Disquiet Gods - Christopher Ruocchio

I've been talking about Ruocchio's series for years. He does good work, building out a complicated universe filled with a diverse range of factions, weird and wonderful tech, and people that live inside that space. Of course, the centrepiece of the story is Hadrian Marlowe, once an arse-kicking knight of the Solar Imperium, and before that all kinds of things, including a runaway son, a gladiator, and a general troubleshooter for his somewhat decrepit polity. Of course that kind of troubleshooting invovles warfare with aliens, blowing up clandestine research facilities, and tracking down technological abominations, so there's a breadth of coverage there. And now, he's back in this latest volume, Disquiet Gods.

Anyway. Marlowe. He's been through the wringer the last few books, and that doesn't really change here. He's still rocking that penchant for sticking his neck out, for taking risks, for saying not-quite the right thing to not-quite the right person. There's a sense to him of someone determined to walk away, to not be seen as a hero any longer, to fade into the west, as it were, and live outside the shadow of his own legend. This is, however, quite a long book, so I think you can all expect ithis plan not to work out exactly as he hopes. That said, this is Marlowe with a stake in events. He's trying to build something personal now, trying to look at his relationships, his family and friends, those that have survived, and keep them safe, keep them alive. Whether that's the best thing for them or not is rather open to question, but still. This version of Hadrian has matured enough to recognise his own weaknesses, and recovered sufficiently from the trauma laid out behind him in order to at least function. He's someone whose life has derailed maginificently from its expectations, and Hadrian is, if not resigned to that, at least comfortable in it; perhaps, as the story begins, too much so. Still, after the lavishly wrought inner worlds of earlier stories, its enjoyable to see him on something of an upswing.

In this he's helped by his relationships, with those surviving acquaintainces he has. As time passes for Hadrian Marlowe, we the reader risk growing a little disconnected from events, as the Patrician Marlowe, rendered long-lived by science and caste, outlives those other characters we loved so well - even when they don't get disembowelled, assassinated or otherwise fall to misadventure. Still, there's a few familiar faces in here to enliven the spirit, in terms of friends and enemies both and a swathe of new people whom we're learning about alongside our protagonist, and whom, as ever, the author draws with a rich and vivid passion to his prose that makes it both believable and great fun. Because while this is a story about galactic empries, about war between the stars, about atrocities and super-science and the inner heart of humanity and their story, it's also a apean to the person, to people, to the value that one clear vision can have if it finds itself lifted up by those around, about how no-one is an island. ABout human need and folly and loss and fear, yes, but about our strengths, our compassion and friendhsip and love for one another and how tht can make and break both people and empires. 

And if you're not into that, hmm. Well. Okay. The story lives on. The universe lives on, filled with horrendously alien aliens, who would like nothing better thn to eat you for their own aracane reasons (or, you know, for fun). Filled with people who've handed over more or less of themselves to machinery. To those who claim to live forever, flitting from one re-animated body to the next. Filled with horrors to blight the soul, absolutely, or even to slowly wrap it in turgid chains of protocol and a fog of formality. Of Empire, not without ambition, but with an impending mortality, Byzantium on the wane. But also a universe with laughter, with vital, fierce people who can and will change the world. And that's what makes the stoy, I think, because the world feels complicated, liek we see a small piece of a wider mosaic, and even what we see is filled with life and colour and movement and other stories just out of frame. It's a world that has textruee and heft, in a story which demands your attention. 

Speaking of....well. I won't delve into the tale here because it gives too much away really. But this is the beginning fo the end, I think, you can feel different voices building to a crescendo, you can feel institutions tottering, can feel choices being laid down which will drive a path to ruin, or something more. It's a story of fast-paced escapes, duels, unlikely alliances, extremely likely betrayals, and more than a little love. And for that, with that, it builds a story worth reading. It's not all fast-paced space battles; and though some of the more introspective pieces feel a little laboured, or occasionally  felt suspect or made me uncomfortable
, there's still a thoughtful, compelling story here, which will keep you turning pages until it's done. 

Return of the Jedi: From a Certain Point of View - Saladin Ahmed et al.

This is another in the sequence started way back in 2017, bringing you perspectives on the classic film trilogy from the perspective of various bit players. Those include a variety of Imperials stationed on the moon of Endor and beyond, bounty hunters, monsters, unfortunate civilians, and beyond. The idea is to provide some context and flavour to the world, to look at the adventures of Leia, Luke, Han et al through another lens. To emphasise that those other perspectives are just as important, in a wider universe.

And I'll say this, this is a collection with a diversity of perspectives, gods and monsters and heroes and unrepentant villains. There's something for everyone to enjoy, whether you like your hard-edged heroines, your scoundrels and killers, or the more familiar cast of the working stiff just trying to make it by while people keep waving laser swords and doomsday lasers in your face. I admit I have something of a penchant for the latter, but they all have their charms. And its a credit to the authors that they can show us different sides of characters we only saw in person, or ask us to interpret their actions a little differently, now we're inside their head. And enjoyably for Star Wars, this layer of personality, this extra flavour, makes for a more complex universe. Sure, the baddies are still bad. And the goodies are still good. But there's circumstance and story and history and all the rich tapestry of choice that brings not just the main characters, but all the people we see to the point of Return of the Jedi. And we get to see it here. 

Now, there's a fair point to be made that, well, do we really need to see another performer from the Max Rebo band? Does anyone care what blob-head-alien-in-the-crowd is doing there? And you know what...some of the time you're going to read one of these stories, and it'll be a miss for you. But there's enough here that maybe the next one will be exactly the flavour you need to pass the time, or the one in the collection that will light up your soul. 

And having said that, I think there's some good stuff here. Family stories. Redemption stories. Flat out adventure romps. More starfighter combat, fast and visceral and deadly, than you can shake a stick at. The ominous shadow of a super-moon that is something else. And of course, the knowledge that we know what's coming, but we don't know how we're going to get there this time, or why it may matter, differently, to others than our movie heroes. This is a paean to the idea that other people matter. That the greats are who they are because they're surrounded by other people living and working and supporting them, lifting them up with every choice, and being, in their own way, heroes in their own lives.  

This isn't a quiet book. It's full of blood and thunder and rousing speeches. But it's also an introspective one, which throws out some fun ideas to explore in the Star Wars expanded universe. Are we any worse off in the films for not hearing about Mon Mothma's corps of historians of the rebellion? Patently not. But they have an interesting story, and a protagonist who is ready to ask questions about whether what her leaders consider important actually...is. And if some of these stories are cracking yarns, others are looking around and using the Star Wars lens to ask some searching questions about us, and what we're willing to do, willing to accept. 

It's a solid collection, this. If you're a Star Wars fan, and want to get a little something more for your next viewing of Return of the Jedi, or you just want to delve deeper into the rich, diverse universe that Star Wars has on tap - then this is the one for you.