THE BEAUTIFUL THING THAT AWAITS US ALL: STORIES by Laird Barron

Equal parts frustrating and riveting, Laird Barron's weird and creepy short fiction is like no other. Barron has a fervent cult following and I have been interested in jumping into one of his collections for a while now and decided to make this book my first. From page one, Barron’s prose grabbed me and held me close. But instead of whispering sweet nothings, the book growled at me with stories of hopeless protagonists, nameless horrors, ancient gods, cults, and black magic.

On one hand, Barron consistently takes forever with the set-up of each story. setting the stage and mood with trademark over-flourish that constantly tempted me to quit. On the other hand, each story left me thinking about it long after, and I wonder if the slow opening pace provided a hypnotic lull and creeping build that was necessary for that eerie feeling that stuck with me after every story. 

Each story left me an impression on me, but the standouts were the sad and chilling "The Redfield Girls," "The Men From Porlock," the gangster-meets-cosmic horror story in "Hand of God," and the batshit stream of consciousness in "Vastation." 

Although I can't deny the stories being a bit of a chore to get through, I also can't deny Barron's writing power and I'm looking forward to exploring more. 

I was accustomed to liars, bold-faced or wide-eyed, silver-tongued or pleading, often with the barrel of my gun directed at them as they babbled their last prayers to an indifferent god, squirted their last tears into the indifferent earth. A man will utter any falsehood, commit any debasement, sell his own children down the river, to avoid that final sweet goodnight.

GRADE: B-

Equal parts frustrating and riveting, Laird Barron's weird and creepy short fiction is like no other. Barron has a fervent cult following and I have been interested in jumping into one of his collections for a while now and decided to make this book my first. From page one, Barron’s prose grabbed me and held me close. But instead of whispering sweet nothings, the book growled at me with stories of hopeless protagonists, nameless horrors, ancient gods, cults, and black magic.

On one hand, Barron consistently takes forever with the set-up of each story. setting the stage and mood with trademark over-flourish that constantly tempted me to quit. On the other hand, each story left me thinking about it long after, and I wonder if the slow opening pace provided a hypnotic lull and creeping build that was necessary for that eerie feeling that stuck with me after every story. 

Each story left me an impression on me, but the standouts were the sad and chilling <b>"The Redfield Girls," "The Men From Porlock,"</b> the gangster-meets-cosmic horror story in <b>"Hand of God,"</b> and the batshit stream of consciousness in <b>"Vastation."</b> 

Although I can't deny the stories being a bit of a chore to get through, I also can't deny Barron's writing power and I'm looking forward to exploring more. <blockquote><b><I>I was accustomed to liars, bold-faced or wide-eyed, silver-tongued or pleading, often with the barrel of my gun directed at them as they babbled their last prayers to an indifferent god, squirted their last tears into the indifferent earth. A man will utter any falsehood, commit any debasement, sell his own children down the river, to avoid that final sweet goodnight.</I></b></blockquote>

STAR WARS: INTO THE DARK by Claudia Gray

This is the second High Republic novel that I’ve read and it’s the official young adult book in the first wave in Phase 1 of the publishing initiative. It takes place concurrently with the previous adult novel Light of the Jedi but follows a much more focused story about a young Jedi padawan and his companions who get stuck at an abandoned space station following the Great Hyperspace disaster. 

While I enjoyed Light of the Jedi, I was frustrated with the fairly bland characters aside from the villains and how diluted everything was due to the plot casting such a wide net. Those problems are not here, with the plot being much more concentrated and intimate, and characters that jumped off the page. Each character had more nuance than the previous book, especially the Jedi, who seem more like real people with true struggles to go along with their stalwart, noble attributes. 

But I’m still giving it three stars because the action here is nowhere near as cool as I was hoping, the villains were pretty half-baked, and there’s a recurring flashback that seems to be promising major character development and reveals but turns out to be fully unnecessary. 

GRADE: B-

STAR WARS: LIGHT OF THE JEDI by Charles Soul

I’ve always been a big Star Wars fan but it has been a while since I have read any books in the universe. I was an avid Star Wars book reader as a kid but fell off on that hobby. I’ve been impressed and fascinated with Disney’s new in-canon publishing initiative called the High Republic that tackles interconnecting stories from a previously unexplored era in Star Wars history along a wide variety of mediums including adult novels, young adult novels, audio dramas, comic books, and upcoming live action television. So I though what better way to jump back into Star Wars reading than this!

Light of the Jedi is the first novel that introduces the High Republic, set over 200 years before the events of the first film, A New Hope, when the Republic and the Jedi Order were at their grandest, and starting to fully expand into the Outer Rim of the Galaxy. It opens on the cusp of the unveiling of the new Outer Rim outreach space station Starlight Beacon when a massive hyperspace disaster threatens to destroy multiple solar systems. 

As expected, the book is crazy readable and sucks you in to this new world, introducing you to the new Jedi characters as well as the Nihil, the new big bads of the High Republic initiative. The book suffers a little from tackling a bit too much, which is of course due to having the responsibility of introducing so many ideas and characters. I wish that the book had a bit more focus and I hope that the later books don’t suffer the same introductory burden. The other issue is that the characters (particularly the Jedi) aren’t very interesting so far, with everyone feeling pretty stoic and untouched in regards to relatable nuance and emotional complexity. Every Jedi seems to be a stalwart knight without problems beyond the cliché (like Padawans not being sure of themselves) and they’re just not that interesting. Except for maybe Elzar Mann, who shows a little more potential for being actually singular and complex.

But the creative ideas here are really compelling and build onto the already vast Star Wars mythos in fascinating ways, especially with the exploration of the way hyperspace works. Also the audiobook version is one of the coolest books I’ve listened to, with sound effects and score that really suck you in! But the character of Marchion Ro is what really saves the book, presenting a mysterious antagonist that is riveting, becomes a real threat, and seems to have layers that I can’t wait to see peeled away. 

So this is a decent start to this initiative and at the very least, I’m excited to explore more!

GRADE: B