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RETRO: Star Wars: The High Republic: Cataclysm Review · Star Wars Alliance

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The Force will be with you always. Hello, and welcome back to another
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episode of Star Wars Alliance. Of course, I'm your host, Clay,
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and with me on this fine night. It has been a good two hours
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of worth of recording. But we're doing this at the tail end of our
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normal show, that being, of course, the title here being our Star
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Wars High Republic Cataclysm review. Of course, I'm here with Katie. Katie,
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how you doing? You know, I'm gonna hate myself in the morning
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because I've been up since three am and I am now typically asleep by now.
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Do you do you have work tomorrow? Yes? Oh my gosh,
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Friday A Sorry, I'm so sorry, but this is gonna be a good
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review. I think that we both have really good tidbits that we want to
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bring up. We a little spoiler for our other episode that should be on
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the feed now for those who haven't listened to it yet. We did a
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tears list of all of the Cannon novels, this book being in our Masterpiece
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tier, or of course, our s tier of novels for Star Wars,
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so that gives you a little bit of insight of what we thought about this
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book. But Katie, this is this, this is a lot. This
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is you told me you finished this book a long time ago. Yes,
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I read it back in February. I just recently finished it, and I
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finished it for a second time listening to the audio, the audiobook that was
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graciously given to us, of course from Rena House Worlds. And you were
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not joking. You said that this was going to be a heavy book that
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you needed to very much be in the know of this phase. That being,
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of course, you had to have read the Battle of Jedda, and
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then you had to have read Convergence. I think it tells you what you
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need to know in both of those books. Like if you just read Cataclysm,
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you get enough context from what is given like substance wise in this book
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to know the gist of what happens in both Battle of Jedda and Cataclysm,
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but just reading them both, reading this gives you the full picture and it
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really really helps with the character development of all of our characters. Of course,
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there is too many handfuls of characters that are returning from each of those
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novels, and I think that's our biggest critique for this book, is it
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not? Yes, each I am almost willing to say that every single chapter
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has almost two or three perspectives in each chapter. It can get a little
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confusing. You are getting all over the place. But in the instance of
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this particular book you are looking at, I would say one, two,
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three, four, five, six different settings iram Arno, their moon,
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Dolna of course just seta Jetta and and coursonts so seven. So uh,
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there there is a lot happening in this book. But do you want to
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just go beat by beat? Like where are you wanting to go in this
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uh? In this review here, So let's go ahead and talk about the
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perspectives thing, just to kind of get it out of the way. I
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started counting the number of perspectives, and y'all, I was so swamped in
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the past three weeks that I really didn't get to take as many notes as
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I want to do. But I did get my second reading, which was
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the most important thing. So there is you have probably six Jedi perspectives,
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I want to say, because you have Yaddle, Sippa crate, Jella Gella,
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Yoda, So that's five. And then I think there's one more in
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there enya uh. And then you have Keyang Gray like you have Axel,
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you have been known, which I'm totally screwing that up. And then you
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have the mother and like I think I may be missing like three to four.
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Like Clay said, you were changing perspectives very regularly. This is a
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thirty two chapter book according to the Advanced Readers copy that we got, so
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it's a lot to put into thirty two chapters. And this is hefty.
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It comes in again in the Advanced Readers crop we've got. It's three hundred
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and sixty eight pages, so it is definitely hefty. But I don't think
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anything's wasted. As much as I hate the multiple perspectives and it's it can
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be hard to follow, it's desperately needed to give you all of the context
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for this night of sorrows on Dolnut is what I think it's called. I
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think for me in my ADHD brain. And also just like wanting to always
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just go to the action or like get our answers to what I had just
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read or listened to. One thing that always bugs me is, of course,
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and no hate to any of the writers, this is something that they
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have to do to give us readers a visual on what these worlds are.
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When they open up a chapter with like a crap ton of description, like
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I'm just like okay, like you could have just put in two or three
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sentences let's keep let's keep going, let's let's let's let's keep a move on
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here. That's another small critique that I have, Like there is at one
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moment and I would just say to small little tease or spoiler, we get
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to uh Chancellor Greylark, Kyong gray Lark, and she is like not in
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Chancellor's clothing, and they they being the writer, which let me go ahead
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and get there. Lydia King, doctor Lydia King. Excuse me, doctor
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Lydia King. She describes this in a way to show you that Chancellor gray
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Lark is not just a chancellor. She had a past. She is okay
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with getting down and dirty, and that really pushes her character forward with that
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third and final act of the book. I love Kyong and this like I
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want to have Kong's babies like Keyong. Keyong did one of the greatest things
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she could have done in this book that I was literally like fist pumping when
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I read it, and it was just like even when I was listening to
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it, like I got chills. It was so so good, but we'll
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get there. There's there's a lot of great stuff in here. The perspectives,
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like you said, did get a little confusing at times. I think
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for me, like there, I think you're right. I'm trying to see
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if they're are trying to remember if there was ever a perspective that I kind
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of got annoyed at or anything. There's a minor character in here, which
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is a Jedi youngling or a Patawan youngling. I don't even think she's a
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Yeah, Sippa isn't even uh, she is just a youngling. She she
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hasn't even given the title of padawan yet. I don't believe who is being
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looked at to come join the temple. But she has like maybe one or
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two very small chapters of perspective, and even that it's so you know what
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she is feeling in a very dire situation. And I still enjoyed that as
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well. But yeah, uh, great book. Uh. I think I'm
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gonna go ahead and throw it out there very easily and this could be recent
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recency bias very easily could be persuaded for a ten out of ten on this
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book. Yeah, I think same thing for me, because yeah, the
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perspective thing. I think it had to happen. But this is like an
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amazing finale, and I love how it ties in to Battle of Jetta as
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well as convergence. The quote on the back of the cover, by the
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way, which I've seen on Twitter, I love it. It's it's great.
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So yeah, I'm so excited to get this book officially on my shelf,
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but also for other people to read it and just see the conversation that
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comes out of it, because quite frankly, and it is the night of
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sorrow on Downa that takes place in this book. Kane reads one of the
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most beautiful actions, like it's the entirety of the third act pretty much,
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yes, but it is a gorgeous, like articulate battle that she writes,
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and I'm just in love. And the thing is, I was trying to
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compare it to something that we have read before, and you know, and
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even in a visual sense of just like what have we watched in Star Wars
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that could be like sort of the equivalent to this, Like it is quite
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easily the ending of attack of the Clones, like when you see the Colosseum
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fight and you kind of get out of the Colosseum and you see the Clones
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fighting the Droids, and it's like almost like planetary level of war. That's
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what we get to at the end of his book. And it's almost like
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because it happens the progress of how the dominoes are falling in this book,
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it gets way out of hand. And when I say way out of hand,
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not in the sense of Lydia Kang writing wrongly, but the choices that
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our characters are making and the planning that the people of Dolna. And I
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will not spoil who really creates this madness, but what happens on Dolna was
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very much prepared for and it turns into a bloodbath, a very terrifying blood
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bath. And just the detail in like the depths, and this is where
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I think the sip of perspective really comes unhandy. As a young one who
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is very strong in the force, because that's why she was brought here.
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She was on a relatively unknown planet. It was revealed she was for sensitive
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and she's like an Anakin age almost, so she's brought in at an older
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age and Yattle is working with her, but at the same time, she
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doesn't have the capabilities that most young wings would have and like, okay,
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this is what you feel like. The leveler, the Great Leveler as a
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matter of fact, is working through this battle because there's so many force users
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and you can just oh, it's so like Haunting the Death the level the
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Leveler just want to go ahead and throw this out there. Did they tease
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that there is more than one? So I believe that's what Quest for Planet
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X is going to because remember in Eye of the Storm, Marchion Roe takes
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his guys to this plant and they pull in more levelers. So I think
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that's what Quest for Planet X is going to go into. So, wait,
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plant, that makes so much sense. Planet X is the planet of
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like I can't remember the name or if they even gave it a name.
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I don't think they give it a name. Yeah, so hmmm, that's
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going to be very interesting because it's not the ever any homeworld. No it's
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not no, no, no, yeah. Oh okay. Then I I'm
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interested then because if that is so, I am very interested in reading Quest
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for Planet X just because it sounded like and it very much seemed like there
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was multiple levelers there tacking on a grand scale. And I do think one
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of The weirdest things that happens in this book is it feels like there should
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be a TV tie in and a comic book tie in, and quite possibly
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another tie in because the moment that certain characters learn of other characters on the
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same planet, we never got perspective of that before. And I think that's
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where Edge of Balance three is going to come in. I don't think the
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Marvel comic is going to come into play. I think Young Jedi Adventures is
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going to come into play. Okay, like they're there again. This is
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where the comic delays are hindering the story, yes, and I and I
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do think that the almost in a sense because when looking at Phase two,
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the only books that need to come out are of course this book, uh
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Planet X and Vengeance and that's it. Yeah, that is the remaining books.
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And then you have Edge of Balance three, which is due out in
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May. That is the manga we're on. I think Higher Public Issue number
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seven came out today, so you have three more issues left in that series.
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The Blade finished today as well, and then Young Jedi Adventures, which
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has five issues. I the way that I think people should be looking at
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this and I'm going to go ahead and make this guess. If I'm wrong,
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then I'm willing to say that I'm wrong. At the end of this,
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I think everything is supposed to accumulate to cataclysm, with Path of Vengeance
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being our epilogue. Yeah. I think that's how it's supposed to be read
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well, Because Path a Vengeance was always set to come out last May,
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it comes out first week of May. Yeah, so yeah, I could
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see. I can see what you're talking about. But we still need that
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wrap up for and it comes out May second. By the way, I
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finally looked at the calendar. I think we still need that wrap up for
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Marta and Yanna Row, but I think the Path of Vengeance will be that
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right, But you said everything everything leads to cataclysm, and then Edge of
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Balance is supposed to be that blog. Oh did I say Edge of Balance?
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I meant I meant Path of Vengeance. Sorry, sorry, No,
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I think that Path of Vengeance will be the epilogue. I think Edge of
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Balance the Star Wars adventures. I think everything leads to cataclysm, and then
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that's how you should look at phase two and then uh a Path of Vengeance
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is the epilogue that ends face two. That leads us into oh, so
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that's why this happened in phase one. I think that's how we look at
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it. I would agree with you there, and I'm sorry if you did
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say path of an the sleep deprivation is probably getting to be well, we
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can go ahead and start wrapping well, not wrapping things up, but we
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can kind of, I guess, essentially get started on something here. We're
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gonna try not to reveal any specific deaths y'all, and try to talk around
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like some of the major plot points, like something that happens to Kang,
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just because obviously we want you guys to experience this for yourselves. But we're
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gonna kind of talk through how we get to Dolma and then what the general
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things that happen on Doma. Well, first, I think the really big
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thing is that we meet a new character via the Path of the Open Hand
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that is essentially almost a new replacement to the Herald, but not as much
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of a leader. That being been not. He is definitely the one that
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is almost even a grunt worker for the Mother, and we've learned that he
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has a pretty big history with Axual Gray Lark, and we've learned that actual
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Gray lark and been in the path. See when I heard the Path of
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the Open Hand in this phase phase two, I always thought the Path of
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the Open Hand was a newer organization throughout the galaxy, not an old one,
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but the way that it was described in this book, this was always
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something that was slowly coming up and coming see. And that's where I think,
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because the mother's name is Alicia, is it? I got it pulled
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up hang on Devron, Oh, my gosh, had it? And then
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I totally missed it. E r Owen. Yeah. So Alicia Zabron,
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I think, came into the Path and it was just a general church kind
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of thing, not necessarily a cult, but it was something like what we've
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seen in Alphabet Squadron or the Church of the Force, and just kind of
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something where they said the Force should not be manipulated and they kind of just
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stuck with that and tried to preach the quote Gospel out to everyone. But
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Alicia had her daughter. We don't know if it's her daughter, but Olivia.
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Olivia was taken from Alicia in some way, shape or form, and
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Alicia said I'm not going to allow this to stand and took the Path of
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the Open hand and manipulated it to where it was not just the force should
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not be manipulated, it is the Jedi are evil, yes, and went
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in that direction. The uh. The thing with Bennett though, we we
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learned very quickly. Like I said, the grunt worker for the mother.
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His task is to essentially, hey, we need to start this war again
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between Iram and erin O. There is they basically go disguised as just traders
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that are actually like terrorists, and it's it's a crazy mess. They're going
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to manipulate the war back into starting on Iram and Erinel And because Iron and
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aeron O don't know yet that the peace talks failed on Jetta and that riots
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broke out, so it is the catalyst that allows Iron and Aerono to start
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back up. That's only then amplified when they get news that the peace talks
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failed on Jenda. And this book essentially happens during the Battle of Jedda.
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I think that it happens at the same time or like, while the Battle
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of Jedda is ending, then Cataclysm is starting, because I think it's at
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a moment where both of the chancellorsh oh, shoot, it's it's Gray Lark
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yes, when at one point in the beginning of the book when they are
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talking, like all of these Hollovids come up and assistants are running towards them
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telling them about what happened at Jedda, so we clearly see, okay,
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this is happening in real time. This, of course gets Ziri and Fontu
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very heavily involved because they spent all of Vergens trying to you know, make
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things peaceful. Of course, very merry group of Jedi are also in this
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book. Inya, uh Creighton, Uh no, not Creighton Son, he
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was in Battle of Jedda. No Son, isn't this a creative forte charl
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Roy and of course uh Gela, Yeah, yeah. So Creighton and Ada
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are kind of your representatives from the Battle of Jedda. They saw what the
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Path was doing and they basically send a missive off the Corslant and are are
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like, we want to go to Delna. That's where we learned the Path
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of the Open Hand is from. We want to go. We want to
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go investigate and see what they have so we can try and clear the Jedi's
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name. So those are your representatives from the Battle of Jedda. Yaddle Yaddle
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hasn't really made an appearance so far in the High Republic until now, so
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she's just kind of your open, powerful Jedi that comes in Gala obviously from
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Convergence as well as I mean, Creighton is in Convergence. But then you
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have Enya and Master Roy who are also a part of that discussion, and
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so they all kind of reunite to figure out what exactly happened. And the
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first act of that book of the of Cataclysm, is just kind of getting
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everyone to Dalmam, Yes, which is wild when you think about the book
23:40
in retrospect, because you would you would think, okay, like with a
23:45
heavy third act war not just battle, but war, like something has to
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lead to that. And the fact that we spend I would almost say seventy
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five percent of the book in downa with certain characters that is wild, absolutely
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wild. There comes a point within the battle where I believe it's an Ada's
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perspective and they talk about how tired she is for the hours of battle that
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she has been in, and it's hard to fathom that because they do mention
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at one point that the sun is there it's a very rainy day, to
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a point where eventually the sun sets, it is night, and then at
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the end of the book, the sun is rising. So the war that
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they waged, the battle took literally all night. And I think you could
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easily somebody probably found it somewhere. You could probably see how long a night
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cycle is on Donna and then just put that in perspective of how long this
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this battle took place. And that is crazy. All right, y'all,
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we are going to hit our first ad break and we will be right back
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in three two one. And you'd like to think, oh, the Jedi
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like the perfect warrior. They can use the Force, recall energy and everything.
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But I like to think of it how like it is an aragon.
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Basically, you can use the Force as long as you've trained your body accordingly,
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and at some point your training is going to give out. Your body
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is going to give out, and like it's insane. And not only that,
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you do have the surprise of the fact that still nobody in the Jedi
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Order knows about the leveler. You know that they had kind of figured it
25:45
out on Jetta, and we're kind of like something happened to Force users on
25:51
Jetta and they're only and they're only starting to figure it out in the battle
25:56
right before and then in the middle of the battle, of which is like
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for me, like I want to say, oh, you know this is
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this is kind of the same stuff that we're seeing in Phase one. But
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at the same time, like you kind of have to play with this idea
26:15
of like they didn't know and it's very important that they didn't know, because
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Phase one wouldn't have made sense if they did know, and things like that.
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Yeah, there is something that happens at the very oh, go ahead,
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go ahead. At the end of this book, there's a conversation between
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Yoda and another character. I'm not going to tell you who it is,
26:37
but they kind of discussed and like nobody can know about this because it would
26:41
mean the death of the Order. I personally think that this is a bad
26:48
call. I think obviously because it's the repercussions of Phase one of Phase one,
26:53
Yes, but I I like it's almost out of character for Yoda almost,
27:03
and I say almost, because he is wise, he is going to
27:07
do whatever he can to help the Jedi and and what's best for the Order.
27:14
But I just think that he with how kind he is in this book,
27:18
with how much he is willing to help and serve and fight, like
27:25
why wouldn't they do something to help the situation. Of course, we're bringing
27:30
very vague about this conversation, but I think that it is like I need
27:36
answers in phase three, like I well, and obviously the Yoda we have
27:42
in I mean Phase one, Yoda, this is one hundred and fifty years.
27:47
Yoda's age that long. We go to the Phantom Menace for another one
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hundred fifty years. So Yoda's eight hundred in this book, give or take
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well, hold on, hold on, I thought he was nine hundred or
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is he a thousand and by the time of the Jedi, So he dies
28:10
at nine hundred mm okay, So going backward he is you get fifty years,
28:18
he's eight fifty Okay, he's yeah, okay, Yeah, that makes
28:26
sense because I think we said I think we said the Skywalker saga Phantom Menace
28:30
to Rise of Skywalker is about eighty years. So yeah, makes sense.
28:37
Uh So, like, yes, he he does age in the sense of
28:44
like maybe you know, the older you get, the more you forget.
28:48
But at the same time, he is a wise Jedi, like you know,
28:52
there's still a lot of time. It is, and I think that
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in a weird way. And this is me just putting that tinfoil hat.
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It's just like, you know, the the older he gets, the more
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you know, eventually, Creighton Sun and other characters that are in this book,
29:14
like all the other Jedi like that survived, I'm just gonna say other
29:18
characters that survived to not give away the character that he was talking to,
29:23
they eventually die off. Like none of these characters are in a Phantom Menace
29:29
or anything else. So it's it's more of like a hey, that secret
29:33
died with them and we're good to go, right. But I it just
29:40
felt very weird, and like I said, I need answers in phase three
29:45
because you can't just dangle this thing. You can't dangle the Leveler. And
29:49
as an undefeated villain, I think that is going to be a little bit
29:56
irritating to me. Well, because we know the Great Leveler. Well,
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I'm assuming the Leveler that Mark Yon Rowe melts in. I think it's Rising
30:06
Storm. We know the level or he melts in that is a powerful leveler
30:14
and it's supposed to be like the Leader and everything. So I'm thinking the
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Great Leveler, which is the the one the mother hatched out of the egg.
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M hmm, we know that one's frozen. Yes, so how's it
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you're frozen exactly? Yeah, so very very crazy things trying to think.
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Uh I Okay, So new character, new Jedi that is brought into here
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that I absolutely love, Yes, or In he is. I don't know,
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I don't know how to describe him other than he is just hilarious.
31:03
Like I don't know who to like compare him to. But with him being
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the lighthearted, jokey character side by side to a very like almost vengeful Gela
31:18
in this book, it clashes, but in a very symmetrical way. I
31:26
really did enjoy that. And I want to go ahead and call out your
31:33
your prediction that you had for Cataclysm because of the cover with actual having the
31:40
Lightsaber, you were both right and wrong because there are moments, I think
31:47
one of the one of the very first moments where it happened, Gella has
31:51
the thought of giving Axel the the Lightsaber and Orrin's like no, like he
31:59
even feels He's like, you were not going to do that. So I
32:04
I I love the teas for the for the cover, it does play a
32:07
whole lot. I will say. There's a moment where Gela loses her lightsabers,
32:13
very very interesting how she gets them back in the perspective of like how
32:15
she is connected to her lightsabers as a whole. I think that piece of
32:22
war that Kang is able to throw in and it's great trying to well,
32:30
what are what are your some of your favorite pieces that aren't too spoilery for
32:35
for the audience. Seeing Kong become not become a mother, but step back
32:40
into the role of being a mother is super powerful, especially with some of
32:46
the portrayals we've gotten of mothers lately and just media in general. I love
32:52
how Kan is able to really latch onto that and Keyong is so powerful and
32:57
I loved it. Axel, oh my gosh, I still want like Axel
33:04
and Gala like so there is a there's a moment where he does technically profess
33:15
his love to her and she just like shrugs it off. Mm hmm.
33:23
And again, like I said before, with the mindset of like Gella being
33:29
like almost vengeful in this book, like, it's very funny how these Jedi,
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the ones that we're seeing in Phase two, are almost as strict as
33:42
the Jedi that we see in the prequel and in UH episodes one, two,
33:46
and three, Whereas in Phase one we had talked about how they seem
33:52
a little bit more loose on the rules, and they're a little bit laid
33:57
back and things like that. So I wonder if, like the stuff that
34:01
happened in Phase two is what caused them to be a little bit more laid
34:05
back, and then the things that happened in Phase one caused them to be
34:07
a little bit go back to being strict for the rest of the Skywalker saga.
34:14
Because there was a moment I thought that Gella was possibly going to kill
34:19
Axel at one point in this book. I did too, and but I
34:25
knew she was going to lean more towards sticking in the light. And that's
34:30
why she became a way seeker in the first place, was to follow her
34:32
art and follow her intuition because she believes that's what the force, that's how
34:37
the force is deleting her. So I love Gella so much. I'm so
34:46
thankful, like is right, I was able to put in such a powerful
34:51
UH leading Hispanic woman as the Stars as the leading lady of these two books,
35:00
and obviously can continued it. But I just they both developed the characters
35:05
so well. Like I just, it's incredible. I I do agree.
35:13
I love the I love the perspective of her. There's a moment in here
35:17
also, as I'm sure you probably agreed with this, there's a lot of
35:24
bickering between uh ZERI, bickering couples. But more so I love the bickering
35:32
because it comes to a conclusion. There's a moment during the battle and Dolma
35:39
and what is the official title of it again, night of Sorrow, which
35:43
obviously they don't name it that right now, but that's what it's known as
35:45
in phase one. Okay, so the Night of Sorrow, there is a
35:52
moment where Zerien Fontu basically bumping heads like the entire book, and then it
36:00
comes down to okay, like we can agree on everything when it comes to
36:08
like political stuff, but when it comes to marriage, that's just not how
36:13
it works. And it got very real in that moment, and I just
36:17
had to smile. I had to crack a smile because guys, there is
36:22
not a moment that like me and Abby, we will be fine, and
36:27
then we will argue over the dumbest things, the dumbest things, and then
36:34
I'm always like and I guess it's a little bit of the toxic of masculinity
36:37
that is just stuck in me as a male. But like, I will
36:42
have this idea of, like, I know I'm right, so you have
36:45
to say that I'm right, Like, just just say it, that's all
36:47
you. You just got to say that I'm right. And it's this idea
36:52
of like having to agree when when I know she doesn't have to agree with
36:57
me, I know it. Yeah, And this is the conversation that Syrian
37:01
Fallen Too are having because it's so important to them because of everything that happened
37:06
in Convergence, the whole reasoning behind their marriage and how that basically forced upon
37:14
marriage has turned into an actual loving marriage between two people. And that's what
37:21
I love more than anything that comes that came out of Phase two right now,
37:24
is them too actually caring about each other and caring about each other's feelings
37:30
and caring about the future of both of their planets. Yep, because it
37:34
is a fully arranged marriage, and obviously it goes to show you, like
37:37
you can find love with anyone and make things work. But they really do
37:42
come out of the hymoon phase that we have left them in in convergence and
37:46
they're struggling to figure out how to make things work. But and there's a
37:52
really beautiful quote and I'm sorry if you want to skip like the next thirty
37:55
seconds, but this is just like absolutely we like pulls you in and it
38:01
just sh like it's the whole theme and it's something that can be applied to
38:07
ourselves right now as a universe. Fantu says, we've been so busy following
38:13
the blueprints of our mutual destruction that we can't see the obvious that we can
38:19
be the architects of good. And oh, this is just such a powerful
38:23
quote. King, this is King. This is the speech that he is
38:29
giving to Orland right no, yeah, to the chance Orlan. It's a
38:37
it's an open uh transmission. And he's they're trying to get rescued because they
38:43
took off in a bad ship and he basically they're trying to pass this message
38:49
on to the the King of aaron O and the queens of Iram. And
38:57
that's what he says tomorrow and he's trying to pass so long and it's it's
39:01
so good. I I really enjoyed that. And like there's a there's a
39:07
moment where Zeri's father like there's a moment where he's like, okay, Like
39:14
I think the best course of action is this, because that's what Zeri would
39:19
want, But I don't like that. Immediately after that there is like the
39:27
ongoing bickering between him and the queens of the other planet to like try to
39:32
fix the the transmissions, the by the by the bayous uh in space to
39:38
have communications like that was one thing that I did have a little bit of
39:44
a gripe with, Like you have this character development with Zeri's father, it's
39:49
ever so slight and maybe it could be shown as like a small piece of
39:52
weakness with him because he's just really missing his daughter and caring for her.
39:57
But like to to retract that with again saying that they are just going back
40:02
to petty arguments, as Morrow says, was a little disappointing, but I
40:09
mean it is what it is. Well, and see I think I think
40:16
at the least, like what should have happened after convergence is the queen should
40:22
have been forced to step down from Iram and Fan who should have gone ahead
40:28
and been able to take charge and be the leader of Iram and that way
40:34
they could start building to a better future and kind of the Queen's eliminated.
40:38
She can come in as like a temporary ruler of Fanto's off world or something,
40:44
but like she's out of power, especially after what she did in Convergence.
40:47
Yeah, I get what she did, but also like, and I
40:51
think that would have helped alleviate some things, but I think that was a
40:53
move made by the story group and not necessarily the author. So yeah,
41:00
trying to think of if there was anything else that we did not go over.
41:09
I really, I really just don't. I'm trying not to talk about
41:13
some things because I feel like this is a book to be experienced and you
41:16
do have to go in and this is like I read it and I told
41:20
Clay, I was like, Okay, just be prepared. There's a lot
41:22
of perspectives like and I think that helps you approach this book differently. I
41:29
would definitely say that if you're going to read it physically, read it slow.
41:36
If you're reading it physically, take your time. The audiobook, which
41:42
also I'm going to I think I agreed with you the last time, but
41:47
certainly with this audiobook. Again, love Random House Worlds, Love what Penguin
41:54
Random House is doing with the audiobooks. The monopoly that Mark Thompson holds on
42:00
the narration needs to come to an end. I don't, Yeah, I
42:07
don't. I really think like he has to stop. But can we bring
42:10
in well And that's what I mean. I think that there needs to be
42:15
more in there because like there's some voices that I absolutely love. Well.
42:21
For one, the idea of Bennott I thought was a little bit more of
42:27
like a sly individual, kind of creepy, but like the way that Mark
42:32
Thompson voices him in this one sounds like he is more like he has like
42:39
a deep voice, very baritone, but he he kind of still has just
42:45
like the sly, like like cunning to him. And it just didn't feel
42:50
right to me, but it still works. I understand it again, Mark
42:53
Thompson, love you, love the work that you do. I just think
42:58
that their needs to be more people available. Two take turns. Let's be
43:07
nice, let's let's like, I know that everybody wants a job, and
43:13
I I just because we I'm pretty sure on the young adult novels there is
43:22
yeah, middle grade, middle grade is usually a female. One of these
43:30
here January Lavoy does a lot of audible narration audio narrations for Disney books.
43:39
Oh that's my That's what it might be, is that that Disney published the
43:44
books is is her? But I I love listening to the audiobook all this
43:52
week. It was really really great in production. Trying to think of anything
43:59
specific that I heard or can touch up on here. Again, very hard
44:08
with keeping things very spoiler free, and I one hundred percent agree with Katie.
44:15
This book is an experience. I think that whoever is taking the time
44:22
to read these phases will one hundred enjoy this book. I think it does
44:29
have the feeling of that of what the rating storm did for us in Phase
44:36
one, very much that like Empire Strikes Back type feeling, just in the
44:45
very formulaic Star Wars feeling. So definitely go pick it up for sure.
44:51
Yeah, this is how on my list. I like Random House Worlds.
45:00
Tom, if you're listening, I need I need Doctor Lydia Kane back,
45:05
like please, just like sign her, I need like five or six books
45:08
from her in Star Wars, I need her to continue, like please pretty
45:14
please wish and if you don't and if you don't mind, just like sneaking
45:17
Us a DM to like letting us know what happens after phase three so we
45:22
know, you know, Like again I said, like I believe you,
45:28
but I also don't believe you because like for because for me, somebody who
45:35
wasn't in the know of these books, right, who was never really into
45:37
the Star Wars novels beforehand, Katie, did you ever have an inkling that
45:44
they were going to start the High Republic at it, like at a certain
45:46
point, like like did you feel like, oh, they're going to go
45:50
back at one point or another instead of just continuing this Skywalker saga. I
45:55
did. I did think so because looking at it with Star Wars Legends,
46:04
they chose to go out with the Luke Skywalker and Leah and Han and the
46:08
whole team and everything, and then they got to the point where it was
46:13
like, okay, you know what Luke kind of is, like if he
46:20
was human, should probably be dead by now. So slowing down the stories
46:27
obviously, Like I think there was like five books that got canceled. I
46:30
think Air to the Jedi, which is now a Cannon book, was actually
46:36
rewritten to beat canon because it was originally part of Scoundrels and Oh My Legends
46:45
bookshelf is over there, the Laya book that timothy's On wrote, So I
46:51
think it was supposed to be like part of that series. So but if
46:54
you look at it, what was published, actually they started going awkwards in
47:00
time and filling in beforehand. So with Disney, with Disney trying to go
47:06
out with the Skywalker saga and continue towards the sequel trilogy, you kind of
47:10
had nowhere else to go, Like, going backwards from the Skywalker saga left
47:16
you a lot of options and a lot of room to play with instead of
47:20
trying to go, Okay, let's write a Jedi Temple book with Luke Skywalker
47:25
and see how that goes, but then having to go, h but you
47:29
know what, I actually want Luke in this TV show, which is going
47:31
to control your storytelling options. So I kind of expected them to go backwards
47:37
or far forward. So okay, okay, And we've already we've already made
47:44
our speculation on them pushing novels to be post Rise of Skywalker. I think
47:52
that's that's what our prediction was, so hopefully we're right. I would love
47:58
to read some novels off like a little bit more of an experienced ray a
48:04
journey on with Finn would be amazing as well. So really looking forward to
48:07
anything and everything that Star Wars has planned for us. But any last thoughts
48:14
on Cataclysm before we end this episode. You need to go pick this up,
48:19
like as soon as it drops on Tuesday, go to your local bookstore
48:23
and get the word out because this has been great. I am very disappointed
48:30
in the fact that I did not jump on the Goldsborough copy. I'm pretty
48:37
sure it's probably all sold out. They did drop it to five hundred copies
48:43
for Star Wars Celebration, because I think they did five hundred regular and then
48:45
five hundred for Celebration. We can go check though, because I am still
48:51
waiting on my convergence book from Goldborough because this one is the the blue pages
48:57
right where the I think this is purple and then yellow is first Celebration.
49:04
Okay, okay, but I I would definitely buy another copy of this book.
49:09
It is very very high on my list, as we said in the
49:15
regular News show, and of course the reviews for bad Batch and Mandalorians to
49:20
go check that out. But it's available. It looks like still, so
49:27
you should. You shouldn't have told me that you should have told me that
49:30
pounds how much? What's then? What's the convergent? I think when I
49:36
ordered from Goldsborough it's about thirty three dollars. It does without through customs though,
49:42
is that No? I think that's with shipping. Oh no, you
49:45
should have told me that. You should have told me that. You should
49:47
have told me that I've gotta look at it. I'll probably order it right
49:52
after this. But anyway, of course, you can always find me at
49:57
fanboy Clay on Twitter. Go check out, of course. Like I said
50:01
previously, our reviews of Mandalorian and The Bad Batch season two finale, we
50:06
had a lot to say about that. One my other shows on the network,
50:13
of course, being a Ranger Alliance and the show off the network being
50:15
Batmanagers Weekly. Go check that out, Katie. What about you, y'all?
50:21
You can find me on social media at Slice of Katie. If social
50:23
media were to explode, please go to my personal website it's laso Katie dot
50:28
com to find where this show will be and where Slice of Film will be.
50:31
Recent episodes for Slice of Film include john Wick Chapter four, as well
50:37
as upcoming episode Dungeons and Dragons, as well as Mission Impossible three next Monday,
50:42
so you can check those out. Next week we will be talking on
50:46
this show, Star Wars, Celebrations, productions as well as a Mandalorian review.
50:52
So with that, I want to wish everyone a great day or night,
50:55
what everytime day you are listening or watching, and we will see you
50:59
on next time. First be with you