Review of Heir to the Jedi

Before I start this review it would be a good idea to show just what has changed in the Star Wars canon. Going forward these are the only stories considered official canon.

Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne is the third book published in this new canon era. The story centers on Luke, post Battle of Yavin, trying to find his place in the Rebel Alliance as well as attempting to expand his knowledge of the Force, taking on an assignment to recruit an Imperial defector with the help of a skilled pilot/sniper. What follows is a series of smaller adventures that eventually lead to a somewhat rushed conclusion. Hearne makes a surprising move by writing the novel in the first-person perspective, this hasn't been done since the 1997 book I, Jedi. Doing so allows for elements not available in traditional Star Wars novels.This new perspective helps to explore Luke and how he feels. While in older books the reader would know what all the characters are thinking and where their allegiances lie, Luke doesn't have that ability and it adds an air of uncertainty as to who he can trust. It's insightful to hear from Luke himself what he thinks happened to him during his run of the Death Star's trench, wondering if Ben's voice was a hallucination or a glimpse into something greater, and this extends to his thoughts on the Force. Having only been told briefly about the Dark Side and what a Jedi is, it's no wonder Luke has no idea what he should do, and that is one of this book's biggest strengths. I couldn't help but smile every time Luke made progress with self-taught Force Powers, from trying to Mind Trick a guard only to learn it's not all in the hand motion, to something more mundane like moving a fork, Hearne nails it in exploring Luke's progress towards becoming a Jedi.
 Where Heir to the Jedi falters is in it's story. It feels like this book would have been served better as a series rather than a one-shot. So many times the smaller stories seemed to be setting up some larger events only to be thrown away in favor of continuing towards Luke's goal. I really wanted to explore the swamp world with a hidden Jedi tomb and the uncharted planet of invisible brain eating spiders, but both of these, and others, are simply stepping stones quickly forgotten as the plot advances. This is only worsened by a somewhat rushed conclusion that leaves a few unresolved issues. The new supporting characters are more than replacements for other more established ones, but few really left much of an impression. Most only serve as providers of exposition or to direct back to the main plot. Luke is given a new romantic interest that could have been developed further had this been serialized, as it is the connection feels a little forced (pun intended) and limits the impact it has on him. On a more positive note, Heir does give readers some new elements to consider when watching Empire Strikes Back. For me, it's hard not to picture Luke's memories of this book's events popping up in his head at certain points, and almost adds to his reaction in certain situations. What could have been a fantastic ongoing series about Luke exploring the Force and having fantastic adventures along the way is unfortunately watered down to an all to brief glimpse into the life of a farm boy turned hero. I hope Hearne is given more opportunities to explore this time in Luke's life, but if not this wasn't an entirely wasted trip.

Final Score 4/5 stars

Opinion: DLC Gamer Rage

Ok, I typically don't do this but I feel like it has to be said.

 WTF is up with DLC?

Allow me to explain. Earlier today Game Informer posted this article

 http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/04/28/batman-arkham-knight-season-pass-to-include-more-story-villains-challenges-skins.aspx

To Sum up, if you want all the dlc for Arkham Knight it'll cost you $39.99. That is almost as much as the game itself costs. At what point did game companies decide it's better to release a game and charge for the rest of it later over making a complete game. Back in the day dlc actually meant something. After a game was released developers that wanted to make something more could offer just that, more. More story, more gear, more everything. Most of these were complete expansions upon the main game that really added value to them. Nowadays most dlc is on the disk at launch and needs you to pay to unlock them. It's like we're getting charged twice for what should be available right from the start.

I'm sure devs and publishers have their reasons for some dlc (not enough time before release, etc) but at what point do we stop and say enough is enough? What's worse is most don't even provide enough content to match the price. A lot of dlc in season passes usually involves character skins or extra maps that don't actually affect the gameplay or the story at all. It just feels like gamers as a whole have just come to expect we don't pay for the game, we pay for the first part of the game and then pay more if we want more.

 The other part which bothers me almost as much is when they release a "Game of the Year" edition, people who wait long enough can get the whole package without paying an extra cent. At what point did it become logical to punish those who support a game at launch by charging them almost double what late adapters get for nothing?

I'm sure it's a business model that won't change anytime soon, but boy do I wish it would.

Building Your Own Lightsaber on a Budget.

With Episode VII on the way this holiday I really wanted to get into the spirit of things with a new lightsaber, unfortunately I am broke and have no knowledge in regards to electronics. As such i went to various cosplay sites and eventually tracked down the potential for Lowe's to be the birthplace of a weapon for a more civilized age.

Here you will see all the parts collected, a pop up sink drain, some brass pipe, various washers and gaskets, and a sink hole cover.

 

 Starting here i put washers on the pipe to create my grip and affixed some parts of the drain kit to make the emitter.

 

Getting them put together was really easy and required no tools, i simply covered the part of the drain in the pipe with smaller washers and electrical tape to create a firm hold.

 

The power button was the trickiest thing. I spent almost an hour in various local craft stores looking for something when i found a bag of spare Chinese checkers and discovered they fit perfectly.

 

The blade is a wooden dowel covered in duct tape to create the blade color, I went with yellow as its the color of Jedi Sentinels in KOTOR and to me that's still canon!

 The finished product

 

Of course I had to make a Sith blade to go along with it.

Been a while.

Sorry to have not posted in a long time, broken computers can cause that. will hopefully be more active very soon.