Title: Darksaber
Author: Kevin J. Anderson
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 430
Rating: 7/10
Kevin J. Anderson – Darksaber
When I was younger, I was a massive Star Wars fan – not uncommon for my generation, because the original films were reissued when I was eight and Episodes I, II and III soon followed. I was also a bit of a reader, as you can probably tell. The result? I delved into the universe (pun intended) of Star Wars books and lost myself for several years.
Darksaber is one of the best, featuring many of the favourites from the original films and a few new characters. Set eight years after Return of the Jedi, Luke and Han return to Tattooine and discover that the Hutt family is building a secret superweapon, a rebuild of the Death Star called ‘Darksaber’.
Kevin J. Anderson
Yeah, imagine that. The Hutts owning a Death Star. That can only mean trouble. Couple that with the existence of Admiral Daala, who I think I was a little in love with, and you’ve got a plot in the making. Kevin’s writing is believable and captures the essence of the original films well, but he has had the practice – he authored the Jedi Academy Trilogy, which went on to become a New York Times Bestseller. In fact, he wrote over twenty Star Wars books, and he now has forty bestselling books to his name.
Interestingly, it’s easy to picture the main characters as they were in the films, only with more worry lines and the odd grey hair. It helps that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and co. have all aged publicly, and only the non-human characters are difficult to place. Then again, most of the returning characters are human anyway, which could be an intentional ploy on Anderson’s part. It’s hard to tell.
The Jedi Library
However, this is not the sort of book that you can just pick up and read if you’re not already a Star Wars aficionado – it turns out that a lot of people take Star Wars very seriously, you know the type. And because of this, the writers of the Star Wars novels have a lot of material to research, the number of characters, places and storylines that have already been explored number in the hundreds, if not the thousands.
This gives the writers a supply of source material with which to shape their own stories, and they frequently refer to events that have happened in other novels, especially the author’s own. If you love Star Wars, you’ll like Darksaber – if you like Star Wars, you’ll struggle through it. Be warned.
A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…
Cary Elwes – As You Wish | Review
Title: As You Wish
Author: Cary Elwes
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 262
Rating: 5*/5
Cary Elwes – As You Wish
This was inconceivably good.
True, it might not make much sense to you unless you’re already a fan of The Princess Bride, because this is basically a memoir of the movie’s creation. Written by Cary Elwes, the actor who played Westley, and with support from Joe Layden, who’s written or co-written over thirty New York Times bestsellers, you know you’re in for a treat here.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that each of the actors also contributed to the book, although the way that their comments were inserted was occasionally clunky and/or repetitive. There’s not much point including a quote from Christopher Guest, for example, if he’s just repeating what’s already been said. But overall, it was better for including those comments and so I can’t complain too much.
Granted, I’m only three books into the month so far, but I think this has a decent shot at being my book of the month. The Princess Bride has been a favourite film of mine since I was a kid, and I particularly enjoyed reading about how Elwes and Mandy Patinkin trained up for their epic sword fight. I used to watch that fight over and over again, rewinding our VHS copy so many times that it ended up ruining the tape and making it unwatchable.
And of course, The Princess Bride itself is based on a cracking book by William Goldman. Read Goldman’s book, watch the film and then read this.
Cary Elwes
Click here to buy As You Wish.