Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
In stores Wednesday is Darth Vader #2, featuring, apparently, Vader’s runway walk. Will Vader win this round of GFFA’s Next Top Model? Tune in to see!
But first, today brings the paperback of James S.A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves. I gave it a B+ back when it first came out last year.
Next week is Kevin Hearne’s Heir to the Jedi – look for my review next Monday. Star Wars.com released a preview of the audiobook yesterday.
It’s likely today is our last big release day of the year, with Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy dropping, along with two reprints: The ‘Royal Imperial Boxed Set’ of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Trilogy and the paperback of Martha Wells’ Razor’s Edge.
These aren’t our final release of the year – there’s still James Luceno’s Tarkin on November 4.
UPDATE: A trailer for Star Wars Costumes!
Kevin Hearne tweeted today that he “just clicked SEND on my Star Wars novel. Let the editing begin!” The Luke Skywalker-centric book is the third and presumably final book in the loose Empire and Rebellion series. The previous books, Martha Wells’ Razor’s Edge and James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves, are already out.
We don’t have an officially announced release date, but an Edelweiss listing spotted last month had it coming out on January 18.
Knights’ Archive spotted an Edelweiss listing for the audio version of Kevin Hearne’s Luke Skywalker novel. No title (Untitled Star Wars #3 and/or Untitled Ballantine #50) but it gives a release date of January 13 and a small synopsis:
In an attempt to distract the Empire from important Rebel Alliance activity, Luke Skywalker draws the attention of Imperial Security, leading him-along with Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Chewbacca-into a deadly trap right in Darth Vader’s sights!
This would be the third, and probably final, book in the informal Empire and Rebellion series.
And to chase our earlier mystery books – as pointed out by commenter Ewan, two of them have the same ISBN, so there are only 2 of them – including the one formerly labeled as the Jedi Academy Trilogy on Amazon. (Untitled Star Wars #2, aka 978-0-345-51152-2. Untitled Star Wars #1 is 978-0-553-39286-9.) It’s now Untitled Ballantine #43 there. But the ISBN given to the hardcover version of Untitled Ballantine #50 (978-0-345-54485-8) on Edelweiss doesn’t match either of our mystery books, either. So whatever they are, neither seems likely to be a version of the Hearne book.
Like Razor’s Edge, the previous book in the Empire and Rebellion series, James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves harkens back to a simpler time in the Expanded Universe.
Like it says on the tin, the book is Han-centric, and keeps a fairly close character focus – It serves the story, and this one feels even more back-to-basics than Razor’s Edge. Yes, it’s short, but
this isn’t a story that requires a tome – though Corey is more than capable of such, if you’re familiar with their Expanse books. It’s a quick, fun read, and despite a bit of potential galaxy-shaping consequences, there is not a lick of the Force.
Minor spoilers beyond this point.
Continue reading “Review: James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves”
Upcoming. Del Rey has revealed the back cover of Honor Among Thieves and posted another mini-excerpt for Maul: Lockdown.
The blogside. For the detail oriented, StarWars.com has Imperial warlords from Abel G. Peña and Daniel Wallace and Xim the Despot by Jason Fry with Paul Urquhart. From the fan side, Eleven-ThirtyEight has Alexander Gaultier looking at the lost books of the EU and Ben Crofts defends implausible victories, or, welcome to the wonderful world of Space Opera.
Interview. Roqoo Depot talks to artist Chris Trevas about the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual.
On the Tumblr. Mirax Terrik art from Tony Foti for the RPG.
If you’ve been waiting for Timothy Zahn’s Scoundrels to hit in paperback, head to the bookstore today. For the comic fans, there’s Legacy #9 on Wednesday.
Novel-wise, that’s a wrap for 2013. Our next one, Darth Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber, was recently pushed back a week to January 28. And there’s more Han coming in March with James S. A. Corey’s Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves, which Jason Fry says is “one of the best EU books I’ve read in a very long time.” (via)
Del Rey has revealed the cover for the second Empire and Rebellion book, James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves. It’s due out in hardcover March 4.
This is the book’s second cover – here’s the first one (and the blurb!)
Continue reading “New cover for Corey’s Honor Among Thieves”
Razor’s Edge. Fangirl has some exclusive art of the book’s cast, plus an interview with artist Magali Villeneuve. (Follow the link to see the whole thing!) Author Martha Wells chats with This Blog is Full of Words, Geek with Curves and Jedi News. (I’ll have more Razor’s Edge links later in the new release post.)
The blogside. At the official blog, editor Jennifer Heddle talks about the process behind Kenobi, while Bryan Young discusses the cinematic influences behind some of the books. Meanwhile, on my personal blog, I wrote a guide to the Expanded Universe for casual fans.
Street date shuffle. Can we still call it ‘street’ date for an eBook? The enhanced eBooks for Making of Return of the Jedi, The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars have been pushed back to October 22, Star Wars Books has announced. The hardcover Making of Return of the Jedi will still be out on October 1.
Interviews. Suvudu had the transcript of John Jackson Miller’s Facebook chat, plus Shelly Shapiro and Brian Wood. Eleven-ThirtyEight chats with Jason Fry, Star Wars Union with Alan Dean Foster, and Target Audience magazine has Timothy Zahn.
Reviews. James was impressed with Dark Times: A Spark Remains #3.
Lots of Leia. Lots of goodies are coming up on the Razor’s Edge blog tour. There are Martha Wells interviews at Fiction State of Mind and TFN and, with excerpt, on the Her Universe Facebook. Plus another excerpt from Star Wars Books and on Suvudu, an interview with White Hot Room’s Bria about her Razor’s Edge Leia costume.
Upcoming. Has the new Essential Characters been pushed back to 2016? It looks like it, from what Knights’ Archive has discovered. Making room for Episode VII characters? They also spotted the first Rebels tie-ins, which are coming in August 2014 from Disney Press.
Kenobi. John Jackson Miller got some pixels at Publisher’s Weekly upon the occasion of Kenobi being a bestseller; He’ll be chatting with Star Wars Books next Wednesday. In the meantime, there’s a new interview at Knights Archive.
Review. James thinks Star Wars #9 has good revelations for Vader and Leia, but only meh on Han’s part.