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darthkitty23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
neilrcoulter's review against another edition
3.0
This is a strange book to give a rating to. After seeing The Last Jedi and being disappointed especially with the pointless Canto Bight interlude, I had low expectations of this book of four short stories set in that new location. In the film, Canto Bight seems out of place in the Star Wars universe--perhaps too similar to something from real-life Earth? Or maybe the whole location was colored negatively because of how much I didn't like Rose and Finn. Whatever the case, I assumed the book would at least explain some backstory for the Master Codebreaker (codename: Red Herring), perhaps DJ, certainly some of the creatures seen in the casino.
But no.
None of that happens in this book. The four stories here are loosely connected to one another, but they do not take place on the night that Rose and Finn pay their visit; I assume this takes place sometime before that event, since there seems to be no residue from that activity.
So the reader opens this book and finds four stories about a location that feels, from the movie, like one of the least interesting and least developed in all the Star Wars films. That's not helpful.
It's also unhelpful that the first two stories are by far the worst half of the book. Saladin Ahmed's opening story is about a vaporator salesman who seems to be perhaps some kind of large, walking earthworm? (Another difficulty of the book is that I don't yet know what these new alien species look like, so it's hard to picture what's going on.) He gets himself into a "wrong man" caper, and . . . I don't know, some stuff happens, most of which is me flipping ahead in the book to see how much longer this story goes on.
The second story, Mira Grant's "The Wine in Dreams," is without a doubt one of the worst Star Wars stories of the new canon. It involves two women trying to buy a bottle of exotic wine. Apparently, Star Wars now has all the same kinds of alcohol, with all the same related words, as our own Earth does, and that feels wrong to me. I spent even more time flipping ahead to see how much longer the story goes on.
But then something happened in the third story--"Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing," by Rae Carson. It starts as badly as the first two stories do. In this case, the protagonist is the favorite masseur at Canto Bight's exclusive spa. But Carson steadily builds a story that makes sense, creates relationships that feel real, and expands the understanding of what Canto Bight is, what it means to Star Wars. I'm still not sure if I like Canto Bight, but Carson's story, and the story that follows it, begin to open up better possibilities. Canto Bight is an artificial construct--a luxurious city built on a desolate planet, complete with its own artificially created ocean. The city represents paradise to many downtrodden people in the galaxy. It's the place they dream of getting to one day. But within the Canto Bight, there are layers of people who want to escape, who want to stay and make something of themselves, and who have all kinds of hopes and fears. And beneath all of that is a slave class that has little hope of achieving anything more in their lives. It's kind of interesting to have this one location that serves as a complex microcosm of so much of the galaxy in Star Wars. Carson's story is the first glimpse of that world that intrigued me. Carson previously wrote a good short story about R5-D4 in the collection From a Certain Point of View, and now this story; she clearly gets Star Wars in a way that most authors don't. I hope she continues to get commissions for new stories and books.
The closer of this volume is John Jackson Miller's "The Ride," about a down-on-his-luck professional gambler who has to learn big lessons in one night. I liked this story, too. It's quirky, compact, clever in just the right ways, and knows its boundaries. It builds on what I liked about Carson's story: further opening up the little details of life in a new Star Wars location.
What I've always wanted from Star Wars books is stories that don't require space battles and lightsabers. Canto Bight is it, and though this introductory collection is half-disappointing, I do like the general motivation behind the creation of this planet. I'd like to see it continue, maintaining that separation between itself and the "big stories" of the trilogies. Whether the good parts of this book make me like the Canto Bight segment of The Last Jedi any better . . . well, we'll just have to see.
But no.
None of that happens in this book. The four stories here are loosely connected to one another, but they do not take place on the night that Rose and Finn pay their visit; I assume this takes place sometime before that event, since there seems to be no residue from that activity.
So the reader opens this book and finds four stories about a location that feels, from the movie, like one of the least interesting and least developed in all the Star Wars films. That's not helpful.
It's also unhelpful that the first two stories are by far the worst half of the book. Saladin Ahmed's opening story is about a vaporator salesman who seems to be perhaps some kind of large, walking earthworm? (Another difficulty of the book is that I don't yet know what these new alien species look like, so it's hard to picture what's going on.) He gets himself into a "wrong man" caper, and . . . I don't know, some stuff happens, most of which is me flipping ahead in the book to see how much longer this story goes on.
The second story, Mira Grant's "The Wine in Dreams," is without a doubt one of the worst Star Wars stories of the new canon. It involves two women trying to buy a bottle of exotic wine. Apparently, Star Wars now has all the same kinds of alcohol, with all the same related words, as our own Earth does, and that feels wrong to me. I spent even more time flipping ahead to see how much longer the story goes on.
But then something happened in the third story--"Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing," by Rae Carson. It starts as badly as the first two stories do. In this case, the protagonist is the favorite masseur at Canto Bight's exclusive spa. But Carson steadily builds a story that makes sense, creates relationships that feel real, and expands the understanding of what Canto Bight is, what it means to Star Wars. I'm still not sure if I like Canto Bight, but Carson's story, and the story that follows it, begin to open up better possibilities. Canto Bight is an artificial construct--a luxurious city built on a desolate planet, complete with its own artificially created ocean. The city represents paradise to many downtrodden people in the galaxy. It's the place they dream of getting to one day. But within the Canto Bight, there are layers of people who want to escape, who want to stay and make something of themselves, and who have all kinds of hopes and fears. And beneath all of that is a slave class that has little hope of achieving anything more in their lives. It's kind of interesting to have this one location that serves as a complex microcosm of so much of the galaxy in Star Wars. Carson's story is the first glimpse of that world that intrigued me. Carson previously wrote a good short story about R5-D4 in the collection From a Certain Point of View, and now this story; she clearly gets Star Wars in a way that most authors don't. I hope she continues to get commissions for new stories and books.
The closer of this volume is John Jackson Miller's "The Ride," about a down-on-his-luck professional gambler who has to learn big lessons in one night. I liked this story, too. It's quirky, compact, clever in just the right ways, and knows its boundaries. It builds on what I liked about Carson's story: further opening up the little details of life in a new Star Wars location.
What I've always wanted from Star Wars books is stories that don't require space battles and lightsabers. Canto Bight is it, and though this introductory collection is half-disappointing, I do like the general motivation behind the creation of this planet. I'd like to see it continue, maintaining that separation between itself and the "big stories" of the trilogies. Whether the good parts of this book make me like the Canto Bight segment of The Last Jedi any better . . . well, we'll just have to see.
jordandeanbaker's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of loosely connected short sci-fi stories that doesn’t really feel like it takes place in the world of Star Wars. The four stories were actually pretty entertaining but it never really felt like Star Wars despite passing references to Wookiees, The Empire, and Aldaaran. The first story was probably the best of the four, and the second one was by far my least favorite.
jagussow's review against another edition
5.0
All reviews are objective and precarious but are more so for collections which contain stories from various authors. I overall enjoyed this book. It opened up the Star Wars Universe by exploring various corners of life. Kedpin is now one of my favorite Star Wars characters and he is a salesman.
madhatter360's review against another edition
5.0
It’s very rare that I like every story in a collection.
yrsbrn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
foreverbeautifulbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I have to say, this was an off series of stories. But in truth I sort of like living in the Star Wars universe so I'm fairly happy with any content. I think the first two stories were the ones I enjoyed the most. The one with the wine and the odd sisters was by far my favorite. Their arrogance sort of solidified that they may in fact be from the very place where the force "lives" one of my favorite clone wars episodes was when anakin, obi-wan, and Ashoka find them living embodiments of the force. And just the pure arrogance that comes with that power was exactly what those sisters were. Their insistence on balance also was odd-- even as they caused chaos in their wake. Yet they gave the wine to the one who was truly deserving. Definitely interesting stories-- I would never travel there, but I'm a simple girl.
gingerreader99's review against another edition
1.0
I struggled to finish this. None of the stories save for the last were of any interest to me and the last one only vaguely interesting. It's an easily passable book that fleshes out Canto Bight to be sure but it turns out to be a not so interesting place and even the story that was supposed to invoke some feeling of a father Saving his daughter was not that enjoyable.
cptrexct's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5