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swbookclub2021-05-23 12:03 pm
colls) wrote in swbookclub2021-05-23 12:03 pm
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Last Shot: Part 3 of 4
Welcome to our third of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.
This month’s book is Last Shot by Daniel José Older
Part III
Last Shot Part 3 of 4
1. Han's past: I'm unsure if I find Han's attempts at flirting and love with Sana to be humorous, irritating, or pitiful. Perhaps all three. What are your thoughts?
Does Sana's influence give Han and Chewbacca a reputation amongst some of the criminal gangs?
2. Lando's past: We learn a bit more about L3 and her rebellion, but this seems to be the least developed story line at the moment. What do you think L3's ultimate involvement with 'Phylanx Redux Transmitter' will be?
3. Fyzen's past: Fyzen seems to have hit an obstacle when the local warlord gang, Wandering Star, came back. Do you think his loss in that battle is the catalyst that drives him out of simply killing the locals for their body parts and aiming for galactic domination? Or was he headed on that trajectory all along?
4. The 'current' time line has a lot happening, the pacing of the story feels like it's ramping up (which is logical for the 3/4 point of a narrative). What scenes stick out for you?
5. What other thoughts do you have? How are you liking it so far?
FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part III of the book.
This month’s book is Last Shot by Daniel José Older
Part III
Last Shot Part 3 of 4
1. Han's past: I'm unsure if I find Han's attempts at flirting and love with Sana to be humorous, irritating, or pitiful. Perhaps all three. What are your thoughts?
Does Sana's influence give Han and Chewbacca a reputation amongst some of the criminal gangs?
2. Lando's past: We learn a bit more about L3 and her rebellion, but this seems to be the least developed story line at the moment. What do you think L3's ultimate involvement with 'Phylanx Redux Transmitter' will be?
3. Fyzen's past: Fyzen seems to have hit an obstacle when the local warlord gang, Wandering Star, came back. Do you think his loss in that battle is the catalyst that drives him out of simply killing the locals for their body parts and aiming for galactic domination? Or was he headed on that trajectory all along?
4. The 'current' time line has a lot happening, the pacing of the story feels like it's ramping up (which is logical for the 3/4 point of a narrative). What scenes stick out for you?
5. What other thoughts do you have? How are you liking it so far?
FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part III of the book.
no subject
1. Han taking bickering as flirting both makes me nostalgic and mildly disappointed. He really has no other way to measure these things though, which mostly makes me sad.
While Han certainly did his part to screw up the plan, I have to wonder if Sana didn't start a pattern here. Han had his past on Corellia and his job with Beckett that involved Crimson Dawn (considering how Solo ended, I doubt anyone in Crimson Dawn knew his name at this point), but other gangs didn't know him.
2. I practically ache for more L3 in this and I have high hopes for the rest of the book. I also find the parallel between the comic we read last week where C-3PO had a spy network and here where L3 has this whole other droid life that Lando knows nothing about fascinating.
3. Something about Fyzen's story line feels off to me. It feels like it lacks cohesion or any real driving factor. IDK, I'm not sure if it's because I'm glossing over how incredibly gory and disturbing it is or if it's really just that something in the story is not revealed yet.
I'm sitting here wonder "what is his point?"
4. The bantering between Han and Lando when they land at the "asylum" planet had me laughing. It was chock full of emotional we-have-to-talk-about-our-issues and I'm-angry-at-you-but-you're-my-family vibes along with a side of I-see-what-you're-doing about each other's love lives.
I found the reveal that Taka was a New Republic agent to be somewhat unsurprising, the fact that they're Leia's agent personally made me kind of sad. This is a marriage that really is doomed to fail. Han seemed to sense the same thing - he wasn't mad about it, just seemed resigned.
I do not understand what this cult of metal and bone is - what their goal is - other than being creepy and wanting to end organics? Or wanting to transcend organics? Or wanting to save organics and help them evolve to something other? I think this ties to the fact that I don't get Fyzen's point and this cult seems to be something he cooked up.
5. I'm invested in wanting to know what happens. We already know Han, Lando, and Chewbacca survive - but we don't really know about anyone else, so I'm expecting some death. I hope I'm wrong? But also I'm wanting to understand how the different threads tie in together and WHAT IS THE POINT of this weird Fyzen-droid-new-cult thing?!?!
no subject
This book is making me wish that Lucasfilm would make the Star Wars equivalent of the opening party in Stark Tower sequence from Age of Ultron, only with all our post-original-trilogy characters and their significant others as stars, and a couple of hours long.
Was it just me, or was this part very much all about Han and Lando?
no subject
There was definitely a lot of Han and Lando - which feels fitting for the story. Past heists come back to haunt them and all that.