By our own Declan Finn:
When John C. Wright saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he had a different view than what we saw.
His review of the movie is what we were promised, as opposed to what we got.
The end result of this shot-from-the-hip mock review came an outline of a twelve-book series. You can read it without much in the way of spoilers. The story grew exponentially as time went on, with the addition of many, many more space pirates.
Princess Lirazel Centauri (or simply “Lyra”) watched her world, and her family die. They went down battling the forces of darkness. And despite everything she personally witnessed, no one will believe that the Galactic Empire was behind it—the Empire and its overlords were all dead.
And that’s just the thirty-page prologue.
Thirteen years later, Star Patrol Captain Athos Lone (not Solo, Lone) is boarding a pirate vessel, reading to exterminate the vile scum. He has a high tech mask from the ancient times that helps him be on par with a whole ship filled of pirates. When he finds himself on the hull, he discovers a translucent maiden with a bow and arrow just striding along the vacuum of space.
Lyra has learned a few tricks since her planet was destroyed.
From here is a breakneck run for survival against a horde of pirates, all out for Athos’ blood.
Think about the pacing of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. We open with a space shootout, follow two droids down to Tatooine, then the film slows down as the droids wander over the sands.
Space Pirates of Andromeda has no such slow down. It doesn’t stop to breathe. Like the original serials that Star Wars was based on, the plot is always moving, and the threats are omnipresent. The pacing is on par with Flash Gordon or a Barsoom novel.
And the prose is … well, it’s John C. Wright. His narration is poetry, no matter who’s being chased, stalked and / or shot at. It’s also very clear that Wright wanted to take a stiletto to the woke nonsense of “modern audiences.” Everyone is lovingly described. The heroes are heroic. The villains are villainous. you know, like most fiction.
The reason this review is so late, despite having an early review copy, is … well, the ending was very much like a Flash Gordon serial. Complete with a cliffhanger. The sort of cliffhanger that was fine if the next chapter came out next week, not months later. What do I mean? Imagine if The Empire Strikes Back stopped with TIE fighters chasing the Millennium Falcon into the clouds, and Luke Skywalker just dangling over Bespin, and everything just cut to credits… Yeah, that sensation right there? That was me when I first read it.
However, book two is out, I read it, it’s fun, so you can go straight from book one to book two.
Read the whole review here
