Billy Summers is a professional hit-man ready to retire after his final job. Except everything goes sideways, and things don’t turn out quite as he planned. If this summary sounds like something you’ve read or watched before, it’s probably because it is. The plot of Billy Summers isn’t anything new or revolutionary, and King showcases…
Baptism of Fire
Having finished re-reading Baptism of Fire, it is once again hard for me to believe that I once held this series in such high esteem. I would like to give a short summary of the plot but, unfortunately, there isn’t much plot to speak of. It is surprising how little actually happens in Baptism of…
Spartan Gold
Married treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo stumble upon a globe-spanning mystery involving legendary figure Napoleon Bonaparte, some lost wine, Xerxes, and a lost treasure. With this premise, I went into Spartan Gold ready for an exciting adventure. Unfortunately, the only thing I got was disappointment. We’ll start with Sam and Remi, since they’re our…
Pirate Latitudes
Pirate Latitudes started out fine, and was interesting in the way that historical fiction books usually are. However, it went downhill rather quickly. The characters are all bland and completely devoid of any qualities that real humans possess, not to mention absolutely cliche in every way imaginable. Women exist simply to seduce men and practice…
Later
Later occupies that weird space that many Stephen King novels do, somewhere between good and simply “okay”. The prose, as always, is so readable that I finished this book in a couple sittings. That said, I don’t have much to say about the plot. The cynical part of me sees the pieces that were taken…
Dark Disciple
Dark Disciple is a wild, action-packed ride through the galaxy. Golden does an excellent job of building the characters of Asajj and Quinlan, playing out their complicated and twisted relationship in a realistic and engaging way. It was incredibly interesting to read of the dark side in the way that Asajj viewed and utilized it,…
The Clone Wars
Perhaps it is because I haven’t watched the Clone Wars series or movie, but I found this novelization to be terribly boring. The clone troopers do not stand out in any meaningful way and, being clones and literal cannon fodder, I didn’t care one way or another what happened to any of them. A battle…
Attack of the Clones
I am amazed, much as I was upon finishing The Phantom Menace, at how good this novelization actually is. Salvatore managed to take a flawed film and, through the addition of character and plot development, create a remarkable story. Padmé’s feelings for Anakin finally make sense and feel organic, rather than contrived and confusing. I…
Queen’s Shadow
I’m very confused as to what E.K. Johnston’s goal is with these novels about Padmé. Apparently Johnston believes that Young Adult books can’t have conflict, because there is literally none to be had here. Queen’s Shadow is one of the most agonizingly dull books I have ever read, and making the Star Wars universe boring…
Dooku: Jedi Lost
I read the script book of Dooku: Jedi Lost instead of listening to the audio format, so my thoughts here will reflect that. I really enjoyed this look into Dooku’s past, and what led to his transformation. There wasn’t as much interaction between Dooku and Yoda as I would have liked, but I did enjoy…
Into the Dark
Into the Dark has to be one of the most disappointing books I’ve read in quite some time. The premise was great, and I was excited for the potential of a Star Wars horror story. Unfortunately, it just fell flat at every turn. Almost all of the characters are flat and totally uninteresting. Leox and…
Light of the Jedi
The High Republic is an interesting time period in that there isn’t immediately a direct threat, an impending doom, or a malevolent villain in the galaxy. Light of the Jedi changes that, eventually, but I thought Soule did a good job of building this new era before delving into the conflict. This novel does start…
Quite Literary 