I thought I'd take a break from the game related posts. Between bouts of writing, game playing, and work (of course), I've been reading some of the latest Star Wars books and comics. So far, I've been pretty impressed. Here are a few recently completed selections....with no spoilers, of course.

Knights of the Old Republic #1 & 2 (Dark Horse Comics) - So far, I've enjoyed this new series more than I expected. It opened with an intriguing ending to the first issue and has maintained the mystery through the second. It looks like there will be many twists and turns ahead. Fortunately, it looks like the series has a good framework set up for exploring a lot of different locales and plotlines. It also has a sense of humor, a vital part of most good Star Wars stories, right back to the original movie. The art is very well done, and adds a lot of detail to the story.

Purge (Dark Horse Comics) - I discovered this at my local game/comic book store when I went in to pick up Knights of the Old Republic. It's a one-shot about the last stand of some of the remaining Jedi Knights, post RotS. It has some clever lightsaber / force combat and really lives up to the "Purge" and "last stand of the Jedi" billing. The art is very good. I throughly enjoyed it. Comics like this are sometimes best as one-shots. No complicated story lines, just a couple of ideas that are well though out , quickly developed, and provides a quick pay-off. Some series stall out while they spend too much time distracted with subplots instead of concentrating on the heart of the story. One shots like this avoid that problem.

Outbound Flight - Timothy Zahn - The prequel to Survivor's Quest, and parts of the Heir to the Empire series. I just finished this one today. I've been a Timothy Zahn fan since his original trilogy. He delivers once again. Thrawn is as calculating as usual. However, certain characters in this story felt...unneccesary, or distracting. I promised no spoilers, so I won't go into them here. It was a good story, but I think I enjoyed Survivor's Quest a bit more. I regard both Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight as supporting stories to the Heir to the Empire series. I'd recommend reading those first. Here's my previous blog entry about Survivor's Quest.

I was spending a number of gift cards at the local chain bookstore when I picked up Outbound Flight. With the remaining balance, I also went ahead and purchased the Revege of the Sith novel and Labyrinth of Evil, since they're now out in paperback. I haven't started them yet, but look forward to reading them back to back.