Update 6 – 4 – 11

Well, life has dictated for a bit that I have not had a chance to post a new update for quite sometime in a matter of speaking. Gotten a few post up for sure, just not had time to post about whats been going on… but first, project and blog updates.

 

As I had posted before, the Force Pike Project is currently in the shopping stage. I have found links for all the pieces I need and am planning on ordering them here momentarily. Shipping is a bit high on a few pieces, so going to do a quick search to see if I can find as many as possibly through the same site so I can save on shipping cost. Granted it would be cheaper to just go to the stores to find these things, which I still might do, it would also require me to find more time to do this in. Right now I have just been putting this project together in the middle of the night when I am unable to sleep and have nothing better to do, usually around 3 to 4 in the morning to be more precise. Either way, once I get some more parts ordered, I shall be updating here with the project step by step as I go through this.

Click here for the most current update on the project and all the links for the shopping list as well.
https://tsukisramblings.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/personal-project-update-and-shopping-list/

 

 

The reviews I have gotten up since my last update.

Star Wars: Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson

Star Wars: Allegiance by Timothy Zahn

 

Reviews up and coming.

I am currently reading the Paths to Darkness books out of the forgotten realms by R.A. Salvatore. In addition I have mostly gotten the second book in the Champions of the force trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson nearly done, just really have to post it up and call it a day. So its as follows:

Star Wars: Dark Apprentice by Kevin J Anderson

Silent Blade by R. A. Salvatore

 

I am also greatly looking forward to the release of several more books in series that I have grown quite fond of. The first one I have made no denial of my interest in rereading. The book that has gotten this dork of a person hooked on reading Star Wars books for probably close to around 15 years now, Heir to the Empire’s 20th anniversary written by the ever so talented Timothy Zahn. This book releases on September 6th 2011… as long as it does not change this time at least.

In addition the last book in the Strain Trilogy, The Night Eternal, releases this October 25 2011. This is a joint effort between Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. For all of those who are into Twilight, this one is not for you. The vampires don’t sparkle, they are not the type of person you take back to mom and dad for dinner. In fact, you wouldn’t get a chance to take them for dinner before you would be consumed yourself by the much more animalistic version of a vampire to date. I got interested in this series and bought it on a whim just because I am a fan of Del Toro’s work in directing movies. (Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy, The Orphanage among others). Check out the first book if you are into a good horror in a modern day setting. The Strain Book 1

 

Now on to further buisness. Just got back from vacation with my wife and have taken many pictures in addition to this. So I shall be posting a few of the favorites up just for my own benefit, but I had many pictures that had red eye as well. So after a bit of web searching and playing around in photoshop, I have worked up a way that will nicely remove red eye for anything outside of a complete eye close up. (the effect fails up close, but most pictures dont focus on the eye directly like that). I should be posting all of this up over the coming couple of days. So stay Tuned 🙂

Otherwise though, just had to many things going on that needed to be attended to in order for me to completely focus on keep this up to date. Now with those things taken care of, should be able to more readily keep this up to date with new content and many other things. So stay tuned 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Star Wars – Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson

It was a bit different for me to go back and to read this trilogy when I did. I am normally a stickler for reading things in order and for the most part I have stuck to this philosophy even when reading. Sadly though when I first started reading the Star Wars novels about 15 years ago now, I did not have this rule. So everything pre-Vector Prime, has sort of been read in a haphazard way. (I was around 15 when I started reading, give a kid a break.)

Anyway, because of this, reading this book was a bit odd, as having read everything since Vector Prime in order, having also read “I, Jedi” by Michael Stackpole, which takes place during the events of these books. It left me constantly wondering if I had read these before. I almost gave up several times because everything seemed so similar that I thought I had to have read this before! The problem arose that a lot of the books I had bought prior to a few years ago are all in storage, so I do not have access to them. Anyway though, glad I stuck it out, as I know I have not read them, would have missed out on a good read had I quit.

The premise for Jedi Search has the republic trying to build itself up still from the foundations that were put in place once the New Republic was founded. Having to rely on the diplomats to try to bring disputes under control, without the need for military intervention, brings us to Han and Chewbacca going back to their old haunts on Kessel. Where Hand and Chewbacca are supposed to meet with the current administrator of the facility to try to bring them into the New Republic arms, as the planet is the only place to get pure glitterstim, a valuable commodity used for its telepathic abilities, among other things. (Those of you who watched Episode 2: Attack of the Clones, may remember that it’s also a drug, a psychedelic. Naturally.)

In the process of trying to get to talks with the planet of Kessel, the Falcon is shot down and Han and Chewbacca survive only to find that the planet is under the control of Moruth Doole, who was the unfortunate seller of the spice that Han and Chewy dropped all those years ago which resulted in the price being put on his head by Jabba the Hutt. (Finally figuring out what was the cause of the price on Hans head)

In addition, Luke Skywalker is trying to bargain for a chance to reinstitute a new Jedi Academy as well. In addition to finding out where it will be housed, he needs to find new students as well. Finding a person by the name of Gantoris on the doomed planet Eol Sha. Though it seems leading to their meeting, Gantoris has been plagued by dreams of a Dark man. Thinking that this person is Luke, he puts Luke through a set of trials which could lead to Luke’s death if he fails any of them.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly to be honest, knowing it is a part of a 3 part series, it left many more questions than it answered. But we are introduced to many mainstay characters of the Star Wars universe, including Kyp Durron, who plays a larger part in the subsequent books. It begins building to a tense conclusion of which leads to many events to take place in the next book. The thing I think I did not like about this, was the fact, that had I read this book as it first released, I would have probably enjoyed it more not knowing really what’s going to happen. Having read the new books as far as I have though, which takes events some 30 years into the future, I already knew who was going to live, die, and how everything was going to play out. I just got all of the little details built in now.

Otherwise though, this was a great read which I am still glad to have read, just wish I would have read it about 10 years ago.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Star Wars – Red Harvest by Joe Schreiber

Before the rule of two came into play for the sith, there used to be thousands of sith warriors in the galaxy. In fact, they were an empire of the day, back 3500 years before the rise of Emperor Palapatine and Darth Vader were even whispers of being the consummate evil in the galaxy. The Sith and the Old Republic fought a war for control of the galaxy, the classic battle of good vs. evil.

In Red Harvest, the partial prequel to Death Trooper that came out on October 13, 2009,  Joe Schreiber takes us back to this time to the sith training world of Odacer – Faustin, a world not to dissimilar to the planet of Hoth, consisting of mostly just snow ice and deathly cold. Here, the ruling Darth Scabrous has an interest in completing an ancient sith ritual of immortality. Of which, in order to complete the ritual, he would need the petals of the Murakami Orchid; a flower that has the ability to speak to force sensitive’s via a force link between it and its caretaker. In this case, Hestizo Trace, a Jedi (dropout?) who has an innate ability to communicate with plant life, more specifically the murakami orchid.

After having seized both Hestizo and the orchid, Darth Scabrous is able to put his plan into motion. This is where Joe Schreiber’s writing style shines. His descriptions of the havoc the zombie(ish) creatures that are unleashed due to the orchids unique abilities, are truly grotesque. I say zombie(ish) as while the creatures in the book has similarities to the conventional zombie, i.e. eating flesh of the living, infecting those who are bitten with the contagion and such, they differ in the sense that these creatures abilities far exceed those of your typical zombie. Either way though, you are treated to plenty of people being ripped apart and disemboweled in a very graphic fashion.

While through the story, you are always sure who shall survive till the end, everyone else is fair game. Of which seems every few pages another gets picked off in a ever greater. The story keeps a really fast pace from the onset, which truly allows the atmosphere to hold on to your attention which I truly loved, although, this is truly a double edged sword. While I loved the quick pace for the horror elements, the side effect is that none of the characters are really fleshed out. At the end of the day, you really don’t have any knowledge of who the characters are, where they came from, or really anything about them outside of their names. It seems as well that, the few characters that start to get fleshed out tend to get ripped apart in the book around the same time you start to have any feel for who they were.

While the ending was sort of anti-climatic, as well as a bit easy to see coming, it was what I expected from a horror genre book. For those who are looking for a straight Star Wars novel, this one may disappoint. For those though who love the Star Wars series and are ok with a side story that really has no effect, characters or otherwise, on the rest of the timeline, or those who in general just love a good horror book, this one comes highly recommended.

8/10