Star Wars: Lando’s Luck
Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon Series
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Justina Ireland
Illustrated by Annie Wu
Audiobook narrated by Soneela Nankani
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press
Release date: October 2, 2018

Lando Calrissian has always been one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe. He’s a gambler, a swindler, a pilot, a warrior, a general, and he’s probably the only person that can make Han Solo blush. From that first moment on Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back when Billy Dee Williams faced off with Harrison Ford, that was it for me. And I have not been disappointed with his portrayals in any subsequent movie or book… and, yes, Donald Glover nailed it.

So, given the opportunity to review Star Wars: Lando’s Luck, a book dedicated to Lando, I jumped at the chance.

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Expanded Edition Novelization
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Mur Lafferty
Audiobook narrated by Marc Thompson
Publisher: Del Rey Books | Random House Audio
Release date: September 4, 2018

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the audiobook for the junior novel for Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first of two novelizations of the film released in conjunction with the Blu-ray Edition. I apologize that it took nearly three weeks to get around to this Expanded Edition, but, yanno, life and other Geeks of Doom reviews.

Much like I explained in the review of the Joe Schreiber junior novelization, Mur Lafferty‘s novelization is just that, a scene-by-scene retelling of the movie. The Junior Novel promised and delivered on a handful of deleted scenes that didn’t make the theatrical cut; the Expanded Edition promises and delivers on that and a whole ton more.

Resistant
Paperback | Kindle Edition
By Rachael Sparks
Publisher: SparkPress
Release date: October 16, 2018

Resistant is set in a not-so-distant future in which a large chunk of the world’s population has been decimated by disease, the spread of which was fueled by our long history of over-dependence on antibiotics, the dodgy business dealings of the pharmaceutical industry, and climate change. In the ensuing years, the remainder of the scientific community has been working on discovering a cure, to no avail. However, this effort is tainted. While a government-driven initiative, employing some of the world’s top scientists working against their will, will go to any length to find a cure so it can be privatized and sold to the highest bidder, a counteractive resistance is doing the same but with the aim of saving all of humanity.

Dracul
Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Dacre Stoker, J.D. Barker
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons | Penguin Books
Release date: October 2, 2018

It’s been about 125 years so I’m sincerely hoping that, by now, everyone is at least tangentially familiar with the legend of Count Dracula as published by Bram Stoker. Yes? Good. No? For shame!!

Now consider if you were told that the story of the world’s most infamous and influential vampire was based on true events in the life of its author.

Well, I’m not about to tell you that this is the case. However, Bram’s great-grand-nephew Dacre Stoker, along with co-author J.D. Barker, is here to do just that with Dracul, a prequel to the classic Dracula.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Junior Novel
Star Wars Junior Novelizations
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
Written Joe Schreiber
Audiobook narrated by Sean Henin Bradford Hastings
Publisher: Del Rey Books | Random House Audio
Audiobook Release date: September 4, 2018

I’d like to preface this by saying that the next week or so is going to be interesting. I just finished the audiobook of Solo: A Star Wars Story Junior Novel (which I will review here in short order) and then I’m embarking on Solo: A Star Wars Story Expanded Edition. Both are novelizations of the same movie, but with different authors and different voice talents on each. I want to liken it to watching the theatrical and director’s cuts of a film, but I don’t think it’s going to be like that at all, to be honest, because the interpretations by the authors should be slightly different and the lead voice will have a different sound entirely. Bear with me, okay?

I began with the Junior Novel audiobook because I knew I could tear through it pretty quickly and because I’m already familiar with author Joe Schreiber‘s work in the Star Wars Universe having read both Death Troopers and Maul: Lockdown. (I’m pretty sure Death Troopers is the final book I purchased before Borders Books & Music shuttered forever).