Star Wars was not a huge part of my childhood. I had some friends who knew more about it than I did, but it really wasn’t part of what I grew up with. My biggest Star Wars memory from my early childhood is that we had a Play-Doh® set that included molds for various Star Wars characters. Since mushing lots of different colors of Play-Doh® together results in kind of an olive green, I think we probably had a pretty realistic Yoda. In high school, I had a friend whose car had a dome light that popped out of the ceiling and could pivot around. He referred to his car as Vader and this light as his lightsaber. That’s about as close as I got to Star Wars for a while since it was something the popular kids liked, meaning I avoided it. In college, a roommate was a big fan and tried to show us the prequels. I fell asleep. One of my other roommates powered through, but only because he thought Natalie Portman was hot. This distance from one of the world’s largest franchises changed a couple years ago when, during Christmas break, we checked out the original movies, watched them, and the kids went nuts about them. That hasn’t really subsided.
Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston (ISBN: 978-1-4847-8231-6) is the story of former Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano (trained by no other than Darth Vader’s former self, Anakin Skywalker), no longer a Jedi, constantly on the run like others who had been Jedi or Jedi in training at the time of the infamous Order 66. She has hopped from one outlandish Star Wars planet to another, always trying to steer clear of the Empire, but never really managing to do so. Her background as a warrior and soldier is constantly catching up to her, too. The book follows her adventures as she lands in another situation where her better nature and her military skills come in handy to help a few people fight against the oppression of the Empire. She ends up, after overcoming an internal struggle between Ahsoka on the run and Ahsoka the Jedi, helping people from multiple planets, all the while fighting off evil Imperials, including the super creepy inquisitors, who care nothing for the people and planets they oppress.
This was my first-ever attempt at reading a Star Wars-related novel (although I had seen some of the original, now called the “Extended Universe,” when I was a kid on the shelves at others’ homes or in the library). It was better than I expected, but, then again, I didn’t know what I expected. I thought it was written just fine and included a couple decently memorable characters in addition to the eponymous heroine. Her character was probably my favorite, though. It was maybe a little obvious what was going to happen, but it didn’t detract from the story or make it boring. Even when it’s fiction, it’s nice to see the good guys overcome the bad guys. Like all things Star Wars, the book left plenty of open ends so people can come in and write sequels or make movies or produce cartoon series. Fans of the Jedi will like the novel.
Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston (ISBN: 978-1-4847-8231-6) is the story of former Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano (trained by no other than Darth Vader’s former self, Anakin Skywalker), no longer a Jedi, constantly on the run like others who had been Jedi or Jedi in training at the time of the infamous Order 66. She has hopped from one outlandish Star Wars planet to another, always trying to steer clear of the Empire, but never really managing to do so. Her background as a warrior and soldier is constantly catching up to her, too. The book follows her adventures as she lands in another situation where her better nature and her military skills come in handy to help a few people fight against the oppression of the Empire. She ends up, after overcoming an internal struggle between Ahsoka on the run and Ahsoka the Jedi, helping people from multiple planets, all the while fighting off evil Imperials, including the super creepy inquisitors, who care nothing for the people and planets they oppress.This was my first-ever attempt at reading a Star Wars-related novel (although I had seen some of the original, now called the “Extended Universe,” when I was a kid on the shelves at others’ homes or in the library). It was better than I expected, but, then again, I didn’t know what I expected. I thought it was written just fine and included a couple decently memorable characters in addition to the eponymous heroine. Her character was probably my favorite, though. It was maybe a little obvious what was going to happen, but it didn’t detract from the story or make it boring. Even when it’s fiction, it’s nice to see the good guys overcome the bad guys. Like all things Star Wars, the book left plenty of open ends so people can come in and write sequels or make movies or produce cartoon series. Fans of the Jedi will like the novel.
 | This work, including all text, photographs, and other original work, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 License and is copyrighted © MMXIV John Pruess. |
2 comments:
I read this book and I highly enjoyed it. I see that you also thought it was a good book, and although I know you did not consider it one of the best books you've ever read, you thought it was good. I also thought it was a good book and that the author did a good job at examining, portraying, and developing Ahsoka's character and personality, and that we can see very well that although she is a brave warrior (who could sometimes be quite feisty in her younger days), she is also a kind, caring person (or should I say Togruta?) who puts her fighting and planning skills to good use.
Nice review, Anna!
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