User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/THE CHOSEN ONE: First four chapters released!/@comment-3528596-20120929175659

Wow. I read the chapters, and I really liked them. I'm looking forward to the next release. I'm going to just say this now, I haven't read any versions of TCO already, so this is all new to me. Anyway, review:

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW

I'm going to begin with the beginning. It's very unusual for a Star Wars novel. No space, no space ship, no Jedi or stormtroopers or blasterfire. Nothing. Instead it starts with desert. Roars and screeches of creatures, twilight fears. And then there is this shadow running across the desert, being chased by sand people. This is NOT a usual Star Wars beginning. I LIKE that. I like this beginning that is focused less on the problems of an enormous galaxy, but more on the problems of our single person, the shadow revealed to be Michael Lars. His fears, his flight to the safety of the tyrants he hates, these things captured my interest.

What next? I have one word: Darklighter. Deacon "Deak" Darklighter, the secret uncle of Michael, is a great character. He is protective of Michael from afar, but makes sure to be stern and to admonish Michael when they rescue him from the sand people. He's working for the Hutts, but he's not one of them, that is very clear.

Then we have Anchorhead station. Second only to one thing later on, Anchorhead seems to be the most changed from canon. It's a darker, more dangerous place, constantly under the oppression of the Hutts. Michael hates the tyrants, but still uses the place as a sanctuary. It's a lesser of two evils scenario.

The next really well done part is the introduction of Ray'kele, when Michael is in a bar. We don't know much about him, but he knows&mdash;and more importantly likes—Michael, and the feeling is mutual. Despite Deak having said otherwise, Ray'kele gives some importance to the statue Michael found. (Side note: He seems to be suggesting that the statue is our favorite friend).

We learn some more backstory, and then there is possibly my favorite sceen. Our great hero is confronted by his rival and ex-girlfriends boyfriend, Joshua Banai and his two pals. The three are drunk, and their speach reminds me of a great scene on Taris in KotOR. They insult Michael, and his father, until Michael has had enough. Two options for what happens: 1. Michael, as the good angel he is, walks away and leaves the drunks be. 2. Michael attacks, and then walks away leaving the drunks unconscious after a beating. Which option does Brandon choose? Neither. He writes Michael in a perfectly human way. That's right, no Mary Sue-ing here. Michael attacks the three, and subsequently gets beaten upon by them.

Then Sara Jade shows up. I don't like her. Now, don't take that the wrong way, she's an amazingly written character, with good dialogue and characterization. She's a great character, but a bad person. She rescues Michael, but then twists him with her words, working to corrupt him. Honestly, she seems like more of a danger to Michael than Joshua, the Hutts, or the sand people are in these first four chapters.

Anyways.....they talk, and as was aforementioned she plays around with him and tempts him some, until she finally leaves. That's the end of chapter two.

There's like, no action in chapter three, but it's well timed and gives lots of backstory. The biggest "action" is when Luke Lars, Michael's adopted father who we're finally introduced to in person, yells at Michael for what he's done. We briefly see Deak again, and there's some hinting to Darklighter's desire for something...a rebellion maybe? Dunno.

While Luke and Deak are great and all, there's one thing that I love about this chapter. If Anchorhead is the second most changed thing from canon, this guy's the most changed. Owen Lars. Yes, that's right, Uncle Owen. Except he's not. He's Michael's adopted brother, and he's pretty awesome IMHO. Here's the introduction:

'“Don’t worry about Deak,” came a voice from behind him, a voice not much older than him, an '

'uplifting one at times and a massive annoyance at others.' I actually have an older brother (omg, you know something about me now) and this is exactly how I would describe him. Later on it says ''What Michael needed, and what Owen had always given him, was an 'outlet'. ''That too is spot on. Brandon, whether or not you have a brother, you've nailed this. Despite being a slightly antagonistic character in A New Hope Owen Lars has been transformed into an amazing side-charater, who I would love to see more of. Owen also has a wonderful line that is a beatiful homage to A New Hope.

There's also a brief mention of something happening to Kitster causing Michael to "run scared". What that is, and how it may or may not be important, I'm not sure yet. An interesting note however, is that the of The Phantom Menace has the last name Banai, which is the name of Michael's rival guy, that beat up on him. Whether or not this is anything important, I've no idea.

Chapter Four, the last chapter for now, starts with Michael, having been slightly cheered by Owen but still desiring Sara Jade, sleeping. Correction, Michael's dreaming. It's a nightmare, involving some past event where he crashed a ship. How it's important, I'm not really sure. Honestly, it feels a little out of place and I didn't like it that much, but hey, I'm sure there's some meaning that will be revealed.

But he still can't get Sara out of his mind, so what does he do? Meditate? Recite the Jedi code about no emotions? Nope. Our clearly non-Mary Sue takes a blaster and breaks into his dad's safe, stealing Luke's alcohol. Wowz. That's not very good of our hero.... He even knows it's wrong and stupid but does it anyway. No joke. And that's great, because honestly, we've all done stuff we know is wrong and stupid. Michael is clearly an imperfect being at this point in time.

Now, he takes the blaster, the alcohol, and a speeder and goes off to her house. What does he find? Joshua dumped her. How does he take this news? With terribly disguised glee. Wouldn't you be happy if the boy your girlfriend left you for dumped her? I probably would. Now he takes her, the blaster, and the alcohol on the speeder to a special place for him, where he used to watch the sunrise and think of how every day could be better. Err... suns rise.

Ooh, romantic tension is building. Now what? He tells her a story of his father in the old Rim Wars. He talks of how Luke what captured and rescued by rebels, and a special individual. Who? That's right, a Jedi Knight. Michael actually has a drawing of the Jedi, showing us everything iconic, including the lightsaber. Naturally, Sara thinks the whole things is BS, but we know better.

Ooh, romantic tension is still building! Sara tells Michael to close his eyes.....and guess what?! She takes the alcohol, the blaster, and the speeder and leaves Michael there. Wow. That sucks for him... still... wait, there's NO UPSIDE to what just happened. He's in a bad spot now.

And that's where Brandon leaves us, with a cliff hangar involving Michael seeing something loud and terrible in the sky. Something far worse than a falling meteor. What could this been? Who knows. Personally, I'd guess it's a ship. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

Well, there we go. I loved the first four chapters. Good writing, good plot, great characters. One final comment would be that the description of Tatooine (Anchorhead aside) made me think of KotOR's Tatooine, which may not have been Brandon's intention, but I enjoyed that. Oh, also there could be some typos in this review. I'm not feeling great today, but I wanted to get this out. Srory ni advcane for teh tpyos.

Start hyping for the next release!