You know what? Instead of harrumphing self-importantly about Disney's commodification of our collective childhood dreams, etc., I'm going to review the actual kriffing book.Delilah Dawson was handed the unenviable task of writing a novel that is one part spy-thriller, one part galactic travelogue to the planet Batuu and, more specifically, the hardscrabble settlement of Black Spire Outpost (or BSO, as the locals call it.) And you what? She did a great job, particularly as she was able to parley

Another run-of-the-mill, generic Star Wars story. The first part reads mostly like a commercial for the Disney theme park, and everything feels very safe and non-threatening—which I figured makes sense, because they don't want kids to read this and be terrified to enter Disneyworld. But then later in the book there's a lengthy torture scene that is quite cruel and horrifying. The tonal shifts in this novel are strange. Overall, this story felt very similar to the Ahsoka novel.For me, the charact...

I received a copy of Black Spire from Penguin Random House Australia to review.Rating of 4.25.Black Spire is an interesting addition to this later year complement of Star Wars novels, and it is one that I have been looking forward to for a while. Dawson previously contributed to the Star Wars extended universe with 2017’s Phasma, and Black Spire is also part of the Galaxy’s Edge mini-series, which is connected with the Disneyland theme park area of the same name. As such, there are some intrigui...

For me this was a ok to good book I would have put at 3.5 stars. It was the second half of the book that pushed it over the line to good for me.This book starts during the time of Force Awakens in the introduction, then fast forward 4 months after the Last Jedi. I actually will not be surprised if the ending of this book led to something in Raise of Skywalker. Actually I will be quite disappointed if it does not.This is a return of sort of the characters from Phasma. Three of the main characters...

Actual rating is 2.5 stars.This is a book that takes place right after The Last Jedi and contains characters from the book Phasma. The Resistance has been decimated and they need a new base. Leia sends two of her people to a remote planet to see if it has potential.Going into this book I knew that it was a tie-in with the Disney amusement park and this was to promote that park. One could easily see that promotion right away as we basically have a tour guide show us various places. Once this tour...

Not the worst Star Wars novel but not the best either. Parts of it read like an advertisement for the Galaxy's Edge theme park (which I guess is more or less the purpose of the novel), and it was often immersion-breaking at these parts. I'd be interested to read more about Vi Moradi and her espionage exploits, but keep out the obvious advertising next time, please!

Listened on audiobook. You don’t need to complete a suicide mission to have valueYou don’t NEED to complete a suicide mission to have valueYOU DONT NEED TO COMPLETE A SUICIDE MISSION TO HAVE VALUE

Delilah S. Dawson has brought us a delicious narrative set in and around the Black Spire Outpost featuring the epic Resistance spy, Vi Moradi. Visitors of Galaxy’s Edge at WDW or Disneyland will enjoy reading this before they dock on Batuu... or after, and savor the little details and nods to sights, sounds, tastes, and people of the Spire. Vi Moradi is a kriffing hero and I would die for her. I hope we get at least one more Vi adventure — joining Phasma and Black Spire in a trilogy would be ama...

Review originally posted: https://roguepodron.com/2019/08/27/book-review-my-complicated-relationship-with-galaxys-edge-black-spire/Book Review: My Complicated Relationship with Galaxy’s Edge: Black SpirePart 1: Why I Didn’t Hate The Idea of Galaxy’s Edge: Black SpireIn this essay (which is actually just the next four paragraphs) I will explain why I wasn’t immediately a hater of the concept of Galaxy’s Edge tie-in literature.Star Wars lit, by its very nature is tie-in literature. Primarily, the

One thing you have to give Disney credit for: they are masters at commoditizing every piece of IP they own to within an inch of its life. The debut of the “Galaxy’s Edge” theme park this past summer has seen not just one, but two tie-in pieces of literature: the comic “Galaxy’s Edge,” by Ethan Sacks, and now the novel “Black Spire Outpost,” written by Delilah S. Dawson. Both are set at Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu – the setting of the theme park – and both serve dual functions, tel...

Vi Moradi is amazing. Despite all the physical and mental hurt she took on her last mission (in Phasma), General Organa entrusts her spy (codename Magpie) with a dangerous and difficult mission on a far-off planet, Batuu, at the galaxy’s edge. Because Leia needs Moradi’s experience and many talents to establish a new base for the Resistance on a distant and seemingly useless planet, far from the eyes of the First Order.Knowing how difficult this will be for Moradi, Leia sends Archex, formerly kn...

Despite living close to Disneyland, I haven’t been to Galaxy’s Edge yet. But this...this made me more excited than ever to check it out. Dawson fleshed our this world and made it real. Made the characters living, breathing things. Made the story part of something you can live. This was a fantastic follow up to PHASMA, and a great piece of the Galaxy’s Edge canon. Till the Spire!

I was about halfway through this story when The Rise of Skywalker was released in cinemas and, after watching the movie for the first time, I was sorely tempted to abandon reading the novel there and then because I am just about ready to jettison the entirety of the post-Endor Disney “canon” Star Wars as nothing but a horrid mess. But then I realised I was probably being unfair, and I should judge this story on its own merit rather than let it be tainted by its stablemates. So here goes...Star W...

Made as a direct sequel to the "Phasma" novel, we find ourselves in post-TLJ territory, when spy Vi Moradi receives a mission from General Leia to establish a Resistance outpost in Batuu, the same planet used for the Disney parks (Galaxy's Edge).Not entirely recovered from the ordeal she suffered at the hands of the First Order, she must accept the mission with few resources and the company of a talkative labor droid... until she finds that her torturer himself will be his only companion, Captai...

Do you remember the movie Mac n Me? Let me refresh your memory, aka Wikipedia:"the film flopped at the box office and was universally panned by critics for the film's imitations of numerous concepts from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and elaborate product placement for McDonald's and Coca-Cola"Or, perhaps, The Wizard, aka Wikipedia:"The Wizard is famous for its extensive product placement of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System"Both were flops at the Box-Office because they cate...

This was an odd book to read, and, to be honest, I did not read the dust jacket so I did not realize it was a tie-in to part of Disney's theme park(s). Which I am glad is the case, 'cuz I think that might have ruined it for me a bit. It took me a moment, but after I recognized two of the characters from Phasma, I considered it more of a sequel to that story from that point on. It did take me a while to read, but that was primarily because I was reading it during downtime at my job. I hope that i...