Booknote: Star Wars: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens, Volume 1

Landry Q. Walker and Tyler Scarlet (illustrator), Star Wars: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens, Volume 1. Los Angeles, CA: Disney/Lucasfilm Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-148474141-2.

Genre: science fiction
Subgenre: young adult, Star Wars
Format: hardcover
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library 

This is another of the many short story anthologies available where they take minor characters and give them a story. The results on these anthologies are often mixed. This anthology is part of Disney's new efforts on the Star Wars franchise. It is a good but not great nice read. The stories in this collection for young adults take place around the time of The Force Awakens.

The book contains six stories. Personally, I enjoyed "A recipe for death" quite a bit. Star Wars books often adapt pop culture ideas to a Star Wars twist. This story is basically a version of cooking competition shows with a murder mystery tossed in. In the story, the cook of Maz Kanata's castle finds his sous chef dead. He holds a cooking competition, ostensibly to find  replacement but it is really to find the culprit. It is an interesting concept and, like other good murder mysteries, it has an unexpected twist at the end.

The other story that caught my eye was "The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku." In a remote world, an old Republic-era wrecked cruiser sends out a signal. Pirates decode the signal, and they realize it may contain a lost treasure belonging to Count Dooku. The race is on as pirate groups, including the Crimson Corsair and his gang, race through a hostile desert to try to get it first. The story was a bit too long at times, but it is interesting overall. No one really knows what the treasure is right away, so when it is revealed, there is a certain satisfaction.

In the end, I liked this book. Though it is labeled for young adults, I think adults can enjoy it as well. If you like exploring small, far corners of that galaxy far, far away, this may be for you.

3 out of 5 stars.