Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Black Spire
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Galaxy’s Edge – Book 2
Written by Delilah S. Dawson
Narrated by January LaVoy
Publisher: Del Rey | Random House Audio
Release date: August 27, 2019

In the second book of Disney’s new Star Wars series related to the Galaxy’s Edge theme park, Black Spire focuses on spy Vi Moradi’s attempts to resuscitate a flagging Resistance in the days immediately following the eighth film, The Last Jedi. With the New Republic’s central government destroyed by Starkiller Base and their forces all but defeated, Vi is sent by her mentor, General Leia Organa, to seek promising new worlds on which to re-kickstart the Resistance. To help her, Leia sends along Archex, a man with an intimate knowledge of the First Order. You see, he was not only a former Stormtrooper Captain known as Cardinal, but he and Moradi have a history all their own… Cardinal tortured Moradi after capturing her. During their torture sessions, though, Moradi discovered a weakness in Cardinal/Archex and exploited it. This allowed her to not only escape the clutches of the First Order, but also rescue a Stormtrooper was now able to see the error of his ways.

Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
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Stranger Things, Book 1
Written by Gwenda Bond
Publisher: Del Rey
Release date: February 5, 2019

Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds is the first official book to be published that’s set in the fictional world of early 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, from Netflix’s Stranger Things and features some of the characters we have come to know and love from the three seasons of the hit streaming series.

But for this story, we travel a bit further back. To 1969, in fact. This is when Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine’s character) and his young ward, Kali (or “008” as we’ve come to know her), arrive at Hawkins National Laboratory to expand upon his experiments on the human mind. To aid in his tests, he recruits four college-aged kids chosen because of promising capabilities they’ve displayed.

Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Star Wars: Thrawn, Book 3
Written by Timothy Zahn
Narrated by Marc Thompson
Publisher: Del Rey Books | Random House Audio
Release date: July 23, 2019

Timothy Zahn returns with his denouement in his new canon trilogy of tales about Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn titled Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason.

In it, Grand Admiral Thrawn butts heads with Director Orson Krennic over project funding. Thrawn believes the future of the Empire, at least in the years leading up to Episode IV: A New Hope, is his TIE Defender project. Krennic, on the other hand, is certain the Empire can only hope to survive if his Stardust* project even if it has been delayed and run a bit over budget.

Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Alphabet Squadron Trilogy, Book 1
Written by Alexander Freed
Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
Publisher: Del Rey Books | Random House Audio
Release date: June 11, 2019

Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron is the first in a promised trilogy of books focusing on Navy pilots in the years following the Battle of Endor, after the Rebellion transitions into being the New Republic. The reason for the naming is because the squadron consists of pilots flying practically every letter-designated ship we’ve ever seen in the Star Wars saga “” X-Wing, A-Wing, B-Wing, Y-Wing, and even Rogue One‘s U-Wing.

Alpha and Omega
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Harry Turtledove
Publisher: Del Rey, an imprint of Random House Books
Release Date: July 2, 2019

Harry Turtledove is renowned for his alternative historical tales. Oftentimes, one small change is all it takes to create an entirely different possible outcome. And, to be fair, I have enjoyed all of his prior stories that I have read. Therefore, I was slightly surprised to find that Alpha and Omega was less about a historical event and more about the present and, to some extent, the future. I was no less entranced, to be sure. In fact, it caused me some serious introspection when I put the book down. Curious? Then keep reading for more about this wonderful book.