Brendan Shusterman > Recent Status Updates

Picked up this book at a second-hand bookstore in Long Beach CA because the title struck me as oddly familiar like I heard it somewhere before. Its sat on my shelf for a while now so finally going to read it.

Book 3, “Hard Merchandise” Finished.

Again, it was ok. Maybe in some ways stronger than the second book. A worthy conclusion. Like the second book, the Kuat stuff was the best for me. This one felt much more Space Opera than its predecessor.

Book Two, “Slave Ship” Finished.

It was ok. Not as good as the first one. Again some of the flashback sequences could be done as a live-action episode with some small tweaks. The stuff on Kuat towards the end was cool, very Dune. This one feels less Blade-Runner and more Dune, but overall very Star Wars.

Book 1 “The Mandalorian Armor” Finished.

It was pretty good, very dark, with no heroes except maybe Zuckuss. Very 90ies post-Blade Runner feel. Writing style is pretty interesting, gonna have to read more of Jeter’s work. Loved it even though it hardly fits in canon now. Chapters 15-21 could be adapted into something, just going in media res from here would probably work in a 50 minute TV episode.

“A Deep sob came out of Jody’s weak frame. It was beating like a bass drum in a hen house. Then it rose high like pulling in a trombone.”

….I was listening to the trombone pulling in on American in Paris when I read this line! Life can be funny like that sometimes.