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

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

Find my reviews for stories 1 and 2 here and my reviews for stories 3 and 4 here. Below are my reviews for stories 5 and 6! This collection really has been quite a joy so far.

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"The Song of Winter's Heart"

Hmm...this one was like Lost Stars light, but with friends instead of lovers. It didn't really go deep enough for me in regard to what the Imperial and Rebel were actually feeling about their childhood best friend being on the opposite side of the conflict. Since it was Winter's Heart, an old Alderaanian midwinter holiday, they just kept everything very cordial and friendly when crossing paths in a war zone. Which I guess is still poignant, but I wanted a hard discussion and perhaps a switching of sides, just something meatier to really give the story more heft. Oh well, it was still heartwarming regardless.

Another thing that was weird about this story is how disjointed it was with skipping through the timeline. We start off with Max and Rel as kids playing in the snow and Rel warning of snow grompas. Then we jump forward a number of years to a time when Rel has been at the Academy for two years and is headed home from the city to celebrate Winter's Heart with his family. He contemplates how lucky he is to have been born on Alderaan with all the freedoms that come with that birthright. On the train, he runs into Max who has been training as a stormtrooper for over a year. Max's explanation for joining up with the Empire is that, "There are things out there that want to take that way of life away from us. It's my job to help protect it." Rel is aghast at this news, seeing the Empire as incredibly oppressive and evil. Which leads me to a question, what kind of Academy is he talking about?? I thought during the Imperial era that all academies were some sort of training ground for future Imperial forces. Guess I was wrong. The two men barely catch up and then part ways...

Only to find themselves face to face again many years later, post-Alderaan destruction, on a battle field. Rel has gone from doing charity work to help people affected by the Clone Wars to being a full-fledged Rebel Alliance soldier. And Max is a full-fledged snowtrooper. See their image above. Max doesn't want to talk about the destruction of Alderaan and just basically repeats what he told Rel back on the train a few years previous--"I just want to keep the galaxy safe." Rel responds to Max's questioning his becoming a soldier--something he'd never thought he'd become--with, "I wanted to make a difference. To fight for what I believe in." Max then voices that they aren't really  that different after all. 

Like I said, it feels very Lost Stars, even taking us on a journey through time in the lives of these two childhood best friends. The story was heartfelt for sure, but there just weren't many stakes and it felt very surface overall. ...but I do have to say that making an old traditional Alderaanian Winter's Heart song be the through-line for the story as it jumped through time was super cool!

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"The Spirit of Life Day"

Another spooky tale!! Lol, the horror aspect of this Holiday Collection is cracking me up. And this one was a legit ghost story, too...

There's a village called Odes Town on the planet Monta that has a tragic history with Life Day. Years before this tale takes place, during the Clone Wars, a battalion of battle droids swept through Odes Town, killing all the villagers in their path. And now, every year on Life Day, the ghosts of those killed villagers and the specters of those battle droids replay the terrible ordeal all over again. There's also the added fear that if anyone gets caught outside of their house during the replay, they will be taken by the ghosts and turned into one of them, forever to walk the streets of Odes Town on Life Day night, moaning and screaming. Yikes!! Sounds pretty darn terrible. 

We start off with a girl named Emi who is safe and sound inside her boarded up locked house with her mom and dad, but her pet Voorpak Hekta has escaped into the dreaded night. Her parents are epically terrified of what Life Day night brings and so demand that Emi stay inside and not go after Hekta. They even say they'll buy her a new Voorpak the following day. How awful!!! Poor Emi knows that she has to protect her pet and so sneaks out her bedroom window, unbeknownst to her parents, and sets off to find him!

This story could have gone so many different ways and I'm actually quite delighted by how everything turned out in the end. It starts off super spooky, but in the end turns out to be joyful and heartwarming. I'd say it's a near perfect holiday story.

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Only two more stories left! This collection has definitely been an enjoyable experience so far and I can't wait to see what the last two tales bring...