Category: Alt Hist

Jedi Council Does Kwenn

31/8/2024

The Living Force (Star Wars Disney)
by John Jackson Milley

In the wake of outpost closures that have left ordinary people feeling abandoned by the Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Council to reconnect to the Living Force. Help one person. Help another. So this venerable collection of Jedi Masters travel to Kwenn, a world that was once the sight of a Great Work during the High Republic, to render service and aid to those who need it.

I think the idea behind this book was quite good, though the execution didn't quite managed to do it justice. Could another author have done better? I'm not sure. Miller's strength does lie in ensemble casts. But I wonder if this might have worked better as an anthology of connected stories, like his Lost Tribe of the Sith short works. As a novel, it has too much going on. Too many characters doing too many things - and some of those things don't add to the story in the way they could have.

This is, ultimately, a well-written but largely forgettable book.

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Living Book Limping

19/4/2022

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Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)
by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan has just quit Inderland Security to strike out on her own and her former boss has it in for her - as in, he's put a price on her head because she took one of his best employees with her. This makes investigating a guy who is running - possibly evenly creating - biodrugs somewhat difficult. There's also the matter of her vampiric roommate...

Hmm. This is definitely a product of its time. I've reread my fave UF serieses too many times so I thought I'd give it a go...can't say I'm impressed. Dead Witch Walking is a typical 2000s urban fantasy novel and a surprisingly weak first entry for a series of this longevity. Rachel isn't a particularly strong or likeable character, though I'd be interested to see how she develops - hopefully she loses her "gay panic" over Ivy? It's somewhat common for characters from the 2000s to insist "I'M STRAIGHT" in certain situations, but honestly it reads like Rachel/Ivy is meant to be endgame lol. And I know that's not the case.

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Pure Magic

22/8/2020

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Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic)
by Alice Hoffman

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Maria Owens enters the world with disadvantages - she has no identity, she is a woman, and she was born a witch. But there are advantages to being what she is, such as doing as you please and being able to discern one's fate. There are some fates Maria will gladly walk out to meet and other fates she will change, for better or worse. By the end of it, there will be a family curse to haunt her descendants.

I know that Alice Hoffman's works can be called magical realism, but I think they are simply magical. And this is book really is pure magic.

Hoffman deftly weaves together historical truths and fiction until you're convinced her version of events must be the real one, that Maria really did travel across the sea in search of a man who would give her diamonds. I really liked Practical Magic, but Magic Lessons is in a class of its own and I'm suddenly overcome with the need to make a pot of tea and drink it while observing the sunshine. I absolute adore this book. Definitely my favourite release of 2020 by far.

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Book Reviews

Jedi Council Does Kwenn

The Living Force (Star Wars Disney)
by John Jackson Milley

Living Book Limping

Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)
by Kim Harrison

Pure Magic

Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic)
by Alice Hoffman

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Book Reviews

Jedi Council Does Kwenn

The Living Force (Star Wars Disney)​by John Jackson Milley

Living Book Limping

Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)by Kim Harrison

Pure Magic

Magic Lessons (prequel to ​Practical Magic)by Alice Hoffman

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The Living Force (Star Wars Disney)
by John Jackson Milley

Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)
by Kim Harrison

Magic Lessons (prequel to Practical Magic)
by Alice Hoffman