Ashley

There are ways to teach books you don’t like…

Reviewed: 10-29-24

…That still prioritizes a student’s learning rather than the teacher’s ego. It’s a shame this teacher didn’t try any of them. Most of this course is a moderately interesting if shallow look at these important books. The Dracula section however…well it’s hard to get much of anything from it with the teacher reminding you every few minutes how boring he finds the book. It's fine to have preferences, but when the professor makes their own dislike the most important thing for a student to learn about a classic, influential novel, that's a problem and a waste of everyone's energy. Currently this is free so if you’re new to the topic it may be worth a listen. Otherwise save your time and find one of the many better options out there. For Dracula in particular, I'd suggest Audible's own dramatized edition featuring a host of excellent voice actors (Tim Curry being likely the most recognizable name) bringing to life the letters, journal entries, and other "documentation" that make up the novel.

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2 people found this helpful

A fun prequel to Legends and Lattes

Reviewed: 11-13-23

I was hoping this was a sequel to the first story because I loved that book so much and was surprised to meet a much younger Viv in the early chapters. But all the elements are there that you’d expect. Surprising friends. The founding of a new community of oddballs. And of course swords, books, skeletons, and hints of possible love. To say more would be to spoil it and the journey is too much fun for that. My only wish is that it was longer so I wouldn’t have been able to devour it so quickly.

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My new favorite of the High Republic Era

Reviewed: 02-05-22

Man, I loved this book. It features perhaps my favorite Jedi & padawan pair in the High Republic, Cohmac Vitus and Reath Silas, plus a host of other great returning characters (Kantam Sy, Ram Jomaram, and Zeen Mrala, among others) and new characters (especially the really wonderful Crash). And it all starts with a murder.

The story takes place during the same time frame as The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray and, while we don't directly see most of the major events from that book in this one, what happens at Starlight Beacon impacts the tone of Midnight Horizon. The first half of this book is full of fun silliness mixed with some serious introspection as many of the characters find themselves at crossroads in their lives. The second half is all fast paced action. I loved both parts, but I expect some readers will be frustrated early on that not much is actually happening. I think that time spent slowly developing the characters and their relationships is needed, especially for people who may not have read any of the comics where many of these characters got their start. But the big thing about this book is how well written it is. So many quotable moments about what it is to be a Jedi. So many touching scenes that had me tearing up. It helps that Todd Haberkorn does a great job performing here and creates truly distinct voices for each of the major characters so you can tell who is speaking even before the story identifies them.

As far as things you need to read before starting this book, definitely Into the Dark and The Fallen Star, both by Claudia Gray. It'll help if you've read Daniel José Older's run of The High Republic Adventures comics and Race to Crashpoint Tower, but you can probably understand what's going on without them.

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3 people found this helpful

Really Nails the Disaster Movie Vibes

Reviewed: 01-06-22

If "Light of the Jedi" is the Star Wars "Dead Wake"/the sinking of the Lusitania and "The Rising Storm" is "Devil in the White City"/the 1893 World's Fair, then "The Fallen Star" is the High Republic's version of "Titanic," "Towering Inferno," or the "Poseidon Adventure." Although all three books have been, in their own ways, stories of disasters, this is the most intimate and focused of the bunch, with a smaller cast of returning characters and less jumping from location to location. To me that makes sense - Starlight Beacon is an important location to both the characters and all the storytelling in this first phase of the High Republic, but if you're someone who enjoys seeing more of the galaxy you may be disappointed. It's also the most relentlessly stressful book; even before anything has happened there's a constant oppressive feeling of imminent death and destruction, even if it takes a good part of the first third to a half of the book for the crisis to finally hit.

As for that smaller cast, I like all the returning characters who are focused on here: Stellan Gios, Elzar Mann, Bell Zettifar, Indeera Stokes, Orla Jareni, Burryaga Agaburry, Nib Assek, the crew of THE VESSEL, Marchion Ro, Nan, and Chancey Yarrow. Other people also make an appearance and there are a host of new characters as well. While the Nihil are an ever present threat, we don't spend much time with them outside of Marchion Ro. He's always been the most interesting one of them anyway, so I was glad to not have chapters and chapters of the typical Nihil bickering and backstabbing. Characters do die, as is to be expected with this kind of book. Some of those deaths were telegraphed way in advance but others very much surprised me.

I don't think this is Claudia Gray's best Star Wars book, but she has so many good ones that's hardly a criticism. There's some odd and unnecessary repetition of phrases and passages, but the writing is generally really good. The characterizations are solid and in keeping with what's come before in other books in the series. The plot is relentless and action packed. If it's not the best book in the High Republic that's only because so many of the others have been so excellent. So if you're a fan of this series and these characters, it's well worth your time. However, this is not a good place to start if you haven't read any of the previous books. If you're new to the High Republic, be sure to read at least "Light of the Jedi" by Charles Soule and "The Rising Storm" by Cavan Scott first. I'd also recommend reading "Into the Dark," also by Claudia Gray. "Out of the Shadows" by Justina Ireland might also be helpful, although I think readers can understand what's going on without it.

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1 person found this helpful

A Mixed Bag

Reviewed: 07-29-21

I was excited for "Out of the Shadows" because "Into the Dark" is one of my favorite stories from the High Republic era and I was looking forward to revisiting some of the characters we first met there. But while Reath Silas and Cohmac Vitus are in this book and Reath is a point-of-view character for some of it, Vernestra Rwoh and Sylvestri Yarrow are the main characters here. I probably shouldn't have been surprised since Vern and her padawan Imri Cantaros were main characters in Justina Ireland's first High Republic book, "A Test of Courage." But still, it was disappointing to realize how little focus we were going to get on Reath and Cohmac and how little they would sound like themselves.

That's one of my main complaints about this book, most of the characters who have been introduced previously in other stories sound out of character and flat, with the exceptions of Vernestra, Imri, and Nan. Up until now the series has been remarkably consistent in the way characters were handled from book to book and author to author. Here the returning characters feel like they lack any depth or personality. The characterizations weren't helped by the narrator, who does a pretty lackluster job. She uses the same voice for most of the characters, which gets confusing in spots. When she does vary her delivery it's for the adults who she reads in a slow, stilted manner that makes the dialog feel unnatural and choppy, so much so that I'm not sure whether the dialog was badly written or just badly read. That's a shame because there are some interesting new characters here and important things happen that are likely to impact future High Republic stories in a major way. Vernestra and Imri are highlights and I even warmed to Sylvestri Yarrow by the end of the book.

There's a lot of teen angst and some fraught teen romance in this story, neither of which were my cup of tea even when I was a teenager, but if they're yours you may enjoy that part more than I did. All in all, I wish I liked this book more than I do, but to me it's the weakest book in the series so far.

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12 people found this helpful

An interesting middle-grade Star Wars story

Reviewed: 07-15-21

As an adult reading this book aimed at ages 8-12 years old, I am not the target audience. That said, I enjoyed the story for the most part. It was interesting seeing the events around the Republic Fair from a different perspective. Ram Jomaram is an intriguing character who uses the Force very differently from other Jedi and I hope he shows up in other stories. It was also great seeing Jedi from the previous High Republic middle-grade book, A Test of Courage, show up here as well as some characters from Daniel Jose Older's High Republic Adventures comics. I'm not sure you have to know all those characters before reading Race to Crashpoint Tower to enjoy the plot, the story does explain who they are so probably not, but your mileage may vary there. The weakest part of the story for me was how the villains were handled; all of them were far less threatening and formidable than in other stories from this era, including A Test of Courage, which was disappointing. The resolution seemed oddly convenient and not entirely believable, but it's also a kids book so I'm willing to be less critical on that score. Todd Haberkorn does a fine job with the narration, making it easy to tell when different characters are speaking. I particularly liked his take on how the Bonbraks sound. Did I love this book as much as The Rising Storm? No, but it's a very different book. As an adult reader, do you have to read this story to understand what's going on in future books? I think you're probably safe to skip it, at least at the moment. But it's fun, short, and a worthwhile addition to the High Republic era, so if you're craving new content from this period in Star Wars history I don't think it'll be a waste of your time.

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Good beginning for an even better series

Reviewed: 03-23-21

I came to this book after perhaps my third reading of Second Hand Curses, also by Drew Hayes. Although Audible had been suggesting this one for ages. I'd resisted getting it because the synopsis was underwhelming and the audio sample didn't give me much of a feel for the story, which is a shame because I really enjoyed this book once I finally picked it up. It's not the best book by Drew Hayes or even the best book in its own series, but it's a fun read that lays needed groundwork for what comes next. It's full of clever dialog, humor, action, adventure, and most importantly interesting characters. There are aspects of the story that will probably be more meaningful or easier to predict if you've had role-playing experience in some format, but I don't think that's a requirement for understanding what's going on or enjoying the journey. Anyone with familiarity with other fantasy books or films will be very comfortable in this story's worlds. Roger Wayne does a great job with the characters' voices and his performance gives the audiobook an almost audio drama feel. Your mileage may vary, but I found the ending satisfying enough to pick up the next three books in the series immediately after finishing NPCs. I'm glad I did because while this book is good, the next three are so, so much better.

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A Good Book But Probably Not for Everyone

Reviewed: 01-26-21

I started reading The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey recently and there are some similarities between Light of the Jedi and those books. It's still Star Wars so you get the Jedi, huge space battles, and some fun lightsaber fights, but there's a significant focus on worldbuilding and politics. That's needed here because there are a lot of new worlds and characters to introduce in order to explain what's different in this era compared to what we're used to with the Skywalker Saga. It's also setting up things for future books, so there's a lot the author has to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time and, in general, I think Charles Soule does a good job balancing all of that while also creating a fun, interesting story. This is also the first Star Wars book I've read in a while that tries to provide semi-scientific grounding for how some things work in the galaxy, which I enjoyed. That aspect was certainly far, FAR better handled than say...midi-chlorians.


There are some really good characters in here, many of whom I'm looking forward to following in future books. I don't think it's a spoiler to say, much like with The Expanse, don't get too attached to anyone. There are a lot of deaths of both minor and major characters in this book. Despite that, there's a general hopefulness here that for me has been lacking from the recent movies. But there are an awful lot of characters and some of the names sound very similar, so they could get confusing if you're listening to the audiobook rather than reading a print version. There's some great sounding tech in this book, which I hope we'll start seeing more of in toys, art, and other related projects. If you're reading some of the other reviews and are worried that the author doesn't know anything about Star Wars, Charles Soule has written quite a few Star Wars titles. The highlight for me is the fabulous Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic book series, definitely something to check out if you have any interest in Darth Vader or the Imperial Inquisitors.


Back to Light of the Jedi - basically, if all you come to Star Wars for is action, yes you'll probably find this book a bit slow. If you're interested in something more than that and are willing to keep an open mind to new approaches to the galaxy far, far away, there's a lot here to enjoy.

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Much better than the episode

Reviewed: 08-13-19

As a First Doctor fan, I was really excited when I first heard about "Twice Upon a Time." Imagine my disappointment when, much like in "The Five Doctors," he was written to be more sexist than he was during his own era. The idea that Barbara, Vicki, Sara Kingdom, Dodo, or Polly, much less Verity Lambert, would have tolerated that sort of thing is laughable.

I tried this audiobook chiefly because I heard from fellow fans that it fixed a lot of the episode's issues, and for the most part that's true. While the out of character comments are still there, Paul Cornell has the Twelfth Doctor acknowledge that they're out of character, which helps. Cornell also spends a significant part of the book getting into the motivations of both Doctors, Archie, and Bill so that we understand why they're acting like they are, which gives the story a lot more depth. Obviously, he's someone who has written a lot of Doctor Who and I really appreciate the little Easter eggs, both from Twelve's era and earlier ones, he slips into the story. The book keeps the good parts of the episode and builds on them, making an even more heartfelt and enjoyable version. We even get to learn what happened to Bill and Nardole after "The Doctor Falls."

Mark Gatiss does a stellar job with all the voices, but particularly with the First and Twelfth Doctors who are both pretty spot on. All in all, this audiobook is definitely worth listening to, even if the episode wasn't one of your favorites.

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5 people found this helpful

A Mixed Bag With Some Good Moments

Reviewed: 08-12-19

The first thing you need to know about this set is that most of the stories are recycled from the 50th anniversary novellas put out a few years ago. If you've shopped Doctor Who books recently, you've probably seen them: TARDIS blue background with the profile of the Doctor featured in them on the cover. If you already have those books, buying this anthology is probably a waste of your time and money.

Second, this really is a mixed bag. There's some really good stories here ("The Nameless City" (Second Doctor) by Michael Scott, "The Roots of Evil" (Fourth Doctor) by Philip Reeve, "Spore" (Eighth Doctor) by Alex Scarrow, "Nothing O'Clock" (Eleventh Doctor) by Neil Gaiman, and "Lights Out" (Twelfth Doctor) by Holly Black) and then there are some stories that never live up to the promise of their premise ("A Big Hand for the Doctor" (First Doctor) by Eoin Colfer, "The Ripple Effect" (Seventh Doctor) by Marorie Blackman, and "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (Tenth Doctor) by Derek Landy, for example). The rest of the stories are enjoyable adventures, but how much you enjoy them may depend on how much you like the Doctor in question.

If you're a huge Doctor Who fan who loves all the Doctors, there's probably enough here to make it worth picking up. New fans may want to give this one a pass.

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6 people found this helpful