New Republic don't want discovered by the Empire. As the novel is set on Tatooine, that then allows Denning to continue the story of some of the minor (and major) characters from "The Phantom Menace": what happened to them after Anakin left the planet in the company of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn? How had his leaving affected their lives?

As in all official Star Wars novels, the events of this one also ties into voth previous and sebsequent novels: although he himself never really plays a main role within, we also have an early (chronologically speaking) appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and some clues to future events in the Star Wars mythos.

Definitely worth reading.
  
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
2022 | Sci-Fi
10
7.9 (8 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Well hello there...
Ok so we finally have a bridging story surrounding the mystery of what happened to Obi Wan Kenobi after the events of Episode3 Revenge of the Sith.

Set 10 years after the events of Episode3, Kenobi now living under an alias and working a regular job and avoiding the force almost entirely, is slowly pulled back in when the last of the jedi (untrained) are basically wiped out and a very young Princess leia is kidnapped... And after being asked repeatedly to rescue her and saying no, Kenobi succumbs to his old ways.

From a rescue mission to a cat and mouse chase with Darth Vader... This is one epic tie-in to the saga.
DO NOT MISS IT!
  
The Almost Sisters
The Almost Sisters
Joshilyn Jackson | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great story with a strong cast of characters
Leia Birch Briggs is a self-professed nerd: a graphic novelist with a penchant for comic books, Wonder Woman, and online gaming. So it's not exactly surprising that, with the help of tequila, she'd fall for a handsome man in a Batman costume at a comics convention in Atlanta. What comes next is a bit more of a surprise: Leia is pregnant from that one-night stand, and it's up to her to tell her over-protective family and very Southern grandmother. To top it off, said Batman was African American: not exactly the easiest thing to tell your Baptist family with Southern roots. But before Leia can even tell her family, she gets some disturbing news from Alabama about her paternal grandmother, Birchie. As Leia rushes to Alabama to help Birchie, she also learns that her stepsister, Rachel, is struggling. So Leia and her teenage niece, Lavender, head to Alabama to assist Birchie and break Leia's big news. But it turns out Birchie has some pretty big news of her own. News that will change everything Leia has ever known about her family.

This is one of those ARCs that I don't remember requesting, but I'm really glad I did. It was a pleasant surprise - just a fun, warm novel, even with its serious (and extremely timely) subject matter. I warmed to nerdy Leia immediately (and not just because I have a cat named after said Princess): she's real and flawed and quite relatable. All of the women in Leia's life are well-written and their own people: sweet Lavender, trying to figure out her way in the world as her parents' marriage implodes; Rachel, Lavender's mom, a perfectionist struggling with a lot of imperfection; Wattie, Birchie's best friend, an African American woman living with her in Alabama; and then the amazing Birchie herself, written so impeccably that I could just see her stubborn, regal face pour vibrantly from every page. I fell hard for each of these women and their struggles became mine.

Sure, a lot of this book is a little predictable, but the racial tensions and struggles that Jackson writes about are not: they are real and true. Jackson captures the racial divisions so well - the sweet, kind sweet tea side of the South versus the dark, racist, segregated aspects. I could just picture Birchville and its townsfolk. The novel is excellent in that so much of the story is humorous, yet the serious side is very well-done, too.

Leia is a graphic novelist and portions of the book describe a graphic novel she'd written -- I'm not a huge graphic novel fan, so I wasn't completely into those pieces, but I was able to slide past them. The parallels in Leia's novel to the South didn't elude me, so I appreciated why that was included, even if I didn't always want to read a summary of a supposedly graphic novel. Some of the symbolism and metaphors may be a little too forced/spelled out for us at times, but I still enjoyed the novel very much. Pieces of it made me laugh out loud - Leia's sense of humor and her predicaments, Birchie's tough sensibility. Birchie and Wattie's dynamic was wonderful, and I really cared for those two.

In the end, I really enjoyed this one. There's a great story here as well a plot that doesn't gloss over racial discord. I appreciated both. The cast of characters is great -- real, funny, humorous, and heartbreaking. Certainly recommend.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Librarything (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review.
  
The Princess Diarist
The Princess Diarist
Carrie Fisher | 2017 | Biography
10
7.5 (22 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is Carrie Fisher's memoir of her time during the filming of Star Wars Episode IV, including entries from the diaries she kept during that time that she recently discovered. I think this was the first time that Fisher really talked about her relationship with Leia, and what Leia has offered to her over the years. She also talks about her fans, and how much they mean to her and everything about the ending of the book was so much more heartbreaking given the circumstances. I was genuinely surprised by how touching her closing chapters were, in regards to her relationship with Leia and the Star Wars community as a whole.

It was a little surreal reading this so soon after both her death and her mother's, as she talks frequently about her mother in the book, as well as mentioning a couple of times, in an offhand manner, how she would like to be remembered for certain events. Perhaps it was too soon for me after her death. Not that I was ever necessarily a huge Carrie Fisher fan, but I've certainly been a Star Wars fan my whole life (I saw the original Star Wars when it was released - I was 3), so while there was never necessarily a Carrie Fisher in a my life, there has always been a Princess Leia, and it seemed to hit home a little for me. It also made me unreasonably angry that Carrie Fisher died; in a year of so many celebrity deaths, it seemed like just another death to some, but it made me angry because she overcame so much, and still had so much to do and offer to the world. So, yeah - maybe I should have put a little time in between her death and reading this book, knowing it was her last, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time. It is typically funny in that Carrie Fisher way, but equally sad given the circumstances. I fairly certain, however, that again, in that typically funny Carrie Fisher way, she would have found some way to turn her death into an appropriate epilogue to this book.
  
Star Wars: Bloodline
Star Wars: Bloodline
Claudia Gray | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
4
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
By and large, most of the Star Wars books to date (including in the old EU), have pretty much belonged to the 'boys club', dfocusing more on the male characters (Han, Luke, the X-Wing pilots, etc) than on their female contemporaries.

I think that's to be expected, given the predominantly male targer audience of the film series - an expectation that Disney themselves are trying to shake up, both in the new films (both of which - The Force Awakens and Rogue One - , so far, have female leads), and in the wider media, as can be shown by their 'Princess Leia' series of comics.

This follows(?) (or did it come first?) in the latter footsteps, with nary a sign of Luke and Han only popping in to give Leia a hand towards the climax of the novel.

Set in the period between the end of 'Return of the Jedi' and the start of 'The Force Awakens', this also seeks to bridge the gap between those two films, providing a bit of background to the history of The First Order and explaining why, if Leia was part of the Rebellion which toppled the Empire, just why she is now a key member in The Resistance - the Resistance to what, I hear you ask? This answers that question.

It's not a bad read by any strecth of the imagination - according to Goodreads own rating system, 2 stars is a 'I liked it'; I just personally found this a slower, somewhat heavier read than [a:Claudia Gray|1192311|Claudia Gray|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234643683p2/1192311.jpg]'s other Star Wars title: '[b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars Journey to the Force Awakens)|Claudia Gray|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462731623s/25067046.jpg|44751860]';. And yes, I'm aware that this is aimed at a different audience.

How best to put it? I didn't find myself reading this quite so much in my spare time on the bus on the way to work!
  
No-longer canon entry in the X-Wing series of graphic novels, released way back before Marvel took over (and wiped out the Extended Universe) the reins.

I remember reading the actual novels back in the late 90s/early 2000s, but I never actually realized until fairly recently that the graphic novels released alongside them DIDN'T actually tell the same story: rather, that they stood on their own 2 feet alongside those books.

This is #8 in those graphic novels, and is set after the events of 'Return of the Jedi' (before Episode VII was ever even thought about), but before the New Republic had (re)captured Coruscant - like those X-Wing novels, a large part of these stories is set around the plans to do just that.

In this, the interim Emperor Sate Pestage is beginning to lose his grip on the Empire, leading to him to seek contact with Princess Leia in order to negotiate his defection.

However, Ysanne Isard - the key villainess of the novels - suspects him of doing so, and will stop at nothing to wrest control of the Empire ...
  
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
1977 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
May The Force Be With You: The Beginning
A New Hope- man this movie is a classic. A real classic. Everything about this movie is great. The plot, the action, the sci-fi, the death-star, Dark Vader and of course R2-D2. Its only downfall is that its slow at some points. But other than thats its a excellent movie.

The plot: The Imperial Forces -- under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) -- hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance, and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy.

The film has been reissued multiple times with Lucas's support—most significantly with its 20th-anniversary theatrical "Special Edition"—incorporating many changes including modified computer-generated effects, altered dialogue, re-edited shots, remixed soundtracks and added scenes. This is also its downfall, cause its not the oringal film, its the speical edition.

AFI 100 Years... series:

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (1998) – #15

AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills (2001) – #27

AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains (2003): Han Solo – #14 Hero

Obi-Wan Kenobi – #37 Hero

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes (2004):
"May the Force be with you." – #8

AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores (2005) – #1

AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers (2006) – #39

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) (2007) – #13

AFI's 10 Top 10 (2008) – #2 Sci-Fi Film

Like i said before its a excellent sci-fi action adventure movie.

May The Force Be With You.
  
Star Wars: Vader Down
Star Wars: Vader Down
Kieron Gillen, Mike Deodato, Jason Aaron, Salvador Larroca, Mark Brooks (art) | 2016 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Film & TV, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
7.8 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first cross-over event since Marvel took over the Star Wars franchise, this ties together both the 'core' Star Wars comics, alongside the seperate Vader side-issues, and sees Vader being froced to crash land on a nearby planet when he comes out of hyperspace into the middle of a rebel fleet while searchign for Luke Skywalker (who, remember, does not yet know his relation to Vader as this is set between 'A New Hope' and 'The Empire Strike Back').

A fleet that he proceeds to decimate single-handedly, until Skywalker deliberately crashes his X-Wing into Vader's own TIE.

After crash-landing, the rebels on that planet - led by Princess Leia - then throw everything they have at the Dark Lord of the Sith: once again, and in some dramatic art, Vader is again easily able to defeat everything they send against him.

Meanwhile, Han Solo and Chewie are also on the search for the crashed Luke, in a race both against time and against Dr Aphra, who wants to capture Luke herself for Vader so she can prove she didn't lead him into a trap.

I found this a quick and rather-enjoyable read which (finally) goes to show just why Vader was feared so much by the Rebel Alliance!