Life Day Treasury: Holiday Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away by George Mann & Cavan Scott - Part II

Life Day Treasury: Holiday Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away written by George Mann & Cavan Scott, illustrated by Grant Griffin

I am definitely still greatly enjoying this collection of short stories. They are the perfect amount of Christmas cheer mixed with daring Star Wars adventure! Check out my reviews of stories 1 and 2 here. And find my reviews of stories 3 and 4 below. Coming up tomorrow will be stories 5 and 6!

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"The Kindling"

This was a fabulous story within a story as two members of the Rebel Alliance (Fanya is a Twi'lek--pictured to the left--and Rorric is a Patrolian) escape Imperial forces on the planet Tovio. They're running from both stormtroopers and scout walkers...on foot! With a sudden burst of brilliance, Fanya comes up with a surprising plan...but doesn't let Rorric in on the plan itself, instead retelling the story of Darth Quellus on Aaloth. Aaloth happens to be the Twi'lek colony planet where Lourna Dee is from! But the story within a story goes even further back to during the Sith Empire!! Finally a story set during that time!!

Tradition dictates that around winter-time, the people of Aaloth carry a suutu pouch filled with moss and sticks inspired by an ancient old Twi'lek named Silana who defied Darth Quellus and gave her people hope!!...by giving them bags of sticks and moss saying that when the time was right, their combined kindling could make a fire powerful enough to ward off the Sith and the associated evil once and for all. So, Fanya spies some moss and begins creating a suutu pouch with similar intentions as the ancient tale, but explains what she's doing to Rorric purely through the story of the ancient Aalothian past.

This one was a lot of fun. I absolutely loved getting a glimpse into the quite frequently but usually very briefly referenced Sith Empire. 

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"The Kroolok"

This was another bit of a cliche and I couldn't tell how it sits in the timeline (all we know is that Wicket is considered to be very young) so that was frustrating, but it's a story about Wicket and Teebo so of course it was a lot of fun regardless!!

So it turns out Wicket's older brother Weechee is a major butt, like just super rude and self-absorbed. Weechee, their father Deej, and the large woodcutter Chukha-Trok are returning from a hunting trip during which they caught a six-legged kublag. A meager meal of meat stew is made using the kublag and is shared amongst the entire tribe. Wicket speaks up, saying that he could capture something even bigger and then the Shaman Logray begins a story of the Kroolok. 

According to Logray, "The Kroolok is taller than a borra beast, with spiked antlers as wide as a Gorax's larder. It has huge feet with three vicious talons, a long tail that snaps trees as if they were twigs, and teeth as white as a moon moth's wings." And it sneaks up on its victims unseen! Super spooky sounding creature...but is it actually real??

Teebo, Princess Kneesaa, and Wicket (see them pictured in this order) sneak out after nightfall on a mission to hunt something bigger than the kublag and run into the Kroolok...twice!! But...I did say this was a bit cliche so you can only imagine what the Krooloks really are...

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Overall, this continues to be a super enjoyable ride and I look forward to continuing on!