Ethan, Johnny, and Jeremy read through the many Star Wars Expanded Universe novels in publication order and look at the politics, culture, and economics of both that world and ours through a historical materialist lens.
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We return to Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis with 1996's Shield of Lies, which did not delight as much as its predecessor, but still gave us plenty to enjoy. Topics include Farscape (1999-2003), Lobot being unable to meaningfully explain the difference between himself and a droid and why he has rights but droids don't, and the possibility of Disney making a recreation of Jabba's palace for tourists to visit.
Content warnings include discussions of settler-colonialism, misogyny, imperialism, racism, and violence.
-- MEDIA --
11 Sept 2026
29 - X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble
We're back to the X-Wing series with Michael A. Stackpole's 1996 sequel Wedge's Gamble. The Rogues have to capture Coruscant, a planet-sized city (that seems to be maybe the size of New York City) all by themselves. Like his last book, the writing is alright and he has some fun characters! His stuff is very readable! But can the readability and whimsy overcome the plot contrivances used to keep everyone within four or five blocks of each other? Topics include Stackpole's uncanny ability to give his shitty cop protagonist self-awareness of his shittiness right when it's most frustrating, a truly wild passage about Corran Horn's sexual relationship with his Selonian colleague, and how susceptible to Imperal propaganda Wedge Antilles of all people is.
Content warnings include sexual assault, racism, misogyny, fatphobia, genocide, and general physical violence.
-- MEDIA --
28 Aug 2026
28 - Shadows of the Empire
In the early 90s, Lucasfilm execs asked themselves "What if we could make all the money off of licensed products for a blockbuster movie but didn't have to pay for an actual movie?" Steve Perry's 1996 turd Shadows of the Empire is part of their answer to this question. On a sentence-to-sentence level, this may be the worst novel we've read for this show (yes, even worse than Kevin J. Anderson), and it's not much better on the structural level! Topics include why they needed another white man to stand in for Han Solo when Lando was literally right there, the motivation behind giving the sexy white lady assassin droid a "feminine shape," and the breathtaking racism that leads you to name your dark haired martial artist species the "Epicanthix."
Content warnings include racism, misogyny, mentions of sexual assault, sex work, and violence.
-- MEDIA --
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