This book takes place in the Prime continuity (i.e. not JJ Abrams) and was written before The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard, and while is interesting, suffers the same shortcoming as that book, in that David A. Goodman is obsessed with connecting the TV series to each other.
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The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard
This autobiography jumps through Picard’s life, trying to hit the highlights. As a story goes, there were a few interesting parts, discounting all the inconsistencies of stories told on the show verses how they are told here (do we chalk that up to an old and addled brained Picard or an author who couldn’t be bothered to do enough research?). Nearly all of the book covers events before Encounter at Farpoint, then takes one chapter to cycle through highlights of Picards tenure as captain of the Enterprise, and then gives a final chapter taking place after Nemesis. My biggest complaint is the author is trying too hard to connection Picard to everything.
Recent Star Wars Novels, Reviewed
And by recent, I mean, within the last couple of years.
Star Wars: Tarkin
This novel explains the rise and career of Wilhuff Tarkin, up to his appointment as a Grand Moff. It jumps from period to period (boy, young Judiciary Force commander, Imperial Officer), skipping over his appearances in Clone Wars. If you thought Tarkin just got a bad rep for blowing up an entire planet just to test the Death Star, but was otherwise an okay guy, then this book will correct you of that gross misjudgment of character.
Rating: Decent
Star Wars Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
This novel starts right near the end of the Old Republic, and goes up to a couple of years before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story starts. It is primarily a story about Galen Erso and Orson Krennic, particularly since Jyn isn’t born, and when she, is she is a young child. It explains some of the hardships it took to construct the first Death Star aka, the 20 year project to build a moon-sized space station. (And yet, they built a second functional one like 4 years later which was larger in size). This book doesn’t exactly endear anyone to Galen Erso, either.
Rating: Fine
Andy Weir’s Artemis: A Novel
From the Amazon description:
Propelled by its heroine’s wisecracking voice, set in a city that’s at once stunningly imagined and intimately familiar, and brimming over with clever problem-solving and heist-y fun, Artemis is another irresistible brew of science, suspense, and humor from #1 bestselling author Andy Weir.
Artemis is set on the moon. And follows the exploits of one Jasmine Bashara (Jazz for short), a smuggler. She is one of some 2000 odd residents living on the moon in a settlement called Artemis, so named for the Greek goddess of, among other things, the moon. The facilities have existed for at least twenty years, and with weekly launches to and from the moon, space travel seems to become fairly regular. Jazz takes on a job that might be out of her league, and therein the story lies.