Del Rey books

Ruling the galaxy with an iron fist and a not-insignificant amount of planet-sized battle stations is tiring work, and that’s even before you get to sexing your way to an immortal bloodline of evil. What’s an Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith to do if not occasionally sit back, relax, and crack open a beer with the boys (the boys being the Imperial Ruling Council)?Spoilers of the Week May 2-6That’s probably not what was at the forefront of the minds behind these incredible adverts for the Chilean beer Cristal, which went…

Image: Lucasfilm/DK PublishingEverything in Star Wars in its 47-year lifetime has revolved arond the Galactic Empire. No matter when, or no mater who, all roads eventually lead to Sheev Palpatine’s dominance over the galaxy. It’s understandable if you’re a little confused on how it’s all meant to make sense from a timeline perspective, which is why DK Publishing is putting out a book specifically about the Empire’s 24-year reign. Andor Episodes 1-3 ReviewIn July, DK Publishing is releasing Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of…

Screenshot: MicrosoftAlthough they didn’t appear in the original telling of the Fall of Reach as seen in the 2001, Noble Team—a squad of next-generation Spartan-III supersoldiers, the successors to the Spartan II program—were the primary protagonists of the version of the Fall of Reach depicted in Halo: Reach. There were six members of the team—Carter, Kat, Jun, Emile, Jorge, and Noble Six, Reach’s customizable player character—and spoiler, but unsurprisingly so given everything you’ve read here so far, all but one of…

Screenshot: ParamountFew fans of the first season of Halo would call it an exactly faithful adaptation of Microsoft’s legendary sci-fi video game series. But the series is picking itself up for round two by taking on an iconic moment from the series’ battle for the fate of humanity: the infamous Fall of Reach.How Invincible's Omni-Man Joined Mortal Kombat 1Reach—a major world in humanity’s colonial ambitions and a nexus of military and production might on the practical intergalactic doorstep of Earth itself—appears to be…

Image: ParamountThe first season of Halo’s TV adaptation was sometimes interesting, but also kind of a mess. With a new timeline to work with, the show took some sharp divergences, shall we say, and things ended in such a way you weren’t fully sure how we were going to make it to Halo: Combat Evolved.“Even AI Rappers are Harassed by Police” | AI UnlockedIn case you forgot how things ended, everything had largely broken bad for the humans: Halsey (Natasha McElhonne) escaped the UNSC and left Reach after trying to put the…

Screenshot: LucasfilmGod bless you Crix Madine, for providing generations of action figures of politicians, diplomats, officers, and other general non-combatant Star Wars characters the gift of the ur-accessory when you can’t just give them a blaster. What is the stick for? Who knows, but Kenner and Hasbro certainly don’t mind it all these years later. Screenshot: LucasfilmGod bless you Crix Madine, for providing generations of action figures of politicians, diplomats, officers, and other general non-combatant Star…

Forty years ago, Han Solo said it best. “Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?” After the character’s unexpected return in The Mandalorian season two, he got a full backstory in The Book of Boba Fett. But now it’s been well over a year and even after a full season of The Mandalorian, the first famous Mandalorian is still nowhere to be seen.Bryce Dallas Howard on a Feature Star Wars Film and Book of Boba FettWill he appear in Ahsoka? The Mandalorian season four? Another season of The Book of Boba Fett? One person who knows is…

Season three of The Mandalorian has finished telling its tale, and boy it’s been a bumpy ride. After the dizzying highs of Andor and the mixed bags of The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, I clicked on the Disney+ app each week with a strange mix of excitement and dread.Spoilers of the Week: July 1st“This is it,” I would think. “This is the week things go belly up.”And yet, they didn’t! With a couple of exceptions (all of the stories around Navarro were kind of a giant snooze-fest;I need to know what the stewards of…

“Thrawn’s return... as Heir to the Empire.” In just seven words, Ahsoka’s first trailer made clear the desires fans have yearned for since a blue-skinned man in a white admiral’s uniform first stepped out of the shadows six years prior: Thrawn is here, and Heir to the Empire, the novel that started it all decades before, is coming with him in some manner.Spoilers of the Week: July 1stIt’s impossible for a million reasons for the current iteration of Star Wars canon to remake Timothy Zahn’s classic trilogy of books—Heir,…

Image: LucasfilmThis season’s penultimate episode, Chapter 23, was called “The Spies,” which created unspoken tension that someone was going to betray the Mandalorians who went down to scout the surface of their former planet. That didn’t happen. In the finale, there were moments where we thought maybe a betrayal was coming—and again, nothing.So, who were “The Spies?” Well, we think the term “Spies” isn’t being used in a typical James Bond context. The term also has a biblical context that basically means a group of…