Book Look: Star Wars: Thrawn Novel by Timothy Zahn

In short, it's not my favorite Star Wars novel. It's probably my least favorite, simply because I'm not super fond of the military tactics, on either side of the Galactic Conflict.

There is one character who plays the political game - Arhinda Pryce of Lothal, who I quite liked as someone competent but stuck in a backwater (relatable) who gets the chance of a lifetime.

One of the biggest 'mysteries' of the series is 'Who is Blackswan', and for some reason, no one ever puts two and two together with the other character who has a swan-related name. You can kind of see why Thrawn didn't get it, as the Chiss don't naturally speak Basic, but even the humans don't? No one knew the etymology? Maybe not.

It doesn't make me want to read the next books in the series.

Book Look: Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds by Darren Shan

I am a big Darren Shan fan. The Irish horror author has touched on just about everything in the past 15 years - werewolves, demons, vampires, zombies, child trauma, murder, racism - You know. For kids!

(Er, 'middle grade').

This is his first [Character Title] and the [Noun (Preposition) Noun ] series, as most of his series' book titles are far more random in their styling. Even the other two books in the series follow this format with their titles.

And yes, all 3 books were released at once! Not to worry, they're fairly short.

It reminds me very strongly of Steven Universe + Artemis Fowl, or that it should be an indie game where the world isn't too explained, and you have to figure it out slowly.

#9: Trolls: World Tour

Honestly, the first Trolls is underrated on almost every level, except in your local preschool.

It looks beautiful, the music is pretty damn good (Despite about 50% of her movies being musicals, I feel Anna Kendrick as a singer is woefully underrated), and the moral is not one you really see in a kid's movie: "Your happiness depends on you."

With "Onward" being oddly underwhelming, and most animated movies being somewhat in limbo, I wonder what the Oscar race will look like this year.

"Soul" will probably be pushed to November, as I have it on somewhat good authority that "Raya and The Last Dragon" is a bit behind.

But, "Trolls: World Tour". Now we have more musical genre trolls. In a move that would make Millar's Batman proud*, the enemy is a Rock and Roll troll named Barb...whom I love.

This one tried to shove in morals that are just different enough to make this feel unfocused, although I could see what they were attempting to accomplish.

It's a large mash of both "You're not always right", "Stop trying to homogenize us," and "Colonialism is bad, even when we do it.". Even the troll kingdom voiced by black people are like "Hey, you tried to colonize US.". There's even a dance number. Imagine trying to explain the colonization of the Americas to white America with a song. If it was Taylor Swift, they'd listen. Finally.

 *I am vaguely aware of the Batman run where he hated rock and roll.

Book Look: Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World Written By: Scott McCormick

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While this is in the middle grade section of Audible Stories, there are a few serious topics briefly touched upon.

Narration is listed as "Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Samantha Turret, Khristine Hvam, Gabriel Vaughan, Josh Hurley"

I'm not sure who does the main narration, but he does a great job. The delivery is wry and straightforward, something I've always enjoyed in my media (See, "Frasier"), with the addition of a childish slant that makes me laugh ("Your face looks like a booger!").

It even taught me things I didn't know, such as RUN DMC had a song called "My Adidas", and that Adidas and Puma were created within the same family as rival sports brands.

While listed as a 'series', there are only 2 chapters, with 4 stories spread between them. I just learned this morning that there is, indeed, a Rivals 2!

Book Look: Interview With the Robot by Lee Bacon

Because of a little worldwide pandemic kicking off the decade, many businesses have put up free wares for people to enjoy.

They've also quickly added things once thought to be impossible, like 'child care for retail and hospital workers' and 'paying them more than 8$ an hour'.

Today's book is actually an audiobook! Interview With the Robot.

It's a 12 year old (In practice) robot girl named Eve, who was created and raised by David and Emory, a scientist and his son.

It's told in flashbacks, as Eve is separated from the two...of her own making. She escaped.

I enjoy everyone's vocal performances, especially Emory's. I can't review it a bunch because it would be spoiling a lot of interesting things. It's basically "What happens when a tech bro hits middle age?"

The bits of humor are rare, but they are funny.

#8: Onward

Truth be told, I wasn't horrendously interested in this movie to begin with, but it's on digital extremely early, so here we are.

The main score motif is something I like. Actually, a lot of the music is really good and used effectively.  Some of the aspects of magic are clever, such as the imitation spells.

It feels both too contemporary and somehow very 90s.

I think Tom Holland's voice is the only one that truly seems different than his normal voice. Perhaps I'm too used to Pratt as Emmett in The Lego Movie.

Props to Tom Holland for sounding somewhat different than "Spies in Disguise".

This entire time, I just kept thinking of Disney movies I liked more than the one I was watching. Characters stuck in water in a cave? That's Tangled. Fire in a cave? That's Frozen II (Though I probably like this more than Frozen II).

I don't think Pixar can do medieval magical movies very well between this and Brave.

#7: Bloodshot

"Bold of you to assume I'm watching this for Vin Diesel." 

- Me when people assume I'm watching this movie for Vin Diesel.

"Oh, I didn't know you were a comic book fan! Valiant Comics, the 90s!"

Spoiler Alert: I don't know about the source material either. Cyborg Deadpool? Nice tagline though - "You don't need a past to have a future."

It's really difficult to find any kind of suspense in this because the first trailer already told you everything. Frankly, there isn't even a real point in you watching this unless you are totally a sucker for this genre.

This is the very rare comic book movies that hints at something different and actually does more than briefly touch upon the concept.