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Decent enough novel focused partly on the relationship between Sidious and Vader, and partly establishing the early days of the Rebellion through the medium of the residents of Ryloth. Couple of nice tie-forwards to the Rebels animated series, and back to the prequel trilogy. Enjoyable particularly after the action picked up in the second half, but never felt an "essential" read. Strong characterisation of Vader though.

Felicia Day's personality really shines through in this quirky autobiography. I probably expected a little more on her acting career, but this was a really easy and fun read. Her joy, geeky gaming background, and delight at the possibilities of the Internet is evident, and only darkened towards the end (GamerGate and other things sadly coming to the fore). Thoroughly enjoyable.

A thoroughly enjoyable Star Wars novel, taking pre-episode IV era youngsters into Imperial service, and then following the Imperial side of the story (in the main) behind the scenes of IV, V, VI and beyond. The characters - particularly the two central protagonists - were well drawn. There was a huge amount of pleasure in tying their tales into the Star Wars stories we know from the original trilogy, and arguably this sets up episode VII far better than Aftermath.

With tie-ins to the Battleground and Uprising games (although only in passing in the case of the latter), and the Journey to the Force Awakens Shattered Empire series, but also with a strong standalone central tale of personal values and relationships, this is possibly as good as it gets.

Recommended to all, well beyond the target "young adult" audience this novel was evidently aimed at!