First Order Villains (World of Reading: Level 2) by Michael Siglain
First Order Villains (World of Reading: Level 2) written by Michael Siglain, illustrated by Diogo Saito and Luigi Aime
While written and illustrated by the same team of people as, and being an ideological parallel to Resistance Heroes, this one just didn't pack much of a punch for me in comparison...and I'm usually a sucker for the bad guys. Pretty much all of the information was old news circa Last Jedi which is fine, but we already have young readers for that time period. I wanna know all the new stuff (information that Resistance Heroes provided in spades). Regardless, it would still be a great book for any Padawan starting out on their reading journey. The words are all fairly simple and while it doesn't have a glossary, context clues are easy to come by even if your child hasn't seen Force Awakens or Last Jedi. Plus, there are, again, two pages of stickers!!! And these stickers are actually pretty cool because we get all the different troopers and the Knights of Ren.
First, I want to go ahead and air out a grievance with this book...the opening double-page spread on Starkiller Base shows Starkiller shooting a laser beam at a planet directly in front of it, destroying just the one planet a la the Death Star. Number one, Starkiller Base shoots dark energy sucked from stars through hyperspace. Number two, it destroys entire planetary systems. Number three, I don't recall anyone ever calling it "The Starkiller." Definitely a miss on this description (but then I am being super picky about a children's book...and a beginner reader at that...so I should probably let it slide). See what I'm talking about below.
On to the good stuff...
We get a FANTASTIC close up look at the Knights of Ren!!!! They each have completely different helmets, shin guards, weapons, overcoats, and under clothing! See their individuality below. They are all so incredibly unique--I love it! I really hope they get individual names to go with their exceedingly individual appearances, although I doubt we would be so lucky. The narrative states that these beings are solely loyal to Kylo Ren.
There's a double-paged spread on Sith troopers showing the regular variety on one page and the jet trooper variety on the other. An interesting couple of sentences from this spread resonated with me and left my brain with all sorts of crazy out-there thoughts, "Red Sith troopers guard Kylo Ren. The Sith are strong in the dark side of the Force." Why would this book deem a sentence specifically about the unrelated topic of the Sith worthy of inclusion next to the troopers if they themselves have nothing to do with the Dark Side of the Force?? Plus, this ties in well to what we've heard before from the Black Series packages and D23. I'm really starting to think that there's something mystical about these troopers and that they're not just super pumped up, enhanced, heavily programmed bucketheads...
To wrap-up, I just want to say that probably my biggest problem with both this book and Resistance Heroes is the lack of explaining who everybody is in relation to each other. There's no revelation that Kylo is the son of Han and Leia nor that Luke and Leia are the twin children of Darth Vader. These are incredibly important plot points that make the galaxy all the deeper and more meaningful in its story telling. I guess that's all a bit heavy for a young reader to absorb, but if they are using these books as an entry point into the movies, the revelations will happen regardless and the story will still become complicated but without the easing that a young reader book would provide. Oh well, nothing is perfect.
I would say definitely pick up Resistance Heroes because it tells a broader story and digs in more with a variety of characters, and if you're tight on space, skip this one as the information can easily be found in other sources...except, the Knights of Ren illustration is pretty dang legit!! Anyway, I'm loving my official tidbits any way I can get them and can't wait for the trailer tonight!!
First, I want to go ahead and air out a grievance with this book...the opening double-page spread on Starkiller Base shows Starkiller shooting a laser beam at a planet directly in front of it, destroying just the one planet a la the Death Star. Number one, Starkiller Base shoots dark energy sucked from stars through hyperspace. Number two, it destroys entire planetary systems. Number three, I don't recall anyone ever calling it "The Starkiller." Definitely a miss on this description (but then I am being super picky about a children's book...and a beginner reader at that...so I should probably let it slide). See what I'm talking about below.
We get a FANTASTIC close up look at the Knights of Ren!!!! They each have completely different helmets, shin guards, weapons, overcoats, and under clothing! See their individuality below. They are all so incredibly unique--I love it! I really hope they get individual names to go with their exceedingly individual appearances, although I doubt we would be so lucky. The narrative states that these beings are solely loyal to Kylo Ren.
To wrap-up, I just want to say that probably my biggest problem with both this book and Resistance Heroes is the lack of explaining who everybody is in relation to each other. There's no revelation that Kylo is the son of Han and Leia nor that Luke and Leia are the twin children of Darth Vader. These are incredibly important plot points that make the galaxy all the deeper and more meaningful in its story telling. I guess that's all a bit heavy for a young reader to absorb, but if they are using these books as an entry point into the movies, the revelations will happen regardless and the story will still become complicated but without the easing that a young reader book would provide. Oh well, nothing is perfect.
I would say definitely pick up Resistance Heroes because it tells a broader story and digs in more with a variety of characters, and if you're tight on space, skip this one as the information can easily be found in other sources...except, the Knights of Ren illustration is pretty dang legit!! Anyway, I'm loving my official tidbits any way I can get them and can't wait for the trailer tonight!!
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