Moving Target (Book Review)

Moving Target is one of the trilogy of Adventure books that is part of the Journey to the Force Awakens publishing event. It was released on Force Friday (9/4/2015). Each of the Adventure books features one protagonist from the Original Trilogy. This book features Princess Leia.

You can find plenty of book reviews, so I will keep mine short and sweet. This is yet another excellent book in this series.  I highly recommended all these books to any Star Wars fan. The major plot line of a small team of rebels going on a mission against the Empire really feels like what Rogue One could shape up to be. If so, I think that movie will be excellent - even without any Jedi! This books seems to wipe away the EU Legacy novel Shadows of the Empire. I am perfectly fine with that!

Comparing this to the other two books of this Adventures trilogy that I have already read, Weapon of the Jedi and Smuggler's Run, I am glad I save this book for last. You can see the trajectory of the new character, Ematt, even though he makes just brief appearances in the Prologue/Epilogue and the main story.

This book has the most tantalizing hints to what may be in The Force Awakens. I speculate that Mon Mothma has disbanded the military after the Empire was defeated. The Resistance is a special task force created solely as a check against the growing threat of the First Order. I suspect the job of this task force is containment and I expect them to fail, which leads to Episodes VIII and IX.

What I really want to capture here in this blog are the major elements of the story for future reference. Part of the marketing of these books is that hints about The Force Awakens have been planted in the story. So here it goes!

Prologue:

• Leia: "We are on the brink of war again - one we may not survive"
  
• "You are the leader of the Resistance, a critical check on the designs of the First Order. You are a symbol of the Resistance and an inspiration to all soldiers...." [Perhaps no organized military. This is a task force to counteract this growing threat]

New Depths for Legacy Characters:

• Leia - has tingling feeling she has learned to trust - it means action
• Nien Nunb - helped Leia save the remaining Alderaanians, former smuggler. Team pilot.
• General Madine - strategist chief (heads up commandos)
• Mon Mothma - Alliance Chancelor from Chandrila
• Admiral Ackbar - Leader of the fleet. mentioned only.

New Depths for Legacy Story:

• Threepio belongs to Luke, which he loans to Leia
  
• After Hoth, Mon Mothma decided to break up the Alliance into several smaller task forces.
  
• Having to fight against Imperial propaganda
  
• The Empire plans to destroy Chandrila and Mon Cal with Death Star II. Willing to destroy a people based on the opinions of a few.

New Characters:

• PZ-4CO - female droid, writing memoir for Leia, "Peazy"
• Major Ematt (first appeared as Lt Ematt in Smuggler's Run). A man Leia has fought alongside for so many years.
• Kidi Aleria - Cerean race. Team communications.
• Major Lokmarcha - Dressellian race. Team commando
• Antrot - Abednedo race. Team tinkerer and demoltions expert
• Captain Khoine - Imperial in charge of Corva Sector.
• ___Yom
• x Pirates
• Lt. Ematt - brief appearance
• Admiral Naatz - (mentioned only)
• Admiral Vassa - green skinned Duros (mentioned only)
• General Veertag - (mentioned only)
• General Tantor - (mentioned only)
• General Cracken - intelligence chief (mentioned only)

New Locations:

• Zastiga - on the edge of the Outer Rim. Secret meeting of top level Alliance
  
• Sullust - Homeworld for Nien Nunb. Secret S thread boosters exist to create a hyperspace route to the Galactic edge, including Endor. This "Sanctuary Pipeline" is an important military secret of the Empire.
  
• Corva Sector - On the opposite side of the galaxy from Endor. Made up of several systems including Basteel, Sesid, Jaresh, and Galaan.
  
• Galaan - Mostly unformed system with a yellow moon.
  
• Basteel - Mountainous. Covered in caves.
  
• Sesid - Water world. Resort and pharmaceuticals.
  
• Jaresh - Wooded/plains? Founded by religious enclave.
  
• Shieldmaiden - Star destroyer of Capt. Khoine

Plot Notes

• The theme of duty, without emotion
  
• Scatter protocol mentioned again (as in Weapon of the Jedi)
  
• The theme of rebels sacrificing their lives to protect Leia
  
• The theme of old codes and new codes (mentioned in ROTJ as the Rebels try to sneak onto Endor). Intentionally using codes that are suspect to have been broken.
  
• Book is set a few weeks after the Bothans acquire the Death Star II information
  
• Operation Yellow Moon (named after the Galaan system)
  
• Torture droid programmed to continue without listening to confession. Keeps going until told to stop.
  
• Mellcrawler - space yacht used for mission
  
• Rebels steal shuttle Tydirium from Shieldmaiden before it self-destructs! (One would think that this would have tipped off the Empire that this shuttle shows up. But perhaps tied up in bureaucratic inefficiency. Also, the Emperor *wants* them to land, so that would have been smoothed over anyway.)
  
• Conclusion: Yes, duty but also love for others (Mon Mothma suggests as well - can't live just for duty). Must be balanced.
  
• Unanswered question: Peezy memoir of Leia's childhood on Alderaan.

Epilogue:

• Poe Dameron - needs to learn balance between duty and love for others. Old enough to hear Leia but no enough to listen. Best pilot in the Resistance
  
• News of Jakku? Major Ematt says yes.
  
• General Leia is in center of actions and she likes that.

Smuggler's Run (Book Review)

Smuggler's Run is one of the trilogy of Adventure books that is part of the Journey to the Force Awakens publishing event. It was released on Force Friday (9/4/2015). Each of the Adventure books features one protagonist from the Original Trilogy. This book features Han Solo and Chewbacca, although the Millennium Falcon itself has a prominent role as well.

You can find plenty of book reviews, so I will keep mine short and sweet. This was a lot of fun! Rucka's characterization of Han and Chewie were right on the money.

Comparing this to the first book I read in this series, the Weapon of the Jedi, the content is a bit heavier. There is one scene in particular where some rebels commit suicide or assisted suicide rather than be captured by the Empire and forced to divulge sensitive information. Aside from this one scene, the book is otherwise in the younger end of the YA spectrum.

What I really want to capture here in this blog are the major elements of the story for future reference. Part of the marketing of these books is that hints about The Force Awakens have been planted in the story. So here it goes:

Prologue:

• Han tells the story to a group of gangsters

New Depths for Legacy Characters:

We know that a Han Solo spin-off film is in the works. There are a few tantalizing details at the beginning of the books. It leaves the door open for Han having been an Imperial before meeting Chewbacca, which I think would make for a great story.

• After the Battle of Yavin, only 2 X-Wings and 1 Y-Wing left
• Chewie was 180 during the Clone Wars
• Chewie refers to Han as the Corellian
• Han calls his selfishness "enlightened self-interest"
• After Han and Chewie met they fled to the Outer Rim
• Reward for rescuing princess and fee promised by Obi Wan more than enough to pay off Jabba
• Yavin IV a temple to gods long by people long dead or forgotten
• Han: "Got an old friend who's fond of saying that truth is greatly dependent on your point of view."

New Depths of the Falcon:

• YT-1300 is a common space ship
• Engines are overpowered for its size, even without modifications
• Sensitive controls require both a pilot and co-pilot to fly her
• The Falcon is a "gas guzzler" - half of the credits they earned went into the ship
• Multiple computers, developed their own dialect and sometimes feuded with each other
• Gravity emulators cut out during sharp maneuvers so must strap in
• FAST

New Characters:

• Lt. Ematt - leader of the Shrikes: rebel base location hunters
• Shrike is a bird of prey
• Shrikes commit suicide rather fall into hands of Empire. Only Ematt escapes.
• Shrikes ambushed at Tanaab by the ISB. ISB following Emperor's orders to sieze all rebel sympathizers. ISB had been quietly tailing the Shrikes. Rebels and sympathizers are to be shot on sight.
• Comander Alecia Beck (Imperial Security Bureau)
• Commander Hove of the Star Destroyer Vehement
• TK-828 "Torrent" is one of the last remaining clones. Very efficient.
• Delia Leighton - Captain of Miss Fortune, a starship-based cantina. Miss Fortune used to be called Durese by the original Duros owner (Serendipity). Redhead. Used to wait tables at a cantina on Lothal.
• Curtis - Delia's co-pilot and bouncer

New Locations:

• Cyrkon - 6 planets, on the edge of Hutt space

Plot Notes & Other Things:

• Imperials are anti-alien and pre-dominantly male
• Tractor beam described as a wave. Not instantaneous.
• The moon is referred to as "Yavin 4" instead of "Yavin IV"

Epilogue:

• The gang never heard of Cyrkon. Perhaps all made up?
• Gang may belong to the Irving Boys, Guavians, Ducain. - they want the Falcon.
• Han: "You tell Ducain, you tell the Irving Boys, you tell all of them this: we're not afraid of them."
• The unanswered question - What happened to Beck?