From A Certain Point of View, Part IV
"Eclipse" by Madeleine Roux focuses on Breha Organa as she deals with the loss of her daughter. The Tantive IV is lost and no one has any clue where Leia might be. Breha is devastated and still has yet to see her husband after the Battle of Scarif.
I love getting to see Breha and Bail again with their depth of emotion and personality. They are definitely well-defined, 3-D characters that are a joy to read. See Leia: Princess of Alderaan for more of Leia's genuine and loving parents. We even get to see WA-2V again in all her fussy glory, worrying about Leia having a dress for the equinox gala. There are definitely some fantastic canon connections in this piece!
Trivia: Leia is fluent in Huttese and proficient in Shyriiwook!! Makes her aversion to Chewbacca seem a little odd. I'm curious to go back and watch Return of the Jedi to see if you can tell in her face that she understands what Jabba's saying...interesting.
Once Bail does return home, Breha and her husband begin the search for Leia in earnest with all hands on deck following all leads available. But they never find her. And before they know it, the planet killer comes to visit...hence the name "Eclipse." The ending is intense and sad despite us all knowing what the conclusion would be.
"Verge of Greatness" by Pablo Hidalgo himself! This story takes place in the Death Star and mostly focuses on Tarkin. The narrative goes from Scarif to Alderaan and back to Scarif (the second time focusing on Krennic's point of view). A deftly handled story, I loved getting Tarkin's opinions of Krennic and understanding Tarkin's political maneuvering around the Death Star. As always, he was being a shrewd politician, playing the game immaculately.
We get the Imperial version of the disbanding of the Senate: "Rebel traitors had infiltrated the Senate. Such infiltration resulted in a devastating terrorist strike on a major Imperial military installation on Scarif. For the duration of the emergency, the Emperor needed absolute control to bring a swift end to this threat and root out insurgents who had access to the heart of the Imperial bureaucracy."
From Tarkin's perspective, "Krennic had been a builder pretending to be a leader. In the end, it was his undoing."
From Krennic's perspective, "Tarkin was a politician pretending to be an architect. In the end, Krennic knew, it would be his undoing."
This was a fascinatingly introspective piece that gave life to both Tarkin and Krennic.
"Far Too Remote" by Jeffrey Brown is a silly one-pane comic showing a cardboard box Rebel base on Dantooine. Funny, but I could take it or leave it.
"Trigger" by Kieron Gillen...yes, the Darth Vader and Dr. Aphra comic series Kieron Gillen! And he writes about what he knows best--Aphra!! Apparently, Dr. Aphra was on Dantooine when the Imperials got there searching for the Rebel base. And in true Aphra style, she finds herself on the base itself stealing equipment when the Imperials arrive. She's chatty as always and of course talks her way out of her seemingly dire predicament. This was a funny and engaging story that had me constantly hooked. I knew I loved her in comic book form, but story form is even better! Now I want to see an Aphra novel...please?
She waxes poetic about the destruction of Alderaan and how that could have taken place. Turns out she knows a lot about planet destruction--not surprised knowing her.
Just seeing her in action in a different format is a true joy.
"Of MSE-6 and Men" by Glen Weldon--ahhhh!!! The format of this story is hugely inventive and at first I thought I was going to get bogged down in it and not be able to get through, but then it hooked me line and sinker and I couldn't get enough. It's basically a lust story--not really a love story--between an Imperial officer and a stormtrooper told from the point of view of an MSE droid! Frequently in the story we see it go through diagnostic checks and performing various functions. It'll hear certain words and acknowledge that a reply is either needed or not needed with beepbeep being affirmative and beepboop being negative. The poor droid goes through a lot but has a loving master...for a time.
TK-421 takes care of G7, as he calls the droid, and happens to be the trooper who Luke killed and stole the armor from. Throughout the story I grew to love the obedient droid and was deeply saddened when his master was dispatched. Stupid Luke needing a disguise to rescue Leia! But really, TK-421 has a sweet dream for his droid of putting him on the racing circuit on Coruscant because he says it's the fastest droid around. Talk of racing stripes comes up several times...adorable.
But the real story is between the officer and the trooper who have a clandestine arrangement during each session of which the droid gets turned off to prevent recording. When the officer finds out what happened to TK-421, he's devastated and angry at the Rebels--for good reason! The way the two got together is deeply cute and involves the droid running full throttle into the officer and knocking a holo-recording of TK-421 loose. His response to the recording is, "Who is he? He's...beautiful!" and the stage is laid.
"Bump" by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker gets into the head of TD-110 who we met during "Born in the Storm" earlier in the book. He was the commander who Obi-Wan mind tricked into letting him, Luke, and the droids pass. The man realizes what he has done suddenly after an alarm is triggered on the Death Star by Luke, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, and the droids after they escape the Falcon and he can't believe he let the droids pass on Tattooine. He then knows it's the end and all is lost for him.
One of the funniest lines is "We run past that zealot Darth Vader as he exits the office of our boss's bosses' boss. I don't think Vader is a good manager of people. I'm constantly surprised to see him fail upward"--Ha!
TD-110 enters the control room where R2-D2 and C-3P0 are waiting and ignores the droids again!! It isn't until C-3P0 excuses him and R2 for a cleaning that TD-110 realizes he's made the same mistake again...poor guy. I guess Obi-Wan's Jedi mind trick was super long lasting.
Once again, I feel sorry for the bad guy once I've gotten into his head and seen what he's dealing with. This book has done a fabulous job of truly giving us all points of view!
"End of Watch" by Adam Christopher shows us the other side of the conversation Han had over the intercom on the detention level before he, Luke, and Chewie "rescued" Leia. We settle in with Commander Pamel Poul as she is about to get off watch. She has been irritated over the past 30 minutes with the lockdown of Docking Bay 327--where the Millennium Falcon was pulled in by the tractor beam. She's desperate to have the lockdown lifted before her shift is over so she can maintain a spotless record. But it's to no avail as she heads over to the monitor station to consult with Ensign Toos and Sublieutenant Slallen who are chatting about the magnificence and ancientness that is the Millennium Falcon.
Then an alert sounds on the detention level and the famous awkward intercom conversation begins. It is hysterical getting it from the other side--love they included it!
Trivia: Tarkin wears the scent of lavallel - a rich, purple-flowering herb.
"The Baptist" by Nnedi Okorafor tells the tale of the dianoga in the trash compactor. Her name is Omi and she comes from a swampy planet where she lives among a tribe. They are a sentient (surprise!), hermaphroditic species who choose their gender. She has chosen to be female. Her species can also color-shift to camouflage themselves, which she does several times throughout this piece. Omi gets captured by Vodrans--perhaps the planet is named Vodran?--and is taken away to the Death Star where she, despite what was said in a previous book I read, was placed on purpose in the trash compactor. She feeds off of the garbage that ends up there and becomes quite comfortable in her new home.
She is a lovely character with a depth of emotion, passion, and insight. She feels the Force in Luke and that's why she grabbed him and sucked him under--she was baptizing him in water for the fight ahead.
Highly metaphysical, I found myself not completely understanding this piece. It digs really deep philosophically and I think I need to read it a second time to really get what it's trying to say. But it does make you feel for Omi and I want to watch the trash compactor scene again just to get a glimpse of this amazingly intelligent and insightful creature in action.
"Time of Death" by Cavan Scott is from the point of view of Obi-Wan after his death. Man is the poor guy confused and lost! He keep going in and out between moments in the far and recent past and can't get a hold on what is happening to him. Not near the way I expected a Jedi trained by Qui-Gon in the art of afterlife communication to go out.
We finally get some depth and clarity to the battle between Vader and Obi-Wan on the Death Star. I was super excited about this! Obi-Wan delves deep into his memories of his apprentice and how that affects him during the battle. He dissects each line spoken by Vader and has memory-shock as he endures the verbal barrage.
This story goes all out with canon connections as it even flashes into the future of The Force Awakens! "And worst of all, Luke, as I am now, an old man, his face creased, his eyes haunted. He's cut off from those who love him, consumed by regret and sorrow. It is too much to bear, a future I never want to see."
I hope they revisit the point of view of Obi-Wan when Luke is targeting the exhaust portal on the Death Star...I'll have to wait and see.
Still a brilliant collection of stories that has got me all sorts of emotional and enthralled! I'm guessing the next stop will be Yavin IV...
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