books

Cover Art for The Old Republic: Encyclopedia Revealed

The official cover art for the  upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic: Encyclopedia has been revealed . The cover features Jedi Master Ven Zallow, and who I believe is Lord Vindican from the return trailer, or is it Lord Scourge ? Here is the summery for the book: Since its release in 2011, the massively multiplayer online role playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic has captivated thousands of gamers and Star Wars fans alike. Now comes the ultimate in-depth guide to the turbulent and fascinating world featured in the game—The Old Republic. Created in full collaboration with LucasArts, this in-depth companion covers the spectrum of characters, weapons, vehicles, events, and planets of Star Wars : The Old Republic. More than just an encyclopedia, it is the ultimate guided tour of the dangerous and mysterious universe found in a galaxy far, far away. The book is due out October 15, 2012!

Read More

The Old Republic: Annihilation Cover Art Info

Drew Karpyshyn has announced on his website that the two characters on the back cover of his upcoming novel; The Old Republic: Annihilation are indeed Darth Karrid, the Falleen and Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, the Kel Dor and narrator of the Timeline videos for The Old Republic. Drew says on his blog: The man on the front is Theron Shan, the main protagonist. I’ve had some people ask if he was modeled after me. (People asked the same thing about the default image of Commander Shepard as well.) I guess I can see it, since we do share some features: white guys with shorter, darker hair; two eyes, one nose. But beyond that… not so much. On the back cover of the Annihilation novel, you see Darth Karrid, the main villain in the story. She’s the one with the red lightsaber. You also see Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, the narrator for the history holocron updates for SWTOR. If you…

Read More

SWTOR: Deceived Now Available In Paperback

Today, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp is out for its mass market paperback release. The book was original released in hardcover last year, and you can read our review of the book here. The book follows Darth Malgus who is one of our main characters in SWTOR. Here’s a little plot description refresher courtesy of Amazon: “A Sith warrior to rival the most sinister of the Order’s Dark Lords, Darth Malgus brought down the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in a brutal assault that shocked the galaxy. But if war crowned him the darkest of Sith heroes, peace will transform him into something far more heinous—something Malgus would never want to be but cannot stop becoming, any more than he can stop the rogue Jedi fast approaching. Her name is Aryn Leneer—and the lone Jedi Knight that Malgus cut down in the fierce battle for the Jedi Temple was her Master….

Read More

The Old Republic Encyclopedia Coming This Fall

SWTOR fans have something new to add to their collection. TheForce.net brings us the story of the upcoming The Old Republic Encyclopedia. Here’s what they had to say: DK supplied some more information regarding their upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia in their Fall 2012 catalog: Since its release in 2011, the massively multiplayer online role playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic has captivated thousands of gamers and Star Wars fans alike. Now comes the ultimate in-depth guide to the turbulent and fascinating world featured in the game—The Old Republic. Created in full collaboration with LucasArts, this in-depth companion covers the spectrum of characters, weapons, vehicles, events, and planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic. More than just an encyclopedia, it is the ultimate guided tour of the dangerous and mysterious universe found in a galaxy far, far away. The hardcover book (352 pages, $ 40.00) will be available from October 2012….

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn New Novel Coming Soon

While he recently announced his official departure from BioWare, Drew Karpyshyn hinted he has a new novel in the works. Before now, there was not a lot known about the next novel in the Star Wars The Old Republic series but an announcement on publisher Del Ray’s Facebook page indicates otherwise. Del Ray announced on their Facebook page: First, DARTH BANE and REVAN author Drew Karpyshyn is cranking away on his next novel, STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: ANNIHILATION. Republic agent Theron Shan and his Twi’lek compadre, Teff’ith (from Dark Horse Comics’ STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: THE LOST SUNS) must contend with a Sith Empire counter-attack against the Republic, spearheaded by the lethal apprentice of Darth Malgus. Satele Shan and Jace Malcolm co-star in what will be a fast-paced and tension-fraught tale based on the award-winning video game from BioWare and LucasArts. This is great news for Karpyshyn fans…

Read More

The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic

For the super SWTOR fans, there is a new book coming out that you’re going to want to add to your wishlist. The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic is set for publication for November 16, 2011. It’s set on Amazon at $26.40 with a retail price of $40 so buying early at the lower price might save you money. About the Author: Frank Parisi is an editor at Lucasfilm, Ltd. He was the co-author of The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, editor of Star Wars Insider magazine, project editor of The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and has contributed numerous articles to GamePro and ALARM magazines. Daniel Erickson is writing director for BioWare’s Austin, Texas studio. He began his gaming career as an intern with Next Generation magazine and is currently lead writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Book…

Read More

A Storm is Coming Says Drew Karpyshyn

A storm is coming, as Drew Karpyshyn says on his website- a storm of publicity for his new book. We’ve told you about the Revan novel before but now that we are closer to the release date for the book, the news is really booming. In addition to the synopsis and other excerpts we’ve brought you over the weeks, you can now also find Chapter 3 of the novel. This just might be one of the last sneak peeks we get since the book is releasing very soon! Barnes and Noble now has the book available for preorder if you already know that you want to make it yours. Their overview reads: There’s something out there: a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republic— unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it. Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians—and…

Read More

Entire Chapter 3 of Revan Novel Released

Another chapter of Star Wars’ ancient history is about to be revealed. Drew Karpyshyn’s novel Star Wars: The Old Republic — Revan, due Nov. 15, is the long-awaited follow-up to the 2003 videogame Knights of the Old Republic.    We’ve been bringing you updates on this novel as we find them, including excerpts, a novel synopsis and more. Here is a snippet:       Star Wars: The Old Republic — Revan picks up two years after Malak’s defeat, when the redeemed Revan is still trying to pick up the pieces of his old life and figure out what exactly made him turn to the Dark Side. All fans have known about Revan’s post-KOTOR life is that he took off for the Unknown Regions on the hunt for a dark threat to the Republic… and was never heard from again. Now his fate is about to be revealed, and EW’s…

Read More

Star Wars: TOR: Revan Mini-Excerpt part 2

A few weeks ago, we reported that Star Wars Books on Facebook presents their a mini-excerpt from Drew Karpyshyn’s upcoming Darth Revan novel. Now Star Wars Books on Facebook presents their second mini-excerpt from the book: “It’s not enough to secure your silence through threats and blackmail. When we finally move against the Emperor, I want you on our side.” “And how do you intend to convince me?” … “Have you ever heard tales of the Emperor’s childhood?” Scourge shook his head. “I don’t even know what planet he’s from.” “Few people do. He’s hidden his past, because if the truth came to light none would follow him.” The book is scheduled to be released on November 15th, 2011 from Del Rey Books. No official reviews are up from the book yet, but we will keep you informed as they show up.

Read More

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

Random House has a good chunk of the first chapter of Drew Karpyshyn new novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan up on its site. Critics haven’t been nice on the book so far but so far they have all be unofficial reviews. Any ways, here is a chance to check it our for yourself: LORD SCOURGE RAISED the hood of his cloak as he stepped off the shuttle, a shield against the wind and pelting rain. Storms were common here on Dromund Kaas; dark clouds perpetually blocked out the sun, rendering terms like day and night meaningless. The only natural illumination came from the frequent bursts of lightning arcing across the sky, but the glow from the spaceport and nearby Kaas City provided more than enough light to see where he was going. The powerful electrical storms were a physical manifestation of the dark side power that engulfed the entire…

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn to write fourth SWTOR Novel

Erich Schoeneweiss posted on on the Star Wars Books Facebook page: Just announced at our Del Rey Star Wars books panel: Drew Karpyshyn will write a fourth novel that will tie into The Old Republic for Fall 2012 and Tim Zahn will write a new novel starring Han Solo set in the classic films era. More details to come on both as they develop. (ES) So Karpyshyn’s doing the fourth SWTOR book… is that to say that the Kemp duo isn’t SWTOR? Or that if they were, they’d be coming out after Karpyshyn’s? Excellent anyways! My two favorite SW writers. Can’t wait!

Read More

Revan Mini Excerpts

Del Rey’s Star Wars Books Facebook page has posted a mini-excerpt from Drew Karpyshyn’s upcoming novel The Old Republic: Revan. Check it out below: I should have guessed it was you.” Revan rose from his chair to face the speaker. She wore the robes of a Jedi Archivist, though she was in fact a Jedi Master. She was young for the position, but her hair was platinum white. She had cold blue eyes, and a pale complexion that spoke of a life spent inside the Archives, sheltered from the sun. “Atris,” Revan said, silently cursing. Aparently Del Rey’s Star Wars team will continue posting mini-excerpts from upcoming Star Wars novels on their Facebook page every Thursday. Besides Del Rey’s first mini-excerpt, RandomHouse.com has also posted a new audio excerpt for the upcoming novel as narrated by Marc Thompson. Listen to it below:

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn on the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines

Drew Karpyshyn had some words for the haters on his personal site. He discussed the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines as well as perspectives on KOTOR, ToR, and his upcoming novel. It’s a long but worthy read, especially since the ending paragraphs are my favorite. In this update he has details about the NYCC schedule as well as a rant about some Star Wars fans taking things out of context and blowing them out of proportion. We brought you the story recently of the supposed “leaked copy” of the Revan novel, set to release in November and the accusations that it “attempted to retcon elements of KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords”. I had no proof that this message board member really read the Revan novel, although he did supply a photo of what was supposed to be the cover of the proof copy or something. Regardless, I prefer to make…

Read More

Star Wars: Revan Novel Spoilers- an Unofficial Review

We found an interesting write-up about the Revan novel that contains spoilers of the storyline for SWTOR and the novel. In a post on Spacebattles.com, user “Sparris” posts, “After getting and reading an uncorrected proof of this story, pretty sure most people will think it sucks.” He goes on to give about 600 words or so of a summary of the novel that portrays it in a less-than-interesting light. However, we also have to keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion and a rough summary at that and we don’t actually see any more than a pic of the alleged cover of the proof of the novel. SPOILERS INCOMING: The poster says: There are three main characters throughout: Revan, the Exile (now named Meetra Surik,) and a Sith Lord in the Emperor’s service named Darth Scourge. Ok, fair enough. What’s next? Revan’s story is pretty simple. His dreams…

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn Interview: Expanding Star Wars and Mass Effect Universes

Newsarama has a great interview with Drew Karpyshyn expanding STAR WARS, MASS EFFECT Universes that gives us a little more info about Drew and the behind-the-scene happenings with the stories and how things work. This nearly 2,000-word interview is very thorough and well worth the time to read it. Drew Karpyshyn has written novels of the Star Wars universe and is now also writing for the upcoming SWTOR MMORPG. He also worked as lead writer on the first Mass Effect, co-lead on the second and was writer of three novels on ME. So you can see how he would be of interest to fans of either game or series. The interview covers a lot of fun stuff like the challenges or writing inside established worlds, the differences of good and evil, and what is to come for both of these major BioWare properties.  Here is a snippet from the interview:…

Read More

Fatal Alliance vs. Deceived via Mark Pajor

The guys over at Corellian Run have some things to say about the characters of two SWTOR novels. Well actually, one guy in particular, Mark Pajor (@mpajor on Twitter) has an interesting write-up about the novels. Mark admits to never reading a Star Wars novel before this but decides he should become familiar with all areas of the lore, as he hopes to be a writer for Bioware one day (wouldn’t we all, Mark?) so he takes up Fatal Alliance and Deceived. I have yet to read them either so I appreciate Mark taking the time to give us some info. He starts off: “Fatal Alliance was my first Star Wars novel, and it confirmed all of my fears and reservations of reading one. Deceived, on the other hand, relieved my distaste quite a bit. Now, there’s a lot I could complain about writing-wise for both books. Instead, I’m going…

Read More

‘Revan’ Cover Art Revealed

I was once told that the older you get, the more you let your body go.  Revan is proof of this as he has taken on a few pounds on the cover of Drew Karpyshyn upcoming book. The book will hit the stores on November 15 and will tell the story of what happen to the legendary Sith lord after the KOTOR games. Drew Karpyshyn will be on-hand at Comic-Con for signings, as well as the developer meet and greet at the BioWare Base the next few day.

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn Signing and a Free Revan Mask: SDCC 2011

There’s some more good news coming in from the people at Star Wars Books. If you were already pumped up about San Diego Comic-Con, then you will be happy to hear that Drew Karpyshyn will be there for book signings at the Del Ray Booth as well as at the BioWare Base at the Hilton. I really wish I still lived in San Diego so I could attend. How cool would it be to add this to my collection with my signed comic from Alexander Freed? If you’re going to be at Comic-Con, here’s the info: Drew Karpyshyn, popular author of the STAR WARS: DARTH BANE trilogy of novels, the upcoming novel STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN, and the novels based on Bioware’s hit video game MASS EFFECT will be signing books and REVAN masks. Free Revan masks and paperback copies of STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION…

Read More

Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels Come to eBook Format

Today the library of Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels will be available in all eBook formats at Random House. Beginning today, just as it was previously announced, you can get the entire catalog of Random House’s Star Wars novels on digital format. This is a great opportunity to enjoy all of your favorite books on your e-reader or even on your computer.   Amazon’s downloads work on the company’s Kindle reader, as well as on any smartphone or tablet with a Kindle app. Barnes & Noble digital purchases are compatible with B&N’s Nook device. In celebration of the news, Del Rey’s Star Wars Books Facebook page has a fun trailer that’s really worth the view:

Read More

50 pages from Star Wars: The Old Republic: FATAL ALLIANCE free to read

Each Friday, Del Rey Spectra posts 50 pages for free reading from one of their books on their genre blog, Suvudu.com. I love books and I love free so this is a great combination. This week’s book is STAR WARS: Star Wars: The Old Republic: FATAL ALLIANCE by Sean Williams so I’m thinking readers here are going to be interested as well. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re going to love this book and the free 50 pages gives you a good look at what you can expect. You’re likely going to become so intrigued, you have to get the book to finish reading. (Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!) Are you curious about the book but not sure if you want to read the free 50 pages yet? You can find out more because we have already reviewed it and interviewed the author, Sean Williams. Be warned, the…

Read More

Synopsis Revealed For Upcoming Revan Novel

While we can’t even see a cover yet, Random House has released the synopsis for the upcoming Revan novel. This is exciting news for fans of Revan, Drew Karpyshyn and Star Wars The old republic. Drew is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, and Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil, as well as several other science fiction and fantasy novels. He also wrote Mass Effect: Revelation and Mass Effect: Ascension.   The new book synopsis reads: There’s something out there:a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republic—unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it. Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians—and returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the…

Read More

Drew Karpyshyn Discusses “Revan”

One of the most anticipated novels for SWTOR fans this year must be the Revan by Drew Karpyshyn. The books will be out later this year and should give some answers to what happened to one of the all time biggest force users. If you are like me must have been wondering what has happen to the guys, but also how strong his force powers actually is. In Drew Karpyshyn latest blog posts he addresses this issue. Apparently a book about me playing video games – being the ultimate pownzor – won’t work in books. Karpyshyn states that video games and novels works in different ways and  “are meant to convey different experiences and the two representations of the character simply cannot be laid on top of each other.” – witch is kind off dull really, and might be the main reason why I play way more videos games then read books. To…

Read More

All 106 Star Wars Books to Go e-Book Format

If you’re ready to get your Star Wars fix in an electronic book format, then you are in luck! Random House and Lucasfilm recently released the news that all Star Wars books will now be released as e-books.   There are currently 30 Star Wars titles available via e-book. However, beginning June 28, all 106 will be available for download. Now it will be easier than ever to keep your Star Wars reading collection in one place. You can enjoy them on the go on your favorite e-reader and of course, you can also store them on your personal computer.   It’s never been so easy to ready- and enjoy doing it! The Star Wars series of books have been so popular that not a single one has gone out of print in the 30 years since the first one was published. The books have been published under the Bantam…

Read More

Free comic book day is coming

Free Comic Book Day is a single day that happens each year on the first Saturday of May. On this day, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores! How cool is that! You should check with your local comic book shop for their participation and rules. Free Comic Book Day in L.A. with have Geoff Johns, Robert Kirkman, Mike Mignola, Steve Niles signings The Core in Cedar Falls is celebrating their 10th year of the event. Owner Mike Blanchard will donate $400 worth of graphic novels to the school best represented at his shop Saturday. The Bay City Times -On free comic day, Cashman’s Comics will have 100 Green Lantern HeroClix game pieces to give away. What is your area comic book store doing? There’s also a Free Comic Book Day app available…

Read More