The Mandalorian Junior Novel, adapted by Joe Schreiber

 The Mandalorian Junior Novel, adapted by Joe Schreiber

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Oh my goodness!!! This was on the surface just a retelling of Season 1, but it was written so incredibly well that I was carried along for the ride with glee and anticipation!! Plus, quite a bit of trivia was well laid out for the reader to more easily digest which is always super nice. The only thing that seemed like a glaring miss was the opening bit of the very first episode in which the Mythrol (blue fish guy) got captured by Mando on Maldo Kreis, followed by the ravinak monster bursting out of the ice and eating the landspeeder that brought Mando and the Mythrol back to the Razor Crest. Instead, this chapter book starts out with Mando accepting the job from Greef Karga to go after the Child. But everything else felt pretty solidly included and the flow of the book was phenomenal considering the choppy nature of the first season. It did not feel like disconnected stories, but instead felt more like one long interconnected tale, as it should! I am beyond pleased with having picked up and read this wonderful new entry into canon.

An interesting tidbit on the state of the galaxy at this time, "Even for an experienced hunter like himself, whose reputation preceded him, pickings were slim, from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim. After the fall of the Empire, the galaxy seemed to have lost its way. There was little economic stability or rule of law, and if the New Republic's promise of peace and prosperity had yet come to pass, it hadn't trickled its way down to a backwater planet like Nevarro. On those streets and a thousand others like them, smugglers and thieves, local warlords and thugs all conducted their business in the shadows, and sometimes even in broad daylight. More and more of the time, crime flourished, but for bounty hunters, the criminals themselves were worth less and less." It'll be very interesting to see how "Rangers of the New Republic" reconciles itself with this reality of galactic unrest!

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Here are some examples of the great writing in this novel: 

-In reference to blurrgs, "The things were almost absurdly ugly, round-backed with blunt heads like primitive fish and mouths full of teeth that looked like they could easily crush whatever they could catch."

-"'I will initiate self-destruct sequence,' the droid announced cheerfully." Haha!! It's so crazy how incredibly funny this line was coming from IG-11 when this episode first aired! I mean, it's still pretty darn great even in print form.

-In reference to Mando's encounter with the mudhorn, "His vision came back in a swarm of tiny, buzzing pixels, a landscape that eventually reformulated to become the face of the thing as it reared up and thundered toward him again."

-In regards to fixing Mando's ship after the Jawa's scavenging foray on Arvala-7, "For Kuiil, it was an opportunity to lose himself in something he loved. He had always found deep satisfaction in repairing broken things, listening to what was wrong with a piece of machinery and coaxing it back to life. Occasionally he even caught himself speaking softly to the ship's onboard computers as he worked, like a doctor assuring a patient that everything was going to be fine."

-After Din breaks the Bounty Hunters Guild Code and steals back the Child on Nevarro, "Mando just looked at [Karga]. Incredibly, the man at the other end of the ramp actually seemed offended, as if what the Mandalorian had done were some sort of personal affront. Was it possible that, after everything that had happened--after threatening to kill him and strip him for parts--Greef Karga still somehow thought of Mando as a friend?" What a great and slightly disturbing question!!

-A description of the Klatooinian raiders on Sorgan, "They were humanoid, with greenish-brown skin, imposing brows, and toothy, snarling underbites that made them look especially vicious. [...] Their recent successes in the village had left them bullish and overconfident, and they'd made no effort to stay vigilant."

-Post-dealing with the raiders on Sorgan, "The days that followed were some of the most restful Mando had experienced in recent memory. After the smoke cleared and the village returned to its normal rhythm, Mando found himself settling into his place in the barn. Omera continued to make them feel welcome, and the Child spent hours with Winta and the other children, playing and chasing swamp frogs." I didn't realize Mando had stayed in that village for so long! No wonder he found it so difficult to leave.

-"Shand's reputation was beyond question. For those who could afford her services--crime lords, crooked politicians, and Hutts--she was a messenger of death, a ghost with a sniper rifle, and by the time you saw her, it was already too late."

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Trivia (some that's fairly obvious, but repetition leads to immediate recall):

-Dr. Pershing is the scientist who wants to extract *something* from the Child.

-The Tribe is the name of the Mandalorian covert that Din Djarin is a member of.

-The Great Purge took place on Mandalore right after Order 66, while clone troopers were still on the planet. The Night of a Thousand Tears was part of this and involved gunships outfitted with heavy repeating blasters. Moff Gideon was an ISB officer during this time.

-Arvala-7 is the planet where Mando first finds the Child and where Kuiil the Ugnaught lives with his blurrgs. The mercenaries guarding Grogu are Nikto. A species of tiny, quick lizard-like creatures on the planet are called gorvin snu.

-The Mandalorian skull with horns icon is actually a mythosaur! According to Kuiil, Din's Mandalorian "ancestors rode the great mythosaurs!"

-Din's disruptor sniper rifle is technically an Amban phase-pulse blaster capable of both electrocution and complete disintegration. A quote Din makes that had slipped my mind, "I'm a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion."

-Paz Vizsla is the Mandalorian who deep in the Armorer's domain questions Din's motives and intentions.

-On Sorgan, the krill ponds were seeded by the parents and grandparents of the village's current residents. With the blue krill, they can brew an alcoholic beverage called spotchka. Omera is the woman that puts Mando up in her barn and Omera's daughter's name is Winta. The raiders that invade the fishing village are Klatooinian. The two men from the village who found Mando in the woods just as he was boarding his ship to try and convince him to help them with the raiders were named Stoke and Caben.

-When landing in Mos Eisley on Tatooine, Mando lands at bay 3-5...where Peli Motto, the mechanic, awaits!

-The young, inexperienced, wannabe bounty hunter on Tatooine who's after Fennec Shand is Toro Calican. Fennec Shand carries and expertly shoots an MK-modified sniper rifle.

-The space station where Ranzar Malk and his crew are stationed is called the Roost. Mayfeld is the bald human with the blaster prosthetic in a shoulder rig. He was a former Imperial sharpshooter--not a stormtrooper...haha. Burg is the large and standoffish Devaronian. Zero is the bug-eyed droid. The purple-skinned female Twi'lek is Xi'an. And of course Xi'an's brother who the crew rescues is Qin.

-For some reason the Razor Crest is "off the old Imperial and New Republic grid. It's a ghost." I have no idea why or how this is the case and I really want to understand this better!

-The flying creatures that attack the night-time camp of Mando, Cara, Greef, Kuiil, etc, are reptavians--no more specific descriptors are given except that they do produce fast-acting venom leading to a quick death.

-The scout troopers guarding the entrance to the city on Nevarro are riding 74-Z speeder bikes.

-When Mando, Cara, and Greef meet up with the Client again, they are made and served drinks by an RA-7 protocol droid.

-Moff Gideon flies an Outland TIE fighter.

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And that's all!! Like I said, all the details were so clearly laid out that I couldn't help but snatch them up and outline them here. But besides the trivia goodness, this book was, again, just super well-written, flowed extremely well, and kept me on the edge of my seat even though I knew what was going to happen every step of the way!!! What an incredible feat--bravo Joe Schreiber!!