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Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Sw: Canto Bight: a collection of stories by Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant and John Jackson Miller
Welcome to Canto Bight, where exotic aliens, captivating creatures, and other would-be high rollers are willing to risk everything to make their fortunes. Set across one fateful evening in the city of deception and danger, these four original novellas explore the lavish casino city seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
An honest salesman meets a career criminal as a dream vacation turns into the worst nightmare imaginable in a story by Saladin Ahmed.
Dreams and schemes collide when a deal over a priceless bottle of wine becomes a struggle for survival as told by Mira Grant.
Old habits die hard when a servant is forced into the mad struggle for power among Canto Bight's elite in a tale by Rae Carson.
A deadbeat gambler has one last chance to turn his luck around, all he has to do is survive one wild night as told by John Jackson Miller.
In Canto Bight, one is free to revel in excess, untouched by the problems of a galaxy once again descending into chaos and war. Dreams can become reality, but the stakes have never been higher–for there is a darkness obscured by all the glamour and luxury.
An honest salesman meets a career criminal as a dream vacation turns into the worst nightmare imaginable in a story by Saladin Ahmed.
Dreams and schemes collide when a deal over a priceless bottle of wine becomes a struggle for survival as told by Mira Grant.
Old habits die hard when a servant is forced into the mad struggle for power among Canto Bight's elite in a tale by Rae Carson.
A deadbeat gambler has one last chance to turn his luck around, all he has to do is survive one wild night as told by John Jackson Miller.
In Canto Bight, one is free to revel in excess, untouched by the problems of a galaxy once again descending into chaos and war. Dreams can become reality, but the stakes have never been higher–for there is a darkness obscured by all the glamour and luxury.
388 pages, Paperback
First published December 5, 2017
234 people are currently reading
4363 people want to read
About the author
Saladin Ahmed
482 books1,770 followersSaladin Ahmed was born in Detroit and raised in a working-class, Arab American enclave in Dearborn, MI.
His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and have appeared in Year's Best Fantasy and numerous other magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, as well as being translated into five foreign languages. He is represented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON is his first novel.
Saladin lives near Detroit with his wife and twin children.
His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and have appeared in Year's Best Fantasy and numerous other magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, as well as being translated into five foreign languages. He is represented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON is his first novel.
Saladin lives near Detroit with his wife and twin children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 489 reviews
September 9, 2024
A very disappointing book. One of the reasons it took me so long to finish this book is I could not really summon to motivation to carry on reading it. For short stories, the stories are very slow paced. I did not really care for most of the characters, and it DEFINITELY DOES NOT add anything to the Last Jedi movie. The one think I did like in this book was that as were re-used/mentioned from story to story.
I could have learned everything I needed to know about Canto Bight from the two lines spoken by Rose in the movie, it is a bubble. The playground for the super rich, and once in the life time vacation for tourists, but build on the broken dreams of people who have lost too much or never had enough to leave the place.
It is written by three writer who are new to writing in the Star Wars universe. Then Jason Jackson Miller as a veteran Star Wars writer to finish off the book. Even though I did not like the book as a whole there were part that were ok to good.
Saladin Ahmed’s story to start the book off was ok. I would have given this story 3.5 stars. It is a slow start to a trusting tourist on a dream holiday that is quickly turning into a nightmare courtesy of the seedy residents of Canto Bight.
Mira Grant’s story is so confusing even after finishing I still am not sure what the point of it was. I don’t understand why the two main characters did what they did or what the point of the effect they had on the side characters. 1 star at best.
Rae Carson’s story of a resident masseuse forced fighting back against the “big fish” who will do anything to get what he wants, was ok but a bit too far fetched. Security on Canto is a joke if this is the case. 3 stars.
The final story is about Kal a gambler who meets a trio of brothers who make him question everything he has worked and believes it at the worst possible time. This was one of this and the first story were really the only ones that drew me in towards the end. Still very slow paced though. 3.5 stars.
Really this is the story of the underworld in the world of bright lights, glitz and glamor, a good premise but really nothing was add to release this under the “journey to the Last Jedi” title. I guess I will have to wait 2 years before I find out if any of these stories have any influence on the next movie. Quite disappointed really.
I could have learned everything I needed to know about Canto Bight from the two lines spoken by Rose in the movie, it is a bubble. The playground for the super rich, and once in the life time vacation for tourists, but build on the broken dreams of people who have lost too much or never had enough to leave the place.
It is written by three writer who are new to writing in the Star Wars universe. Then Jason Jackson Miller as a veteran Star Wars writer to finish off the book. Even though I did not like the book as a whole there were part that were ok to good.
Saladin Ahmed’s story to start the book off was ok. I would have given this story 3.5 stars. It is a slow start to a trusting tourist on a dream holiday that is quickly turning into a nightmare courtesy of the seedy residents of Canto Bight.
Mira Grant’s story is so confusing even after finishing I still am not sure what the point of it was. I don’t understand why the two main characters did what they did or what the point of the effect they had on the side characters. 1 star at best.
Rae Carson’s story of a resident masseuse forced fighting back against the “big fish” who will do anything to get what he wants, was ok but a bit too far fetched. Security on Canto is a joke if this is the case. 3 stars.
The final story is about Kal a gambler who meets a trio of brothers who make him question everything he has worked and believes it at the worst possible time. This was one of this and the first story were really the only ones that drew me in towards the end. Still very slow paced though. 3.5 stars.
Really this is the story of the underworld in the world of bright lights, glitz and glamor, a good premise but really nothing was add to release this under the “journey to the Last Jedi” title. I guess I will have to wait 2 years before I find out if any of these stories have any influence on the next movie. Quite disappointed really.
December 25, 2017
3.5 stars. Like the collection of short stories "From a Certain Point of View", this collection of four novellas focus on the little guys in the background, the ones you might catch for a second before turning back to the main action. Canto Bight is where the rich of the galaxy go to play, and the rest, well, they get to keep their lives, if they're lucky. Though each author focuses on a different main character, there are characters common to each story. A guy on his first vacation as a reward for best Salesbeing, a sommelier and a wine of dreams, a massage therapist and his fathier-caring daughter, and a gambler whose debt's been called are the subjects of each story. There's plenty of venality on display at Cantorica, and plenty of people living close to the edge. People are often desperate, and find themselves having to make unusual choices to survive. The overall tone of the stories is light and pleasant. And Kedpin Shoklop, Vaporator Salesbeing of the year (and naive schmuck), gets to bookend the quartet of novellas.
December 8, 2017
Canto Bight may be the richest, most fantastic place in the galaxy but you sure as hell wouldn't know it based on these stories...
As has come to be pretty much par the course with all these new canon tie-ins, Canto Bight is a huge disappointment. In and of itself the idea and the concept behind getting fans super pumped up and excited for the events on Cantonica in the upcoming The Last Jedi are good ones. Just think how much more fun Naboo and Kamino would have been had something like this was published before the prequels.
Unfortunately, it's in the execution of these ideas that Canto Bight really suffers. There's 4 novellas here and aside from Rae Carson's "See Nothing, Hear Nothing, Do Nothing", they're all disastrous attempts at trying to tell stupid stories that aren't fun or even bear any importance in the grand scheme of things. Saladeen Ahmed's "Rules of the Game" could have been decent but it's totally ruined by his amateurish, YA type prose...and its ending is ridiculously joyful and happy, putting me off and making me feel like Ahmed couldn't let his audience off without smacking them in the face with an over-the-top happy conclusion. I'll admit that "The Ride" by Miller was decently written (and should be since the guy is like the 3rd most famous author in the Star Wars universe), but it was just so boring and even though it had the requisite Star Wars aliens, it didn't feel anything like Star Wars.
I might have been willing to give Canto Bight a low 3 out of 5 had it not been for the absolutely stupid "Wine of Dreams". I'll skip past the fact that the story about selling wine made little to no sense and come right out with the fact that the pseudo-artsy present tense prose of the hipster style literary fiction that is so popular today has no place in the Star Wars universe. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well worded, descriptive literary novel every once in a while, and they do have their place in the book world, but, sorry Mira Grant, trying to be all clever and unique in a franchise that doesn't need it or even garner any desire for it, makes you out to be a wannabe "artiste extraordinaire" and weakens the entire story you're trying to write and makes your novella a total chore to get through.
I had high hopes that Canto Bight would continue where Claudia Gray's Leia, Dawson's Phasma and, to a lesser extent both From a Certain Point of View and Christie Golden's Inferno Squad, left off, making a good mark in the new canon and just being a ton of fun to read. Well, my high hopes were dashed and I'm, once again, left feeling like a total chump for thinking there was a chance that Disney had finally gotten their act together.
As has come to be pretty much par the course with all these new canon tie-ins, Canto Bight is a huge disappointment. In and of itself the idea and the concept behind getting fans super pumped up and excited for the events on Cantonica in the upcoming The Last Jedi are good ones. Just think how much more fun Naboo and Kamino would have been had something like this was published before the prequels.
Unfortunately, it's in the execution of these ideas that Canto Bight really suffers. There's 4 novellas here and aside from Rae Carson's "See Nothing, Hear Nothing, Do Nothing", they're all disastrous attempts at trying to tell stupid stories that aren't fun or even bear any importance in the grand scheme of things. Saladeen Ahmed's "Rules of the Game" could have been decent but it's totally ruined by his amateurish, YA type prose...and its ending is ridiculously joyful and happy, putting me off and making me feel like Ahmed couldn't let his audience off without smacking them in the face with an over-the-top happy conclusion. I'll admit that "The Ride" by Miller was decently written (and should be since the guy is like the 3rd most famous author in the Star Wars universe), but it was just so boring and even though it had the requisite Star Wars aliens, it didn't feel anything like Star Wars.
I might have been willing to give Canto Bight a low 3 out of 5 had it not been for the absolutely stupid "Wine of Dreams". I'll skip past the fact that the story about selling wine made little to no sense and come right out with the fact that the pseudo-artsy present tense prose of the hipster style literary fiction that is so popular today has no place in the Star Wars universe. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well worded, descriptive literary novel every once in a while, and they do have their place in the book world, but, sorry Mira Grant, trying to be all clever and unique in a franchise that doesn't need it or even garner any desire for it, makes you out to be a wannabe "artiste extraordinaire" and weakens the entire story you're trying to write and makes your novella a total chore to get through.
I had high hopes that Canto Bight would continue where Claudia Gray's Leia, Dawson's Phasma and, to a lesser extent both From a Certain Point of View and Christie Golden's Inferno Squad, left off, making a good mark in the new canon and just being a ton of fun to read. Well, my high hopes were dashed and I'm, once again, left feeling like a total chump for thinking there was a chance that Disney had finally gotten their act together.
December 20, 2017
I’d suggest reading Canto Bight after watching the Last Jedi. The film gives some context and perspective to the casino town which is hard to imagine from the limited exposure the 4 novellas offer. Whilst good in their own right, the lack of a predefined visual aide dampers the atmosphere in the novellas – the casino town is not Las Vegas nor does it compare in the film to it as such, so having a preconceived notion of the cityscape is recommended.
The first novella, Rules of the Game by Saladin Ahmed is a great way to open the collection. The story centres on a lowly long term employee (who had clocked up 102 years for the company) who finally wins the coveted employee of the year award which in turn provides him a holiday to the casino town. He’s promptly swindled out of his cash and luggage before nearly being killed. His innocence is a joy to read and I really felt for the character. The cityscape is used well, providing a glimpse into greater playground for the rich outside of the scenes from The Last Jedi.
The Wine of Dreams by Mira Grant didn’t feel like a star wars story or a story which used the setting of the Casino world Cantonia at all. Contained largely to a night club and primarily focused on the sale of a rare wine of a little known and largely elusive vintage, the novella’s saving grace is the characters which are well defined and unique. Canto Bight is more an afterthought than critical element to the story and it’s this aspect that ultimately lets it down.
The third novella, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing by Rae Carson puts the collection back on track. There’s also some nice connectivity with The Wine of Dreams with the night club owner being named dropped on occasion. This story is centred on a masseur and former hitman who gets roped into murder for hire once more in order to save the life of his adopted daughter.
The last novella by long time Star Wars scribe John Jackson Miller, The Ride, is perhaps the most ‘casino’ based of the collection. Despite the story not having much depth, we do get a decent look at the various gambling outlets Canto Bight has to offer. The crux of the plot: a gambler loses money owned by an underworld figure and has one night to win it all back, luckily for him; he stumbles upon three aliens who have a strange knack for winning, and winning big. I liked this one.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Whilst the stories themselves are well written and entertaining, I would’ve liked more exploration of Canto Bight.
The first novella, Rules of the Game by Saladin Ahmed is a great way to open the collection. The story centres on a lowly long term employee (who had clocked up 102 years for the company) who finally wins the coveted employee of the year award which in turn provides him a holiday to the casino town. He’s promptly swindled out of his cash and luggage before nearly being killed. His innocence is a joy to read and I really felt for the character. The cityscape is used well, providing a glimpse into greater playground for the rich outside of the scenes from The Last Jedi.
The Wine of Dreams by Mira Grant didn’t feel like a star wars story or a story which used the setting of the Casino world Cantonia at all. Contained largely to a night club and primarily focused on the sale of a rare wine of a little known and largely elusive vintage, the novella’s saving grace is the characters which are well defined and unique. Canto Bight is more an afterthought than critical element to the story and it’s this aspect that ultimately lets it down.
The third novella, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing by Rae Carson puts the collection back on track. There’s also some nice connectivity with The Wine of Dreams with the night club owner being named dropped on occasion. This story is centred on a masseur and former hitman who gets roped into murder for hire once more in order to save the life of his adopted daughter.
The last novella by long time Star Wars scribe John Jackson Miller, The Ride, is perhaps the most ‘casino’ based of the collection. Despite the story not having much depth, we do get a decent look at the various gambling outlets Canto Bight has to offer. The crux of the plot: a gambler loses money owned by an underworld figure and has one night to win it all back, luckily for him; he stumbles upon three aliens who have a strange knack for winning, and winning big. I liked this one.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Whilst the stories themselves are well written and entertaining, I would’ve liked more exploration of Canto Bight.
May 17, 2019
3.5 Stars~
"Derla settles into her ship's chair like she is coming home--and in a very real way, she is. Canto Bight was only, is only, ever a port in the storm."
Canto Bight is an anthology of four novellas which focuses on background characters from the gambling resort in The Last Jedi and their stories. That's one of the (many) beautiful things about Star Wars. There are just.. so many characters.
In the film, Resistance members Finn and Rose venture to Canto Bight on a mission. The inclusion of the Canto Bight sequence has been divisive among fans, to say the least. Personally, I loved the themes that were handled within these scenes. They are such an integral part of the movie. At the core, masked in all the glitz of the capital city, the fundamental theme is hope. Sure, the mission doesn't pan out. But underneath those failures, something powerful remains. The ability to grow from those losses and fight for what you believe in.. what you love.
"Arriving on the dark side of the world merely for the sake of this moment is a small indulgence. It wastes time, which is the only resource more limited than wine itself. But the time is hers to waste. Time that is never spent in any frivolous way will turn to vinegar even as wine does, as wasted as too much time spent heedlessly. Balance in all things.
She could never live here--the costs, in every sense, are simply too high--but there is a sweetness to the lie of Canto Bight that sings to her sommelier's soul. It began, as most beautiful things do, with money, with ambition, and with deceit."
To quote Rian Johnson, Canto Bight is "a playground, basically, for rich assholes." It's a coastal city on the desert planet of Cantonica that attracts the wealthy and the privileged. However, there is more than meets the eye. Canto Bight is corrupt as fuck. War profiteers, gangsters and gamblers inhabit the legendary city.
The four novellas within this collection work well together as one continuous world-building piece of the puzzle. Although I do not think each one stands as strongly on their own, this is still a decent assortment. Shocking no one, Mira Grant's was the one I enjoyed most! Of the respected authors that are included (John Jackson Miller being one of my top favorite Star Wars authors of EVER), Saladin Ahmed is the only one that I hadn't read anything by before. Although I do follow him on Twitter and I think he's pretty amazing! I will for sure check out more of his work after this!
As I sit here listening to The Last Jedi soundtrack while I write this review, I can't help but wish for even more stories surrounding the casino city of Canto Bight. There are certainly more to tell, especially down the road with the opportunity to expand on the story of the stable boy with a broom.
Hope. Always there is hope.
"Derla settles into her ship's chair like she is coming home--and in a very real way, she is. Canto Bight was only, is only, ever a port in the storm."
Canto Bight is an anthology of four novellas which focuses on background characters from the gambling resort in The Last Jedi and their stories. That's one of the (many) beautiful things about Star Wars. There are just.. so many characters.
In the film, Resistance members Finn and Rose venture to Canto Bight on a mission. The inclusion of the Canto Bight sequence has been divisive among fans, to say the least. Personally, I loved the themes that were handled within these scenes. They are such an integral part of the movie. At the core, masked in all the glitz of the capital city, the fundamental theme is hope. Sure, the mission doesn't pan out. But underneath those failures, something powerful remains. The ability to grow from those losses and fight for what you believe in.. what you love.
"Arriving on the dark side of the world merely for the sake of this moment is a small indulgence. It wastes time, which is the only resource more limited than wine itself. But the time is hers to waste. Time that is never spent in any frivolous way will turn to vinegar even as wine does, as wasted as too much time spent heedlessly. Balance in all things.
She could never live here--the costs, in every sense, are simply too high--but there is a sweetness to the lie of Canto Bight that sings to her sommelier's soul. It began, as most beautiful things do, with money, with ambition, and with deceit."
To quote Rian Johnson, Canto Bight is "a playground, basically, for rich assholes." It's a coastal city on the desert planet of Cantonica that attracts the wealthy and the privileged. However, there is more than meets the eye. Canto Bight is corrupt as fuck. War profiteers, gangsters and gamblers inhabit the legendary city.
The four novellas within this collection work well together as one continuous world-building piece of the puzzle. Although I do not think each one stands as strongly on their own, this is still a decent assortment. Shocking no one, Mira Grant's was the one I enjoyed most! Of the respected authors that are included (John Jackson Miller being one of my top favorite Star Wars authors of EVER), Saladin Ahmed is the only one that I hadn't read anything by before. Although I do follow him on Twitter and I think he's pretty amazing! I will for sure check out more of his work after this!
As I sit here listening to The Last Jedi soundtrack while I write this review, I can't help but wish for even more stories surrounding the casino city of Canto Bight. There are certainly more to tell, especially down the road with the opportunity to expand on the story of the stable boy with a broom.
Hope. Always there is hope.
April 26, 2020
I have to say, this was an off series of stories. But in truth I sort of like living in the Star Wars universe so I'm fairly happy with any content. I think the first two stories were the ones I enjoyed the most. The one with the wine and the odd sisters was by far my favorite. Their arrogance sort of solidified that they may in fact be from the very place where the force "lives" one of my favorite clone wars episodes was when anakin, obi-wan, and Ashoka find them living embodiments of the force. And just the pure arrogance that comes with that power was exactly what those sisters were. Their insistence on balance also was odd-- even as they caused chaos in their wake. Yet they gave the wine to the one who was truly deserving. Definitely interesting stories-- I would never travel there, but I'm a simple girl.
December 7, 2017
This “prequel” in the road to the Last Jedi features a location that will be a setting in the upcoming movie. It features 4 novellas that take place in Canto Bight. Canto Bight reminds me of the many Cantinas and Casinos in the Star Wars games, i.e Knights of the Old Republic etc. It also makes me wonder why Lando Calrissian isn’t in this movie. This is his kind of place. Han, too would have been right at home. The 4 stories are very good. They certainly give you a feel for this city. I would also be very surprised if the characters in these stories aren’t featured in the background or in some way in the movie. I enjoyed the book.
December 8, 2017
I started to get depressed reading Canto Bight. So I furiously started mapping out the new canon with magazine clippings and twine and big question marks like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind. Then I got online and started making petitions, spent all my money on billboards, and turned on fandom like a jackal nipping at the tail of an elephant. I sank down into a deep, dark, lonely hole. Just screaming into the abyss. Finally I awoke from this fever dream. I realized that just like the EU there are going to be stories that are awesome, and well some like the last couple that I've read. Still more good than bad... for now...
THROW IN THE SARLAAC PIT (3 Piles of Poodoo)
Canto Bight
Adventures of Luke Skywalker
Inferno Squad
Life Debt
Aftermath
Heir to the Jedi
NOT BAD FOR A LITTLE FUR BALL (1 Pile of Poodoo)
Rebel Rising
Thrawn
Empire's End
Ahsoka
Before the Awakening
Moving Target
Smuggler's Run
Tarkin
A New Dawn
Lords of the Sith
GREAT SHOT, KID! (No poodoo! Thank the maker)
From a Certain Point of View
Leia, Princess of Alderaan
Phasma
Catalyst
Bloodline
Twilight Company
Lost Stars
THROW IN THE SARLAAC PIT (3 Piles of Poodoo)
Canto Bight
Adventures of Luke Skywalker
Inferno Squad
Life Debt
Aftermath
Heir to the Jedi
NOT BAD FOR A LITTLE FUR BALL (1 Pile of Poodoo)
Rebel Rising
Thrawn
Empire's End
Ahsoka
Before the Awakening
Moving Target
Smuggler's Run
Tarkin
A New Dawn
Lords of the Sith
GREAT SHOT, KID! (No poodoo! Thank the maker)
From a Certain Point of View
Leia, Princess of Alderaan
Phasma
Catalyst
Bloodline
Twilight Company
Lost Stars
December 8, 2017
Bleech. This did not have the feel of being Star Wars related. This could have been any generic 'casino' science fiction book. Maybe the "Last Jedi" movie will change that. I am posting this 1 week before movie comes out. It might have been better to listen after the movie.
April 17, 2018
Great fun with three authors trying a Star War story for the first time and one old hand. All tales are set in Canto Bight , the Las Vegas style city seen in the Last Jedi. Saladin Ahmed tale involves a Salesman of the Year who get more than he bargained for in this trip of a lifetime, Mira Grant aka Seanan McGuire spins a tale about a bottle of rare wine whose vintage is to kill for. Rae Carson tale involves a Spa worker and blackmail. One of my favorite Star Wars authors is John Jackson Miller, whose A New Dawn gave us the first introduction to Kanan and Hera, and who has books in both the Legends and the New Canon gives us a down in the luck gambler whose has 24 hours to pay off a debt but whose luck may haved turned thanks to 3 clueless Suerton brothers.
August 23, 2018
This book is part of the new canon and its setting is the casino city that we saw in the movie The Last Jedi. It is a collection of four short stories that details four lives of a Canto Bight resident and each story has a connection with another story.
Do you like your Star Wars have lightsaber duels, spaceship battles, or good versus evil? Then this book is not for you. These stories are decent stories but the only real Star Wars connection is that a character was a member of the many species we have seen from this universe. We would also get a name drop of the First Order or something like that. If the writers never mentioned a wookie one would not know that they were reading a book from this universe. It felt like I was reading a book more about Las Vegas in its infancy than a book from a galaxy far,far away. Like I said, the stories were decent but they were not what I was expecting either.
The new canon has not really impressed me so far besides Claudia Gray's offerings. This one continues that trend. It seems like every book is playing it safe and not really adding anything to the story. That is the case with this one and it was just okay.
Do you like your Star Wars have lightsaber duels, spaceship battles, or good versus evil? Then this book is not for you. These stories are decent stories but the only real Star Wars connection is that a character was a member of the many species we have seen from this universe. We would also get a name drop of the First Order or something like that. If the writers never mentioned a wookie one would not know that they were reading a book from this universe. It felt like I was reading a book more about Las Vegas in its infancy than a book from a galaxy far,far away. Like I said, the stories were decent but they were not what I was expecting either.
The new canon has not really impressed me so far besides Claudia Gray's offerings. This one continues that trend. It seems like every book is playing it safe and not really adding anything to the story. That is the case with this one and it was just okay.
March 30, 2018
5 stars
I really enjoyed this and was quite surprised how well the stories gelled together even though they were by different authors .
In Star Wars world building is always key and this is no different. Its expansive , expressive and huge and just so engaging.
The characters are strong and even though we don't get any fan favourites the new ones are excellent. I love the diversity of characters you get in Star Wars and this is no exception.
For me each story built on the last and i really enjoyed the last. It was excellent. I will also be checking out more books not in the Star Wars universe by these authors as i think they will be worth it.
An excellent addition to Star Wars cannon and could easily be read as a stand-alone.
Highly recommended.
I really enjoyed this and was quite surprised how well the stories gelled together even though they were by different authors .
In Star Wars world building is always key and this is no different. Its expansive , expressive and huge and just so engaging.
The characters are strong and even though we don't get any fan favourites the new ones are excellent. I love the diversity of characters you get in Star Wars and this is no exception.
For me each story built on the last and i really enjoyed the last. It was excellent. I will also be checking out more books not in the Star Wars universe by these authors as i think they will be worth it.
An excellent addition to Star Wars cannon and could easily be read as a stand-alone.
Highly recommended.
May 3, 2019
The stories we see in this book each do a good job of of keeping you interested while making you care about the characters. Being able to see a planet so thoroughly built and described is a rarity in the EU, and it is very refreshing.
However, given that it is full of short stories it is still difficult to get too invested in characters and you more of feel the obligatory "good guy should win" feeling. Overall, a good read for those already invested in the Star Wars Universe.
However, given that it is full of short stories it is still difficult to get too invested in characters and you more of feel the obligatory "good guy should win" feeling. Overall, a good read for those already invested in the Star Wars Universe.
December 15, 2017
Due to finishing this in the car I’m actually writing this review after having seen the last Jedi. While I won’t give any spoilers Tyler I will tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the novellas in this book. I especially liked how they tied into each other. And I also enjoyed how they tied in to the last Jedi. The final novella in here by John Jackson Miller especially for some reason just made me smile and have a good time right along with the characters.
June 5, 2020
All four of the stories are written well, but it was hard to get into them. Rae Carson's was by far my favorite. Though the other three stories fit in with the Canto Bight setting, they did not have the usual Star Wars feel to them.
September 17, 2025
(Read in 2017, review from 2025)
Did not finish back when this came out. Far be it for me to disparage any Star Wars fan for having their own “Glup Shitto” character in Star Wars and wanting more content about them. I myself love Max Rebo and Bossk so I can appreciate it when the likes of the Mos Eisley Cantina aliens or Jabba the Hutt’s palace residents that were meant to fill the background of scenes instead capture the imaginations of Star Wars fans for generations.
Lucasfilm previously took advantage of that with short stories about those classic alien extras and tried to do the same here with “Canto Bight”. The problem is “The Last Jedi” barely focused on the casino patrons so fans couldn’t begin to be captivated by them. So these short stories feel like something no one was asking for, and the characters of the books themselves (focusing on a wine sommelier, a masseur, etc) aren’t the most thrilling of denizens to make stories about. The opening story about a hitman trying to use a clueless tourist and the last story about a gambler teaming up with an unlikely trio by classic Star Wars author John Jackson Miller are decent enough I suppose, more so than the sommelier story I didn’t bother to finish.
All in all though, “Canto Bight” is one of the most forgettable Star Wars books, Canon or otherwise.
Did not finish back when this came out. Far be it for me to disparage any Star Wars fan for having their own “Glup Shitto” character in Star Wars and wanting more content about them. I myself love Max Rebo and Bossk so I can appreciate it when the likes of the Mos Eisley Cantina aliens or Jabba the Hutt’s palace residents that were meant to fill the background of scenes instead capture the imaginations of Star Wars fans for generations.
Lucasfilm previously took advantage of that with short stories about those classic alien extras and tried to do the same here with “Canto Bight”. The problem is “The Last Jedi” barely focused on the casino patrons so fans couldn’t begin to be captivated by them. So these short stories feel like something no one was asking for, and the characters of the books themselves (focusing on a wine sommelier, a masseur, etc) aren’t the most thrilling of denizens to make stories about. The opening story about a hitman trying to use a clueless tourist and the last story about a gambler teaming up with an unlikely trio by classic Star Wars author John Jackson Miller are decent enough I suppose, more so than the sommelier story I didn’t bother to finish.
All in all though, “Canto Bight” is one of the most forgettable Star Wars books, Canon or otherwise.
December 20, 2017
Over all none of these are bad stories, but none of them are that great. Kind of a reoccurring thing in the New Canon. None of the books are bad (well, except for the Aftermath books, a majority of them are bad sadly), but they just aren’t that interesting to me. And, Phasma aside, the ones I do like have to do with the Jedi. Which apparently is something the New Canon just doesn’t want to follow.
June 20, 2024
I love Star wars but this was not it this was so boring DNF at 48%
January 23, 2018
Canto Bight... the casino in the Last Jedi. This book is a collection of 4 stories of different goings-ons around the world.
I went into not knowing what to expect, although I hoped for it to be a little like the Tales from the Cantina from a long time ago... that told stories of all the inhabitants of the first Star Wars cantina. Here, you get to know some characters that I'll have to take a look for... I just looked in my visual dictionary and found almost all of the characters in the stories, so next time I watch the film I'll keep an eye out. It was nice that these characters weren't "made up" but were in the casino while TLJ was happening.
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the wine story, but there was enough conning, blackmailing, underdog gambling, murder, intrigue, and down-on-your-luck characters that made this world so much more alive.
I went into not knowing what to expect, although I hoped for it to be a little like the Tales from the Cantina from a long time ago... that told stories of all the inhabitants of the first Star Wars cantina. Here, you get to know some characters that I'll have to take a look for... I just looked in my visual dictionary and found almost all of the characters in the stories, so next time I watch the film I'll keep an eye out. It was nice that these characters weren't "made up" but were in the casino while TLJ was happening.
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the wine story, but there was enough conning, blackmailing, underdog gambling, murder, intrigue, and down-on-your-luck characters that made this world so much more alive.
January 19, 2018
Coyer Winter Switch
This volume ties into The Last Jedi and focuses on the brief glimpses of the aliens briefly featured in the casino scene of the film.
Four authors share four different stories that sometimes overlap in little cameos. My favorite story in this collection was The Wine a dreams, a story featuring four women of power negotiating over a rare bottle of wine. This story by Mira Grant had me wishing for more adventures with these ladies. I loved that one of the characters has the qualities of manipulation. They make the story so exciting!
This volume ties into The Last Jedi and focuses on the brief glimpses of the aliens briefly featured in the casino scene of the film.
Four authors share four different stories that sometimes overlap in little cameos. My favorite story in this collection was The Wine a dreams, a story featuring four women of power negotiating over a rare bottle of wine. This story by Mira Grant had me wishing for more adventures with these ladies. I loved that one of the characters has the qualities of manipulation. They make the story so exciting!
October 26, 2020
This book had its ups and downs, but it was fun. It doesn't have an exact Star Wars-esque feel, as it is all focused on the individual struggles of people in Canto Bight, but it wasn't bad. It just feels a little unnecessary in terms of Star Wars canon.
Full RTC
Full RTC
December 16, 2017
I liked the sommelier's story, but was meh about everything else.
August 15, 2019
Really entertaining and happier than I expected
October 16, 2019
"I wish I could put my fist through this whole lousy, beautiful town."
December 6, 2018
This collection of four novellas has some interesting stories, but it's surprisingly devoid of the Star Wars feel. They could have taken place in pretty much any Science Fiction/Fantasy universe with little alteration - the aliens are new, the technology is distinct (no comlinks in sight), and aside from a few mentions of galactic politics and the city of Canto Bight itself (whose features in these stories really share little in common with those of The Last Jedi's featuring of the city [aside from the fathier races], it never gives off that Star Wars feel.
That's not to say that it's bad - the stories go from middling to very good. Ahmed's story about a man who spent a century following the rules finally getting an adventure out of breaking them is the weakest of the bunch, but it still has its moments. Mira Grant's story about a sommelier starts off overweighted with florid prose, but it fits the characters and by the time the central conflict comes into play, all of the characters have enough detail to lead to some strong investment over the sale of a bottle of wine. Rae Carson's story features a unique protagonist (an alien masseur) whose unique abilities are central to his 'Taken'-like story, and make for an interesting tale. And John Jackson Miller's story was the highlight, as a proposition player with a sunrise loan deadline falls into play with a trio of very interesting alien brothers.
All of the stories were worth reading, and I enjoyed the book. But I think I would have enjoyed it just as much if Star Wars hadn't been on the cover, and appreciated the well-built world even more if it didn't have the branding behind it.
That's not to say that it's bad - the stories go from middling to very good. Ahmed's story about a man who spent a century following the rules finally getting an adventure out of breaking them is the weakest of the bunch, but it still has its moments. Mira Grant's story about a sommelier starts off overweighted with florid prose, but it fits the characters and by the time the central conflict comes into play, all of the characters have enough detail to lead to some strong investment over the sale of a bottle of wine. Rae Carson's story features a unique protagonist (an alien masseur) whose unique abilities are central to his 'Taken'-like story, and make for an interesting tale. And John Jackson Miller's story was the highlight, as a proposition player with a sunrise loan deadline falls into play with a trio of very interesting alien brothers.
All of the stories were worth reading, and I enjoyed the book. But I think I would have enjoyed it just as much if Star Wars hadn't been on the cover, and appreciated the well-built world even more if it didn't have the branding behind it.
September 5, 2024
This isn't really a Star Wars book. It's four stories set in a gambling planet in the Last Jedi film, Canto Bight. Three stories are fairly good, one less so.
The first, Rules of the Game, is about a salesman who runs into an assassin. The hapless salesman has all sorts of misfortune. This one really had no ending and just stopped. Worst of the bunch for me.
The second story, The Wine in Dreams, about a wine expert was better, though I'm not a wine fan. It got more interesting towards the end.
The third story, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing, was about a masseuse and underworld entanglements. That one didn't have an expected ending either.
The fourth and last story, The Ride, was about a down on his luck gambler who learns to live a little. That one was somewhat interesting, though I'm not a gambling fan.
The stellar narrators of Sean Kenin, Saskiaa Marleveld, March Thompson and Jonathan Davis really make these come alive. Their talents lift any material they narrate. This isn't a must read book, and with the exception of a few references, doesn't really connect to the larger Star Wars universe. It took me five years to get around to reading/listening to this one.
The first, Rules of the Game, is about a salesman who runs into an assassin. The hapless salesman has all sorts of misfortune. This one really had no ending and just stopped. Worst of the bunch for me.
The second story, The Wine in Dreams, about a wine expert was better, though I'm not a wine fan. It got more interesting towards the end.
The third story, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing, was about a masseuse and underworld entanglements. That one didn't have an expected ending either.
The fourth and last story, The Ride, was about a down on his luck gambler who learns to live a little. That one was somewhat interesting, though I'm not a gambling fan.
The stellar narrators of Sean Kenin, Saskiaa Marleveld, March Thompson and Jonathan Davis really make these come alive. Their talents lift any material they narrate. This isn't a must read book, and with the exception of a few references, doesn't really connect to the larger Star Wars universe. It took me five years to get around to reading/listening to this one.
October 12, 2018
I've never done this before, but it is 100% justified: My GR friend Josh's review says it all so far as plot and characterization goes for this quartet of novellas. Couldn't do any better, so you should click the link and read it and give him all of the likes.
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I'll limit myself to commenting on the audiobook narration, which transcended some patchy material for the most part, particularly Jonathan Davis' work on the final book in which he created a voice persona for one of the "Lucky Three" that had me cracking up spontaneously, no matter what the dialogue was. Well played, sir. Well played.
Looking for more info. on this douche? Keep looking
I'll limit myself to commenting on the audiobook narration, which transcended some patchy material for the most part, particularly Jonathan Davis' work on the final book in which he created a voice persona for one of the "Lucky Three" that had me cracking up spontaneously, no matter what the dialogue was. Well played, sir. Well played.
August 19, 2024
"Everything ends. What's important is that you enjoyed the ride."
I was so excited for these, but something about them felt like they were missing something.
Rule of the Game 2.5 STARS - Kind of a bummer of a story
The Wine in Dreams DNF - I could not get over how slow and boring this one was (Which kind of breaks my completionism heart)
Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing 3 STARS - This one was okay
The Ride 3.5 STARS - Definitely the best of the bunch, I think it would have been better if this was a longer story.
I was so excited for these, but something about them felt like they were missing something.
Rule of the Game 2.5 STARS - Kind of a bummer of a story
The Wine in Dreams DNF - I could not get over how slow and boring this one was (Which kind of breaks my completionism heart)
Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing 3 STARS - This one was okay
The Ride 3.5 STARS - Definitely the best of the bunch, I think it would have been better if this was a longer story.
March 2, 2019
Buf. Difícil de valorar. El primer relato es una tontada pero se deja leer, el segundo es una ida de olla tremenda sin sentido, después la cosa remonta durante 2 historias, y luego estamos con otro meh. ¿Lo recomendaría? No, por desgracia. Hay historias de SW en canon mucho más entretenidas, divertidas y con una historia que vale la pena seguir.
July 27, 2019
I got into a pretty serious funk recently, for whatever reason (maybe just the expected re-emergence of my dear and oldest friend: nebulous, unmanageable existential dread), and I decided you know what, almost everything I've been reading for the past like three years has been unnecessarily dense and academic, and I don't even know why I'm still doing it to myself, because I hate it. I suppose I felt a kind of obligation to read serious, challenging real-life things, as if the dread I feel needs any more of a legitimate basis from which to overtake my entire body, violently and abruptly, at the quiet corner table of a coffee shop at ten thirty in the morning on a horrible empty Tuesday in July - but then I realized, I could just read a Star Wars book or something. So when I recognized Saladin Ahmed's name on this one at the bookstore (I follow him on Twitter, without really knowing what he does or who he is, just that I think he's neat), I decided to buy it. I was very specifically looking for some sort of salve for the depression spiral I was still plunging down, and more or less that is what I got, so I was happy about that. Not thrilled, but sated. Satisfied and pleased, definitely, in a small way - which was all I was hoping for really (because you don't get that feeling reading, for instance, the book I'm reading now, which is about the eventual destruction of all life on earth as a result of climate change. Like, I do this to myself. That's why I wanted a Star Wars book).
Individual reviews of Canto Bight's four short stories:
4 stars: Rules of the Game (Saladin Ahmed)
I had no idea what kind of writer Ahmed was before I read this. I was 100% banking on my vague but favorable Twitter impression of him, and it turned out I gambled correctly, because this story was really good. I'm also judging it by different standards than normal (my normal standards are haughty and unreasonable), not because I look down on Star Wars short fiction (not willingly, anyway) but because I don't think there's any point in, for instance, directly contrasting this kind of writing to like, Isaac Asimov, or whatever other big-brain shit. Clearly Star Wars as a whole has a different tone than what I usually gravitate to - because I'm a morbid and overly-pretentious fool - and whoever it was that got this particular project going obviously wasn't asking for morbid, overly-pretentious writing. So, Rules of the Game has a generally light-hearted tone, and the prose itself is simple - but these, in a sneaky sort of way, serve to deliver some very heavy, serious themes: like police violence, which isn't necessarily what the story is "about", but it definitely is what you come away thinking about the most when you're done, or at least that was the case for me. A different writer might have introduced the violent police officer character in the way villains often are in vaguely kid-friendly media: as essentially goofy (to take the edge away), not actually dangerous so much as presenting a nebulous threat of danger, and easily dispatched or driven away - but Ahmed didn't do it that way. The abusive officer is a real threat, genuinely scary, and he genuinely causes harm to one of the main characters, in a way that is not glossed over or sanitized. And he makes sure to specify - subtly, but definitively - that this is an issue with the nature of the police as an institution, more than it is with individual evil people. That is a very necessary fact to get across - like, in the world, in general - and he did it in a story that is also, at the same time somehow, genuinely very funny and entertaining. The main character Kedpin could have been terribly annoying - and sort of is, but in an endearing way - but Ahmed steered clear of that eventuality, as well as the eventuality of writing one of those extremely boring "bumbling fool" characters that have no personality but to be bumbling, and harmless. Kedpin actually has a character arc, and a convincing one at that - and this in a very short amount of pages.
Saladin Ahmed is very good with characters, and also very funny. The writing itself isn't spectacular but I don't think it has to be, since he communicated what he wanted to communicate and did it all in an entertaining way. It turns out simplicity can really work. It turns out, in fact, that an entertaining Star Wars story about a small pink alien named Kedpin Shoklop explores police violence better than the entirety of real-life corporate media - and I just think that's neat.
2 stars: The Wine in Dreams (Mira Grant)
I'd never heard of Mira Grant before, and it turns out the name is a pseudonym for the Hugo-award nominated author Seanan McGuire, who I'd also never hard of before. (I followed her on Twitter, after). Her story is about - and I really genuinely think the concept is beyond fantastic - an intergalactic sommelier who travels from place to place, tasting wines, making connections, and selling to very affluent alien customers. Once I grasped the concept (and I did go into every story completely blind, not on purpose but because I didn't care and didn't read the blurbs on the back) I was pretty hyped to see what the writer would do with it, because you could do so much with that. Unfortunately the story is functionally nonsensical and I had no idea what was happening almost the entire time.
Two of the central characters in the story - the weird alien twins - act in ways that don't make sense, and Grant's in-text explanation of sorts is that well they just enjoy causing chaos. The thing is it didn't really come off like a genuine motivation as much as it did an excuse to not have to think about why anyone was doing anything they were doing. It had a very me-when-I-was-twelve-playing-with-my-action-figures vibe to it, in that the imagination is there but the thread of narrative function really, really isn't - and maybe it makes perfect sense to you, but if you can't communicate it to a less-invested reader... you just lose them. And I got incredibly lost. I wanted to like it - I wanted to like every story, desperately, because I was in a depression spiral - but I didn't like this one.
Which is not to say that I didn't see glimmers I really did like, because I did. I liked the sommelier character, and again I loved the concept to pieces. But the other thing that turned me off about this one, besides the general making-it-up-as-you-go-along feeling, was the writing itself. It was often immensely self-indulgent, and not in a good way, not in that Virginia Woolf going on for extremely long, poetic paragraphs about basically nothing way; it was in more of a "talented high schooler who has always been universally adored by English teachers and was never told when to stop" way. It was a bit much. I do understand that she possibly meant it to be a bit much, since the story was sort of about affluence and pretentions and the kind of nihilistic way rich fucks approach existence; but you have to pull it off for real if that's your angle, otherwise it's just a terrible slog. It was a terrible slog. And I realize I'm saying this about a Hugo-nominated author. Maybe she was just off with this one, or it was kind of a throw-away story she needed to put somewhere - but either way, too unfocused, too indulgent, too much of a wasted concept.
4 stars: Hear Nothing, Say Nothing, See Nothing
Add Rae Carson to the list of people I'd never heard of but now follow on Twitter. As with all the stories here, I had no idea what to expect, and in retrospect I kind of really enjoyed that; it's nice to go into things with no existing biases, favorable or not. So with a totally clean brain, wiped of all associations and preexisting assumptions, I went into this one and came out the other side immensely surprised by how much I'd enjoyed it. I wasn't sure for a long time if I was going to like it, because the story seemed a bit too derivative (poor hardworking dad, suffering from health problems, has to rescue his strong, wily adoptive daughter; action sequences ensue), but here's the thing with good storytelling: deriativeness doesn't ultimately matter, if you know what you're doing and if you pull it off with seamless flying colors - which is exactly what Carson did. And I would argue she is the best writer of the four - but she's the best writer in a sneaky way. Because Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire is flowery as all hell (obnoxiously so), and certainly has the best words, as a fascist in a terrible suit once said; but Carson can actually handle pacing, character motivations, dialogue, and payoff, in that particular kind of way you run into sometimes that's just inexpressibly satisfying. The story is derivative - it follows many expected action-movie/thriller beats - but there's a reason action movies and thrillers are often similar: because those beats, when pulled off just right, work. Rae Carson pulls them off just right.
But that alone doesn't make a good story, because there needs to be something anchoring it - like reviewers and others often say, "someone to care about". The main character in this story - a renowned masseur who nonetheless suffers in poverty (because Canto Bight is an exploitative capitalist hellscape city) - is very likable, and very genuine. He's written very well, and is not nearly as simple as he could have been in a different writer's hand. The dialogue in general here is superior, and so are the characters - even the less interesting ones (like the kid, unfortunately, who's kind of boringly nice and capable, sorry) are more interesting and three-dimensional than a majority of characters in fiction generally. It's for all these reasons that I think Carson is the best in this little anthology, and I plan to read more of her stuff (once I'm done slogging through my desperately unhappy end-of-times climate change book, maybe).
2 stars: The Ride (John Jackson Miller)
I have written many words now and I'm getting tired - in any case it kind of works out, because I think The Ride deserves the least of my time and attention going over. It was easier reading than The Wine In Dreams, in that every other sentence wasn't an eye-rolling hunk of word salad, but in some ways I actually liked it less - and that feeling essentially boils down to the fact of the story's message, which is (kind of horribly, considering the stories that went right before it, with their capitalism-is-exploitative and no-this-state-of-being-isn't-acceptable-longterm undertones) that you know what, let's just all not worry about anything and enjoy ourselves. We're at a casino, after all, let's just have fun! Why not! Things don't matter! And I'm like, uhhhhhh ????? - kind of tone deaf, John Jackson Miller, did you read the one about the uh, police violence - And I mean for sure, there's a point to be made about being able to enjoy yourself in small, meaningful ways in the face of (oncoming climate catastrophe and societal collapse?) but that's not really what it came across as, here; it rang, to me, more of those shitty guys in their twenties who don't think racism exists anymore because democracy fixed it, so we can all just relax now. So don't make a fuss huh? And so, the anthology - the anthology that also goes over police violence, class oppression, income inequality, animal rights, etc., etc. - finishes on the most horrendously unhelpful note it possibly could. I wondered maybe if it was an attempt at irony, but I really do not think it was. It seems completely sincere; I can't mental-gymnastics myself into thinking it wasn't.
So, you know. It finished things off a bit sourly, for my taste.
Basically, you could remove The Wine in Dreams and The Ride and you'd still have a perfectly cohesive (if slightly less fleshed-out) picture of Canto Bight, in all its miserable, gaudy colors. I love the idea of the city generally, and I think there's so much more that could be done with that. They scratched some of that potential here, but it missed the mark in other ways, too. But it staved off my existential dread for a little while anyway, so I'm glad I picked it up, in the end.
Individual reviews of Canto Bight's four short stories:
4 stars: Rules of the Game (Saladin Ahmed)
I had no idea what kind of writer Ahmed was before I read this. I was 100% banking on my vague but favorable Twitter impression of him, and it turned out I gambled correctly, because this story was really good. I'm also judging it by different standards than normal (my normal standards are haughty and unreasonable), not because I look down on Star Wars short fiction (not willingly, anyway) but because I don't think there's any point in, for instance, directly contrasting this kind of writing to like, Isaac Asimov, or whatever other big-brain shit. Clearly Star Wars as a whole has a different tone than what I usually gravitate to - because I'm a morbid and overly-pretentious fool - and whoever it was that got this particular project going obviously wasn't asking for morbid, overly-pretentious writing. So, Rules of the Game has a generally light-hearted tone, and the prose itself is simple - but these, in a sneaky sort of way, serve to deliver some very heavy, serious themes: like police violence, which isn't necessarily what the story is "about", but it definitely is what you come away thinking about the most when you're done, or at least that was the case for me. A different writer might have introduced the violent police officer character in the way villains often are in vaguely kid-friendly media: as essentially goofy (to take the edge away), not actually dangerous so much as presenting a nebulous threat of danger, and easily dispatched or driven away - but Ahmed didn't do it that way. The abusive officer is a real threat, genuinely scary, and he genuinely causes harm to one of the main characters, in a way that is not glossed over or sanitized. And he makes sure to specify - subtly, but definitively - that this is an issue with the nature of the police as an institution, more than it is with individual evil people. That is a very necessary fact to get across - like, in the world, in general - and he did it in a story that is also, at the same time somehow, genuinely very funny and entertaining. The main character Kedpin could have been terribly annoying - and sort of is, but in an endearing way - but Ahmed steered clear of that eventuality, as well as the eventuality of writing one of those extremely boring "bumbling fool" characters that have no personality but to be bumbling, and harmless. Kedpin actually has a character arc, and a convincing one at that - and this in a very short amount of pages.
Saladin Ahmed is very good with characters, and also very funny. The writing itself isn't spectacular but I don't think it has to be, since he communicated what he wanted to communicate and did it all in an entertaining way. It turns out simplicity can really work. It turns out, in fact, that an entertaining Star Wars story about a small pink alien named Kedpin Shoklop explores police violence better than the entirety of real-life corporate media - and I just think that's neat.
2 stars: The Wine in Dreams (Mira Grant)
I'd never heard of Mira Grant before, and it turns out the name is a pseudonym for the Hugo-award nominated author Seanan McGuire, who I'd also never hard of before. (I followed her on Twitter, after). Her story is about - and I really genuinely think the concept is beyond fantastic - an intergalactic sommelier who travels from place to place, tasting wines, making connections, and selling to very affluent alien customers. Once I grasped the concept (and I did go into every story completely blind, not on purpose but because I didn't care and didn't read the blurbs on the back) I was pretty hyped to see what the writer would do with it, because you could do so much with that. Unfortunately the story is functionally nonsensical and I had no idea what was happening almost the entire time.
Two of the central characters in the story - the weird alien twins - act in ways that don't make sense, and Grant's in-text explanation of sorts is that well they just enjoy causing chaos. The thing is it didn't really come off like a genuine motivation as much as it did an excuse to not have to think about why anyone was doing anything they were doing. It had a very me-when-I-was-twelve-playing-with-my-action-figures vibe to it, in that the imagination is there but the thread of narrative function really, really isn't - and maybe it makes perfect sense to you, but if you can't communicate it to a less-invested reader... you just lose them. And I got incredibly lost. I wanted to like it - I wanted to like every story, desperately, because I was in a depression spiral - but I didn't like this one.
Which is not to say that I didn't see glimmers I really did like, because I did. I liked the sommelier character, and again I loved the concept to pieces. But the other thing that turned me off about this one, besides the general making-it-up-as-you-go-along feeling, was the writing itself. It was often immensely self-indulgent, and not in a good way, not in that Virginia Woolf going on for extremely long, poetic paragraphs about basically nothing way; it was in more of a "talented high schooler who has always been universally adored by English teachers and was never told when to stop" way. It was a bit much. I do understand that she possibly meant it to be a bit much, since the story was sort of about affluence and pretentions and the kind of nihilistic way rich fucks approach existence; but you have to pull it off for real if that's your angle, otherwise it's just a terrible slog. It was a terrible slog. And I realize I'm saying this about a Hugo-nominated author. Maybe she was just off with this one, or it was kind of a throw-away story she needed to put somewhere - but either way, too unfocused, too indulgent, too much of a wasted concept.
4 stars: Hear Nothing, Say Nothing, See Nothing
Add Rae Carson to the list of people I'd never heard of but now follow on Twitter. As with all the stories here, I had no idea what to expect, and in retrospect I kind of really enjoyed that; it's nice to go into things with no existing biases, favorable or not. So with a totally clean brain, wiped of all associations and preexisting assumptions, I went into this one and came out the other side immensely surprised by how much I'd enjoyed it. I wasn't sure for a long time if I was going to like it, because the story seemed a bit too derivative (poor hardworking dad, suffering from health problems, has to rescue his strong, wily adoptive daughter; action sequences ensue), but here's the thing with good storytelling: deriativeness doesn't ultimately matter, if you know what you're doing and if you pull it off with seamless flying colors - which is exactly what Carson did. And I would argue she is the best writer of the four - but she's the best writer in a sneaky way. Because Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire is flowery as all hell (obnoxiously so), and certainly has the best words, as a fascist in a terrible suit once said; but Carson can actually handle pacing, character motivations, dialogue, and payoff, in that particular kind of way you run into sometimes that's just inexpressibly satisfying. The story is derivative - it follows many expected action-movie/thriller beats - but there's a reason action movies and thrillers are often similar: because those beats, when pulled off just right, work. Rae Carson pulls them off just right.
But that alone doesn't make a good story, because there needs to be something anchoring it - like reviewers and others often say, "someone to care about". The main character in this story - a renowned masseur who nonetheless suffers in poverty (because Canto Bight is an exploitative capitalist hellscape city) - is very likable, and very genuine. He's written very well, and is not nearly as simple as he could have been in a different writer's hand. The dialogue in general here is superior, and so are the characters - even the less interesting ones (like the kid, unfortunately, who's kind of boringly nice and capable, sorry) are more interesting and three-dimensional than a majority of characters in fiction generally. It's for all these reasons that I think Carson is the best in this little anthology, and I plan to read more of her stuff (once I'm done slogging through my desperately unhappy end-of-times climate change book, maybe).
2 stars: The Ride (John Jackson Miller)
I have written many words now and I'm getting tired - in any case it kind of works out, because I think The Ride deserves the least of my time and attention going over. It was easier reading than The Wine In Dreams, in that every other sentence wasn't an eye-rolling hunk of word salad, but in some ways I actually liked it less - and that feeling essentially boils down to the fact of the story's message, which is (kind of horribly, considering the stories that went right before it, with their capitalism-is-exploitative and no-this-state-of-being-isn't-acceptable-longterm undertones) that you know what, let's just all not worry about anything and enjoy ourselves. We're at a casino, after all, let's just have fun! Why not! Things don't matter! And I'm like, uhhhhhh ????? - kind of tone deaf, John Jackson Miller, did you read the one about the uh, police violence - And I mean for sure, there's a point to be made about being able to enjoy yourself in small, meaningful ways in the face of (oncoming climate catastrophe and societal collapse?) but that's not really what it came across as, here; it rang, to me, more of those shitty guys in their twenties who don't think racism exists anymore because democracy fixed it, so we can all just relax now. So don't make a fuss huh? And so, the anthology - the anthology that also goes over police violence, class oppression, income inequality, animal rights, etc., etc. - finishes on the most horrendously unhelpful note it possibly could. I wondered maybe if it was an attempt at irony, but I really do not think it was. It seems completely sincere; I can't mental-gymnastics myself into thinking it wasn't.
So, you know. It finished things off a bit sourly, for my taste.
Basically, you could remove The Wine in Dreams and The Ride and you'd still have a perfectly cohesive (if slightly less fleshed-out) picture of Canto Bight, in all its miserable, gaudy colors. I love the idea of the city generally, and I think there's so much more that could be done with that. They scratched some of that potential here, but it missed the mark in other ways, too. But it staved off my existential dread for a little while anyway, so I'm glad I picked it up, in the end.
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