books

Wednesday Review: Red Harvest

Red Harvest is Joe Schreiber’s prequel to last year’s Death Troopers – did it live up to its predecessor, or fall prey to the zombie plot cliches? In essence, Red Harvest is, simply put, a zombie book. There isn’t an extremely good story to it, and it focuses so much on the zombies that it gets a bit tiring. The characters aren’t compelling, and with the rushed feeling of the entire book, I wish Schreiber would’ve added some extra content to the story, especially considering the short length of the novel itself. Red Harvest doesn’t reach its full potential, but hopefully future books of Joe Schreiber’s will, since his actual writing style is pretty satisfactory – maybe they won’t even focus on zombies anymore, something that, in this format, really isn’t scary or creepy. This video was also posted at NJOE and Man in Black Reviews, written by MizzeeOH with the Spoiler Free series being the creation…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived Chapter 3 Excerpt

It looks like the guys over at Rebelscum.com has a nice treat for us: As a special holiday gift to the readers of Rebelscum.com, you can now read a sample of the new title Star Wars: The Old Republic–Deceived months before it hits stores. Thanks to all our friends at Del Rey for making this happen.   In conjunction with SWTOR.com (Chapter 1) and StarWars.com (Chapter 2), Rebelscum.com presents the third chapter of Deceived. You can read the PDF right here! This book is due out on March 22, 2011.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived Chapter 2 Excerpt

The official Star Wars website have released a new expert for the upcoming book Star Wars: The Old republic Deceived: For those who can’t wait for the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, here’s another taste of the story with an excerpt from the novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp. In the Del Rey Books novel due out in March, readers will learn more about Darth Malgus, the Sith Lord who brought down the Jedi Temple. Star Wars fans first experienced the devastating might of Malgus in this epic cinematic trailer to Star Wars: The Old Republic which depicted the Sacking of Coruscant. For an excerpt of Chapter Two, click on the cover below. The book will be available at retailers on March 22nd. Pre-order your copy right now at the following online retailers: Amazon, and other retailers.

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First review of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived

The first reviews of Paul S. Kemp’s upcomming book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived is starting to show up on Amazon. It’s interesting that so many people already read the book considering the considering the release have been moved to March 22, 2011. One have to wonder if it has be planted or it is a real honest review. Anyways. Anyways. Here it is: First of all, let me say that my biggest peeve with Star Wars novels is that too many authors seem content to fill their books with ridiculous plot devices, endless battle scenes, and shallow characters. I’ve had enough of superweapons – after all, we all know the good guys defeat them. Unfortunately, I thought Sean Williams’ Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, the first in the Old Republic series, exemplifies these problems. As such, I admit I approached Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived with…

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Knights of the Old Republic Volume 1: Commencement Review

Was Commencement a good starter for the entire Knights of the Old Republic series? Read on to find out! Going into Commencement, you may think that you need to have played the actual Knights of the Old Republic games to understand what’s going on in the comic. But almost as soon as Commencement begins, it becomes obvious that this is not the case; Knights of the Old Republic stands so well on it’s own feet that even if you have never heard of the games or played, you can read this and understand what’s going on incredibly easily. There are references that only the people who have played the games will get, but understanding these isn’t absolutely necessary – it’s only an added bonus. One aspect of Commencement I just loved was the characters; they were all so entertaining, and the interaction between them all is great. Zayne and Gryph…

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Review: The Force Unleashed II by Sean Williams

The following review was written by Lord Iurus of NJOE.com, where he maintains an ongoing look back at the Expanded Universe, “A Long Time Ago”, as well as providing Spoiler Free reviews a week before most major Star Wars releases, in addition to the other reviews found at his blog.  The original review was posted here. “A Jedi can sometimes sense visions of the future.” “Have you ever done this before?” “I’ve never been a Jedi before.” I’m sitting here in an underground bunker on Malastare. The Hutts are ticked off. Not my fault they left a copy of The Force Unleashed II lying around where I could find it. Seriously. That’s just poor planning. Never mind how they got it; I’m sure Jabba had a few precogs on his payroll. Or, maybe he didn’t. Maybe Durg- no, no. Okay, well, maybe the copy I stole is a fraud. Or, maybe they…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic – Fatal Alliance Review

For those of you waiting for the dirt, you can finally find out what Sean Williams’s Fatal Alliance is like. Beware, spoilers follow! A smuggler, an agent and a Mandalorian walk into a bar. Wait a second, that’s not a joke; that’s a scene from Fatal Alliance! When all eight classes from Star Wars: The Old Republic find themselves in the same place, at the same time, faced with the same threat to the civilized galaxy, each class has a chance to let their class features shine. But is the story any good? Is it possible for a novel to do what it must to showcase all eight playable classes and still maintain that Star Wars vibe? I turned to leave. Darth Chratis had learned his lesson about me- he would not challenge me again. I saw a young woman, obviously another Sith, running past me with fire in her…

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Star Wars: The old republic – Fatal Alliance synopsis

BioWare and LucasArts–creators of the hugely popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game–have combined their storytelling talents and cutting-edge technology for an innovative new massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to create their own personal Star Wars adventure 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Sean Williams brings the world of the game to life in his latest novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance. Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is…

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Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived in schedule shuffle

Sue Rostoni updated her schedule blog today, and most of 2011 is affected. A lot of the moves are only by a month or so, however, and perhaps the biggest news here is that Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance sequel finally has an official title: Hand of Judgment. It’s also moved up a month to July. The most pressing move is Paul S. Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived, which drops from December to March – to be closer to the release of the MMO. Joe Schreiber’s Red Harvest moved into the vacant late-December spot. Also drastically pushed back were Alex Irvine’s Nomi Sunrider novel (from May to December 2011) and Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion (to March 2012.) As for the rest, check clubjade’s book schedule.

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Rob Chestney Signing in Austin, TX

theforce.net is reporting that Rob Chestney will be signing in Austin, TX. this Thursday at 5-7 pm Rob Chestney is an employee of Bioware and one of the game developers of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic massively multiplayer online game. He also is the writer of the Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace webcomic, which will tie into the videogame. He also wrote The Old Republic: Smuggler’s Vanguard, a short story published exclusively on StarWars.com which tells a story about an adventure of the Mirialan smuggler, Hylo Visz. Star Wars: The Old Republic Rob Chestney Signing Thursday 5 – 7pm Austin Books & Comics is thrilled to be joined by writer Rob Chestney for the debut of Star Wars: The Old Republic #1! This new series sets the stage for the hotly-anticipated massive multiplayer online game, and publisher Dark Horse went to the game’s developer…

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Preview the Audio Version for Fatal Alliance

Fans wondering what they can expect in Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, the first tie-in novel to the upcoming game, can get a sense of the novel by listening to an audio excerpt here. The novel is written by now veteran Star Wars scribe Sean Williams and will help to set up the galaxy as fans will see it during The Old Republic game. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance hits stores as a hardcover in July 22 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. ABOUT THIS BOOK BioWare and LucasArts—creators of the hugely popular Star Wars:® Knights of the Old Republic® video game—have combined their storytelling talents and cutting-edge technology for an innovative new massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to create their own personal Star Wars adventure 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Sean Williams brings…

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An Excerpt from The Old Republic: Deceived!

Author Paul S. Kemp gave fans a bit of food to tide their hunger over for his upcoming The Old Republic<span< a=””> class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: #cccccc;”> novel today. Entitled Deceived, Kemp’s tie-in novel to the upcoming game will focus on the characters, and even some of the events, seen in the cinematic “Deceived” trailer for The </span<>Old Republic<span< a=””> class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: #cccccc;”> from last year.</span<>                 Here’s an excerpt from his excerpt: Ahead, he saw the four towers surrounding the stacked tiers of the Jedi Temple, its ancient stone as orange as fire in the light of the setting sun. The civilians seemed to give it a wide berth, as if it were a holy place, rather than a place of sacrilege. He would reduce it to rubble. He walked toward it and fate walked beside him. Statues of long-dead Jedi Masters lined the…

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Dramatis Personae for The Old Republic: Decieved

As many Star Wars novel readers are no doubt aware, each novel contains a “Dramatis Personae”; a list of characters that readers are about to see in the novel and who they are. Author Paul S. Kemp (EUC’s interview) has given readers a first look at his upcoming novel The Old Republic: Deceived by posting the Dramatis Personae. It can be considered spoiler-filled, but if you’re so inclined, you can check it out here. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, a tie-in novel to The Old Republic game, is set to hit stores as a hardcover on December 28, 2010. I’m hoping to get approval in July to begin posting excerpts from Deceived, my Star Wars novel set in the The Old Republic.  But in the meantime, I thought I’d  post the Dramatis Personae for the novel.  There are four core characters (these four are either point of view characters,…

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