I’ve just recently subscribed to the channel. It’s a pleasure to listen to your thoughts and the manner in which you discuss books; passionate, genuine, and generally positive. I’m delving into Star Wars literature in particular at the moment, and though my experience with Star Trek books is more limited I also enjoy hearing your thoughts on them. I hope we hear you discuss some more literary classics as well. Looking forward to what else you might have in store!
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad I’m able to expose people to new genres. I have a ton of literary classics in my collection, but there are a couple of reasons why I haven’t really gotten into them on the channel. One is that it takes me longer to read a classic and I’m trying to read fast enough to keep putting out content. Another is that personally I just don’t enjoy literary fiction nearly as much as I enjoy “genre fiction”. The final reason is because of the brand I’ve already built around genre fiction. But I really do want to get to those books eventually, so it’s still possible.
I understand your thoughts, but I personally loved this book. Honestly I think the books, The adult ones especially, have been hitting it out of the park recently. The shows while ok are suffering from low budgets and writing that is too shallow. The books and comics are becoming more and more connected to each other and I’m loving it!
Oh I’ve been loving the adult books as well, especially recently. And this was very well produced. I just didn’t love the process of reading it as much as other books, but still well done. Thank you for watching!
Completely understand your opinions, I personally think it enhances TROS to the point where I’ll probably find it a bit more tolerable. I absolutely loved both characterizations of Luke and Lando but it had a hard job of not absolutely breaking canon. I feel like the best part of the book is just the tone it has, you feel the darkness of the sith by reading it and that’s why I continued it until the end.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I’m so glad it fills in a lot of gaps in the overall sequel story. And it’s nice to seeing Luke in the literature again. He’s been absent for so long.
I really liked the book and I wish we could get more post ROTJ content involving the beloved OG characters. I almost wished this was a series of books to give it a little time and maybe give it that missing spark. I really enjoyed this book (probably because it filled a lot of the gaps) but I wouldn’t say it’s my absolute favorite of the new cannon.
I think this could be a really fun and tightly written story if the ochi/Rey's parents story was taken out and it was just about unraveling the mysteries of the other plot line
I’m about 2/3 of the way through right now and very much enjoying it! I agree with a lot of your points as well, at least so far. I didn’t expect to be as invested in Dathan and Miramir as I am. I also find the second villain very, very intriguing. I think it feels like Shadow of the Sith is to the sequels (especially TROS) as Darth Plagueis is to the prequels (especially TPM). Granted this one has to do more heavy lifting in terms of filling in gaps and things of that nature. But to me, it has a very similar role: expanding on what’s given in the aforementioned movies, and making them even better. Maybe that’ll change and the rest of the book ends up severely disappointing me, but at this rate I doubt that’ll happen Also, the brief Revan mention towards the beginning of the book made my heart very happy. Revan is my favorite Star Wars character, in case you couldn’t already tell 😂
I also agree with your point of this book lacking that certain spark. It seems that this book lacks some focus at times for me. It's really hard to put into words, but I think it's just good and average.
Thanks for the support. Yeah, I didn’t like that one. It was too weird and didn’t get any characters right. Thankfully, Shadow of the Sith book is pretty good!
I'd also recommend reading Bloodline by Claudia Gray, a Leia political thriller that makes the factions of the sequels a lot more interesting. Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse and the comic mini-series The Rise of Kylo Ren might also be worth looking into.
I got the audible version, i listen to on our phone or when i work at home, what I do normally! It's good story I do love how the story is written,, maybe they ciold have split up the book in 2 parts, as than you could have expanded more on some of the characters, such as Rey Parents etc.
@@jonathankoan Totally agree, i even rewatched TLJ after the book and took it from a different point of view. This book also make wanted to read the IX episode novelization, would you recommended it?
@@carlsmatisepul I thought that the Rise of Skywalker Novelization didn't add much to the film. I felt it was like the Force Awakens novelization in that regard. But it does add some context, so it might be worth reading for you.
I cant wait to read this book but unfortunately my library has a pretty long waiting list for it already. At least that gives me time to catch up on The High Republic.
I hope it comes available soon, but that’s an excellent reason to finish the High Republic series. I really loved the adult and Middle Grade books in the H.R., some of the best Star Wars storytelling right now. But I really don’t like the YA High Republic books. Sadly, they’re kind of necessary to understand the full scope of the story, so I still read them anyway. I hope you enjoy them!
I did that on the podcast for Two Sons of Tatooine, where I go really in depth, but I can provide it here basically: 1. A New Hope 2. Rogue One 3. Revenge of the Sith 4. Empire Strikes Back 5. Return of the Jedi 6. Force Awakens 8. Solo 8. Phantom Menace 9. The Rise of Skywalker 10. The Last Jedi 12. Attack of the Clones 6-8 are mostly interchangeable in placement. Same with 3-5. But I love all the movies a lot.
@@jonathankoan it wasn’t in it either way I like your podcast and will binge it while driving and such. Really have been looking for a positive focused Star Wars podcast anyways, keep up the good work!
Just finished and was struggling to put into words how I felt about it, but after watching your video, I think we’re generally on the same wavelength. I can’t really find any faults with the book itself, and I read it pretty quickly, but it was just missing that oomph I was hoping it’d have. Granted, I loved TLJ and hated everything about TROS that went against it, so maybe this book already started out with the opposite of a head start for me. So in the end, I think I enjoyed it, but there’s nothing it really could have done to ease my concerns with TROS, so I could never truly love it, hence why it sits so off for me
Hello Jonathan! You are my favorite book channel on RUclips. I love how positive and upbeat your tone is, and how negative points are articulated but not dwelled on. It is honestly refreshing. Would you ever consider discussing the Star Wars movie tie-in novels (ie the novels with the same name as the movies, that directly translate the movies to novel form)? And if not, which ones would you recommend?
Thank you for the support. That’s really kind. I typically discuss the books that I’m reading, and I don’t read too many novelizations. That being said, I really loved the rogue One novelization and the Last Jedi novelization, which really made the movie a lot better. Revenge of the Sith Novelization is also really good. I thought the Solo and attack of the clones novelizations were pretty decent. I didn’t love the force awakens novelization though, or the Rise of Skywalker novelization, because they did not add much to the movies. I like all the movies themselves, but those novelizations were fairly lackluster. I have not read the original trilogy novelizations, but I haven’t had the interest at the moment. I might make it to them eventually.
Not a huge fan of the sequel era stuff, only read this and Bloodline(which was very good). While it was an enjoyable read, it did lack that spark you were talking about. Really liked what it did with Rey's parents tho, characters you barely saw or cared about in the movies. Will I read the next sequel era book coming out? Unsure at this point. I find it harder to read about when it envolves an entire era I'm not super interested in. Maybe I'll come back to this era in a few years when im done with all the Legends stuff. I did like Christophers style tho so I hope he does another SW book.
To add to the political stuff I love Gina Carrano character. She portrays a very interesting character . I don't care about her opinions nor I condone because I don't care about "gina" and more about her character. I believe that's the main problem with nowadays world. You can't separate people and characters. Imagine Lovecraft. we all know what he belief but if it was today he would be cancel and the horror genre that exist nowadays would be quite different... Now in another note, interesting review. I am not that interested in it. but I did buy on your recommenddation phasma, master & apprentice. bloodline and dark disciple (plus all thrawn novels). OH and I will start this moment on my Star Wars voyage.. I will start with Splinter Mind's Eye. I am not reading thrawn first because I am afraid if I read tht first everything from that on will be a downhill :P So this one first and next is going to be truce at bakhura. Maybe I will switch to disney Phasma and continue from that... if you want to recommend me more solo legends & disney do tell (I bought all legends and some disney)
I love your comment about separating actors and the characters. Unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen in modern culture. Those canon books you’ve purchased are all very good. I will say that the two legends books, “Truce at Bakura” and “Splinter of the Minds Eye”, were definitely towards the bottom of my Legends list. I don’t think they’re as bad as some people make them out to be, but I didn’t love them. So if you start there you’ll be moving upwards afterwards. 😂 For Legends, Ir is harder for me to recommend standalones because they are usually really connected to the series (I Jedi, one of the best standalones, needs to be read after The Jedi Academy Trilogy and the first four X-Wing books). I think that the OG Thrawn series, as well as the Darth Bane series and the X-Wing series are the best places to start. They are some of the best at the beginning, but they establish a good foundation for the legends line, and reading other books first might spoil your enjoyment. You’ll have to keep me updated on your journey.
@@jonathankoan I am reading this two and then going to Darth Bane Trilogy as per your advice. Thank you and I will keep you posted since I follow your videos I am always lookng for new books and opinions on stuff I have (like star wars legends)
My Favorite Star Wars films: 1. Empire Strikes Back 2. Revenge of the Sith 3. Return of the Jedi 4. A New Hope 5. Attack of the Clones 6. The Phantom Menace 7. Force Awakens 8. Rogue One 9. Solo 10. The Last Jedi 11. Rise of Skywalker 12. Star Wars The Clone Wars Animated Film
Are you referring to on this channel or in general? If it’s on the channel, you might be right 😂. In general though, I’m really enjoying the novels and really want to support Media Tie-In Fiction wherever I can, and the Star Wars books are currently the best selling tie-in fiction. They’ve been selling enough to warrant Random House designating an entire imprint to tie in fiction next year (Random House Worlds). Without the SW books, Random House wouldn’t have the financial cover to afford to produce a ton of tie-in material for other franchises, so I really think the Star Wars books need to stay around. Now I do think they need to explore new areas of the galaxy and of the timeline to make things fresh again, but they’ve started doing that with the High Republic books recently, so they’re making good progress.
@@jonathankoan In general. Even the actors don't want to go on with it anymore, unless it's a means to an end. I'm not sure any story is supposed to have this much longevity. A lot changes in 3 generations. New stories should be made for newer audiences.
@@williampearson6299 I think that the actors in movies and shows is a different conversation than the books. Lots of audiences are still watching the shows and movies, so they’re going to keep making money which means that Lucasfilm will be pretty happy. I’ve been enjoying the shows myself, so I’d like to see them continue. As far as the books, the focus of my channel, they are vital to the media Tie-in genre as a whole and we can’t afford to lose them.
@@jonathankoan That's fine but my fears is the zombifying of content where you constantly come back to the same sources, the repetitive messages, the reinventing, and growth. This is franchise is cult like. Can we ever have new things ever again?
@@williampearson6299 There are a lot of new things being made every day, you know, even if you have to look beyond DIsney+ to see them. Star Wars can coexist alongside a vast and varied media landscape (as it has done for the past fifty years). If you personally feel it's played out there's no obligation to continue watching/reading material set in that universe.
I’ve just recently subscribed to the channel. It’s a pleasure to listen to your thoughts and the manner in which you discuss books; passionate, genuine, and generally positive. I’m delving into Star Wars literature in particular at the moment, and though my experience with Star Trek books is more limited I also enjoy hearing your thoughts on them. I hope we hear you discuss some more literary classics as well. Looking forward to what else you might have in store!
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad I’m able to expose people to new genres. I have a ton of literary classics in my collection, but there are a couple of reasons why I haven’t really gotten into them on the channel. One is that it takes me longer to read a classic and I’m trying to read fast enough to keep putting out content. Another is that personally I just don’t enjoy literary fiction nearly as much as I enjoy “genre fiction”. The final reason is because of the brand I’ve already built around genre fiction. But I really do want to get to those books eventually, so it’s still possible.
I understand your thoughts, but I personally loved this book. Honestly I think the books, The adult ones especially, have been hitting it out of the park recently. The shows while ok are suffering from low budgets and writing that is too shallow. The books and comics are becoming more and more connected to each other and I’m loving it!
Oh I’ve been loving the adult books as well, especially recently. And this was very well produced. I just didn’t love the process of reading it as much as other books, but still well done. Thank you for watching!
Completely understand your opinions, I personally think it enhances TROS to the point where I’ll probably find it a bit more tolerable. I absolutely loved both characterizations of Luke and Lando but it had a hard job of not absolutely breaking canon. I feel like the best part of the book is just the tone it has, you feel the darkness of the sith by reading it and that’s why I continued it until the end.
Reading the book now and absolutely love it! The audiobook is awesome.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I’m so glad it fills in a lot of gaps in the overall sequel story. And it’s nice to seeing Luke in the literature again. He’s been absent for so long.
The audio book is great! I always like the chance to hear a different voice from Marc Thompson, even though Marc is really great
I really liked the book and I wish we could get more post ROTJ content involving the beloved OG characters. I almost wished this was a series of books to give it a little time and maybe give it that missing spark. I really enjoyed this book (probably because it filled a lot of the gaps) but I wouldn’t say it’s my absolute favorite of the new cannon.
I think this could be a really fun and tightly written story if the ochi/Rey's parents story was taken out and it was just about unraveling the mysteries of the other plot line
I’m about 2/3 of the way through right now and very much enjoying it! I agree with a lot of your points as well, at least so far. I didn’t expect to be as invested in Dathan and Miramir as I am. I also find the second villain very, very intriguing.
I think it feels like Shadow of the Sith is to the sequels (especially TROS) as Darth Plagueis is to the prequels (especially TPM). Granted this one has to do more heavy lifting in terms of filling in gaps and things of that nature. But to me, it has a very similar role: expanding on what’s given in the aforementioned movies, and making them even better. Maybe that’ll change and the rest of the book ends up severely disappointing me, but at this rate I doubt that’ll happen
Also, the brief Revan mention towards the beginning of the book made my heart very happy. Revan is my favorite Star Wars character, in case you couldn’t already tell 😂
I'm waiting for a Luke Skywalker book. A book that explores what's in his head, how he feels, and how such things impact his life views and decisions.
Just found you channel! Loving all of you Star Wars videos and takes! I agree with your thoughts Legends of Luke Skywalker.
I also agree with your point of this book lacking that certain spark. It seems that this book lacks some focus at times for me. It's really hard to put into words, but I think it's just good and average.
Thanks for the support. Yeah, I didn’t like that one. It was too weird and didn’t get any characters right. Thankfully, Shadow of the Sith book is pretty good!
I really wanted to like the sequel trilogy. If this book helps improve those in any way, I’m all in. Thanks for the review!
I'd also recommend reading Bloodline by Claudia Gray, a Leia political thriller that makes the factions of the sequels a lot more interesting.
Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse and the comic mini-series The Rise of Kylo Ren might also be worth looking into.
I got the audible version, i listen to on our phone or when i work at home, what I do normally! It's good story I do love how the story is written,, maybe they ciold have split up the book in 2 parts, as than you could have expanded more on some of the characters, such as Rey Parents etc.
Finished reading it, improves Rise of Skywalker a bit.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book. I recently finished reading it and wanted to see other opinions about this one. Personally i love it.
Glad you enjoy it, it’s got some great stuff in it, particularly if you want explanations for some events in the Sequel Trilogy.
@@jonathankoan Totally agree, i even rewatched TLJ after the book and took it from a different point of view. This book also make wanted to read the IX episode novelization, would you recommended it?
@@carlsmatisepul I thought that the Rise of Skywalker Novelization didn't add much to the film. I felt it was like the Force Awakens novelization in that regard. But it does add some context, so it might be worth reading for you.
@@jonathankoan thanks for the feedback
I cant wait to read this book but unfortunately my library has a pretty long waiting list for it already. At least that gives me time to catch up on The High Republic.
I hope it comes available soon, but that’s an excellent reason to finish the High Republic series. I really loved the adult and Middle Grade books in the H.R., some of the best Star Wars storytelling right now. But I really don’t like the YA High Republic books. Sadly, they’re kind of necessary to understand the full scope of the story, so I still read them anyway. I hope you enjoy them!
I am very intrigued on your Star Wars film ranking
I did that on the podcast for Two Sons of Tatooine, where I go really in depth, but I can provide it here basically:
1. A New Hope
2. Rogue One
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Empire Strikes Back
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Force Awakens
8. Solo
8. Phantom Menace
9. The Rise of Skywalker
10. The Last Jedi
12. Attack of the Clones
6-8 are mostly interchangeable in placement.
Same with 3-5. But I love all the movies a lot.
@@jonathankoan interesting ranking, glad you like all of them. Although I bummed you didn’t like the last Jedi more, it’s one of my favorites 😂.
@@jonathankoan also I found your podcast but couldn’t find the episode where you rank the films.
@@thatfunkymonkey7667 I believe that it is in our thesis episode, but I could be wrong. We are due for an updated version eventually.
@@jonathankoan it wasn’t in it either way I like your podcast and will binge it while driving and such. Really have been looking for a positive focused Star Wars podcast anyways, keep up the good work!
Just finished and was struggling to put into words how I felt about it, but after watching your video, I think we’re generally on the same wavelength. I can’t really find any faults with the book itself, and I read it pretty quickly, but it was just missing that oomph I was hoping it’d have. Granted, I loved TLJ and hated everything about TROS that went against it, so maybe this book already started out with the opposite of a head start for me. So in the end, I think I enjoyed it, but there’s nothing it really could have done to ease my concerns with TROS, so I could never truly love it, hence why it sits so off for me
Oh my gosh I loved Luke in this book :)
Great review!
Thank you!
Hello Jonathan! You are my favorite book channel on RUclips. I love how positive and upbeat your tone is, and how negative points are articulated but not dwelled on. It is honestly refreshing.
Would you ever consider discussing the Star Wars movie tie-in novels (ie the novels with the same name as the movies, that directly translate the movies to novel form)? And if not, which ones would you recommend?
Thank you for the support. That’s really kind.
I typically discuss the books that I’m reading, and I don’t read too many novelizations. That being said, I really loved the rogue One novelization and the Last Jedi novelization, which really made the movie a lot better. Revenge of the Sith Novelization is also really good. I thought the Solo and attack of the clones novelizations were pretty decent. I didn’t love the force awakens novelization though, or the Rise of Skywalker novelization, because they did not add much to the movies. I like all the movies themselves, but those novelizations were fairly lackluster. I have not read the original trilogy novelizations, but I haven’t had the interest at the moment. I might make it to them eventually.
Thanks for this review Jonathan! I probably won’t bother lol.
I still think it’s worth reading for context, it’s just not a favorite of mine.
Not a huge fan of the sequel era stuff, only read this and Bloodline(which was very good). While it was an enjoyable read, it did lack that spark you were talking about. Really liked what it did with Rey's parents tho, characters you barely saw or cared about in the movies. Will I read the next sequel era book coming out? Unsure at this point. I find it harder to read about when it envolves an entire era I'm not super interested in. Maybe I'll come back to this era in a few years when im done with all the Legends stuff. I did like Christophers style tho so I hope he does another SW book.
And here is took me 23 days XD..
To add to the political stuff I love Gina Carrano character. She portrays a very interesting character . I don't care about her opinions nor I condone because I don't care about "gina" and more about her character. I believe that's the main problem with nowadays world. You can't separate people and characters. Imagine Lovecraft. we all know what he belief but if it was today he would be cancel and the horror genre that exist nowadays would be quite different... Now in another note, interesting review. I am not that interested in it. but I did buy on your recommenddation phasma, master & apprentice. bloodline and dark disciple (plus all thrawn novels). OH and I will start this moment on my Star Wars voyage.. I will start with Splinter Mind's Eye. I am not reading thrawn first because I am afraid if I read tht first everything from that on will be a downhill :P So this one first and next is going to be truce at bakhura. Maybe I will switch to disney Phasma and continue from that... if you want to recommend me more solo legends & disney do tell (I bought all legends and some disney)
I love your comment about separating actors and the characters. Unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen in modern culture.
Those canon books you’ve purchased are all very good. I will say that the two legends books, “Truce at Bakura” and “Splinter of the Minds Eye”, were definitely towards the bottom of my Legends list. I don’t think they’re as bad as some people make them out to be, but I didn’t love them. So if you start there you’ll be moving upwards afterwards. 😂 For Legends, Ir is harder for me to recommend standalones because they are usually really connected to the series (I Jedi, one of the best standalones, needs to be read after The Jedi Academy Trilogy and the first four X-Wing books). I think that the OG Thrawn series, as well as the Darth Bane series and the X-Wing series are the best places to start. They are some of the best at the beginning, but they establish a good foundation for the legends line, and reading other books first might spoil your enjoyment. You’ll have to keep me updated on your journey.
@@jonathankoan I am reading this two and then going to Darth Bane Trilogy as per your advice. Thank you and I will keep you posted since I follow your videos I am always lookng for new books and opinions on stuff I have (like star wars legends)
2nd
My Favorite Star Wars films:
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. Return of the Jedi
4. A New Hope
5. Attack of the Clones
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Force Awakens
8. Rogue One
9. Solo
10. The Last Jedi
11. Rise of Skywalker
12. Star Wars The Clone Wars Animated Film
Solid list. Pretty uncontroversial.
Star Wars needs to be put to rest.
Are you referring to on this channel or in general? If it’s on the channel, you might be right 😂.
In general though, I’m really enjoying the novels and really want to support Media Tie-In Fiction wherever I can, and the Star Wars books are currently the best selling tie-in fiction. They’ve been selling enough to warrant Random House designating an entire imprint to tie in fiction next year (Random House Worlds). Without the SW books, Random House wouldn’t have the financial cover to afford to produce a ton of tie-in material for other franchises, so I really think the Star Wars books need to stay around.
Now I do think they need to explore new areas of the galaxy and of the timeline to make things fresh again, but they’ve started doing that with the High Republic books recently, so they’re making good progress.
@@jonathankoan In general. Even the actors don't want to go on with it anymore, unless it's a means to an end. I'm not sure any story is supposed to have this much longevity. A lot changes in 3 generations. New stories should be made for newer audiences.
@@williampearson6299 I think that the actors in movies and shows is a different conversation than the books. Lots of audiences are still watching the shows and movies, so they’re going to keep making money which means that Lucasfilm will be pretty happy. I’ve been enjoying the shows myself, so I’d like to see them continue.
As far as the books, the focus of my channel, they are vital to the media Tie-in genre as a whole and we can’t afford to lose them.
@@jonathankoan That's fine but my fears is the zombifying of content where you constantly come back to the same sources, the repetitive messages, the reinventing, and growth. This is franchise is cult like. Can we ever have new things ever again?
@@williampearson6299 There are a lot of new things being made every day, you know, even if you have to look beyond DIsney+ to see them. Star Wars can coexist alongside a vast and varied media landscape (as it has done for the past fifty years). If you personally feel it's played out there's no obligation to continue watching/reading material set in that universe.