Artemis – Andy Weir

I was skeptical when I first heard that Andy Weir was writing another book, like how could he back up after the Martian was such an amazing hit. Since we are all expecting another blockbuster do we then run the risk of over hyping this book and then being utterly disappointed once its released? Heck even cover is made to mirror The Martian. Fortunately I managed to convince myself to approach this in a positive light and while I can’t help but make comparisons to The Martian, this on its own, is a fantastic book. I hope they make a movie of it too.

Andy creates a world slightly more removed from our own, than the world established in The Martian. Yet the concept of a moon base isn’t too far fetched to require that much of a stretch of the imagination. Hell, if there was a moon base i’d move there pronto! I liked the character and the strained relationship with her father. Great believable characters and quite factual in terms of launch site location benefits.

Can’t really reveal more without entering spoiler territory but its a great story and
Hopefully Andy keeps the ball rolling and has plans for a 3rd blockbuster already in the works

Star Wars Aftermath:Life Debt – Chuck Wendig

The second part of a trilogy set months after Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. While the story isn’t to bad, this book trilogy plus the many others released since Disney took over really shows the new direction Disney is taking Star Wars.

Star Wars used to be for all ages, there were the movies of course but then there were the two Ewok movies for kids/families, plenty of computer games and numerous expanded universe books. These books were detailed and many were parts of series. It didn’t matter your age, there was something to cater to your star wars needs

But with Disney taking over if you want your Star Wars fix you have the choice of the following

Rebel cartoon series

Children’s adventure stories – letting you know what the main characters got up to between Ep 6-7

Numerous young adult novels

They have been a few books released for adults but all of them just like this read more like young adult novels, the level of detail and depth just isn’t there anymore. This saddens me, it shows Disney sees Star Wars as a kids market only.

I have nothing against the young adult genre, i just personally don’t like it not just because i’m not a teenager but because i crave books with detail and young adults books don’t have that, they are short in length much like a teenagers attention span. While i crave tomes like Tom Clancy novels or A Song of Ice and Fire.

I just wish Disney would stop dumbing down Star Wars and Release some decent Adult level Fiction

 

 

Hurricane Fever – Tobias S. Buckell

Awhile back i read a book called Arctic Rising and after adding it to my bookshelf on Goodreads i noticed it was part if a series. Goodreads had another book listed as Arctic Rising #2. So i’m like cool ill grab it, having really enjoyed the world set up in Arctic Rising.

However the story only follows ONE character from the original and not even the main character. Once that disappointment subsided i did enjoy the book, the suspense of a looming hurricane and the desire to solve the mystery of who killed his friend before it hits was real and palpable. His friends death was just the beginning and is now tangled in something far worse.

I didn’t expect the book to end as sudden as it did. Really felt more could of been added to it. Still thinking back to the world established in the first book.  I wouldn’t mind another book from this series if the author feels like writing another

Bang! The Complete History Of The Universe – Brian May, Patrick Moore & Chris Lintott

Brian May of Queen fame was actually studying a PhD in Astrophysics before his music really took off. Queen became one of the greatest bands of all so Brian abandoned his studies to focus on the music. Fast forward to 2006 and he decides to finish the PhD he started many years ago.

In 2006 as he was getting into the swing of Astrophysics again, he released a book with sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott. This book essentially reviews the timeline of events from the formation of the universe to its potential end. It is rather basic in its approach and doesn’t talk of equations or any hard science. For someone who has no knowledge of this topic its a great introduction to cosmology but a little too basic for my tastes.

Star Wars Lords of the Sith – Paul S. Kemp

Star Wars novels that are set between the movies come in two types, you have the type where it expands the mythos revealing more information about the characters and events or perhaps fills in the time line between the movies. These are great novels as they add to the overall universe of Star Wars.

Then there is the type which is merely a side story which leaves the characters as they are since they are needed in later films but really adds nothing as a whole merely gives them a nice adventure but then at the end of it nothing has changed as a whole, this a disappointment

It is sad to say this novel falls into the later, here we have an adventure where no important characters die and little character development occurs. In the end it matters not if this story happens or not as nothing that occurs in it affects the wider universe. The only saving grace for this novel is we get to see the emperor flex some of his powers that alone saves this novel

While it was a rather short and inconsequential story it does little to satisfy my Star Wars craving, i guess i will just have to wait till Star wars Aftermath is released this septeber

Star Wars: Tarkin – James Luceno

Star wars literature is in as bit of a quandary at the moment. See anything set in the time frame after Return of the Jedi is now what they call a “Legacy” story meaning its no longer canon as the new trilogy will overwrite that. Fortunately for me i haven’t read anything set after Jedi. I’ve mainly read old republic and clone wars era stuff

The last star wars book i read was Darth Plagueis also by James Luceno which was a great read. I kept thinking this is like the Mein kampf of the star wars universe. How the emperor came to be and what his plans are, That was a fantastic read. So the expectations were high for this one, plus its author James Luceno has written some pretty awesome star wars stories before. Sadly i was disappointed from the get go, been waiting ages for a decent star wars read and this arrives and its only 288 pages, that’s like young adult story length.  How can they spit out a good story in only 288 pages, granted we don’t have to do too much back story since we know these characters but still 288  pages??

So anyway i put aside my distate of its page length and sunk into it, ultimately this book is how Tarkin became the first Grand Moff, gives us a little insight into who he is, where he grew up and how he met  good old Palpatine before he was emperor. We even found out Palpatine’s first name – Sheev kinda weird and not what i thought but oh well and we see the events that lead Tarkin from just a guy running a secret construction project for the empire (namely the death star) to becoming a Grand Moff and overseeing an entire portion of the galaxy.

It is an interesting insight into how things came to be for episode 4 A New Hope, i really did like the whole Vader / Tarkin relationship. Vader having worked with Tarkin back when he was still Anakin but of course not telling Tarkin that, as Vaders identiy is a secret and Tarkin wary of their working relationship begins to suspect Vader is in fact Anakin. it was a good but brief read and a nice return into the star wars universe for me as always James Luceno does a fantastic job of engaging the reader with his storytelling, i look forward to James’s next outing into the Star Wars universe hopefully with a bit more page length…..