3 Star Wars Young Readers
In going through some of my things, I ran across these three books that I still had not read languishing in the dust. They are all either new or re-publications post-2014 and are thus all considered canon. So I finally picked them up and breezed through them. Here's what I thought and learned:
While currently a bit outdated in comparison with all that has transpired in Season 3 of Rebels, this is a great look back at the way things used to be for our favorite band of insurgents. A cute book for any young reader interested in digging deeper into the world of Rebels. I like how it name drops with pictures important characters like Zare Leonis, Jai Kell, and Tseebo so the fan is not left forgetting who they are. I also enjoyed the visual interlude pages that displayed charts and journals and other graphics, giving us breakdowns of the characters and their journeys. These came between pages of mostly prose detailing little vignettes from the lives of both rebels and villains. A great refresher for any fan ;-)
As Anakin Skywalker is my favorite character in the entire Star Wars universe, this book, despite its grade level, was absolutely made for me. It starts off with 9 year old Anakin in Phantom Menace and goes all the way to Vader's return to the light side at the end of Return of the Jedi. I found myself all teary eyed at the end, knowing that Anakin's love for his family ALWAYS won out. *sniffle*
I LOVE that the author calls Padme a Warrior Politician <3. We also learn some details of Padme's Episode 1 dress - the hems are of potolli fur, the jewels at the bottom are Sein jewels, and the jewel in her headpiece is the Royal jewel of Zenda.
The description of Anakin's pull to Palpatine is quite good and helps the reader understand even more so why Anakin was drawn to him - "Palpatine seemed to understand how Anakin felt. He was a good listener. Anakin believed that Palpatine was on his side, unlike Obi-Wan." Again - "Anakin still felt that he was being held back by the Jedi and that only Palpatine was encouraging his talents." I for one totally get that. If there was only one person in my life telling me that I could live up to an awesome potential and should go for it and everybody else was telling me to be patient and learn, who would I go for?...Palpatine...
There's even a cute little choose-your-own-destiny quiz halfway through the book that leads to Senator, Jedi, Bounty Hunter, or Sith.
A couple tidbits about Vader: Apparently his belt regulates his armor temperature. And a fact I keep forgetting: Darth Vader's star destroyer was the Executor.
There's one discrepancy in that the book states Emperor Palpatine told Vader Luke was his son when if you've read the comics you know Boba Fett is actually the one who revealed that news to him, but I'm pretty sure this book came out before the comic so I'll cut it some slack.
Overall - 5/5
This book gives us our first taste into the ancient Sith with the following: "The first Sith was a Jedi who turned to the dark side. Others followed him. Together they tried to destroy the Jedi. The Sith even tried to kill each other because they were so full of evil and hatred. The Jedi thought they had destroyed the Sith. But, one Sith survived. He took an apprentice and went into hiding." We can only surmise that this one Sith is Darth Plagueis. While I do dislike Disney's reliance on black and white with Sith versus Jedi, I look forward to seeing where this tidbit of information goes from here.
This book clarifies that Force lightening is only able to be used by dark side practitioners.
According to this book, although I wonder how The Last Jedi is going to deal with this, is "The Jedi seek to keep the force in balance in the galaxy, which means that they must stop those who seek to use the dark side." Not sure how I feel about this statement as balance implies both dark and light...
A number of Separatist droids are mentioned including Hailfire droids, Vulture droids, Tri-fighters, Spider droids, and Buzz droids.
Finally a backstory to Jango is given! "Jango was an orphan. He was raised by a legendary warrior army, thought to be the most dangerous in the galaxy." So further proof that he is not in fact Mandalorian.
This book mentions Boba Fett's death by Sarlacc but then says, "Some people believe that Boba managed to escape from the stomach of the Sarlacc."...leaving it open for interpretation!!! Future stories! Yes, please!
A discrepancy, this book states that Darth Maul comes from Iridonia when we all know he is a nightbrother from Dathomir courtesy of the Clone Wars...not sure how that slipped by in editing. And of course it says Darth Maul was killed - oh but we know better - that stubborn bugger. And it says General Grievous was no match for Anakin and Obi-Wan but we all know only Obi-Wan killed him. It also says the rancor only ate humans and Bib Fortuna only had one head tail...uhhh? Again... editors??
Besides the discrepancies I loved the easy jaunt back into the Star Wars Universe in regards to the baddies - they are always my favorite.
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