Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

Title: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Author: Michael Reaves
Superseries: Star Wars
Preceeded By: Darth Maul Saboteur (eBook Novella by James Luceno - currently available in the back of modern editions of Shadow Hunter)

Ratings

Score: 8/10


Review

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter was the first book that I read in the Star Wars extended universe, and it's probably due to this book that my blog is currently rather full of star wars book reviews. It's not my favourite book in the Star Wars franchise, but it is one that I will always enjoy reading - and have indeed read several times.

Dead Forever: Resonance

Title: Resonance
Author:William Campell
Series: Dead Forever Trilogy (Book Three)
Preceeded By: Apotheosis


Ratings

Score: 9/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: There isn't any :-(

Review
If I'm honest, I would have to say I wasn't expecting a lot from this book. Not because I doubted the author's talents, but because of where the last book left things. Essentially what had been a story set in the vast expanse of the galaxy has been reduced to the story of someone on a single planet, Earth.

I'm happy to report that actually, Campbell pulls this off really well. I mainly expected the story to be for a large part stand-alone, but it integrates with the previous books quite impressively. It's difficult to explain how well it does work without just simply copying the first few chapters, but from the start, it does work well. So, alleviated of my fears, I could allow myself to simply enjoy the book.

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (Acorna - Book One)

Title: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl
Author: Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball
Series: Acorna (Book One)

Succeeded By: Acorna's Quest

Ratings

Score: 11/10
Can I do that?

How likely I am to read the next in the series: I always do immediately after I read this one.

Review

Note: This review refers in general to the entire Acorna series, as well as this specific book.

When asked which, out of all my books, I would recommend first, I was stumped. There are so many good books that I love, and how could I choose between then. But as I sat looking at my ridiculously large book collection, I realised that there was only one it could be. Acorna.

Sacrifice (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Book Five)

Title: Sacrifice
Author: Karen Traviss
Superseries: Star Wars
Series: Legacy of the Force
Preceeded By: Exile
Succeeded By: Inferno

Ratings

Score: 10/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite

Review

I'm having trouble starting this review in any sort of catchy way, so let's assume I have, and i'll get on with it. Basically, this is pretty much the best book of the series so far. The characters are incredible, the plot is generally unpredictable, and Boba Fett is back again.

Starchild and Witchfire

Title: Starchild and Witchfire
Author: David Henshall

Ratings

Score: 10/10


Review

Starchild and Witchfire is one of the earliest books I remember reading, except perhaps the gingerbread man, and I still enjoy it today. It's a kid's book, and so naturally the main characters are children, a boy and his sister, who get caught up in a quest to save a world that is apart from their, and our, own.

NEWS: More Posts, More Regularly...

Those who regularly read this blog may have noticed that for the last for weeks, every post has been on a Tuesday. That's because I decided that reviewing regularly was a good idea, and likely to make more people keep reading the blog.

Now... One review a week isn't a lot. But since this is pretty much a bobby-type affair, real-life prevents me reading lots of books a week. So I've come to a conclusion. It doesn't take long to write the review, just the reading. So there will be another post each week, with either a shorter, less detailed review of books that I've already read or reviews of shorter books (Such as those aimed at Children). This will allow me to spread more reviews, without taking up too much more of my time, as well as reviewing some of the Kid's books I have waiting.

The first of these Friday posts will be posted in exactly 24 hours from this post, and the first few will be some of my favourite books. The Tuesday posts will continue ro be books read with the intention of reviewing, as usual.


Hopefully this will allow me to review more books, more regularly, and more often.

-Adam

Dark Lord (Falconfar Book One)

Title: Dark Lord
Author: Ed Greenwood
Series: Falconfar

Succeeded By: Arch Wizard

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: I'd really like to.

Review

I've read quite a few books this year, and as a student the year for me begins in September, so that's quite some time to be reading.  But this is very likely to be the most unique of all of them.

I decided to review it almost entirely on the strength of the title, "Dark Lord", with the incredible artwork on the cover enticing me further. It embarrasses me somewhat to say that I actually had no idea of what it was about... But it paid off. If I had read the blurb, I would have chosen a different book. It's about a man who travels to his own fantasy world, and I generally avoid these books, for reasons which will be explained below...

Exile (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Book Four)

Title: Exile
Author: Aaron Allston
Super-series: Star Wars
Series: Legacy of the Force
Preceded By: Tempest (By Troy Denning)
Succeeded By: Sacrifice (By Karen Traviss)

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Ordered it already!

Review

There is a rule I've heard in several places. The second in a trilogy is always the worst. Now the glaring exception to this rule is the Original Star Wars trilogy, where the Empire Strikes Back was probably the best, but in general, it seems to be true. This isn't part of a trilogy, but each author writes three books, and I'm hoping the rule applies to that too. Why? Because Allston's second book wasn't as good as I was hoping.

That's not to say it's bad! I've rated it 8/10, which is still a high score. It's just not at quite the same level as the previous three in the series. There are three reasons for this, the first of which is this: