Take a photo of a barcode or cover
inkandplasma 's review for:
Force Collector
by Kevin Shinick
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/journey-to-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-novel-review-round-up/
For some reason I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one? I have literally no idea how I got that into my head, but I put it off for a while, before realising my deadline for this post was creeping up on me. And then I read it in one sitting. Because it was really, really good. So. Kudos for being an idiot past-me, we could have read this excellent book ages ago.
This isn't a high-action Star Wars novel, and I actually really loved that. As much as I love wild Star Wars action, it was nice to see what the world would be like for "normal" people living on planets that weren't being torn apart by Jedi or Sith. It was also really refreshing to see a Force sensitive individual who wasn't a Jedi, because they're few and far between in the novels that I've read - and basically non-existent in the movies.
The story doesn't depend on you having read any other Star Wars novels, so it's actually probably a really good intro story for someone who's seen the movies and wants to read more. I started reading them pretty recently, and one of the things I struggled with with the first few Star Wars novels I read was that they'd mention characters and places that I just had absolutely no reference for. Force Collector is about a teenage boy chasing down Jedi artefacts, and as a result he's following the mythos around great Jedi heroes like Kenobi and Skywalker. It touches in on the prequels and original series at points, while also exploring familiar sites amongst new ones.
The first few chapters were... weird. They were kind of like Harry Potter/Star Wars fanfiction, but once I'd settled into who Karr was and what his quest was going to be, I bought into the world. I'm basically just pretending that there wasn't a few weird scenes set in calculus classes and a very American high school. We don't study calculus in secondary schools in the UK so I struggled to imagine them learning it in space.
I also thought the friendship between Karr and Maize would have benefitted from being a longer term friendship. I get the appeal of having our characters meet in the beginning of the book, and introducing Karr and Maize was a great way to explain Karr's Force powers and his relationship with his grandmother. But then they went from zero to 100 in a really weird way. Who runs away with someone they met an hour ago? I think if they'd met at the beginning of the school year, and were tentative friends becoming closer, it would have felt more authentic. I did love their relationship after that point. It was very wholesome, and I loved the way they supported each other and helped each other out.
I really enjoyed Force Collector, and would highly recommend it, especially as a part of the 'Journey to the Rise of Skywalker' series.
For some reason I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one? I have literally no idea how I got that into my head, but I put it off for a while, before realising my deadline for this post was creeping up on me. And then I read it in one sitting. Because it was really, really good. So. Kudos for being an idiot past-me, we could have read this excellent book ages ago.
This isn't a high-action Star Wars novel, and I actually really loved that. As much as I love wild Star Wars action, it was nice to see what the world would be like for "normal" people living on planets that weren't being torn apart by Jedi or Sith. It was also really refreshing to see a Force sensitive individual who wasn't a Jedi, because they're few and far between in the novels that I've read - and basically non-existent in the movies.
The story doesn't depend on you having read any other Star Wars novels, so it's actually probably a really good intro story for someone who's seen the movies and wants to read more. I started reading them pretty recently, and one of the things I struggled with with the first few Star Wars novels I read was that they'd mention characters and places that I just had absolutely no reference for. Force Collector is about a teenage boy chasing down Jedi artefacts, and as a result he's following the mythos around great Jedi heroes like Kenobi and Skywalker. It touches in on the prequels and original series at points, while also exploring familiar sites amongst new ones.
The first few chapters were... weird. They were kind of like Harry Potter/Star Wars fanfiction, but once I'd settled into who Karr was and what his quest was going to be, I bought into the world. I'm basically just pretending that there wasn't a few weird scenes set in calculus classes and a very American high school. We don't study calculus in secondary schools in the UK so I struggled to imagine them learning it in space.
I also thought the friendship between Karr and Maize would have benefitted from being a longer term friendship. I get the appeal of having our characters meet in the beginning of the book, and introducing Karr and Maize was a great way to explain Karr's Force powers and his relationship with his grandmother. But then they went from zero to 100 in a really weird way. Who runs away with someone they met an hour ago? I think if they'd met at the beginning of the school year, and were tentative friends becoming closer, it would have felt more authentic. I did love their relationship after that point. It was very wholesome, and I loved the way they supported each other and helped each other out.
I really enjoyed Force Collector, and would highly recommend it, especially as a part of the 'Journey to the Rise of Skywalker' series.