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transitranger327 · 18 days

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Sundari Twilight, Chapter 2: The Eminent Ones

Day 7: What If?

Barriss’s quest to help the Galaxy outside the war lead her to discover Duchess Satine Kryze’s desperate transmission. Ahsoka decides to use her history with Mandalore to help out. They journey there with an Obi-Wan who is not in his usual state of mind.

Notes: This chapter specifically was written for @sapphicahsokatanoweek 2024, but the whole fic really does fit “What if…Ahsoka and Barriss went with Obi-Wan to Mandalore?” If anyone wants to make fanart of the outfits I describe, please tag me when you post it! This is sort of a mirror version of “Kenobi’s Shadow” by Greg van Eekhout (Obi-Wan’s pov during “The Lawless”) More notes can be found at the end, below the cut

—

“Brother, how can you be sure?” Savage had never found the same deep connection to the Force that his brother had. “The galaxy is filled with quadrillions of beings making choices that affect the future.”

“No, no, no, there are very few beings alive that can affect my old master’s grand design.” He had never felt a disturbance like this before. The visions Maul had were now playing out differently than before. “We must be cautious, my apprentice. Our plans with Death Watch and the Crime Families are under a new threat.”

—

Two girls were basking in each other’s warmth. One, newly knighted and unsure of her future in the Jedi Order. She was curled up on a bed, resting her head on the chest of the other, a padawan who hasn’t felt unsure of anything since she was resurrected by an avatar of the Force. But they were united in a shared love for doing good in a galaxy that detested it.

The padawan inhaled the sweet scent of her partner’s hair, a mix of fragrant oils and sweat, with the faintest hint of salt from their previous activities. “Did I ever tell you that your hair is beautiful?”

“Only three times every day, Ahsoka.” The knight had thoroughly enjoyed her time with her beloved, and was somewhat saddened knowing the war would conspire to separate them again. “But it makes up for the days I never get to hear it.” She got many compliments from others about her choices in hoods and scarves, but very few people got to see what was underneath.

A computer’s chime pierced the tranquility of their room. Barriss’s slicing program had discovered a new request for aid that could go unnoticed. She kissed Ahsoka’s breast before sliding off of her and into a chair in front of her computer. Ahsoka turned on her side and watched her lover fiddle with the device. “What did you find?”

“A transmission sent the Jedi council, personally. From…Mandalore?” “That’s a bit strange,” Barriss thought, “Why is Mandalore contacting us directly? Surely they could reach out thru the Senate.”

“Put it thru.” It hadn’t been all that long since Ahsoka had last interacted with Mandalorians, so she was curious what was going on.

A blue hologram of the Duchess of Mandalore, on one knee, erupted from the computer’s small holo-projector. “This message is for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve lost Mandalore. My people have been massacred, and Almec is the Prime Minister. There’s no time to explain everything now, but Almec has the support of the crime families”—she looked over her shoulder before continuing—“Obi-Wan, I need your help.” A Death Watch commando with a horned helmet approached her from behind as the transmission ended.

Ahsoka’s resolve steeled. “We’re doing this, we’re going to help Obi-Wan.”

“What do you mean?” Barriss wasn’t quite sure how to follow her partner’s logic.

“I thought it was obvious. The situation on Mandalore is obviously bad. Almec used to be the prime minister before he was the center of a corruption scandal and stripped of his power—a scandal some of my students there exposed.” A small smile crept onto her face, remembering Korkie, Lagos, Soniee, and Amis. “If crime families have aligned with Death Watch to put him back in power, something went very wrong.”

“But why won’t the Republic assist them? Weren’t Death Watch working with the Separatists?”

“Death Watch and Dooku are no longer friendly. The Senate isn’t even helping Republic worlds, let alone a neutral system like Mandalore.” Then Ahsoka began laying out her plan. “The Council is going to show this to Obi-Wan, but they’re not going to be able to help him without Senate authorization. But Obi-Wan’s still going to help, because Satine is personal to him.” She let the unspoken “Like we are to each other” hang in the air. “I’m guessing he’s gonna borrow the Twilight to try and sneak onto Mandalore.”

“I take it that’s where we come in to help?” Barriss was grinning, she was starting to see the pieces fall into place.

“Exactly. We ride along with him to Mandalore. This is a covert mission, but I have contacts there that he doesn’t. We can’t be wearing anything Jedi-related, or anything that looks like what we normally wear.”

“Should we still bring our lightsabers?”

Ahsoka thought for a few beats. “On one hand, they are Jedi items. If we’re caught with them, whatever crime families are running the place will know what’s happening. But, if Death Watch are involved, their leader has a Darksaber, and it would be a bad idea to encounter him without one.”

“Perhaps we carry them inside our disguises. We don’t show them off, but we can still access them if we have to.”

“I love that idea.” She draped her arms over Barriss’s shoulders. “Plan for the best…”

“…Prepare for the worst.” It was a little catchphrase they had developed, their two signature styles. The knight had always favored making plans, while the padawan was ready to change things when circumstances worsened.

The knight leaned in for a kiss from her lover, who always obliged.

—

Obi-Wan Kenobi hated flying. He even considered taking Anakin up on his offer, to come along and fly the Twilight for him. But he couldn’t bring anyone else. Two Jedi would attract too much attention. This was personal. This was something he had to do alone. ”For Satine,” he thought.

As he entered what could generously be described as a bridge, he almost missed R7-A7. Barely registering it, only as a friendly droid. “R7, set the stealthiest course you can out of here.” A few cheerful beeps later, a flight plan popped up on his screen. A low flight to the pass under the flight restrictions, the public airways to blend in on active scans, and a “malfunctioning” transponder to avoid passive detection. None of the Republic Military patrols (which he outranked, ironically) were going to stop him. The sublight engines quietly roared to life, and soon enough he was en route.

After an uneventful hyperspace jump, a distant feeling of dread crept over him. Like the mission was going to fall apart. Quiet doubts began murmuring if he was even doing the right thing. He was experienced enough with his own emotions to not be consumed be them, but the edge he felt while packing was now blunt.

A familiar voice snapped Obi-Wan out of his malaise. “Wow, you really must be preoccupied with Satine.” A Togrutan the same size and build as his student’s student, wearing greasy blue coveralls, had taken the co-pilot’s seat next to him. It took him an embarrassingly long time to realize that, yes, that really is Ahsoka. “R7, did he make any comment about you being here?” A few negative beeps followed, with a bit of what sounded like laughter.

“On the solo mission,” he thought, “that’s why her droid was here.” He slowly put his face into his palm, “Ahsoka, I just told Anakin he couldn’t come with me. And now you show up?”

“Barriss owes me ten credits,” she smirked, “I bet her you wouldn’t notice anything was up until after we left. I knew you would be too focused on your mission.” As she was talking, Barriss Offee—in a white headscarf and a dark purple cloak—approached the co-pilot’s chair and handed her a credit chip.

“You just keep inviting yourself on missions, don’t you.” Obi-Wan recalled the stunt she pulled at the citadel.

“Master, you’re the one who invited yourself on this mission without any official approval,” Ahsoka retorted.

Barriss continued in a Consular voice, “We’re just here to support you in whatever way we can.”

“You wouldn’t understand, this is…deeply personal”

“Wouldn’t we?” Ahsoka’s smirk had softened to genuine care. Obi-Wan looked at the two women in front of him. They had the same look of concern as when Anakin offered to help, trying to understand his personal agenda with his own.

“It’s not just who I would be help, it’s who I’d be fighting. Death Watch…”

“Has affected more than just you!” Righteous anger flashed behind Ahsoka’s eyes; Obi-Wan almost missed it. “You are not the only one of us to be hurt by them. You are not alone, Master!”

With this plea, Obi-Wan relented. “I’m sorry, Ahsoka. I didn’t realize this was personal for you too. I just know they bring out the worst in me and I didn’t want anyone else to be hurt.”

Ahsoka took his hands, which had started trembling with anxiety. “You’re never alone, Obi-Wan.” It was the first time she had used his real name in a long time.

“There are so many people who care for you,” added Barriss, smiling. “Let them help you when you need it.”

After a tender silence, Ahsoka asked, “So Master, what was your plan?”

“I was planning on breaking into whatever prison they’re holding her in, then escaping with her.”

“A simple extraction mission? That could work.”

In contrast to Barriss, Ahsoka had a lot more questions. “How are you planning on landing there? The docks are the only way in or out, and they would be under tight security now.”

“Well, I did bring a Disguise.” Obi-Wan opened his bag and pulled out the helmet of Rako Hardeen. Ahsoka flinched as she remembered when he faked his death.

“And if they ask for a landing permit?”

A smile—“I’ll try the old ‘I left it on the ship’ trick.”

The two younger Jedi started giggling. “Anakin would call that a good trick,” Ahsoka laughed, “but I’m surprised you would call it a plan.”

“I suppose he does have an influence on me. What would you suggest?”

“You know I taught at the Royal Academy,” Ahsoka started revealing her plan. “I still have contacts, and Barriss and I can convincingly fake the landing paperwork.”

“And your disguises?”

“You’re looking at them.” Barriss was now sitting at a computer console. “It’s pretty easy to not be recognized when you’re famous for one outfit.”

—

After a landing that was rougher than expected (Ahsoka had rewire a power junction in-flight), the three Jedi descended the Twilight’s landing ramp. Obi-Wan and Barriss led the way, as Ahsoka wanted to reduce her chances of being recognized from her last encounter. A Death Watch trooper approached them. “State your business.”

“We’re here to purchase merchandise for export.” Barriss handed over a datapad with forged permit, “Electronics, mostly.”

“Our vendor wishes to remain anonymous,” added Kenobi’s filtered and modified voice.

After a brief look-over, the Mandalorian gave his approval. “Well, it looks like you’re authorized. Please, enjoy our city.”

When the three managed to exit earshot and enter the tunnel, Ahsoka commenced attempts to contact any possible allies. Written messages, voice messages, browsing local holo boards. Within a few minutes, she began receiving a transmission.

“Ahsoka, am I glad to hear from you.”

Despite the anonymous transmission, she recognized the voice. “Soniee, is it? We heard the Duchess’s call and are here to help.”

“Good. We can’t keep this line open, just meet us at these coordinates.” A location popped up on Ahsoka’s comlink before the transmission ended.

She turned to her companions, “Shall we?”

—

When the three disguised Jedi reached the agreed-upon destination, a Mandalorian in familiar armor was waiting for them. She was a mystery to two of them, but for Ahsoka, it had only been a few months.

Simultaneously, they asked, “What are you doing here?”

—

Notes: “Merchandise for export” is definitely a euphemism for black-market goods. I actually don’t remember how often Ahsoka says “Obi-Wan” in TCW, but I’m reasonably certain she never says it to his face.

#sapphicahsokatanoweek #ahsoka tano #barriss offee #barrissoka #darth maul #savage opress #obi wan kenobi #star wars fanfiction #sapphic star wars #ao3 #the clone wars

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jscalzi · 5 months

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I Was Absolutely NOT Procrastinating Today, Nevertheless, Here is a Cover of "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"

This is the fault of my friend Greg van Eekhout, who today on Facebook opined that “If you’re over 45 and play guitar you have a moral duty to learn at least one yacht rock song.” To which I commented that I called dibs on “Brandy” by Looking Glass. And since I called dibs on it, I felt beholden to, you know, actually whomp it up. It is the weekend, so I felt like I could take a couple of hours…

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whateveradjunct · 5 months

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I Was Absolutely NOT Procrastinating Today, Nevertheless, Here is a Cover of "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"

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cienie-isengardu · 2 years

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Again, Anakin’s barely suppressed smile said something different than the grave look in his eyes. “Well, in any case, I’m coming with you.” Obi-Wan had foreseen this. Anakin was as close as a brother, and of course he wouldn’t let Obi-Wan face this mission alone. So Obi-Wan gave Anakin an answer crafted to convince him to stay behind. “The presence of one Jedi on Mandalore will be hard enough to conceal. Two Jedi will be impossible. You’d put the mission at risk. And Satine.” Obi-Wan watched the struggle on Anakin’s face: the thing he wanted to do versus the thing he needed to do. In the end, reason won out. This was much to Obi-Wan’s relief. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if Anakin had decided the other way. “At least take my ship, Master.” “The Twilight? That bucket of bolts? I thought you liked me.” “Corellian freighters come and go from Mandalore by the dozens. She’s your best chance at landing unchallenged. Besides, the transponder’s malfunctioning, so you can leave Coruscant orbit without anybody noticing.” It was Obi-Wan’s turn to smirk. “Malfunctioning or deactivated on purpose?” Anakin shrugged with innocence. “Hey, you know the Twilight. She’s seen some heavy battles these last few weeks. It takes a toll.”

Kenobi's Shadow by Greg van Eekhout, included in The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark anthology

#star wars #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #anakin and obi wan #The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark #The Twilight? That bucket of bolts? I thought you liked me. LOL

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jamesdavisnicoll · 2 years

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Weird Kid by Greg van Eekhout A middle schooler with body image issues teams up with a would be middle school costumed adventurer to save their town and possibly the word.

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laylainalaska · 2 years

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Originally posted on DW a few days ago.

I read Greg van Eekhout's California Bones this past weekend, the first book in his Daniel Blackland trilogy, and you may be observing fic from me in the very near (now) future, so I’m cross-posting the DW posts in which I talked about it this past week.

It's very good - wildly creative urban fantasy/alternate history in which "osteomancers" consume the bones of extinct animals to absorb their powers, whether it's a real-world ability (swimming and breathing underwater from an aquatic creature, strength of a mammoth, etc) or a magical one: dragon bones for flight and fire, the bones of an invisible mystic serpent to avoid pursuers, etc.

The La Brea Tar Pits are consequently the magical equivalent of a major oil strike, leading to a vastly altered world in which Southern and Northern California are independent countries, LA is a canal city a la Venice, and also a horrifying dystopia in which magicians eat other magicians to consume their magic, and the city in general is a dystopian police state.

The book is a heist novel, with the protagonist and his friends trying to pull off an impossible break-in of the vaults of the city's absolute dictator, the superhumanly powerful Hierarch.

Of course, in my classic way - h/t to rionaleonhart on DW for describing this phenomenon perfectly - I immediately found the worst person in the canon and made a beeline for them. This is not, fortunately, the Hierarch, who is a straight-up villain, but rather, the Javert-like character who is hunting the heist gang, and his partner, a human hound who can smell magic.

I still wasn't that far gone and in fact was kind of uncertain whether I wanted to go ahead and read the next books in the series, because they are pretty dark, so I checked out the fic on AO3 and found that:

a) All of it features my problematic faves, so clearly I'm not the only one who latched onto them. (And in fairness, I can see why; I'll talk more about it under the spoiler cut, but they're definite fandom catnip.)

b) It's all extremely good!

I was expecting the usual small-fandom experience where there's 1 fic in Portuguese, 2 Harry Potter crossovers, and 1 drabble that's part of someone's 200-fandom drabble collection ... but no! There are only four fics, but they're all excellent, they hit my buttons delightfully, and while they did spoil me for some later developments in the series, they also took me from lukewarm about whether to read onward, to slamming the hold button on the books at the library and then, um, rereading about 12 times every scene in this book in which these characters appear and thinking about nothing else for the last couple of days.

It's actually kind of an interesting phenomenon because the characters didn't mash down my id buttons on this level until after reading the fic. The book has a very emotionally restrained, kind of bleak style, and I think it took the extra emotionality of the fic to push me over the edge. But once I went, I went hard.

Under the readmore gets pretty spoilery, especially for the first half of the book, but LOOK, I have to talk about them or I will EXPLODE.

So Gabriel Argent is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Evil Dystopian Ministry of Whatever. He is careful, conscientious, an enormous nerd (he does math in his head to calm himself down), very annoyed by incompetence and slacking, and tries to do his job to the best of his ability and very carefully not think any more than he has to about the ethics of everything he's doing.

He occupies a weird, slippery place in the Lawful Good to Lawful Evil spectrum. I would call him Lawful Neutral, except that increasingly, as the book goes along and Gabriel keeps running headlong into all the various ways that his orders and his moral compass conflict, and gets increasingly pissed off about the dystopia he lives in, he doesn't decide to stop following the rules, he instead decides to Change The Rules so that he can keep following better rules, even if it means murdering his way up the hierarchy to reach a high enough level that he can change the government so that it serves the people instead of the other way around.

So that's Gabriel. He's hunting the heist team protagonists, and in order to do this, Gabriel needs the services of Max, who is a magic-sniffing hound.

Since they're living in a horrifying dystopia, hounds are human beings who are taken from their families as children, brutally trained until there's little left of their original personalities (in theory), and kept naked in cages except when they're taken out on collars and leashes to hunt down magic users. They have no rights and are for all intents and purposes considered animals and treated as such. Max is scheduled to be executed ("put down") in two days because he killed his last handler, but as he's older than most of the hounds, he's the only available one who is trained to trace the unusual and rare form of magic that the hero uses.

Max is smart, sarcastic, bleakly cynical, and very clearly not an animal, and as soon as Gabriel realizes this, he also realizes that the way to deal with Max and not go the way of his last handler is by treating him like a person.

Gabriel stepped up close to him. He reached for [Max's] neck. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said, unnecessarily perhaps. Max made no movement. Gabriel unbuckled his collar. "Shall we continue?" Max's throat moved as he swallowed. "They'll make you put the collar back on when you return me to the kennels." Then he turned and resumed sniffing.

(It's worth pointing out that Max is not actually doglike in any way except a heightened sense of smell. He's a human being whose legal status is "dog.")

Understandably, he's an enormous psychological mess.

Gabriel descended the stairs with Max trailing him. Max moved tentatively. "You're used to leading, not following," Gabriel said. Max looked at him. "You can walk ahead if you want." "I don't know where I'm going," Max said. "If you're not going to keep me on a leash, you could at least tell me where we're going." "Fair enough. But can you tell me one thing?" "I can tell you if I know it. I don't know much. I'm a hound." "Why did you kill your last handler?" Max's answer came without a moment of hesitation. "I wanted to die." Gabriel found himself frozen, halfway down the stone steps. In the dim light, Max's eyes were the brightest things in the stairway. "Why, Max?" "I thought I already said, Inspector Argent. I'm a hound." "Do you still want to die?" "Not before I've had a chance to pee," Max said. Gabriel nodded. "Then you have something to live for. Come on."

Gabriel files paperwork indicating that he needs Max for the current case and Max isn't going back to the kennels and his scheduled death until Gabriel is done with him, however long that takes. He also gives Max normal clothes (a spare set of his own, technically) and ordinary food (hounds in the kennels are fed a "nutritionally balanced slurry") and basically, well, treats him exactly as a partner instead of a dog. Max continues to be a sarcastic nihilist with a death wish.

"Is my time up?" Max asked. "Are they coming for me?" He still didn't seem to care much whether he lived or died. "They better not be. I filed all the right paperwork. You just stay here and keep working on our problem while I see what's going on. And if anyone asks, we are doing *anything* except contemplating the death of our leader." "What leader?" Max said. "Good ..." Gabriel checked himself. He'd almost said "Good dog." "Good," he said again, shutting the office door behind him.

Things go on like this until Gabriel gets himself on the bad side of the regime (basically by scrupulously following protocol and not taking into account that he's working for a horrifyingly corrupt dictatorship) and they end up on the run, being hunted by the authorities. When it becomes clear that the police are killing and terrorizing everyone Gabriel's ever known to get him to give himself up, Gabriel tries to do the noble thing for once, but Max is having none of it.

"What are you doing?" Max snarled. He sensed Gabriel's intentions before Gabriel could even act on them. "I'm going to turn myself in." "They'll kill you." "Not right away." He took a step down the sidewalk. Max gripped his shoulder and spun him around. "You don't have to come with me," Gabriel said, calm, despite the painful pressure of Max's fingers. "While they're busy arresting me, you can hide." Max tightened his grip. "I have no friends. No money. No place to go. Without you, I'll be tracked down and killed. With you, I have a chance. A very small, very sad chance. I need you."

SO YEAH. I mean, I'm not going to spoil the entire thing (this takes us about halfway through the book) but they are absolute id catnip for me, especially as Gabriel increasingly develops a very weird, nerdy, rules-obsessed version of a conscience and starts to act on it, and from the spoilers I've gotten from fic, there is a ton of excellent loyalty kink ahead for them as well, in the books I haven't read yet. Not that I'm checking several times a day to see if my holds have come in yet or anything.

#daniel blackland series #greg van eekhout #gabriel argent #max the hound

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bookhoarding · 2 years

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Book Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark

If you can’t get enough Clone Wars, or you just really dig the tradition of Star Wars anthologies, this is gonna be a must-read for you. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark is unique in where it enters canon and interacts with the show. Not only is it so carefully edited, it’s clear that heart went into each story from each author. The book The intro is written by Jennifer…

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rebelsofshield · 4 years

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark- Review

One incredible story is not enough to make this mostly uninspired Clone Wars themed anthology worth picking up.

(Review contains minor spoilers)

It’s been a big year for The Clone Wars. Twelve years after the cult favorite animated series started, it finally came to a conclusion earlier this spring on Disney+. Lucasfilm Publishing smartly capitalized off the hype for this long awaited finale with an anthology comic series released through IDW Publishing and a young reader collection of short fiction, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Stories of Light and Dark.

On paper, the idea of a collection of short stories centered on the heroes and villains of The Clone Wars sounds incredible. I personally love short stories and From A Certain Point of View was maybe the most creative Star Wars book of the last decade. (I can’t wait for its sequel this November.) The talent assembled for this project is similarly impressive. You have veteran Star Wars writers like Jason Fry, Zoraida Cordova, and Rebecca Roanhorse alongside standout science fiction and fantasy writers such as Yoon Ha Lee and young adult stars like Sarah Beth Durst and Preeti Chhibber .

It’s disappointing then that Star Wars: The Clone Wars Stories of Light and Dark feels like a mostly phoned in endeavor. The editorial decision to make each story a retelling of an existing episode of the television series does a lot to hamper creativity to begin with. Rather than finding new tales to tell with these iconic and beloved characters, the writing talent assembled is forced to recant existing narratives and hopefully inject some life into them in the process.

The level of creativity in tackling this limiting editorial decision varies from writer to writer. Lou Anders, Tom Angleberger, and Rebecca Roanhorse opt to tell their stories in the voice of their characters through smart uses of first person point of view. Anders manages to inject his take on “Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General” with the indignant haughtiness that made the series’ take on the Count Dooku so fun. Angleberger and Roanhorse have their characters (Bane and Maul respectively) recount their stories to another character and it’s fun just seeing the inner monologues of these different villains.

Others opt for more direct rewriting of their assigned episodes. These by and large make up the more boring or frustrating reads. While Jason Fry manages to turn “Ambush” into a discussion of Yoda’s relationship to the Force in wartime and Greg van Eekhout peppers in new bits of dialogue into the already jampacked “The Lawless,” most of these revisitings are unimpressive. The most frustrating proves to be Yoon Ha Lee’s take on season four’s incredible Umbara arc. Lee is a talented writer of military focused science fiction so his taking on this story makes perfect sense, but “The Shadow of Umbara” can’t help but feel phoned in. It feels less like an adaptation but instead a heavily truncated transcription of four episodes of content. The complex character dynamics are stripped down. The emotions are lost. The horrors of war are nonpresent. It’s beyond disappointing.

The most inspired take of the collection comes from Sarah Beth Durst who reorients the point of view of season five’s “Young Jedi” arc to Katooni. Katooni was already a standout character in this story and getting to step into this fledgling Jedi’s thoughts and really get to understand her fears, hopes, and insecurities adds a nice flair to the narrative. There’s also just a certain joy in seeing the next generation of Jedi in awe of Ahsoka. Very relatable.

It’s a bizarre product and it leaves you wondering who exactly this collection was targeted to. The stories feels so disparate and also dependent on the continuity of the series to make sense for a new reader and fans of the show are unlikely to get much out of this book due to the familiarity of the source material.

And then there is “Bug.” The final story in this collection is somehow a must read despite it all. E. Anne Convery spins an original Star Wars fairy tale out of the traumatic aftermath of “Massacre.” Centered on a nameless young girl forced to work for her abusive innkeep parents on a backwater planet, “Bug” feels instantly compelling in its deft weaving of familiar fantasy tropes with Star Wars back droppings. When a strange old woman arrives fleeing the war, our protagonist’s world begins to expand and strange magic seems to spill from every corner. Convery writers her Dathomiran visitor with the right amount of wonder and fear and she feels right at home alongside any number of fairy tale witches and sorceresses. “Bug” proves to be an incredibly enjoyable genre play but also a blast of a story in its own right. It feels like the kind of bedtime tale you could read to an adventurous child at night and it hints to a larger world just outside its doorstep.

It’s a shame then that I have trouble recommending paying for a $17.99 book just for one stellar short story. If the entire collection had showcased the same level of freedom and creativity as its final piece this may have been something really special. But unfortunately, what we are left with is a mostly forgettable collection with one diamond in the rough. I guess I have to wait until FACPOV in November after all.

Score: C

#Star Wars #Star Wars books #review #reviews #The Clone Wars #Star Wars: The Clone Wars #Clone Wars #Lou Anders #Preeti Chhibber #zoraida cordov #Jason Fry #Rebecca Roanhorse #Greg van Eekhout #Anne Ursu #Yoon Ha Lee #Tom Angleberger #Sarah Beth Durst #E. Anne Convery #Zoraida Cordova

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