StarWarsClassics

  Return to Ord Mantell I was going to make fun of this cover, but the more I looked at it the worse it go. WTF is up with literally everything. I don't know if I'm just getting used to it, or if the writing is actually improving. I highlighted a lot fewer "wtf how can you write this?" moments in this one. AM continue with the obscure deep cuts by introducing Anja Gallandro, daughter of Gallandro, who appeared in two of the Han Solo Corp Sec novels. Most of the EU treats everything pre-Thrawn with a light touch, but we're all in on it here, along with a sprinkling of Jedi Prince series references, and even one to the Ord Mantell audio drama. Beyond that, this is 'Nam/Civil War in Star Wars, with Han and the kids not actually helping to negotiate a truce on a planet that is not Ord Mantell. They're only on/around Ord Mantell for maybe a third of the book. I'm not really sure why it's in the title, it's not like it's famous for marketing or a...

Oh boy, let's talk about racism. This whole arc (book 7 Shards of Alderaan  to 11 Emperor's Plague ) is about a group of villains who are trying to oppress and/or genocide humans in the same way that aliens were under the Empire. I said this half jokingly before, but I don't think there's any chance modern Disney-Wars goes there, and I think a lot of major publishers would shy away from it in general. I'm going to land firmly on the side of "yes, you can still discriminate against majority groups" and "yes, that's still wrong", but not write a whole essay about it. What I am going to talk about is the complete failure by AM to actually do their minority (mostly Wookie) characters justice. The main characters of the series as a whole are (roughly in order of importance): Jaina, Jacen, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca. Zekk claws his way inbetween Jacen and Tenel Ka around book 4, and Raynar is also working his way up, though still below the Solos and Zekk. ...