I liked Harley Quinn in her debut in Batman: The Animated Series, one of the few characters in comics who transitioned well from TV to comic books (and not the other way around). She has become an iconic character and, no disrespect to Margot Robbie’s excellent interpretation of the character in Suicide Squad, all the fans probably hear the voice of actress Arleen Sorkin in their heads.

The novel takes full advantage of geek culture, and infantile jokes but the science in this book is fascinating ranging from overall theories to nuts and bolts

Most of all The Martian celebrates human inventiveness to survive. An adventure book celebrating intelligence, done with intellect, wit and full of suspense.

In 1958 Mr. Aldiss was voted as Most Promising New Author at the Word Science Fiction Convention.

Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-jedi-academy-trilogy_2371.html 2/5 Rancors – Champions of the Force is the final book in Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy. It continues much in the vein of the first two novels: a somewhat promising and engaging storyline is dragged down by pedestrian writing and some very hokey scenes. The 300-some pages of this book are essentially one extended climax to the trilogy. One battle in particular, the assault on the Imperial facility in the Maw, almost stretches the entire length of the story. The Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars novels was noted for the authors’ predilection to invent “superweapons-of-the-week.” True to form, this trilogy contains not one but two in the form of a prototype (but fully functional) Death Star and the even more powerful Sun Crusher. It’s not that hard to swallow the existence of a prototype Death Star, although the idea feels a trifle overused after seeing them in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. However, the Sun Crusher concept goes beyond the pale. Anderson asks the reader to accept it took a 100+ kilometer wide sphere to support a laser that could destroy…

Flash Gordon: The Tyrant of Mongo: The Complete Flash Gordon Library 1937-1941 by Alex Raymond and Don Moore is an outstanding book which will introduce new readers to the wonderful art of Alex Raymond, drawn to the exciting story of Don Moore. For those who are familiar with the art and story, the format would make the book easier to read and the clear and clean pages make the images jump up much better than the cheap Sunday newspaper.

Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2008/12/andrews-review-of-courtship-of-princess.html 3/5 Rancors – Dave Wolverton’s The Courtship of Princess Leiawas one of the first books published by Bantam Spectra after the resounding success of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy in the early 1990’s. As such, it has the exciting, adventurous, and sometimes plain wacky feeling that a lot of the early books had (especially before the advent of the prequel films and the onslaught of stories about Jedi, Sith, and clone troopers). It is an enjoyable romp of a story with some very puzzling characterizations. The setting is four years after the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Princess Leia and Han Solo have been involved over this period but are still not in a fully committed relationship. Han has spent the prior five months commanding a task force hunting Warlord Zsinj and his Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist: the tale of his search is ably documented by Aaron Allston in the fifth through seventh novels of the superb X-wing series. Leia has been attempting to kickstart diplomatic relations between the New Republic and the secretive Hapan Cluster, an alliance of sixty-three wealthy and…

Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or electronic copy* Andrew: Originally published at http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2008/12/andrews-review-of-truce-at-bakura.html 3/5 Rancors – There are no vacation days for the heroes of the Rebellion. Finally, the Emperor’s reign of terror has been ended, the Empire is in disarray, and the Rebellion is suddenly in a position to start laying the groundwork of a new galactic government. Unfortunately, mere hours after these tumultuous events a distress call from the remote system of Bakura arrives at Endor and it’s back in the proverbial saddle for Luke Skywalker and his buddies. The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers tells the story of an alien invasion of the Bakura system, a place “protected” by the Empire but in desperate need of aid. The Rebels must find a way to help the Bakurans while maintaining an uneasy alliance with Imperial Governor Wilek Nereus and his forces. The alien invaders are an extra-galactic reptilian species named the Ssi-ruuk. Total enslavement of all other life is the Ssi-ruuk reason for their assault on Bakura and other systems. The most unusual aspect of these creatures is the method they use to power their fleet. It is called entechment and involves draining living beings of life to power…

Wel­come to another install­ment of “Thoughts from the Ran­cor Pit” in which Andrew and David from the fab­u­lous blog “Ran­cors Love to Read” will review books tak­ing place in the Star Wars uni­verse. This time they are review­ing The Last Command the third install­ment in The Thrawn Tril­ogy which pop­u­lar­ized the Star Wars books. Also, don’t forget that today, 6 October, 2012 is the Star Wars Reads day which will be marked with activities promoting Star Wars, reading and reading Star Wars in book stores across the nation. The good folks at Star Wars Reads have given Man of la Book some cool giveaways to promote this most excellent event. Check it out and enter – THIS IS A ONE DAY GIVEAWAY, I will pick the winner on Sunday. Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* More Books by Timothy Zahn Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-last-command.html 5/5 Rancors – The Last Command is the climactic novel in Timothy Zahn’s superb Thrawn Trilogy, a series published in the early 1990’s that laid the groundwork for much of the Star Wars Expanded Universe that was to come. All of Zahn’s carefully constructed plotting comes together here in an action-packed and highly rewarding tale, intertwining the…

Today I’m starting a new feature called “Thoughts from the Rancor Pit” in which Andrew and David from the fabulous blog “Rancors Love to Read” will review books taking place in the Star Wars universe. I have been in touch with Andrew for a few weeks about this new feature which I think will enhance Man of la Book by giving it another dimension (pun intended). While I certainly appreciate the Star Wars universe, science fiction books aren’t really up my alley at this point in my life. I was glad to find Rancors Love to Read and ecstatic when we hashed out an informal agreement for me to republish their reviews. Take a look at their reviews and let me know ho you like this new feature. Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or electronic copy Andrew: Originally published at http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2008/12/andrews-review-of-heir-to-empire.html 5/5 Rancors- The cornerstone of the modern Star Wars Expanded Universe, Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire was published in 1991 in an environment where Star Wars was considered a dusty relic of the 70s and 80s, except to some die-hard enthusiasts. At least, that was the perception going around. The reality was there was enough latent…