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TravelersWife4Life (31 KP) rated Soul Raging (The Book of the Wars #3) in Books
Feb 24, 2021
Soul Raging by Ronie Kendig was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020, and it did not disappoint. It is the third book in Ronie Kendig’s The Book of the Wars series. This book (really the series) CANNOT be read as standalone as it is highly intertwined with the previous book; I ended up rereading the last part of the previous book just to remember right where it left off.
It was a fast-paced, action-packed, hold on to your seat type of ending that was addicting. I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion and the growth of the characters by the end of the series. Leif and Iskra are a couple I would love to have on my side if the world fell down around me. They complement each other well and Ronie Kendig really made them feel like a realistic couple through the many challenges that they faced. I have nothing bad to say about the book, only that you really do need to read them in order or you will have no idea what is going on.
Soul Raging definitely lived up to what I have come to expect when I pick up a Ronie Kendig book; that it will be one I won't soon forget. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the phenomenal curves in this book, the charismatic characters, and for being a series that actually ends on a high note!
*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
It was a fast-paced, action-packed, hold on to your seat type of ending that was addicting. I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion and the growth of the characters by the end of the series. Leif and Iskra are a couple I would love to have on my side if the world fell down around me. They complement each other well and Ronie Kendig really made them feel like a realistic couple through the many challenges that they faced. I have nothing bad to say about the book, only that you really do need to read them in order or you will have no idea what is going on.
Soul Raging definitely lived up to what I have come to expect when I pick up a Ronie Kendig book; that it will be one I won't soon forget. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the phenomenal curves in this book, the charismatic characters, and for being a series that actually ends on a high note!
*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
colin... (64 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) in Movies
Sep 30, 2020
So, I'd like to preface this review by saying that I never thought i would. Thank you Star Wars fans. My experience while watching Endgame on opening night was one of the most atrocious theater going experiences I have ever had, with every single person yelping like baboons at every single line or character appearance. The Star Wars fans that showed up to almost sell out my theater were super respectful and didn't make a single peep through the runtime, thus making my experience much more enjoyable and giving me a clearer head to rate this film. Therefore, I have made the assertion that Marvel is the lowest common denominator and Star Wars gains a bit of respect in my books!
Now, on to the actual film. Listen, if you love the series, you're gonna love this film. It does enough fan service that it satisfies the craving, yet doesn't let it interfere with the story too much. If you hate what the series has become, you're gonna hate the movie. It's way too convenient how everything works out and there are multiple points where I resisted face palming or aggressively whispering to myself. That being said, as I do on most blockbuster films such as this, I land pretty solidly in the middle.
Listen, this piece has a lot of issues with double and triple twists constricting the narrative and not giving it enough room to breathe. It also implements the music in a worse way than I have observed in a Star Wars film to date and the acting by most of the cast was just average at best to me. I was invested for the first eighty minutes or so, but then I just got uninvested and a tad bored. It felt like we were kinda just being ran around the same circle in a repetitive manner without getting to the point until the last twenty minutes or so.
Yet, there's magic here and it is undeniable. I considered it to be nostalgia and then I realised that I don't have the right to be nostalgic about this property. There's just something about the universe construction that seems masterful, and the performances by Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley kick it into overdrive into getting me to care about a world that I would normally give two shits about. The cinematography is surprisingly well done and cleverly varied to accompany certain emotions or appropriate responses.
Overall, it is an acceptable ending to the franchise that doesn't blow anything out of the water, but instead skids along with a bit of turbulence. Thanks for the ride, Abrams.
Now, on to the actual film. Listen, if you love the series, you're gonna love this film. It does enough fan service that it satisfies the craving, yet doesn't let it interfere with the story too much. If you hate what the series has become, you're gonna hate the movie. It's way too convenient how everything works out and there are multiple points where I resisted face palming or aggressively whispering to myself. That being said, as I do on most blockbuster films such as this, I land pretty solidly in the middle.
Listen, this piece has a lot of issues with double and triple twists constricting the narrative and not giving it enough room to breathe. It also implements the music in a worse way than I have observed in a Star Wars film to date and the acting by most of the cast was just average at best to me. I was invested for the first eighty minutes or so, but then I just got uninvested and a tad bored. It felt like we were kinda just being ran around the same circle in a repetitive manner without getting to the point until the last twenty minutes or so.
Yet, there's magic here and it is undeniable. I considered it to be nostalgia and then I realised that I don't have the right to be nostalgic about this property. There's just something about the universe construction that seems masterful, and the performances by Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley kick it into overdrive into getting me to care about a world that I would normally give two shits about. The cinematography is surprisingly well done and cleverly varied to accompany certain emotions or appropriate responses.
Overall, it is an acceptable ending to the franchise that doesn't blow anything out of the water, but instead skids along with a bit of turbulence. Thanks for the ride, Abrams.
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) in Movies
Dec 29, 2017
Not the Star Wars film I was looking for.
While I am a pretty big Star Wars fan (hell I have a lightsaber tattoo) I also don't mind them playing around with the universe and changing this as long as it makes for a good movie with a good story, so no I'm not some purist that was going to hate this no matter what I was hype and ready for this just like I was for The Force Awakens and man is it killing me to write that I just didn't enjoy this installment to the series.
The main reason I didn't enjoy it that much was that the entire film just felt like a transition to the next saga while The Force Awaken built up so much The Last Jedi just didn't keep up with the momentum and just fell really short for me, halfway through the movie I kind of just wanted it to be over already.
The real downfall in the end though was the characters this time around I really feel like they just wasted Finn and Poe so much throughout the movie with a half thought out side plot that didn't really do or go anywhere for me.
The main reason I didn't enjoy it that much was that the entire film just felt like a transition to the next saga while The Force Awaken built up so much The Last Jedi just didn't keep up with the momentum and just fell really short for me, halfway through the movie I kind of just wanted it to be over already.
The real downfall in the end though was the characters this time around I really feel like they just wasted Finn and Poe so much throughout the movie with a half thought out side plot that didn't really do or go anywhere for me.
DC
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Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn makes his triumphant return to the Star Wars(r) universe in...
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David McK (3798 KP) rated Dark Force Rising (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, #2) in Books
Aug 27, 2021
The mid-part of Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' series, which many - myself included - feel should have been used for the basis of the sequel trilogy. Mainly because this has the one thing that trilogy lacked: an over-arching plot!
Now considered non-canon, this series is set five years after the events of 'Return of the Jedi', where Coruscant has now become the seat of the New Republic rather than of the Empire, and where Leia and Han are expecting twins, just as Grand Admiral Thrawn - a character who has made the jump to canon - returns from his mission to the Outer Rim for The Empire and launches a campaign against the forces of the New Republic.
In this mid entry to the series, Leia has to convince the Noghri that The Empire are not who they say they are, whilst Luke hears rumours of a Jedi Master C'Boaoth who has come out of hiding (and is secretly working alongside Thrawn and co) and hopes to learn more about the ways of the Force from said Master.
Meanwhile, Hand and Lando find themselves seeking down the location of the legendary Katana fleet: a fleet of dreadnaughts that went missing during The Clone Wars (here, 50 or so years prior), and that may swing the balance of power in the Galaxy ...
Now considered non-canon, this series is set five years after the events of 'Return of the Jedi', where Coruscant has now become the seat of the New Republic rather than of the Empire, and where Leia and Han are expecting twins, just as Grand Admiral Thrawn - a character who has made the jump to canon - returns from his mission to the Outer Rim for The Empire and launches a campaign against the forces of the New Republic.
In this mid entry to the series, Leia has to convince the Noghri that The Empire are not who they say they are, whilst Luke hears rumours of a Jedi Master C'Boaoth who has come out of hiding (and is secretly working alongside Thrawn and co) and hopes to learn more about the ways of the Force from said Master.
Meanwhile, Hand and Lando find themselves seeking down the location of the legendary Katana fleet: a fleet of dreadnaughts that went missing during The Clone Wars (here, 50 or so years prior), and that may swing the balance of power in the Galaxy ...
David McK (3798 KP) rated Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (Star Wars) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
The second 'Battlefront' tie-in novel (based on a series of games themselves based on a series of novels) which, I have to say, I found to be far more enjoyable than the previous ([b:Twilight Company|25455901|Twilight Company (Star Wars Battlefront, #1)|Alexander Freed|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440781979s/25455901.jpg|45222133]).
I don't know whether that because, this time around, the source online shooter game actually (and finally!) has a single-player campaign, meaning the author can actually concentrate on proper chatacters instead of the expendable cannon-fodder of the previous, or if it's because this time aroudn it's told from the point of view of the 'bad guys': that is, from the PoV from dyed-in-the-wool Imperials.
This picks up towards the end of the first Star Wars film (Episode IV, retroactively entitled 'A New Hope'),w ith the attack on the Death Star occuring in the opening pages of the novel and with the central character of Iden Versio actively participating in the defense of the Space Station, before crash-landing on the planet of Yavin IV and making her way back to Imperial Space (that bit told in passing).
This also ties into Rogue One, with an offshoot of Saw Garrera's violent Partisan group - naming themselves The Dreamers - providing the antagonists rather than The Rebellion, allowing the story and the characters to go undercover into that group without breaking with the commonly-held lore - lets face it, since Inferno Squad is meant to be the best of the best it would be hard to place them in Leia / Han's / Luke's path without somehow having to wave the explanation away!
I don't know whether that because, this time around, the source online shooter game actually (and finally!) has a single-player campaign, meaning the author can actually concentrate on proper chatacters instead of the expendable cannon-fodder of the previous, or if it's because this time aroudn it's told from the point of view of the 'bad guys': that is, from the PoV from dyed-in-the-wool Imperials.
This picks up towards the end of the first Star Wars film (Episode IV, retroactively entitled 'A New Hope'),w ith the attack on the Death Star occuring in the opening pages of the novel and with the central character of Iden Versio actively participating in the defense of the Space Station, before crash-landing on the planet of Yavin IV and making her way back to Imperial Space (that bit told in passing).
This also ties into Rogue One, with an offshoot of Saw Garrera's violent Partisan group - naming themselves The Dreamers - providing the antagonists rather than The Rebellion, allowing the story and the characters to go undercover into that group without breaking with the commonly-held lore - lets face it, since Inferno Squad is meant to be the best of the best it would be hard to place them in Leia / Han's / Luke's path without somehow having to wave the explanation away!
Black Rose Wars: Rebirth
Tabletop Game
Black Rose Wars: Rebirth is a competitive fantasy game of deck-building, strategy, and combat set in...
David McK (3798 KP) rated Thrawn Ascendancy Book I: Chaos Rising in Books
Jun 21, 2022
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
The blue-skinned, red-eyed Imperial antagonist of Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' series of Star Wars novels from the early 90's, and one of - if not [i]the[/i] breakout characters from that book.
Yet to make his appearance in live action (as an aside, I imagine maybe someone like Benedict Cumberbatch in the role), although he is one of the few characters to survive the 'great purge' when Disney bought out Lucasfilm and re-branded the old Expanded Universe as 'Legends', appearing in the later seasons of the animation 'Star Wars: Rebels'.
This is the first in a new trio of novels, with the opening text reading something along the lines of: 'A long time ago beside a galaxy far far away ...' which, in itself, helps set the scene. Beside a galaxy. So we're not in the realms of the Empire/The Rebellion here, or even in the realm of the Clone Wars, although we are - as the novel later makes clear when Thrawn encounters a key character from that period of time - in that particular era.
So, a prequel then? Maybe, but - I have to say- to me, this particular version of Thrawn just somehow *feels* different than that from the old EU. There's a certain Je Ne Sais Qua about that - I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like meeting the identical twin brother of your best friend: they may look alike, sound alike and even dress alike but there's a certain indefinable *something* that's not quite right ...
Is it this version of Thrawn's political naivety? His seemingly not-quite-so-ruthless tactical genius? I don't know, but I will probably read more to see if/how the character evolves into that I am more familiar with.
Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
The blue-skinned, red-eyed Imperial antagonist of Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' series of Star Wars novels from the early 90's, and one of - if not [i]the[/i] breakout characters from that book.
Yet to make his appearance in live action (as an aside, I imagine maybe someone like Benedict Cumberbatch in the role), although he is one of the few characters to survive the 'great purge' when Disney bought out Lucasfilm and re-branded the old Expanded Universe as 'Legends', appearing in the later seasons of the animation 'Star Wars: Rebels'.
This is the first in a new trio of novels, with the opening text reading something along the lines of: 'A long time ago beside a galaxy far far away ...' which, in itself, helps set the scene. Beside a galaxy. So we're not in the realms of the Empire/The Rebellion here, or even in the realm of the Clone Wars, although we are - as the novel later makes clear when Thrawn encounters a key character from that period of time - in that particular era.
So, a prequel then? Maybe, but - I have to say- to me, this particular version of Thrawn just somehow *feels* different than that from the old EU. There's a certain Je Ne Sais Qua about that - I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like meeting the identical twin brother of your best friend: they may look alike, sound alike and even dress alike but there's a certain indefinable *something* that's not quite right ...
Is it this version of Thrawn's political naivety? His seemingly not-quite-so-ruthless tactical genius? I don't know, but I will probably read more to see if/how the character evolves into that I am more familiar with.