Star Wars “Crimson Climb” is a freaking cool book. This is about Qi’ra’s climb through Crimson Dawn and what ultimately leads up to that great shot at the end of the solo movie. This is one of the sneaky good ones. I did not know that I was going to become such a Qi’ra fan. This book takes place shortly after the early events of Solo. Where Han and Qi’ra on the other side and the door closes, it essentially picks up there. But it goes into her background from when she and Han were younger, though Han’s not a big mainstay in this book. Qi’ra kind of has a “red room” type of situation in Crimson Dawn, and Dryden Vos is running a spy group of ladies. They go through their trials to eventually become agents. It’s fairly mundane in that, but the book really captures Qi’ra’s personality, which we really don’t get a lot of in on screen. This really gets to the heart of her motivations. Qi’ra is relentless. She’s a participant because there isn’t a better choice. It’s like, “Oh, Crimson Dawn? Okay, we can do this.” It is filled with a lot of… not a ton of action, but it falls more into the treachery, espionage side of things. This does a very good job of filling in some gaps that are desperately needed regarding Crimson Dawn as a whole, Vos, and where Crimson Dawn is in relation to the other factions of the universe. Ultimately, this is a super solid story. It may tick a tad too slow in pacing otherwise it’s a great addition to this era. 4/5 #starwars

Star Wars: “X-Wing: Iron Fist” is like playing D&D with squadrons. Story centers around Wraith Squadron, which is not Rogue Squadron it’s the next awesome squadron. A bunch of badass rejects who have all types of skills: stealth, explosions, demolition, flight. But they all fly. The plot of the story is that Admiral Rae Sloane is thought to be dead. She was one of the last Imperial leaders, and the warlord Zsinj is looking to take over. The entire book, which is about 13–14 hours long, takes place over about four or five unique battles, each with a goal, mission, and plan laid out. It’s really well structured, really detailed, and super awesome. Wedge Antilles, one of the great Star Wars characters, plays a leading role in this one. His presence really provides a central sense of steadiness toward the mission, and that’s what we get again in this book. Battles are super descriptive in their explanations of ship and character motivations in battle. It’s very detailed in that aspect and it’s super cool. All of the characters are fairly likable. There’s not a non likable character in the bunch. You get what you would typically get in Star Wars a lot of action. Admiral Ackbar is in this book doing Admiral Ackbar things awesome. Han’s in this book. Not a lot, but Han being Han. He’s a general, so he’s in charge of things here. That’s a different type of Han than we normally see. The ending was actually a bit surprising. I did not really expect it to end the way it does. Overall, it’s a great addition to the series details are awesome, but then is detailed. Otherwise, a damn near perfect book. 4/5 #starwars