Book Review: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #3)

Publisher: Tor.com
Published: August 7, 2018
Received: purchased
Read from November 14 to December 27, 2022
Synopsis from Goodreads:

SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah’s SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

Review:

Rogue Protocol is the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. In this one, Murderbot is investigating GrayCris and winds up helping a group of humans (and a bot) who are also investigating a terraforming facility that was run by GrayCris.

Like the last book, this one was filled with completely new characters except for Murderbot itself. I do enjoy getting a diverse look of the sorts of people that live in this universe, but I have a hard time getting invested in many of the characters because I know they'll be gone come the next book. Though part of why I don't feel closer to them might also be the way in which the story is told. Murderbot is keeping its distance from the humans in this book too. Murderbot is always doing that, but in this one, it felt like Murderbot interacted with the human characters even less than in the last book. That's just my perception though and isn't necessarily true.

Similar to how Murderbot formed a close-ish relationship with ART in the last book, it becomes closer to Miki (a bot) than any of the humans in this book, and I also found myself being drawn to Miki more than any of the human characters.

Miki challenges a lot of Murderbot's beliefs about relationships between humans and bots as Miki thinks of the humans it travels with as friends while Murderbot thinks of them as owners. Murderbot is pretty judgmental of Miki at the start and views Miki has naïve for viewing humans as friends, but Murderbot's own views are challenged by the end of the story.

I imagine this is going to continue to shape Murderbot's view of the world, including its own relationships with humans that it has or will encounter. I'm excited for that. Murderbot seeing Miki's relationship with its friends was my favorite part of this book.

Rogue Protocol was a fun book, and I enjoyed going on another adventure with Murderbot. At the same time, I'm really missing the characters from the first book and ART from the second book.

It looks like Mensah will make another appearance in the next book, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Book Review: Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books UK
Published: July 31, 2014
Received: purchased
Read from June 13 to December 20, 2022
Synopsis from Goodreads: 

In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.

Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.

I really don’t.

This incredible debut novel by outstanding young author Alice Oseman is perfect for fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and all unflinchingly honest writers.

Review:

Since Heartstopper was released on Netflix earlier this year, I've watched it too many times to keep count. I've fallen absolutely in love, so of course I wanted to read the comics and Alice Oseman's other books. The comics are available for free online, so I read the whole thing while waiting for the books to arrive in the mail. (When the physical copies arrived, I immediately started reading Solitaire, so I actually haven't gotten a chance to read the physical copies of the comics yet either.)

While the Heartstopper TV show is based on the comics, not Solitaire, Solitaire is set in the same universe. All of Oseman's books are, but from what I know, Solitaire is the book most closely tied to Heartstopper. It follows Tori, the older sister of Charlie in Heartstopper. It also takes place a year after Heartstopper volume/season 1 even though the book itself came out earlier. It was actually the first book that Alice Oseman published.

That fact was evident while reading. The tone of the book does feel like it was written by someone younger. I believe Oseman published the book while they were in university. It does show but not necessarily in a bad way. The teen voice of the book felt very authentic. I could totally believe that Tori would view the world the way she did even when I, as an adult, felt frustrated with her at various points throughout the story.

Despite sometimes feeling annoyed with Tori, I do think she was well written. All of the characters were. I could easily imagine them fitting in with my classmates back in high school. They felt like real teenagers. To the point that some of them were downright infuriating, like Becky. I'm still trying to make myself feel sympathy for Becky purely because I knew what it's like to be a  teenager, but I have to admit that it's hard.

Tori and Becky's friendship was one of many aspects of the book that felt incredibly realistic though, and I appreciated the way it was written.

The standout character was absolutely Michael Holden. I'd heard about him before reading the book from other Heartstopper fans, and there are little glimpses of him in later installments of Heartstopper. I figured I would like him, and I was right. In some ways, he felt like a manic pixie dream girl except he was a guy, and I feel like this might have been done on purpose, especially since there's a reference to manic pixie dream girls in the book.

I just loved the way he was portrayed. I would absolutely read an entire book about Michael. Even though we learn he's not always as bright and cheerful as he seems, he did feel like a bit of lightheartedness that was otherwise lacking throughout the beginning and middle of the book.

One thing I heard about Solitaire before I read it was that it was darker than Heartstopper, after reading the book and also all of Heartstopper that's been released, I get that view but also didn't entirely feel the same way. There are a lot of mental health issues dealt with in Solitaire. It absolutely does get dark in places, but later volumes of Heartstopper (beyond what's been adapted on the TV show) also deal with similar issues. While I do think that Solitaire leaned into that darkness a bit more, the book honestly wasn't as dark as I suspected after hearing others talk about it. While Heartstopper does have a light tone overall, it also deals with some dark stuff in a serious way, and I was expecting Solitaire to be darker than it is from the discourse I'd heard about it.

While I do think Heartstopper is a story that I'll revisit more because it is more light-hearted at the end of the day, I still enjoyed Solitaire, and I'm looking forward to reading Alice Oseman's other books. Though they take place in the same general universe, they're not as closely tied to Heartstopper and Solitaire from what I've heard. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing more of that world, and I also look forward to how Oseman's writing style has grown over the years since Solitaire was published.

Book Review: Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson

Published: January 17, 2017
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Received: purchased
Read from September 14 to November 20, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Short, emotional, literary, powerful―Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.

As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. In his 2016 New York Times op-ed piece "Death in Black and White," Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop―a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.

The time is at hand for reckoning with the past, recognizing the truth of the present, and moving together to redeem the nation for our future. If we don't act now, if you don't address race immediately, there very well may be no future.

Review:

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America is essentially what the subtitle says. Dyson has written a sermon directed at white Americans about racism in the US that calls for a shift in how white Americans view race and their role in ending racism.

The sermon format was perfect for the material in the book. Dyson is an ordained minister who I'm sure has written countless formats, and he's very skilled at it. The language of sermons worked perfectly for the topics discussed in the book. This is definitely a work that appeals to your emotions rather than giving hard facts, but that doesn't make it any less successful at what it's trying to do. Dyson shares many of his own experiences in the book, which gives it a very personal feeling that makes it even more powerful.

The whole book is gripping in a way that's less common in nonfiction than it is in fiction (in my experience). I would highly recommend the book, particularly to other white people.

Andor 1x12 "Rix Road" Review

The season finale of Andor has to be my favorite episode of the series so far. A lot happens, and the individual stories happening wound back to each other in a way that felt satisfying but also left a lot open to explore in the future.

Cassian goes back to Ferrix for Maarva's funeral. It felt good to see him reconnect with some of his fiends even though it was under terrible circumstances. I'm incredibly relieved that he was able to be there for Maarva's funeral at all. It actually makes me even sadder that he didn't get to see her before she died because it's clear that she meant a lot to him. Seeing Cassian on Ferrix again really did help the season feel like it had come full circle.

Most of the episode focuses on Ferrix, as many of the characters from throughout the season return there. Mon Mothma's story line is really the only one that continues without going back to Ferrix. This whole season, she's felt a little distant from everything else. I know she's connected to Luthen and especially Vel, so she's not entirely separate, but comparatively speaking, she feels distant. She's the only one who doesn't know anything about Cassian for one.

Instead of worrying about Cassian or Ferrix, Mon accuses her husband of gambling in this episode. He insists that someone is lying to her, but it's obvious that she's the one lying because she wants to be overheard and have a cover story for the money that's been plaguing her all season. 

Not only is Mon Mothma's story more disconnected than the others, but it feels like it hasn't moved that much from episode one. She's hit a lot of road bumps, but she also hasn't been accused of anything yet. She's just taking precautions. People are watching her, and it's clear the tension is building. But it all feels like build up and not any direct action yet. I'm hoping that will change in season two.

We also do get a mention of the Empire defeating Kreegyr in this episode, but it's something we never get to see actually happen, which is basically what I expected.

I wasn't expecting this entire episode (almost) to be Maarva's funeral though. Even Luthen comes to Ferrix for it despite him trying to keep a low profile and the Empire being everywhere. The Empire and Luthen are both looking for Cassian. Syril's there too, but that I completely expected. I'm glad that Cassian did get to see a lot of the funeral because I wasn't sure if he'd come back to Ferrix either.

Maarva's speech that's played at the funeral was very fitting from the finale and was probably one of my favorite things about the episode. It causes a riot to erupt where a group attacks Dedra. Syril ends up saving her, so I'm guessing that she's going to be more open to working closely with him come season two. There whole relationship feels very off to me. I think it's mostly Syril's obsessive personality and the fact that he's already seemed like a stalker at several points in this season. Dedra's a villain, but seeing her get closer to Syril puts me on edge.

During the chaos that erupts at the end of the funeral, Cassian manages to get Bix out of the hotel, but she's in a terrible state. I'm worried about her mental state in season two. Cassian leaves her with a group of friends and promises to join them later, but I'm skeptical that it will happen any time soon.

Instead of joining them, Cassian goes to Luthen's ship. He gives Luthen the chance to either kill him or take him in. It ends like a cliffhanger, but having seen Rogue One, I'm pretty confident Cassian's not getting killed. Still, it does leave me excited to see what sort of work he does with the Resistance next season and whether or not he does end up reuniting with his fiends at all.

Honestly, my biggest wish for season two is more B2EMO. If he and Cassian are reunited at some point next season, then I'll be happy.

Andor 1x11 "Daughter of Ferrix" Review

At the start of the episode, Cassian is clinging to a cliff with Melshi. They're caught by two aliens who initially seem like they're going to kill them, but instead, they let them go. Cassian manages to get back to his money and retrieve it. All in all though, we don't actually see much of Cassian in this episode.

Maarva dies. I suspected that she would before seeing Cassian again, but it's still sad to have it happened. B2EMO made it even sadder by refusing to leave the house. I feel like I always get especially attached to the droids.

Vel goes to Luthen's shop and talks to Kleya, who's really angry that she's come. They have such a tense exchange that after this episode and the previous one where they interacted, I get the feeling that Kleya has hated Vel for a long time.

After that, Vel goes to Mon Mothma's house and finds Mon's daughter doing some tradition that involves her and a bunch of other girls chanting things. Apparently, she's gotten into the tradition, which is kind of strange since I would have expected her age and the fact that they don't even live on their home planet to mean that she would be less interested in traditions like that.

Luthen goes to visit Saw, who says that he's willing to help Kreegyr. Luthen tells him not to and admits the plan to sacrifice Kreegyr. While leaving, Luthen is stopped by an imperial ship. He gets away, but I'm curious if that leads the Empire to him somehow.

At the end of the episode, Cassian finds out Maarva is dead, which is a heartbreaking scene, but I'm glad that he found out. He also splits up with Melshi, and I'm curious if we'll see him again in season one or not.

There's a lot happening now. There are so many stories going that they're a little all over the place. I'm hoping that they're going to start intersecting back together again soon. Especially since we're getting close to the end.

Book Review: Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries 2) by Martha Wells

Publisher: Tor.com
Published: May 8, 2018
Read from September 28 to November 8, 2022
Received: purchased

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It has a dark past--one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.

Review:

Two and a half years later, I finally got around to reading the second Murderbot Diaries book. I absolutely loved All Systems Red, and I never planned for it to take this long to get to the rest of the series. The bright side is that there are even more books now, and I can read all of them straight away.

I re-read All Systems Red before Artificial Condition to jog my memory, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered. The story really stuck with me, so I was excited to move right on to the second one.

Aside from Murderbot, this book has an entirely different set of characters from All Systems Red. It was great to read about Murderbot again, but I have to admit that I did miss the rest of the cast from the first book.

That being said, I absolutely loved ART! It was fun seeing Murderbot connect with a bot as opposed to a human. I also just loved ART's personality, and the connection between ART and Murderbot helped show what technology is capable of in this universe in a new way.

This book also explored Murderbot's past more as it went back to the planet where it killed its crew. We learn that the massacre wasn't Murderbot's fault, which wasn't surprising to me. I'd never actually doubted that, but I'm glad Murderbot could have that confirmed. Still, it doesn't seem fully satisfied with the answers it got, which makes me curious about where it's going to go next in the third book.

I'm going to dive straight into reading the next book now. I'm definitely not waiting another two years!

Andor 1x10 "One Way Out" Review

With every episode, I'm getting more and more into Andor. I'm liking this second half of the season far more than I did the first.

Cassian and the other prisoners finally break out of the prison. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. I got way more into it than I did the thing at Aldhani. 

Kino not being able to swim was a nice twist at the end. (I'm a little surprised that every single one of the others seemed to be able to though. Surely at least a few others would have drowned even if they tried swimming.) I wonder what will happen to him.

Mon Mothma invites Davo to her house. He's willing to help her with her money, but in exchange, he wants his son to marry her daughter. I like this development because I have a feeling we're going to exlore more about marriage on Chandrila and also about Mon Mothma's own marriage.

The big surprise is that one of the supervisors working with Dedra, Lonni, is actually working for Luthen. I didn't see that coming. I'm curious about his backstory, especially since he and Luthen talk about an oath that they both took. I wonder how they met and how Lonni got involved.

Luthen also wants to sacrifice Kreegyr, which illustrates his mindset towards defeating the Empire. That makes a lot of sense when it comes to what we've seen so far. I don't really question is driving motivation anymore. I do think he genuinely wants to bring down the Empire, which I wasn't completely positive of before.

Now that Cassian is out of the prison, I'm excited to see what happens next.

Andor 1x09 "Nobody's Listening!" Review

With Cassian stuck in jail, I wasn't sure what to expect going forward, but I'm really hooked on Andor now. It's nice because for the first half or so of the season I was having trouble getting into it. That's not a problem anymore.

Bix is tortured by being forced to listen to people dying. Not just people actually. They've pulled out recordings of children to make it even more cruel. We don't get to hear the sounds themselves, but that makes it even more chilling.

While the torturer, mentions the effects the sounds have on people, I'm curious about the people who actually did the slaughtering. There's no mention of them. Were they unable to hear the calls as they were murdering everyone? If they have the effect that they supposedly do, you'd think it would have made them incapable of murdering them all.

Cassian wastes no time in getting to work with other inmates to plan an escape. Those plans hit a road bump when they learn that a whole unit was killed because a released inmate was sent back into the prison. Now it seems that none of them will ever be released.

But already at the end of the episode, we can see the leader of Cassian's floor become energized and determined to help them all break out. It seems like their plan to keep everyone locked up forever is going to backfire by making them more determined than ever to get out. I look forward to seeing how they do it.

Vel comes to visit Mon Mothma, and it seems like they're longtime friends. I like seeing how all of the characters are connected even more. Mon's husband tells Vel she needs to find a widower husband and continues to make himself look even worse somehow.

I know that he and Mon got married young, but the more we see of him, the more that not even that fully explains how she ended up married to him. Was he different back then? Was she pressured into it? I feel like there's still more of a story to tell there.

Syril manages to get even creepier this episode when he stalks Dedra. She even calls him out for stalking, and the excuses he gives for why it's not stalking are exactly what a stalker would say. There's a strange dynamic there that I'm not sure what to make of. Syril definitely seems to have an obsessive personality, and I'm curious about how much that's going to turn to Dedra as well as Cassian.

I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Andor 1x08 "Narkina 5" Review

This episode of Andor has to be my favorite yet, but it also wasn't what I was expecting at all.

I don't know why I was convinced there was going to be a time skip after the last episode, but I was. Something about how things ended left me feeling like we wouldn't be seeing any of the characters again for a few years, but it turns out that wasn't the case. Things pick up right where they left off, and I'm happy about that because I found this episode very interesting.

Cassian is sent to Narkina 5 for his sentence. It's a factory where they have to work twelve hour shifts. What struck me most about the setting wasn't the factory floor but their cells. They don't have any doors, but during the night, the floor will get "hot" and kills anyone who steps foot on it. It's far more gruesome than have doors, and even on Cassian's first night someone dies. 

Meanwhile, Syril gets questioned by Dedra, who's zeroing in on Cassian. He begs her to help, but she sends him back to the Bureau of Standards. Despite that, I don't think it will be the last we see of him.

We learn a bit of backstory about Mon Mothma and her husband. It turns out that they got married as teenagers, which is the custom on the planet they're from. It does explain a lot about how they're together despite being so different, and I'm thankful for that explanation because it's been bothering me since we met her husband.

Back on Ferrix, Bix is taking care of Maarva, who's fallen and is ill. I was hoping that Cassian and Maarva would be reunited, so now I'm worried that she'll die before he sees her again.

Vel and Cinta are also on Ferrix, and we get some tidbits about their backstory. In particular, we learn that Vel comes from a rich family, which does seem to fit her characterization so far. I actually wonder if she and Luthen are related in some way or, at the very least, knew each other socially somehow. 

This episode also made me curious about Vel and Cinta's relationship. Cinta mentions that she's a mirror for Vel, and she says it in a way that is very accusing. Vel has seemed almost obsessive about what Cinta is doing at certain points, but that is potentially explained by the high stakes situations they've been in. Now I wonder if it's more. This episode seemed to imply that Vel likes Cinta more than Cinta likes Vel, so I guess we'll see how that plays out.

Luthen goes to see Saw Gerrera, which is a nice surprise. Luthen is trying to convince him to join forces with similar groups around a joint cause. During this conversation, Saw makes a comment about never really know who Luthen is, and this reinforces my distrust for him. 

I go back and forth on Luthen a lot. His indentions seem genuine sometimes, but other times, it feels like he's hiding something. There are some indirections between Luthen and Kleya where I can't tell which of them is actually in charge.

There's a lot happening and a lot of characters we're following. Thinking back on the episode really makes me realize how little we actually get of certain characters during the episode. I'm curious to see how their stories intertwine more in the coming episodes.

Andor 1x07 "Announcement" Review

After the last episode, I was curious about where the story would be going next. A lot of this episode wasn't too surprising for me, but the end managed to surprise me. I'm still not sure if that was in a good way or not.

Syril's mom has gotten him an interview at the Bureau of Standards where he gets a job monitoring fuel purity. It sounds boring, and the image of Syril at a computer in a room full of people at the same computers reinforces that idea. Since the end of the episode implies a time skip, I'm guessing he's going to have been stewing in misery for years the next time we see him, which will probably make him even hard to stand.

Meanwhile, Dedra is doing mostly the same thing she's been doing in every episode so far, but this time she gets accused by another supervisor of overstepping. He's clearly hoping to get her into trouble, but instead, their supervisor praises her and assigns her Ferrix. I'm guessing that means she'll be more involved in stuff that's actually happening to Cassian and/or the Rebellion in the coming episodes.

On Coruscant, Mon Mothma realizes that Luthen is behind the attack, and she's angry. Apparently she wanted to build a network but didn't think much about what would happen after that. I can get that in the sense that all the planning in the world can't always fully prepare you for when things finally happen.

She does seem to get over it relatively quickly though and is already making more plans later in the episode with an old friend of hers. She tells the friend that her husband isn't to be trusted, which is to be expected from what we've seen of him. However, I am curious about her and her husband. They seem to have such wildly different views, so how did they end up together? Did they ever love each other? I'm leaning towards the theory that Mon Mothma's mind changed over time considering some of what her friend says. 

I don't know if we'll actually find out much about her or her husband's backstory, but I am curious.

Vel also appears again in this episode. I have to admit, I'd forgotten about her by the time she popped up. If she hadn't appeared again at all (or at least for a while), I probably would have just gone with it. However, she's instructed to kill Cassian because he knows about Luthen. That does make me curious.

I still wonder who, exactly, Luthen is working for or if he's working merely for himself. I don't fully trust his intentions, especially with his plans to kill off loose ends like this. I have a feeling Vel is going to become allies with Cassian though instead of killing him.

Cassian goes back to Ferrix to get his mother, which was nice to see. I honestly wondered if we would get to see her again. We also see Bix again, and I have a feeling that she'll show up again before the series is over too, despite how things end between her and Cassian.

There's a flashback of Clem being killed, and Maarva ultimately decides to stay on Ferrix and talks about the Rebellion. I have a feeling that the future episodes will involve Cassian going back to Ferrix as well since everything seems to be leading back there. And I'm guessing it's going to find that Maarva, Bix, and maybe others he knows are working for the Rebellion. But we'll see.

Maarva also urges Cassian to stop looking for his sister, and I doubt that will happen. So I'm curious about how she'll eventually find her way into the story too.

The episode ends with Cassian on Niamos, which is essentially this resort type of place. Long story short, he gets arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. I'm guessing this is an excuse for a time skip, but it does feel a little jarring tacked onto the end of the episode.

While the end did feel strange, I'm looking forward to the upcoming episodes and am excited for them more than I was for the previous episodes. I think the Rebellion is finally going to come into the story in a larger way, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with that.

Andor 1x06 "The Eye" Review

This is the episode where the plan is finally put into action. We're at the halfway point of the season, and I get the impression that the focus is going to shift a little after this episode. So this is kind of like a mid-season finale from back in the day when shows would actually have a break during the season.

We get to see the Aldhani in this episode as they gather to see the Eye. In the end though, they play a background role in what's happening. The group pretends to be some of the soldiers who are escorting the Aldhani in order to gain access.

When they do reveal themselves, Beehaz insists that he doesn't have access to the payroll and that they won't be able to access it. However, they do manage to gain access, and despite a few minor hiccups, nothing ever really seems like it's going to make the plan fall apart. I wasn't quite at the edge of my seat or anything like that. There are deaths in this episode, but none of those had a huge impact on me either.

The group falls apart quite quickly once they're under pressure. This is especially apparent when Nemik is dying, and Vel doesn't want to take him to a doctor. Cassian takes him to the doctor anyway, but he ends up dying. Interestingly, even though Skeen was the one who wanted to take Nemik to a doctor, he then turns on the others by trying to convince Cassian to take part in a plan where they split the money between the two of them.

Cassian then demands his cut and wants a ship to get away on his own. Obviously, we're not going to see the group members who died again, but I wonder if this is the last we'll see of Vel. I did think the group was going to play a larger role than they seem to have done, and now that they have the money, I really do wonder what will come next because I have no idea.

Andor 1x05 "The Axe Forgets" Review

This episode felt a little slower than the ones before it. We got a lot of build up, but for the most part, I just wanted to know what's going to happen next.

Syril is back at home with his mother, who manages to be a much more interesting character in this one episode than Syril has been in the first five. I'm not sure how I feel about Syril or his storyline yet. I'm not very interested in it, and I keep hoping that will change, but it doesn't really.

Meanwhile, Cassian finds out that one member of the group investigated his things without him knowing. There's a bit about the tattoos the guy had and Cassian knowing what they mean when the others didn't. I'm curious whether that's going to come into play later or if it was just as Easter egg.

We do learn a bit about a couple of the group members in this episode, including one of them who is writing a manifesto. The tattoo guy makes a joke about how manifesto guy (I'm sorry, but I can't keep their names straight) sees repression everywhere. I find that interesting considering what the whole group of them is going. You'd think they'd be more sympathetic to manifesto guy even if he's especially enthusiastic about philosophical ideas.

It turns out that the senator woman on Coruscant also has a daughter. Just like her husband, she seems to have a lot of tension with her daughter. I'm very curious about this because it seems like the senator is genuinely trying to do the right thing, so I'm curious how things got to where they are with her family. But I also like to see a character who seems good overall also have problems with their family instead of things being easy for them on that front.

Towards the end of the episode, Cassian tells the group that he's being paid. They all decide to work with him anyway. It seems like we're going to get the real action next episode, so I'm excited to see what happens.

Andor 1x04 "Aldhani" Review

This episode feels like the point where we're really getting into the main conflict of the series (or at least this season), and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Specifically, Luthen tells Cassian that they're goal is to steal the payroll for an entire imperial sector, and it seems like working with a group on that project is the story.

Before they part ways, Luthen gives Cassian a kyber crystal, and it's implied that the crystal is important to Luthen. I'm assuming that's going to come back up later in the story. This episode definitely made me more fascinated about Luthen as a character. Other than Cassian, I think he's who I'm most curious about at the moment.

Because of Syril's actions, the Marlana system is put under imperial control instead of the corporation's. While this is obviously bad, the corporation didn't seem any better, and it was satisfying to see Syril laid into like he was. I'm guessing the whole thing will make him incredibly bitter, but I am curious what will come next for him since he doesn't seem to have much authority over anything at this point. But I'm assuming he will play a major role.

Cassian meets the group who he's supposed to work with, but we don't learn much about any of them. We see the most of Vel, but her story is still pretty shrouded in mystery. I'm curious about her and the others. Mostly, I want to know how the group came together and how long they've known each other. I also hope all the group members get fleshed out more in the future.

We also meet an Imperial woman (I'm not entirely clear on what her job title is) who believes that the Starpath unit that Cassian had was stolen from the sector that she is supposed to be monitoring. She believes she has the signs of an organized rebellion. With Syril being seemingly demoted, I wonder if she'll take over as an important villain from this point on or what exactly will happen there.

Luthen's backstory gets a bit more fleshed out. We learn that he owns a store on Coruscant and seems to work under the radar. It's not something I was expecting, but looking back on it, it makes a lot of sense considering what we knew about him before. I continue to think that he's the most interesting character we've met.

He also has connections to a senator who seems to be having a lot of tension with her husband. I'm very curious about her as well and am looking forward to learning more.

This episode feels very different. We meet a lot of new characters and leave behind many of those that were in the first three. I'm curious to see what comes next.

Andor 1x03 "Reckoning" Review

Andor has been fun so far. I admit that I'm finding the villains a little bland, so I'm hoping to learn something interesting about Syril, but I really like the other characters and I'm having fun with the story, especially after this episode.

In flashbacks, we see Maarva and another man meet Cassian while he does what he can to destroy the crashed ship. These flashbacks were more or less what I expected to see happen, but I still appreciate them being part of the story.

Luthen also mentions Cassian's father being hanged in this episode, which seems to be true based on Cassian's reaction. I'm curious if the man in the flashbacks is that father. I'd be interested in learning more about him.

Speaking of Luthen, we get more of him in this episode. It turns out that he knows who Cassian is and has learned a lot about him. Because of Rogue One, I suspect that Luthen has something to do with the Rebellion and will get Cassian involved. I'm very curious to learn more about his identity though and what exactly is going on.

Timm dies in this episode, which honestly isn't surprising. I don't think he was interesting enough to stick around for long, and he already served his purpose. Bix is quite upset about his death, and I'm curious about what her feelings for him were exactly. He definitely seemed to like her more than she liked him, but I do get that seeing someone die in front of you is hard regardless of how close you were exactly in life. I'm curious if Timm's death will affect her relationship with Cassian as the show progresses.

While most of the soldiers go after Cassian, a few stay to guard Maarva, and I loved the scene where she psyched them out by implying that something would happen when the sounds stop. I really hope this episode isn't the last we see of her. She's such an interesting character, and I'd love the chance to get to know more about her.

Syril ends this episode in a bad place. I wonder if what he went through in this episode will make him more compelling or just more annoying. I guess we have to wait and see.

Overall, this episode left me excited for what's to come. I'm particularly curious about Luthen. It seems like things are picking up now.

Andor 1x02 "That Would Be Me" Review

This episode gives us a bit more information about Cassian's backstory, including information about his family and childhood. It answers some questions I had after episode one.

When Cassian's mother was first mentioned, I was curious if that was just a lie because the flashbacks made it seem like it was just him and the other kids. It turns out that he does have an adoptive mother, and she's been trying to hide that Cassian is from Kenari. 

I like Maarva so far. She seems to have Cassian's best interests at heart. I get the impression that she doesn't know much about Cassian's search for his sister though. I'm curious to learn how exactly she met him and what role she'll play in the rest of the story. (I'm guessing the explanation for how they met will be addressed in the flashback portions of the story.)

In an unsurprising twist, Bix's boyfriend (if that's even what he is) sees that Cassian is wanted and alerts the company to him. The boyfriend is an annoying character that doesn't have much going for him at the point of the story, and I wouldn't be upset if he disappears into the background. But I also wonder if he's going to play a larger role as the story progresses.

The Syril guy (who's name I had to look up while writing this because I couldn't remember it for the life of me) is still annoying, but at least he's a little (inadvertently) funny in this episode. I particularly enjoyed his "pep talk" to the other officers that falls spectacularly flat.

At the end of the episode, we get a scene with the guy who must be the buyer Cassian wants to meet with. He doesn't say much, but the scene did leave me very intrigued about who he is and what he's after.

This episode definitely left me looking forward to the next. I'm excited to see what we find out.

Andor 1x01 "Kassa" Review

 I've been excited for Andor since it was first announced ages ago, and for a while, it felt like it was never going to be released. It's actually kind of strange that now I've seen episode one, but I'm also really grateful that it's here!

The story starts of on Morlana One. Cassian goes to a brothel and says he's looking for a girl from Kenari. It turns out that it's his sister, who we also see in flashbacks throughout the episode. I wasn't expecting part of the series to be Cassian looking for his sister, but as someone who loves sibling relationships in media, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of their relationship as things play out.

When two guards follow Cassian, he ends up accidentally killing one and then purposefully killing the other. This leads to a company employee being determined to catch Cassian even though his superior wants to sweep it under a rug. As far as villain's go, this guy seems pretty bland so far. I wonder if he'll stay that way or if we'll get backstory that makes him more interesting.

We meet a droid in this episode called B2EMO, and I love them already. Cassian asks the droid to lie for him, and B2EMO responds that they'll need to recharge in order to have the energy for it. That honestly might have been my favorite scene of the episode because it was one of the lighter moments and just very fun. I hope we see more of B2EMO later on.

One of the most interesting characters in this episode is a woman named Bix. She has some sort of relationship with a man she works with, but it also seems obvious that there are some sort of feelings between her and Cassian too. I'm curious how that will play out. She seems to have a very interesting story.

Overall, this episode was an enjoyable introduction to the story, and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Book Review: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Published: September 7, 2010
Publisher: Random House
Received: purchased
Read from April 22 to September 10, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. 

From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.

With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.

Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work. Both a riveting microcosm and a major assessment, The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is destined to become a classic.

Review:

The Warmth of Other Suns looks at the history of the Great Migration in the United States from the beginning to the end. While I had learned about the Great Migration while I was in school, I'd never had such an in depth look at it as this book provides.

At over 600 pages, this is a thick book, which might be off-putting to some people, but I loved the opportunity to get so much information. The book isn't only about the Great Migration. It's also specifically about the stories of three different people who moved to the North and West from the South. There is so much great information in the book that it never felt like it was dragging despite the length.

The stories made the history of the Great Migration feel more real than a more distant explanation would have, and I loved the way that historical facts were weaved together with the stories of Ida Mae, George, and Robert.

I highly recommend this book for everyone. It covers a part of American history that more people should really know about, and it does it in a way that's incredibly accessible and easy to follow.

Book Review: Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

Published: January 1, 1992
Publisher: Brash Books
Received from: purchased
Read from June 24 to August 28, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Barbara Neely’s Smart, Sassy and Groundbreaking Crime Novel

Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there’s a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she’s forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin. Along the way, she lays bare the quirks of southern society with humor, irony, and a biting commentary that makes her one of the most memorable and original characters ever to appear in mystery fiction.

Review:

I'm back with a review of another book that I read as part of the Branching Out Book Club on Discord.

At the start of Blanche on the Lam, Blanche is told that she's going to be sent to jail after being accused to writing bad checks. She ends up escaping and ends up working with a rich white Southern family as a housekeeper. Her plan is to stay until she has her IRS refund, and then she'll escape to Boston. However, while she's with the family, she slowly realizes that some members of the family have secrets and that her own life is in danger.

Mystery isn't a genre that I read often, but when I do pick them up, I do tend to enjoy them. That being said, I felt a little like this book was lacking the things that I really love about mystery. It didn't feel like there was a trail of clues to follow. There were aspects of the ending that I guessed pretty early on in the story, but other aspects felt like they came out of nowhere with little to know evidence.

And here's where I'm going to start talking about spoilers.

The majority of the book actually felt like exposition. I know I wasn't the only one in the book club who was surprised at how late in the book the murder happened despite the murder being an important part of the synopsis on the back of the book. (The synopsis also mentions Blanche becoming a prime suspect, and unless I missed something, that never happens.)

While there's clearly something up with the family, they mostly just seem like a stuck up family with a lot of money for the bulk of the book. Yes, they seem to be cheating Emmeline out of her money, but if I hadn't known from the synopsis that there was a murder, I wouldn't have suspect anything more from them until extremely late in the game.

Grace was my prime suspect from quite early on in the book. When Blanche noted that Grace's room seemed different than she expected, I was absolutely sure that it was her.

On the flipside, Emmeline being a different person felt like it was out of nowhere. While her behavior seemed strange, I didn't pick up on anything in the story that made me think she was a completely different person. It seemed more like she was Emmeline and just being held captive by her niece and her niece's husband. So when it was revealed that Emmeline had a half-sister that looked exactly like her, I have to admit that I had a hard time believing it.

Blanche on the Lam is actually a start of a series, but I don't think I'll be continuing on with the other books. All in all, I did find it a fun read at times, but I didn't find myself that drawn in by the story.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x10 "A Quality of Mercy" Review

It's kind of surprising that we've already reached the season finale. It feels like the season just started a couple of week's ago, but here we go.

Batel, Pike's sort-of (maybe?) girlfriend, appears in this episode for the first time since the beginning of the season. I wasn't expecting to see her again, but she actually plays a somewhat pivotal role at the end when she comes to arrest Una. I wonder if that means she'll be around more in season two, since I'm guessing that Una's arrest is going to be dealt with more then.

Towards the beginning of the episode, Pike meets a kid who will one day be one of the two cadets who doesn't survive in the "incident." The understandably distresses him, and he tries to write a letter to the kid before he gets a visit from his future self warning him against doing it.

As soon as I realized that this episode was going to deal with time travel, I was wary. While I don't automatically hate time travel stories, I often don't like them because they can be so difficult to wrap your mind around, especially when it comes to changing the past or future like this one was. Overall, though, I didn't mind this episode. The story wasn't hard to follow despite the changes that had been made.

Interestingly, the crew of the Enterprise is mostly the same despite seven years having past. The only noticeable differences are that Una is gone (for obvious reasons) and La'an is on a different ship. It was nice to get a glimpse of La'an so soon after she left the Enterprise, but I'm sad that this is a possible sign that she doesn't come back.

It turns out that in this version of the universe La'an is assigned to a ship captained by Kirk. I knew he was going to show up eventually because there was casting news, but I kind of forgot about it before this episode to be honest. It's also interesting that in this version of the future Samuel Kirk is still on the Enterprise too.

The crew of the Enterprise learn that Romulans look like Vulcans for the first time in this episode. This isn't new information to the audience, even me who has limited knowledge about the Star Trek Universe. I wasn't fully aware of when the Federation learns about the common heritage between them, so I was actually surprised about that plot twist for different reasons.

The events of the episode lead to a war between the Romulans and the Federation, which is said to have lead to countless deaths. Spock, it turns out, is one of those deaths, and it's enough to convince Pike not to change his fate. I wonder if this episode is an attempt to make Pike's eventual fate less of a focus in upcoming seasons. I don't think it's realistic for him to stop worrying about it at all, but I wonder if it won't be brought up in the story like it has been throughout this season because it will now be considered "dealt with."

One thing that probably will be a focus of next season is Una's arrest for lying about being Illyrian. I thought it was curious when future Spock said that she'd been in prisoner for nearly seven years, since that would mean she was arrested around the "present" of the show. Still, I really wasn't expecting it in this episode. I thought it might be next season or maybe even two seasons from now.

I'm interested in where this is going to go, but I'm worried that it means Una will eventually go to prison. I know nothing that happened in the timeline that Pike saw is set in stone for the show, but this seems like something that would play out in a similar way considering that it's before the incident.

Either way, I'm curious to see what happens next when we finally get season two.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x09 "All Those Who Wander" Review

This week's episode was a heavy one, especially after last week's fun one. There was a bit of whiplash.

Uhura's supposed to go back to Earth after finishing her time on the Enterprise. She's still convinced that she's going to leave, but she ends up going on one final away mission before she leaves. It's pretty obvious that this mission is going to convince her to stay before they've even left the Enterprise. I never expected her to leave the show, especially since she's a character who appears in the Original Series as well.

The away mission they go on is to check on a crashed ship and save it, but around the ship, they find frozen bodies and blood, which is a pretty quick indicator that this episode is going to have a drastically different tone than the last one did.

It turns out that the ship's crew had rescued some people and one of them was infected with Gorn eggs, which ended up killing almost everyone. When the Enterprise crew gets there, there's only a person of an unknown species and a human girl called Oriana who have survived.

While on the crashed ship, Uhura talks to Hemmer about her future, and they discuss the advice he gave her previously. I love their relationship, which makes the fact that Hemmer dies at the end of the episode all the sadder. I wasn't expecting any of the crew members to die, so Hemmer's death came as a pretty big surprise.

Actually, that's slightly untrue. We're introduced to two Enterprise crew members at the start of this episode who both also die, and that wasn't shocking at all. As soon as they were introduced, I expected it was because it's easier to kill off characters who the audience doesn't know at all. Though it mostly makes it funny to me that there are these two crew members who we've never seen before and then suddenly they die. I don't love that from a storytelling perspective.

Not only do Gorn apparently mature ridiculously quickly, but they also fight and kill each other for dominance. That makes me wonder how they supposedly work together to hunt prey. It seems like they should have killed each other a long time ago.

While fighting the Gorn, they have to get angry, which results in Spock letting out his anger in order to draw one of them out. Later, at Hemmer's funeral, he says he can't control it. Chapel tells him that it makes him human and hugs him. I'm really intrigued by this because somehow I didn't think of the love triangle between Chapel, Spock, and T'Pring as being between Spock's human and Vulcan sides. But it definitely looks like they're going to lean into that.

Of course Hemmer's death will mean that he won't be on the show anymore, but losing Hemmer made it even more surprising when La'an requested a leave of absence at the end of the episode. I'm curious if that means she'll be gone for a long time or not. She does emphasize that she only has a small lead that might lead to nothing and it's outside of Federation space. I really like La'an's character, so losing her would really upset me.

Thankfully, it does seem like Uhura is sticking around. (I know she's a character in the Original Series, so I was expecting her too, but it's still nice to see.) I'm glad we didn't get three apparent exits from the show in the same episode. But I do hope that La'an shows back up in the future.

Book Review: Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky

Published: September 7, 2017 (originally published in German in 2015)
Publisher: Portobello Books
Received: purchased
Read from May 28 to June 23, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

One of the great contemporary European writers takes on Europe's biggest issue.

Richard has spent his life as a university professor, immersed in the world of books and ideas, but now he is retired, his books remain in their packing boxes and he steps into the streets of his city, Berlin. Here, on Alexanderplatz, he discovers a new community -- a tent city, established by African asylum seekers. Hesitantly, getting to know the new arrivals, Richard finds his life changing, as he begins to question his own sense of belonging in a city that once divided its citizens into them and us.

At once a passionate contribution to the debate on race, privilege and nationality and a beautifully written examination of an ageing man's quest to find meaning in his life, Go, Went, Gone showcases one of the great contemporary European writers at the height of her powers.

Review:

I read Go, Went, Gone as part of the Branching Out Book Club. The book deals with the recent refugee crisis in Europe and follows an older German man named Richard as he gets to know a group of African refugees who are living in Berlin. While I read the book in English, it was originally written in German.

The book is a stream of consciousness novel, and there are no quotation marks around dialogue, which made it very difficult for me to follow what was happening. This is the first time in my memory that I've read a novel without them, and the experience really helped show me why quotation marks are a thing. It was hard to follow what was happening and who was saying what without the quotation marks, and I do think that affected my enjoyment of the book. The one benefit I can see to it is that it slows you down while reading because you're trying to figure out who said what. On the one hand, that may help you reflect more, but in my opinion, I think I was just spending more time trying to keep things straight.

I also had a hard time keeping track of the characters, particularly Richard's German friends. When it came to the primary refugee characters, I could remember who was who by about the halfway point of the book, but perhaps because Richard's German friends aren't quite as notable during the story, I had a much harder time with them. (Also, it's worth noting that Richard gives the refugees nicknames from Greek mythology at the beginning because he claims that he can't keep their names straight, which is problematic in and of itself, but ironically, those nicknames made it much harder for me to keep track of who was who at first because there were too many names being thrown around.) 

Throughout the novel, we were so in Richard's head that it created distance with every single other character, including the refugees, which felt somewhat counterintuitive considering what the book seemed to be attempting to do.

Unfortunately, I also found Richard a rather annoying character, so the fact that he was the only character that the book seemed to really connect with didn't do any favors for my enjoyment of the book. In some ways, I understand why he is the way he is. He's a product of his time, and there are others around him who are worse. He even distances himself from some of his long-time friends because of their attitudes. Yet there were just a number of things about his behavior that irked me. Was it believable? Yes. Did I enjoy being in his head? No.

There are other obvious drawbacks of having a story about African refugees told from the point of view of an older white man as well. I'm pretty sure it was an attempt to connect readers to the crisis from a familiar viewpoint, but that rests on the assumption that readers are all going to be white Germans (and fairly well off on top of that I think). Even as a white American, there were countless ways in which I didn't connect with Richard at all, so if Richard's character was supposed to be a bridge of sorts, then it didn't work for me anyway. The story would have felt far more personal coming from a refugee, but I also know that the author is white, which is another reason why she likely chose to write from the perspective of a white character.

Overall, I just didn't enjoy this book much. I did like how it showed the hypocrisy of certain people in Richard's circle, but that didn't do much to boost the book in the end. While many of the refugees had powerful stories, they didn't have quite the same impact when filtered though Richard's lens.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08 "The Elysian Kingdom" Review

This episode sure was something. In many ways, the conflict in it wasn't as large as the conflict in other episodes, yet I have a lot to say about it.

M'Benga is once again reading a story to his daughter. We get a bit more of the story this time and hear about the Elysian Kingdom that the story is about. Rukiya says that she wants to change the ending. My first time watching this episode, their talk about how she could change the ending when she got older seemed to hint at her getting better, and I honestly thought that was what was going to happen in this episode. Boy was that wrong.

The first sign that there's a problem comes when Enterprise suddenly can't warp. When M'Benga goes to the bridge, he suddenly finds that everyone has become characters from the story he was reading to Rukiya.

At first, I thought he was hallucinating because of his experiments, as earlier it had blown up in his face. Turns out, that's not what's happening. Everything around them is real but the minds of the crew have been alterred, and even though the concept of the crew being stuck in the story is kind of funny, there are real life consequences. (Plus, the idea of messing with people's minds that much is also straight up creepy. The entity is ultimately portrayed as a good entity, but if you think too much about what she did, then it gets really creepy really fast.)

The characters each of the crew members becomes have little to do with their actual personality, so it was pretty amusing to see them in character. La'an as Thalia was the most hilarious. It's probably a good thing that none of the crew (except M'Benga) remembers what happened because I'm pretty sure La'an would be mortified about it.

Pike was also hilarious because of how his character contrasted with his real personality, and Spock was another favorite.

It turns out that Hemmer is the only person besides M'Benga who hasn't been affected by the entity, so he and M'Benga work together to figure out what's going on. As far as I can remember, this episode marks the first time we've seen the two of them interact much, and I enjoyed it, especially how sympathetic Hemmer was about Rukiya. As a character, he's a little standoffish at first, and it's nice to see moments like this where he bonds with his crewmates and we can see that he does care.

M'Benga and Hemmer figure out that there's a consciousness who's doing all of this, and it seems like the consciousness is using Rukiya somehow, as the story is following the ending that she wanted. Unfortunately, Spock overhears this and comes to believe that Rukiya is the mercury stone, which is supposed to be a powerful weapon.

When M'Benga and Hemmer do find Rukiya, she says that she's playing with her friend, who turns out to be the entity controlling everything. Honestly, thinking too hard about the entity and how it got there is rather terrifying. I'm not a huge fan of those implications, but at least this one seems to be friendly? But then she's also manipulating the entire crew, so...

The entity ends up speaking through Hemmer and saves Rukiya's consciousness even though her body dies. Except it doesn't really. Her body kind of just disappears, and she's able to reappear as if she's older a few moments later, which kind of implies that her body is living on in someway. After all, the entity couldn't form a body herself and had to speak through Hemmer. If Rukiya doesn't have a body anymore, it's also odd that she would have aged at all even if time had passed. Theoretically, she would probably appear at the same age that she always was if she was going to reappear in a body at all. But I also get that her reappearing was more about assuring M'Benga that she was fine and showing us as an audience that time had passed for her.

Rukiya dying did surprise me a bit because other hints so far had given me hope that she'd survive, but I also wasn't incredibly shocked when she died instead. Still, it was very sad, and I was tearing up at the ending.

Overall, this episode was a fun one despite having a sad ending. I enjoyed seeing everyone out of character.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part VI Review

This finally definitely didn't let me down. I have such a soft spot for endings, and this one hit all the right points for me.

Reva does end up going to Tatooine to look for Owen and Luke. Beru refuses to leave their home when they learn that Reva is coming, so they end up fighting her. We saw very little of Beru in the series, but I absolutely loved her in this episode. I wish we'd gotten more of her and also of Owen and Luke. Leia was such a great character, and it would have been great to spend that much time with little Luke too.

Meanwhile, Darth Vader is still trying to get to Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan offers to give himself up in order to protect the others. This leads to an emotional goodbye with Leia, and Leia ends up giving him Lola after him joking about needing to borrow her, which was absolutely adorable.

Obi-Wan's final fight with Darth Vader was extremely powerful. There are some incredible quotes in this scene, including "Anakin is gone. I am what remains." and "You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. I did." Those lines along with Darth Vader's mask being partially destroyed, allowing Obi-Wan to see his face, were very powerful.

Reva's attempt to kill Luke is almost as powerful. She comes close, but in the end, she can't do it. The scene where she asks Obi-Wan if this makes her like Vader really got to me. I would love to see more of Reva's story and what happens to her after this.

At the end of the episode, we get to see Darth Vader talking to the Emperor, which I should have expected. It's honestly impressive how many appearances we got in this.

Leia continues to be amazing right through to the end. She wears the holster that Obi-Wan gave her once back home and tells her dad that, "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to want to change a few things." Honestly, I could watch a whole show about little Leia too. Seriously. I want spin offs about little Leia, little Luke, and Reva now.

When Obi-Wan first started trying to talk to Qui-Gon Jinn, I wondered if we were going to see him, and lo and behold, he does make a cameo at the very end. I was pretty much expected that at that point, but it was still cool to see.

I really enjoyed this series. I'm sad it's over, but I also think part of the reason why it was so good was precisely because it's a limited series, so I'm not sure I'd want another season. I'm just thankful for what we got.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x07 "The Serene Squall" Review

I'm getting more and more into Strange New Worlds with each episode. It's interesting because I don't typically like episodic shows that much, but I am enjoying this one.

When T'Pring was first introduced, I never expected that we'd see so much of her. I thought she'd pop up for a couple episodes at most, but she's also in this one. We see her at a rehabilitation center for criminals where she's working. We also find out that she's learning about humans in order to connect with Spock.

Each time we see her, I like T'Pring more. While she seemed very dismissive of Spock's human heritage in past episodes, I like that she's making an effort to learn about it now. She also mentions the onus being on her to learn about humans, and that combined with how much she trusts Spock in this episode really makes me respect her.

We also meet a new character in this episode: Aspen. Or Captain Angel, as he later learn their name actually is. I loved Aspen/Angel! They were such an intriguing character when they were pretending to be Aspen, and they were even more so when it turned out that it had all been a trick. I love how "Aspen" questioning Spock not trusting his emotions led to the reveal that Angel's husband is a Vulcan who rejected rationality.

In an attempt to rescue colonists, Enterprise goes into non-Federation space, but they fall into a Serene Squall trap and lose control of Enterprise.

"Aspen" tells Spock that their husband was a Vulcan and died. It's a very compelling story that ends up being at least partially a lie as "Aspen" is actually Angel and their husband was actually imprisoned by Vulcans because he rejected logic. Angel calls their husband Xaverius, but Spock believes that Xaverius is actually an assumed name of his half brother.

The only information I know about Spock's half brother is stuff I've googled, but I'm curious about where this is going. I get the feeling we'll be seeing him. Considering everything that happened with Michael and Spock in Discovery, seeing Spock's brother in Strange New Worlds will be even more interesting. I'm curious about what he knew about Michael and if she'll come up.

I also wonder if T'Pring, when she was preparing to hand over the prisoner, knew that it was Spock's brother.

At the end of the episode, Spock "pretends" to be having an affair with Chapel to give T'Pring a reason not to release the prisoner. T'Pring doesn't believe it though and trusts Spock, which makes me admire her even more as a character.

I'm enjoying this love triangle because it's one where I genuinely like all of the characters involved, and none of them are doing anything that massively annoy me like often happens with love triangles.

Right now, I think the love triangle is what I'm most curious about in the immediate future.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part V Review

This episode had me on the edge of my seat. It was probably my favorite so far.

We get flashbacks to Obi-Wan and Anakin training in this episode, which means that we do actually get to see Hayden's face beyond previous footage. It's a little funny because they're both obviously older despite when the clips are meant to take place, but that's much preferable to the CGI they've been using to recreate younger versions of characters recently.

Aside from those flashbacks, this episode suffers from the problem that it's so dark that I could hardly see what was happening on the screen, even when I brightened it. That's starting to become my pet peeve in TV shows and movies.

This episode focuses a lot on Reva, who becomes an even more interesting character as we learn about her backstory and motivations. We learn that she was a youngling, which isn't terribly surprising considering the comments about her powers earlier in the series. I suspected there was more to that than just her being Force-sensitive. Still, I enjoyed the depth her story gave her character, and I wasn't really expecting her to be trying to kill Darth Vader. That was a great twist.

Obi-Wan ends up surrendering to her and telling her that he wants to work together to defeat Vader.

The droid from earlier sacrifices itself to save Tala, who then also sacrifices herself by throwing a grenade. I enjoyed how emotionally powerful that scene was.

In happier news, Lola is okay! After me being so worried that she'd have to be destroyed or something last time, Leia fixes her pretty quickly. It almost seemed to be too quick. If it was that easy to pull the thing off, then Reva seemed a little too confident that her plan would work last episode. But, at any rate, I'm glad that Lola seems okay again.

At the end of the episode, Reva attacks Vader once the others have gotten away, but he reveals that he knows who she is. I really loved this whole scene and how it played out. We also see Reva find Bail's message where he mentions Luke, which makes me incredibly curious about what's going to happen in the next episode.

The ship they're trying to escape on also doesn't have a working hyperdrive, yet they're being tailed, so it looks likely that we'll get another confrontation, possibly between Obi-Wan and Anakin, in the next episode.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this series wraps up in the next episode.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part IV Review

I'm really enjoying this series so far. I'm impressed with how each episode keeps increasing the tension, and after each episode, I'm incredibly eager to see what happens next.

There's a cool scene towards the beginning of the episode where we go back and forth between both Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in bacta tanks, interspersed with their memories. It's a really great scene.

Tala, Obi-Wan, and some allies head to Vader's system where Leia is being held by Reva. Them breaking into the compound and moving around takes up most of the episode. What got me was the way they're communicating. There's a moment where stormtroopers hear Tala speak to Obi-Wan, but Tala is also there whispering to Obi-Wan when other people are in the room, yet apparently no one can hear her. If it was a loud room, that would make sense, but considering how quiet it was, I don't get how no one heard what they were talking about.

Leia being interrogated and still refusing to tell them anything was heartbreaking. The actress who plays Leia is doing such an amazing job despite how young she is. I'm really impressed.

It turns out that there's also a whole hall of dead Jedi on display in the building, which was incredibly eerie.

Obi-Wan reaches Leia, and the group almost manages to escape. But Reva finds them at the last minute. After a confrontation, they still manage to escape, but when Darth Vader questions Reva, she says that she's managed to put a tracker on their ship.

It turns out that that tracker is Lola, which no one has noticed yet. That hurts my heart because I'm worried that it means Lola will be destroyed for good, and that's going to make my heart break for Leia. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be able to disable the tracker and fix Lola though.

I'm really excited to see what happens next.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x06 "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" Review

A lot of heavy stuff happened in this episode, so there's no shortage of things to talk about.

After the Enterprise gets fired at, they end up rescuing three people from a shuttle. One of them, Alora, is someone who Pike knew in the past, and it's clear right off the bat that they have feelings for each other.

Alora wasn't as interesting to me in that first scene as the man, who we later learn is named Gamal, and child were. When asked, the man says that he's the father's child but only in the biological sense, which immediately made me want to know more. It turns out that the child is the First Servant, which is meant to be a holy figure within their culture. Upon hearing that, I kind of expected the kid to be annoying, but he was a really great kid surprisingly, which only made what happens in the episode even sadder.

At first, Gamal actually comes across as far more arrogant than the child. He is dismissive of Enterprise's medical equipment and claims that they don't have any disease on Majalis, which is certainly a pretty big revelation. They don't share that technology with outsiders though, which is probably good from a storytelling standpoint considering what having no disease would do to the entire universe.

It's something he admits rather easily though considering what could easily happen to their planet if a lot of people knew they had that technology. Surely, someone would attack in order to get it.

One of the subplots in the episode is that Uhura is on rotation and learning about security with La'an. While there were jokes about La'an not being "fun" in recent episodes, it was great seeing her and Uhura forming something like a friendship. Uhura definitely seems to have impressed La'an, which seems difficult to do. I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops over the series.

Uhura ends up matching the data chips that La'an got from the crash site to the Prospect 7 colony, and she also figures out that they speak a language related to Majalis, meaning that the two people on the two planets are probably related.

It turns out that the First Servant's role is being hooked up to a machine that requires the life force of a child. Something about this machine makes it necessary for Majalis to continue surviving, though I'm not clear on what exactly the machine is doing. While Ahora says they've made attempt to find a different way to power the machine over the years, they haven't been able to. She seems scarily okay with the fact that her ancestors chose to power a machine that way even though she admits that they don't know why they did it. It's a very half-hearted attempt at knowing it's bad. At the same time, she rationalizes it in a way that makes it very realistic, especially when she compares the way Majalis reveres the children to how impoverished children are treated on Earth.

At the end of the episode, Gamal offers to show M'Benga a possible treatment for his daughter's illness. He stresses that it's not a cure, but it's still something. I'm hopeful that this means we'll get to see his daughter healthy soon.

Overall, this was one of my favorite episodes so far. I'm intrigued by Majalis, and it's yet again something that I would have liked to learn more about. It raises so many questions about what daily life is like on the planet that I wouldn't mind seeing explored. And I'm also excited to see what this episode means for M'Benga's daughter.

Book Review: The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

Published: July 21, 2020
Publisher: Amulet Books
Received: purchased
Read from February 11 to June 4, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The epic, can’t-miss follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Avatar, The Last Airbender:The Rise of Kyoshi

Kyoshi’s place as the true Avatar has finally been cemented—but at a heavy cost. With her mentors gone, Kyoshi voyages across the Four Nations, struggling to keep the peace. But while her reputation grows, a mysterious threat emerges from the Spirit World. To stop it, Kyoshi, Rangi, and their reluctant allies must join forces before the Four Nations are destroyed irreparably. This thrilling follow-up continues Kyoshi’s journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice still feared and admired centuries after becoming the Avatar.

Review:

The Shadow of Kyoshi is the sequel to The Rise of Kyoshi, the second novel about Avatar Kyoshi. Unless something changes, I also think it's the last. Interestingly, even though the books are a duology, the story itself feels more like its own thing than a direct continuation of the story from the first book.

It's definitely not a standalone. There are a lot of aspects of the plot that would be incredibly confusing if you hadn't read The Rise of Kyoshi, but while the plot is connected to what happened in the last book, the villain and a lot of Kyoshi's biggest challenges have changed.

In this book, Yun becomes the villain of the story after unexpectedly appearing at the end of the last novel. I have complicated feelings about Yun as a character. It feels like we didn't get to know him all that much in the first novel, so I didn't feel the sense of former fondness for him that Kyoshi did. I really just found him annoying in the last novel, so his switch to being a villain didn't bother me all that much.

Another way this book felt quite different from the last one is that Kyoshi has different companions except for Rangi. We don't see much of the Flying Opera Company this time around, which was a huge shame. While I enjoyed many of the new characters we got to meet, especially Jinpa, I have to admit that I missed the characters from the last book quite a bit and would have appreciated seeing more of them.

I'm not sure if Zoryu counts as an Avatar companion exactly, but he's another new character in this book who Kyoshi tries to work with, so it feels like he counts at least a little bit. And he's by far the character that I have the most complicated feelings about.

At first, I liked him, and I was excited about the possibility of him and Kyoshi becoming friends. So it was disappointing that my feelings towards him had soured towards the end of the book. I won't get into all the details of why in order to avoid big spoilers, but I was disappointed in his decisions. Honestly, I found the way his story went hard to believe. I feel like such a character change could have been explained, but it wasn't really in the story we got.

With that being said, I liked how the change in Kyoshi's companions was paralleled with Kuruk as we learn about more of his former companions in this book. We also learn some interesting tidbits about Yangchen.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first one, though there were certain parts I liked, particularly Kyoshi and Rangi's relationship. If there was going to be a third Kyoshi book,  I would still happily read it. While it doesn't seem like there's going to be, there is going to be a Yangchen book released this year, and after the things we learn about Yangchen in The Shadow of Kyoshi, I am looking forward to that at least.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part III Review

I'm back to talk about Part III. A lot happened in this episode, and we finally got to see Darth Vader, which is probably what I was anticipating the most.

At the start of the episode, Obi-Wan tries to meditate and communicate with Qui-Gon, but it doesn't work. I'm wondering if we're going to end up seeing Qui-Gon in a future episode or not because that would certainly be interesting.

Obi-Wan fixed Lola which led to what's probably the cutest moment in the episode.

When they arrive on Mapuzo, Obi-Wan has a vision of Anakin. They take a ride with a bunch of stormtroopers. He mentions seeing her mother's face on Leia, which leads her to realizes that he knew her mom. She talks about trying to imagine her dad. It's a heavy scene.

They're found out, but an imperial officer helps them escape. It turns out that she's part of the "Path," where they help people who are Force-sensitive escape from the Empire, which is something I feel like a lot of interesting stories could come from that.

Eventually, Darth Vader arrives, and engages Obi-Wan. They don't fight that much because Obi-Wan is able to escape, but it definitely increased the tension and made me excited to see what happens next.

The tunnels used in this episode confused me as I'm not quite sure how the imperial woman escaped to go find Obi-Wan without meeting Reva while Reva met Leia. I'm guessing that Reva actually went in from the other side of the tunnel, but I didn't realize that at first and so was very confused by the whole thing.

Overall, I did enjoy this episode, and I'm curious to see what it's building towards next.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x05 "Spock Amok" Review

This was a fun episode.

At the start of the episode, Spock has a dream that he's marrying T'Pring, but she has him fight a Vulcan version of himself because she thinks he's too human. That was a good indicator of what the episode was going to deal with, and I like the way they showed Spock's difficulty with being half Vulcan and half human, especially when it comes to his and T'Pring's relationship.

We quickly find out that T'Pring is actually visiting as well while the Enterprise is docked at a space station. She's not even there for five minutes before she criticizes Spock's quarters as being too human, so I can easily imagine where Spock's anxieties come from. Considering what he's dealt with from other Vulcans while growing up, I really wonder how he ended up betrothed to someone who would also make comments about it honestly. That only becomes more true when she makes a comment about Starfleet making him act too much like a human.

The crew gets shore leave in this episode. There's a scene with Ortegas, M'Benga, and Chapel as they're preparing to leave the ship that may be my favorite in the episode because it's hilarious. I love getting to see little moments like that which expand on all the different relationships between the crew members.

While everyone else is having fun, La'an and Una find out about the bingo game and try to play with together to find out why it's fun. This was a subplot that I expected to enjoy more than I did. I find out La'an and Una to be interesting characters, but for some reason, I just didn't get into that story that much.

Chapel and Spock have a couple heart-to-hearts in this episode where she gives him relationship advice. The advice she gives him does seem to actually help his relationship with T'Pring in the end, but at the same time, it seems like Chapel is developing feelings for him. Her conversation with Ortegas at the end of the episode strongly hints at it too. I'm curious to see what comes of that.

In an effort to understand each other better, Spock and T'Pring go through a Vulcan ritual, but it ends with them switching bodies. This is such a popular fanfiction trope that it almost makes me laugh when I see it play out in media, but it undoubtedly led to a lot of comedy in this episode. I think this is one of the funniest episodes of Strange New Worlds yet mostly because of the body swap.

Somehow, they have a medical way of helping them switch back, so everything ends fine. I'm not sure how much they've actually learned about each other though, to be honest. While that was supposedly what was happening, it doesn't really seem to have happened.

Of course, things work out with the R'ongovians in the end because Pike figures it out. To be completely honest, Pike is probably my least favorite character on the show so far, which I more or less expected from his appearance on Discovery. I have nothing against him, but I'm far less interested in him than the others. And him figuring out things like how to negotiate with the R'ongovians and just going with it without talking to anyone else and in a way that feels a little too good to be true kind of irks me a bit. But it's also more or less what I expected to happen, so... I don't know.

Overall, I did think this was a fun episode. I just didn't care all that much for the ending.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part II Review

Here I am with my review for Part II when Part III has already aired. Whoops. I really enjoyed this episode and have a lot to say about it though. So let's get to it so that I can go watch Part III.

Obi-Wan ends up on Daiyu where the kidnappers have taken Leia. This series is the first time we've ever seen the planet, and I'm very curious about the place. It's definitely different from Tatooine. There are a number of interesting characters there, including a clone veteran who's begging for money. That's not something I remember seeing in Star Wars before, so it was an interesting detail.

A kid on the planet offers to take Obi-Wan to a "Jedi," but Obi-Wan quickly figures out that the Jedi in question is a fraud. The son of the woman he's helping is implied to have the Force though, so I really hope that kid's okay. It's implied that the fake Jedi did actually help them get off the planet, and it's that detail and the fact that he helps Obi-Wan later that makes him so intriguing. It feels like something significant happened to him, and I'd really like to know what it was.

The fake Jedi is able to give him information, and Obi-Wan finds where Leia is being kept. There's a moment where the kidnappers think they've tricked him, but Obi-Wand gets free and manages to find Leia.

Leia is excellent in this episode! She immediately attacks Obi-Wan when he enters her cell, and she tries hard to escape when she thinks she can't trust him. She also has some fantastic lines. My favorite was probably, "This would've been easier with the army." The fact that she's still carrying Lola around is also adorable. I really hope we get to see Lola fixed and working again before the end of the series.

There's also a heart-breaking moment where Obi-Wan tells Leia that she reminds him of someone, and of course he means Padme even though he doesn't say her name.

Not long after Reva arrives in Daiyu, the other inquisitors show up as well, and they're not happy about Reva's actions even though she has (kind of) been able to locate Obi-Wan. Her interactions with the other inquisitors make me curious about her backstory. The Grand Inquisitor makes a comment about her only getting the position because of her powers. We know that she can use the Force, but I wonder if there's more to it than that. Obi-Wan mentions that many inquisitors are former Jedi, so I wonder if Reva is particularly powerful with the Force and that's why she was made an inquisitor. I also wonder what made her so intent on finding Obi-Wan above everything else.

When Reva does find Obi-Wan, she reveals to him that Anakin is alive. To be honest, I didn't really consider Obi-Wan not knowing that at this point, so it took me a second to realize that it was the first time he'd heard that. Still, it's a heart-breaking scene.

The episode ends with a glimpse of Darth Vader in what I assume is a bacta tank. I hope that means we'll see more of him in the next episode. I'm genuinely very curious how that will go!

Obi-Wan Kenobi Part 1 Review

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series is finally here! It feels like we've been waiting for it for a million years. I was excited to finally watch it. 

Even though the first two episodes were released at the same time, this post is only going to be about Part 1. I'm writing this before I watched Part 2 as well, so I don't know what happens in it quite yet.

Before we get to the episode, there's a fairly long recap of the prequels, which made me laugh a little. I'm not sure that anyone who's choosing to watch the Obi-Wan series would really need the recap, and if you haven't watched the prequels, it absolutely spoils all three movies. But it was a nice trip down memory lane.

Once we actually get into the episode, we're quickly introduced to a group of inquisitors who are hunting down Jedi. They've arrived on Tatooine, and while at first I thought they were directly looking for Obi-Wan, it turns out that a different Jedi has caught their attention.

One of them, Reva, is fixated on finding Obi-Wan though, even though her superior chastises her for it. I already knew from information released before the show that Reva would play a significant role, and it's clear right away that she's going to be the biggest antagonist facing Obi-Wan.

It's only after meeting the inquisitors that we get our first look at Obi-Wan. He's working at a job that seems to be cutting some kind of meat. It's certainly an interesting place, especially considering all the workers leave while just leaving the meat behind sitting out. That...doesn't look good, but maybe this is special meat that doesn't spoil even when left sitting out on a hot desert planet? 

Is that what I was meant to take away most from that scene? Probably not, but it's what I got.

One bright spot of the episode is Obi-Wan's eobie. I don't know how likely it is that we'll see it again considering he leaves Tatooine within the first episode, but I sure hope that eobie makes it through the series alive.

We get some glimpses of Luke from afar but not all that much. After Obi-Wan leaves a toy for Luke, Owen brings it back to him and demands that Luke be left alone, a sentiment that makes complete sense and is unsurprising considering the original movies. Despite Owen's general distaste for Obi-Wan, he does deny knowing any Jedi when Reva questions him even when they threaten to kill his whole family. I do wonder if that threat is going to come into play later in the season if Reva catches on that Owen did, in fact, know about Obi-Wan.

As it turns out, the inquisitors were looking for another Jedi on Tatooine, not Obi-Wan, but that Jedi was looking for Obi-Wan and eventually finds him. It hurt to hear Obi-Wan tell the Jedi to bury his lightsaber, which we know that Obi-Wan did himself. It's clear that Obi-Wan feels quit defeated for obvious reasons, and he doesn't want to help when Bail comes to him for help.

Which brings us to Leia. We get to see a lot more of her than Luke in this episode, which has me excited. We've gotten quite a bit of Luke in the Star Wars TV series so far, and I'm excited to get a look at Leia's childhood. She's such a cute kid! I particularly loved the little droid she carried around, and my heart broke for her when her kidnapper destroyed it. I can only imagine how hard that would be for her, especially at that age.

I love Leia as a character so far! She's such a colorful character right from the moment we meet her, and I definitely feel like she's doing Leia from the original movies justice. I'm not sure how much we'll see of her throughout the remaining episodes, but I'm excited for it.

Oh, and another great thing about getting to see Leia is that we also get a quick peak at C-3PO!

Unsurprisingly, Obi-Wan does decide to go after Leia in the end. We see him dig up both his and Anakin's lightsabers in one of the more emotional scenes of the episode. We also find out that Reva is working with the kidnappers and is specifically looking for Obi-Wan, which makes complete sense yet somehow isn't what I expected until it was revealed.

I'm extremely excited to see where the story goes from this point on.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x04 "Memento Mori" Review

This episode starts with a narration about how it's a holiday to honor Starfleet officers who have died. I wonder if the episode was purposefully timed to air close to Memorial Day in the US because it kind of feels like it, but the holiday also provides a reason to hint at La'an's past, which ends up being relevant throughout the episode.

At the beginning of the episode, Una encourages La'an to talk to a doctor because it's clear she's not processing her grief well, but La'an refuses and says she's not broken. I appreciate that Strange New Worlds seems to be dealing with mental health just like Discovery has, and I actually like the way that it's handled in this episode better than I do many of the times it was brought up in Discovery.

I was curious of the mention of La'an's mental health was going to be mentioned and then not brought up again for quite a while, but it actually ended up being relevant to the entire episode as they encounter the Gorn.

The Gorn conceal themselves, and La'an only figures out they're there right before they attack. A few people are killed, and Una gets some deep wounds. Because of problems on the ship, she has to get stitches, which leads to a comment about "archaeological medicine" that was amusing. (Even living in a time where stitches are common and as someone who's had them before, stitches feel bizarre to me, so I can understand how especially weird they would sound in the future.)

While La'an's backstory gets developed more than anyone else's in this episode, we get quite a bit of character development or backstory for a lot of people. One of the people we learn the most about is Hemmer. Him and Uhura get trapped, and his hands are damaged, which forces him to rely on Uhura. It's mentioned that he's a pacifist, which I don't think came up in earlier episodes. Uhura mentions this not aligning with Starfleet, and he talks about pacifism being active. I'm curious to see how this comes up in the future and how it might influence later episodes.

The whole subplot also allows Uhura to help save the day, so her confidence is increasing even more. At this point, I think she may be the crew member whose story I'm most interested in seeing progress as she grows and becomes more comfortable in her role.

Unsurprisingly, the Enterprise manages to destroy the Gorn after a few wrong turns, and Pike makes a comment about them being ready if the Gorn appear again. Which means I kind of expect them to appear again. If they do, maybe we'll get to see their faces next time, since we never actually see any of them in this episode.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode especially for the character development it provided.