September 1st, 2010 | 
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Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
Chapter 5
Saba and Leah race to get the Fizz sample to Cilghal’s lab for analysis at the Jedi Academy, and we get a glance into the Jedi training that Leah is receiving from Saba. I loved it. Leah was in a hurry to get the Fizz to Cilghal, and as she is running to the lab, Saba reminds her of the rule to meditate upon entering the Academy grounds. Leah was in a hurry and tried reasoning with Saba about the well being of Luke and Han who are stuck on Woteba, but Saba quickly establishes who is in control putting Leah in her place with her quite yet stern Barabel ways. Leah then finds herself meditating and being corrected later when she calls Corran Horn, Corran instead of Master Horn even though they have known each other for decades.
I enjoyed watching Leah not be fast tracked through the Jedi program because of her service to the New Republic and then the Galactic Alliance and her relationship with the Grand Master. I like watching Leah who has been so skilled at bossing people around and leading others and sometimes manipulating others to do what she wants them to do, I enjoyed watching her get ordered around and shown that she is not a special case.
My favorite part of this chapter was Saba not even letting Leah question Corran…I mean Master Horn on his decision. By the way, have I stated lately that Corran Horn is my favorite Jedi?
I love that Corran is still working from the Old Republic model of what the Jedi Order is suppose to be…a supportive arm to the rightful governing body. Corran fights for Cal Omas the chief of state and a clear and open relationship between him and the Jedi. I cannot stand this unifying Force garbage, and I hope the order falls back in line with Corran who is my favorite Jedi by the way.
Chapter 6
This chapter frustrates me a little. I love Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, and I especially love them together, but this chapter, I want to hit them in the head with a sack of oranges for being so dense.
Han and Luke discover that the Dark Nest are stock piling reactor fuel and hyper drive coolant, and they sit and wonder why they are collecting this stuff for…Well they want to leave the Utegetu Nebula…Duh. They should have been speculating on where the Dark Nest wants to go: the Chiss Ascendancy, Hapan Cluster, Galactic Alliance Space, joy riding, conquering, but instead they wonder what they are collecting reactor fuel for. It was not Han and Luke’s finest hour.
One important note, they do discover what the Fizz is attacking, and that was quite important.
My favorite part of this chapter was Han Solo quoting Toucan Sam stating, “I’ll follow my nose”…I hope he found those Fruit Loops.
Chapter 7
Wow, Wow, Wubzy this was an amazing chapter. It did not take long for Jacen’s attachment to his daughter to turn him on a path at least toward the dark side. Jacen confronts Ta’a Chume about the attack on his daughter’s life, and Jacen gives us some of the best one liners I have ever read.
“I promised Tenal Ka that wouldn’t kill you, and I’ll be very angry if you make me break my word.”
“Had Tenal Ka lacked courage, you would have died never knowing I was here.”
“That would be me…And I am very determined to protect my daughter.”
“I’d like some answers and we don’t have long before the security team arrives.”
We’re out of time…Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you now, or”
It is official, I am afraid of Jacen Solo. Each line, each question sent chills up my spine, and I was very grateful to not be Ta’a Chume.
His questioning of Ta’a Chume was just plain scary and awesome. This has been the best chapter of this book, and one of the best I have read ever. As a dad of a three year old and a four month old, I can totally understand Jacen’s reaction, so I loved Jacen’s response to the threat on his daughter’s life. Parenting makes you act a little crazy when it comes to your kids.
Chapter 8
This was another really nice chapter. It does not have the spine tingling scene of the previous chapter, but it is one of the chapters that just I like. It is a Jedi Master’s debate over how to handle the Killik situation. First, I enjoy a good debate where the correct course of action is difficult to discern. Second, the New Jedi Order spread the Jedi Masters all over the galaxy, and you rarely had more than one or two together at one time. I liked this meeting with so many masters. You have Kyp, Corran, Kenth, Mara, and you also have the young Jedi knights we have read growing up before our eyes stand toe to toe with the Master in this debate like Jaina, Zekk, Lowbacca, Tesar, and of course, Leah makes any debate more fun. Nothing drastic happens in this chapter except they decide it is the Jedi’s responsibility to handle Raynar Thull since he was a Jedi, but it was fun reading.
And that is what I am reading.
As always send us your thoughts and comments to jesse@starwarsbookreport.com or leave us a voice message for our podcast at 706-760-5782. Have a great day, and thanks for reading.
Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse
While most fans use our Star Wars Drawing Tutorials to perfect their sketching skills, others take it a step further and use the unique designs to create one-of-a-kind cakes!
Artist Kevin Graham writes:
A while back I did a “How to Draw Yoda” tutorial for Starwars.com and today I received an email from a fan of my [...]
The Official Star Wars Blog
StarWars.com has a look at the adidas Originals Star Wars Collection for Fall/Winter 2010, including this adorable set of droid shoes!
If there is one thing that has been made clear in the Star Wars Universe it is this; if you are an over thinker, you will become the epitome of evil. If you like to think four and five moves ahead, you need to stop right now, or you will end up on the wrong end of a light saber or a blaster. Just look at the evidence.
Case One – Grand Admiral Thrawn – This man looked at the art of a culture…the art…we are talking paintings and statues and stuff, and by examining the art, he knew how that cultures generals were going act in battle. If that is not over thinking I don’t know what is. Thrawn is the classic chess master villain who over thinks every situation and how did Thrawn end up? He threw invisible asteroids at Coruscant which hurt civilians as much as it did the military and by over analyzing threats that were ten steps down the road that he totally missed the Nohgri right in front of him as a threat. Over thinking was Thrawn’s downfall.
Case Two – Ysanne Isard – Here is a woman that was such a thinker and planner that she worked her way to the top of the intelligence community in the chauvinistic Empire. This should be seen as a great triumph for women. Hear me roar and all of that, but what does this over thinker do in her planning and scheming? She takes down her own father, unleashes a plague on civilians, gives away a planet, and goes insane, and again, it was her over planning that lost her everything.
Case Three – Pors Tonith – A banker who is a major planner and thinker. What does he do? Attacks a communication station, has purple teeth and gums which he stained with tea, and had a run in with an Anakin Skywalker that I am sure he would like to forget. Again, the over thinker turned out to be absolutely evil.
Case Four – Palpatine/Darth Sidious – This is there is the frosting on the cake Emperor Palpatine. He was a great thinker. There is no denying that, and his thinking does gain him control over most of the galaxy which is pretty impressive, but what does it cost him? Does Palpatine have any real friends or loved ones? You could say Darth Vader, but their entire relationship was built on the lies and manipulations from Palpatine’s over thinking, and comes back to bite Palpatine in the end. Palpatine was a friendless monster, who instituted slavery, hated non-human species, degraded women, caused and controlled a war that killed billions, and this list could continue, but I think you get the idea. Is there any question that he is the most evil being in the history of Star Wars, and possibly the entire fiction universe? And I think his evilness like all the other cases come directly from their over thinking.
Let’s look at those folks that do not over think things.
When I think of characters in the Star Wars universe that fly by the seat of his or her pants, who is the first character that comes to your mind?
99% of you reading thought of Han Solo…I know the picture helped, but you would have thought Han anyway. The 1% of you that didn’t choose Han, chose someone other than Han because you knew everyone else was thinking Han, and you just have to be different…stop that…it is annoying. You do not have to be different all the time, but back to the matter at hand. Han Solo…he is so good hearted that he cannot do wrong even when he wants to. He wanted to take the reward and pay off Jaba in A New Hope, but he can’t. He has to do what is right because his heart is so pure, and that all comes from flying by the seat of his pants.
Luke Skywalker leaves his home with a man he just met. How many of us have heard “Stranger Danger?” He was not thinking. Chewbacca promises to protect a man for the rest of his life, and it cost him so much time with his family, his wife and child…He was not thinking. Corran Horn leaves a career in CorSec to join a squadron of fighters with a terrible, terrible survival rate. That is not thinking. Mara Jade, the emperor’s hand, falls in love with the biggest enemy of her master. Anyone who thinks does not do this. Obi-Wan tells Yoda and the council that their decision matters not, he will train the boy. Standing against Yoda and Mace was about the most unthinking idea ever. Den Dhur risked his live for a musical instrument, which takes very few brain cells. This list also could go on and on, but what do all these thoughtless risk takers have in common…they are good hearted beings that want to do what is right, and they all are heroes.
Do you want to be evil and murder, manipulate, be lonely, and die at the hands of your enemy…then by all means, keep thinking.
Do you want to be a good hearted hero, then start flying by the seat of your pants and taking wild risk. If Star Wars has taught us anything, it is that wild risk pay off big time. You will hit that womp rat, you will pull out of Beggar’s Canyon, cure that disease, marry a princess, take out the evil leaders of planets, stand against Death Stars, rancors, war lords, black holes, and win. Your heart will be true, and a 0.012% chance of success will become a sure thing.
So stop thinking and let’s all fly by the seat of our pants…that is the secret to success according to Star Wars.
With my tongue firmly in my cheek, this has been your Star Wars Book Report. Although it is an interesting trend how the thinker is always the evil enemy and the risk taker is the hero.
As always send us your thoughts and comments to jesse@starwarsbookreport.com or leave us a voice message for our podcast at 706-760-5782. Have a great day, and thanks for reading.
Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse
In case you missed it, there was this small little movie that came out last year called Avatar. (Not to be confused with Avatar: The Last Airbender.) It really struggled; only pulling in three Academy Awards. (So sad.)
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, director and creator James Cameron is talking about its impending 3D re-release; including more Pandoric atmosphere and a missing tear-jerker moment.
Apparently, he is hoping this re-release will test out whether or not the Avatar brand can develop into a Star Wars- or Star Trek-type franchise.
Perhaps, being an old fart Star Wars fan, I find this difficult to believe. But stranger things have happened. (As in back in 1977.) And even an attempt at doing more with the Avatar franchise will make at least the Avatarians (Pandorians? Avatar fans?) happy, for now. So more power to him.
This is mostly a picture book, with hundreds of behind-the-scenes rare photographs of familiar sets from the 6 Star Wars movies. Beside every photo is a brief description of the set, describing things such as:-what was involved in the construction-the time/date the image was taken-specifics involved with camera …
Star Wars Movie Posters
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Built for Speeder. (Vintage Landspeeder, Vintage Luke Skywalker, Vintage Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi)
There is a new holonet entry for the Mandalorian wars that is worth a glance. I enjoyed watching this one a lot more than the last (Jedi civil war). It tells the story about how Revan and Malak began their path to the dark side.
The Mandalorian Wars included some of the bloodiest battles in the Republic’s history. Mandalore the Ultimate’s relentless campaign to goad the Jedi into open conflict cost the lives of millions. Though the entrance of a Jedi splinter faction into the war is perceived as the factor that turned the tide against the Mandalorians, the perseverance of Republic soldiers and pilots like Carth Onasi cannot be underestimated. Jedi Master Gnost-Dural’s historical investigation analyzes the conflict with the perspective of modern events, highlighting the implications for the war against the Sith Empire.
BTC 311 – Too often, the Mandalorian Wars are characterized solely as a prelude to the Jedi Civil War, but the events surrounding the conflict itself bear close examination. When Mandalore the Ultimate called together the clans and began augmenting his armies further with Neo-Crusaders, his intention was to pull the Jedi Order into open conflict. As is the tradition in their culture, the Mandalorians sought to establish themselves as the most powerful faction in the galaxy by defeating the faction they considered to be their greatest rivals. Though the Jedi Council resisted the Mandalorian challenge, the splinter group led by Revan and Malak eventually joined the fray and won the war. Though there has never been a hint that the Sith were involved in the Mandalorian Wars, new analysis from Jedi Master Gnost-Dural suggests that the influence of the dark side was involved. The bittersweet victory in the Mandalorian Wars took a toll on the Republic for which the price is still being paid to this day…