THE LAST PRAETORIAN (The Redemption Trilogy #1) By Mike Smith

Published November 1, 2012.
Kindle e-book.
Estimated length: 405 pages.

Reminiscent of the TV show Firefly, The Last Praetorian has humanity moving out into the galaxy and occupying multiple planets. Also, like in Firefly, the newly settled planets fought a civil war. But, instead of an oligarchy, this universe's civil war resulted in an emperor, much like the chaos at the end of the Roman Republic led to Julius and Augustus Caesar.

Now, hundreds of years later, the current emperor is assassinated in a plot led by one of the admirals of one of his fleets of star ships. The fleet proceeds to move against the emperor's only heir, his daughter, as she travels to the planet where her school is. But, she is protected by the praetorian guards and their leader Jonathan Radec. At the cost of all of the praetorian guards (except for Radec) the princess survives.

The Last Praetorian is the story of the Radec and the the princess and their romance and why they broke up and how they still like each other from afar as Radec and his new crew fight space mobsters and the like.

The positives:

Smith knows how to describe space battles - they are vivid and interesting.

The negatives:

-Poor, poor, poor editing. Missing apostrophes, confusion over the uses of  "to" and "too" and sometimes just plain old clunky writing. For example: "Silently Sofia hoped that Albert was safe, as in the short time she had met him she had grown fond of the man."

-Unrealistic plot details. For example, while the princess and Radec are on the run from the assassins she is able to tap into her bank accounts without being traced.

-Radec's emotional range is simple: he broods or he gets angry and throws things or he tries to seduce women he works with (or for).  Plus, his ultra-sharp sword is a rip off of the light saber from Star Wars.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: THE LAST PRAETORIAN (The Redemption Trilogy #1) By Mike Smith.

Reviewed on October 7, 2013.

RETURN of the JEDI: THE ORIGINAL RADIO DRAMA (audiobook) by Brian Daley

Published by HighBridge Audio.
Originally broadcast in 1996.
Multicast performance.
Duration: approximately 3 hours, 15 minutes.

The third installment of NPR's STAR WARS-based radio dramas was also written by sci-fi author Brian Daley (Sadly, he died of cancer very soon after it was recorded). The budget for RETURN of the JEDI was much, much smaller than the original so the recording was about half the length of the first. It still features the wonderful original music soundtrack by John Williams and the original sound effects that make the listener feel like they are part of the action. 

Anthony Daniels returned as See-Threepio. Mark Hamill, however, decided to opt out of this one. Ed Asner stepped in as Jabba the Hutt (he sounded like he was choking as he spoke, though) and John Lithgow took over as Yoda (sadly, he sounded like John Lithgow pretending to be Yoda rather than creating a real voice).

The shorter run time hurts RETURN of the JEDI when compared to the other installments (6 episodes versus 10 and 12 episodes respectively). There are no big expansions to the story - there is basically just enough time to describe the action that moviegoers saw in the movie.

That being said, if you are a fan this is almost a must listen, if just to finish the series up. 

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Return of the Jedi (Star Wars)

Reviewed on October 3, 2013. 

Link to my review of STAR WARS (Episode IV).
Link to my review of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. 

STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL RADIO DRAMA (audiobook) by Brian Daley

If you are a fan of this series and have not listened to this version of the story you need to pick it up today - it is that good

Published by HighBridge Audio.
Originally broadcast in 1981.
Multicast performance.
Duration: approximately 6 hours.

When Star Wars was at the height of its popularity in 1981, George Lucas gave a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate permission to create a radio drama of the original movie, now known as Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. Sci-fi author Brian Daley was tapped to adapt the movies since he had experience with the series having written a trilogy of Han Solo novels in 1979 and 1980.

I have no idea what Daley's qualifications were for writing radio drama were besides those books, but he clearly was an inspired choice. He had a feel for the story and, more importantly, the characters as he more than doubles the original length of the movie. Listeners get more about Luke's life on Tatooine and a lot more about his friend Biggs (who originally appeared at the beginning of the movie but it was cut and mysteriously reappears at the end as an X-Wing pilot). There is more about the Force and how Ben began teaching Luke. In fact, there is just more of everything.

The audio drama features the original actors Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Anthony Daniels as C3P0 as well as music from the original Academy Award-winning soundtrack as well as original sound effects that make the experience complete.

If you are a fan of this series and have not listened to this version of the story you need to pick it up today - it is that good.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here:  Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama

Reviewed on September 28, 2013

Link to my review of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Link to my review of RETURN of the JEDI.

STAR TREK: THE LOST YEARS (Lost Years #1) by J. M. Dillard

Published in 1989 by Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster)

The idea behind Star Trek: The Lost Years is interesting: What happened to the characters from the original Star Trek series between the end of their original five year mission and the events of the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture?

But, the follow-through is quite weak.

The characters feel like cardboard cut-outs of themselves, especially McCoy. Kirk's decision to become an admiral makes sense. but McCoy's outlandish, petulant, even childish response to Kirk's decision was simply not believable to me. Even worse, the new characters are, at best, one-note wonders.

McCoy and Natira, 

McCoy quits Star Fleet to find Natira, a former love interest from the TV episode "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." She is the leader of a group of refugees who live inside a giant spaceship that they thought was a planet. They had a romantic spark but when McCoy returns to visit her he finds that she has made a political marriage because her people need her more than McCoy did. McCoy responds by consuming lots and lots of alcohol.

The book would have been so much better if it had just went with the Spock/Vulcan story line. It was by far the most interesting and had real possibilities. But, it was skimped on to make room for the other parts - and all of those parts come together in a rather unconvincing manner - in a series of galactic-sized coincidences.

There is simply too much going on in this book - too many new characters, too many plot lines and too many romances. The overall quality of the book suffers as a consequence.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Star Trek: The Lost Years.

Reviewed on September 21, 2013.

KENOBI by John Jackson Miller

What does Ben Kenobi do for all of those years while he's waiting for Luke to grow up?

Published by LucasBooks in August of 2013.

Between the two Star Wars trilogies there is an empty space. What happens in the 20 years or so between the birth of Luke and Leia and the events of Episode IV: A New Hope. Fans know, of course, that Leia was sent off to Alderaan and raised as part of the royal family - hidden in plain sight. Luke, on the other hand was taken to Tatooine and secretly raised by his grandmother's relatives in a place as far away from the Emperor as possible. As Luke famously describes his home planet in Episode IV, "Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from."

So, what does Ben Kenobi do for all of those years? This book gives the reader an idea about the first few months and leaves the possibility for more books.

Kenobi is much more like a Western than the typical science fiction book. A typical Western has a mysterious stranger arrive in a troubled town. Typically, a widow is struggling with a farm or business and a local banker/rancher/rich guy is pressuring her in some way. Sometimes, there are interactions with Native Americans.

In Kenobi, Ben Kenobi is the stranger, the widow is running a store and her deceased husband's best friend, the area's biggest moisture farmer, is pressuring her, both personally and professionally (although mostly professionally). The Tusken Raiders (Sand People) take the role of the Native Americans in this space western.

Ben tries his best to stay out of the lives of the people of this frontier because he is supposed to be secretly watching over Luke. He  chooses to live as a hermit in the midst of some of the most dangerously wild areas. But, Ben's do-gooder ways keep him involved. Plus, the widow lady is quite fetching to this old cowpoke ... er, Jedi.

The most interesting aspect of the book for me was the up close look at Tusken Raider society. Miller creates a plausible reason for farmer/Tusken hostilities. The story itself was solid, but not a particularly great Star Wars story (or Western, for that matter).  The supporting characters were pretty much one-dimensional, although sometimes quite amusing. The ending was all tied up in a much-too-neat package. That being said, I was glad to have read it just for the additional insight to Tatooine and the Sand People and would like to read further adventures of Ben Kenobi on Tatooine.

Note: I received an e-book copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. 

This book can be found on Amazon.com here:  Kenobi (Star Wars - Legends)
                                                       
Reviewed on September 13, 2013.

SUNSET EXPRESS (Elvis Cole #6) (Audiobook) by Robert Crais

Book originally published in 1996.
Audiobook published in 2004.
Read by William Roberts.

Unabridged.

Lots of the reviews here give this one 3 or 4 stars. Perhaps it was the format, perhaps it was the end of the school year rush for me and the welcome respite this book provided. Perhaps I just liked it better. Nevertheless, it was a good story, despite the fact that problems with Elvis and Joe's case are telegraphed from miles away.

In Sunset Express a celebrity restaurateur's wife is killed and her body is dumped in a ravine near their very swanky neighborhood. The police detectives stop by the home of this restaurateur to inform him of his wife's demise and they find a bloody hammer in the bushes by the front door of their mansion. But, there is a problem: the detective (Angela Rossi) that found the weapon has been accused of planting evidence in the past and the defense lawyers seize on that fact. Elvis Cole is hired to look into the accusations against Rossi and see if they have any merit. But, as he investigates he finds more and more leads and soon enough he and his partner Joe Pike are up to their necks in trouble with Cole making smart-aleck comments all the way.

My 2004 audio version was read by William Roberts, a solid narrator who has done multiple tours as a reader for Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels and a narrator who understands how to deliver a wisecrack well. So, the listener is naturally drawn to make comparisons between Elvis Cole/Joe Pike/Lucy and Spenser/Hawk/Susan. Readers familiar with them both can see the analogies already. "Sunset Express" is probably the most Spenser-like of the Cole novels I've read or listened to so far, and that is fine by me - I like the action, I like the wisecracks and I like the process of how they do their investigation. Lots of relationship discussion (for Cole anyway, a little less than average for Spenser).

Crais goes out of his way in Sunset Express to give a little local L.A. flavor, including a street person who has a discussion with Cole about timing and how events unfold (since Cole has rousted him out of his perch under the local public pay phone). The homeless guy ends his conversation with the comment: "To possess great wisdom obliges one to share it. Enjoy."

I give this one 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Sunset Express.

Reviewed on May 18, 2007.

COLD WIND (Joe Pickett #11) by C. J. Box

Bad news: Your father-in-law has been murdered. Worse news: Your mother-in-law is suspect #1

Published in 2011 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

A person who left a comment on one of my Amazon reviews told me about C.J. Box and gave me the title to his first book featuring Joe Pickett. I found it at the library and I was hooked. If you like Michael Connelly or Robert Crais you will love C.J. Box. If you like Tony Hillerman, you will enjoy Box's descriptions of the local landscape and the people of Wyoming.

Cold Wind features Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. Joe loves the great outdoors, loves being a game warden, loves his wife, loves his family, hates bureaucracy and hates his mother-in-law. His mother-in-law is a real piece of work and is almost universally despised. She has clawed and married her way to a fortune and has no problem using people and tricks of divorce law to take more money. 

Joe Pickett's current father-in-law. Earl Alden, is one of Wyoming's biggest ranchers. He is not really a rancher, but he owns one of the biggest ranches in the state and he is installing a gigantic giant windmill wind farm on it in order to receive federal grants that came with the famed 2009 "stimulus package". Earl is found dead on his own property, hanging from one of the giant windmills and Joe's  mother-in-law is immediately arrested. Joe suspects that she is being framed but he has no idea who is doing it or why.

A Wyoming windmill

One of the things that I like about this series is that C.J. Box is more than willing to demonstrate how misguided federal policies mess with the real world. In this case, the windmills ruin a neighbor's domestic life with their constant whining (at least that it while they are turning), cost much more than the energy they produce, have to be backed up by conventional power plants (for times when they are not turning) and may not have even produced new jobs at all since these particular windmills were used, rehabilitated windmills relocated from Texas.

Nate Romanowski makes an appearance in this book, but it is not integral to the main story. Unfortunately, I am reading the books all out of order so the character of Nate is more of a distraction for me than a real character of interest. His character could have been edited completely out of the story and made it about 70 pages shorter and a much tighter novel overall.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Cold Wind by C.J. Box.

Reviewed on September 7, 2013.