Star Wars Adventures in Wild Space, by Cavan Scott
Book Review by SJ Higbee
I took my six-year-old grandson shopping for books, thinking we'd come away with yet another sticker book when this offering caught his eye. A great Star Wars fan, he was thrilled and so was I. Would it provide the adventure and excitement he wanted, with some of the film magic he craved?
In a galaxy far, far away... When their parents are kidnapped by the villainous Captain Korda of the Galactic Empire, Milo and Lina Graf set out in their starship the Whisper Bird to rescue them. But with Imperial forces lying in wait, can they escape THE SNARE?
And there you have it -- a brother and sister trying to find out where their parents might be held, alone apart from a lizard-monkey called Morq and a grumpy robot called CR-8R, or Crater to his young owners. This adventure story starts full-tilt and rockets along without letting the pace drop, providing plenty of thrills and spills along the way.
While there isn't a huge amount of in-depth characterization, Milo and Lina are both appealing, showing courage and determination in the face of danger, while still badly missing their parents. They also argue with each other, which I really liked and thought it showed a nice slice of reality that children would recognize. There are also regular touches of humor, mostly involving the grumpy robot and monkey-lizard, which helped to lighten the mood in among the whiz-bang action and constant activity.
Scattered among the text are a few line illustrations which Oscar really appreciated and which he wanted to discuss, given they all invariably depicted yet another action scene. That said, the writing generally reads well, although there were more typos that I'm happy to see in a book aimed at newly independent readers.
Was the climax satisfying? Oh, yes, Oscar was genuinely excited and begged me to complete the book before he had to go home. While he was a bit disappointed that it ended on something of a cliffhanger, he was delighted that we had the second book and immediately asked me if I could get the rest of the series. Which I've done. This isn't beautifully crafted prose, but the setting and characters have struck a chord with someone who hasn't all that keen to listen to most of my reasonably extensive library of children's books. I'll take that, while mentally blessing the bright spark who reckoned there would be a number of boys who'd be delighted to once more get immersed in a Star Wars adventure particularly aimed at them.Brainfluff
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