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Expanded Universe Round-Up #10

31/5/2023

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
(comic adaptation)

An obviously rushed adaptation that excluded some things that should have been kept, while including other things that could have been dropped. I also found the clumsy (and at times completely missing) scene transitions quite jarring.

Star Wars Episode I: The Queen's Amulet

This is a very well-presented book, including an "amulet". But it's really quite pointless - and a missed opportunity, since it could have been a nice story about friendship.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Anakin Skywalker

I own several books that are different versions of The Phantom Menace and this is just one of them. Wow, they sure crapped these things out! I actually like this one, because it really does read as though a 9-year-old boy wrote it. I was 10 when I first picked up this book. It was incredibly influential on my writing at the time. So while the story isn't original, I think it does have something to offer.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Queen Amidala

So in the previous review I said that the Anakin journal was hugely influential on my writing at the time. Well, that had nothing on this! Jude Watson is my favourite of the YA Legends authors and she was certainly in fine form here. I feel like she really understood Padmé. Or perhaps I just prefer her characterisation of Padme over everyone else's! Journal books can be hit and miss... this one was a massive hit for me when I was a kid. It's still a hit for me now, to be honest.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul

I did not enjoy this "journal" as much. It doesn't read like an actual journal, though it does still have the Jude Watson shine. Additional scenes aren't just there to add pages - they actually add to Maul's characterisation. I will also admit to being disappointed that the pages are normal paper, not the pretty ones seen in the previous journals.

Book Reviews

Light My Pyre ​(Everwood Falls #1)​by Kat Kinney

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (movie novelisation)by Terry Brooks

​More or Less a Temptress (The Somerset Sisters #3)​by Anna Bradley

Cloak of Deception (Star Wars Legends)​by James Luceno

More or Less a Countess (The Somerset Sisters #2)by Anna Bradley

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (Star Wars Legends)​by Michael Reaves

Maul: Lockdown (Star Wars Legends)​by Joe Schreiber

Never Rescue a Rogue (The Merriwell Sisters #2)​by Virginia Heath

Never Fall for Your Fiancée (The Merriwell Sisters #1)​by Virginia Heath

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Light My Pyre (Everwood Falls #1)
by Kat Kinney

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (movie novelisation)
by Terry Brooks

More or Less a Temptress (The Somerset Sisters #3)
by Anna Bradley

Cloak of Deception (Star Wars Legends)
by James Luceno

More or Less a Countess (The Somerset Sisters #2)
by Anna Bradley

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (Star Wars Legends)
by Michael Reaves

Maul: Lockdown (Star Wars Legends)
by Joe Schreiber

Never Rescue a Rogue (The Merriwell Sisters #2)
by Virginia Heath

Never Fall for Your Fiancée (The Merriwell Sisters #1)
by Virginia Heath