Wong, Alyssa
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.2 out of 5
(6 books)
TOP PICK:
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - The Spark Eternal
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Ascendant
(Art by Minkyu Jung and Natacha Bustos)
Book six, tying-in to the events of Charles Soule's 'Hidden Empire'. As Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn launch their final plan to overthrow the Sith, Aphra's friends and lovers mount one last attempt to free her from the control of the Spark Eternal.
I'll start with what I liked about this book; the details we learn about the Ascendant. When they were first introduced I couldn't fathom why they'd created a Sith-like cult that used technology to mimic the Force, when they could've just used the Sith themselves. Whilst I feel that criticism remains valid, here we get a sense that the Ascendant are created almost as a response to the Sith. A response that the Sith themselves are not at all happy about. As well as giving new depth to the lore of the Ascendant, this also plays into the specific plot and themes of 'Hidden Empire', giving a synchronicity that Marvel's tie-ins often lack.
Unfortunately, I found the rest of this book to be pretty bland, much as I have Wong's run on Aphra as a whole. Having all of Aphra's supporting cast band together to save her might have felt triumphant if not for the fact that this exact plot point played out in the previous volume too. Also, here it's made a bit cringe-worthy by the epilogue in which they all pair off and hook up.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Crimson Reign
(Art by Minkyu Jung)
Book four. Aphra and Sana have escaped from Crimson Dawn but are immediately tasked with tracking down artefacts of the Ascendant, an ancient cult which attempted to use technology to replicate the power of the Force.
I continue to like the idea of Aphra as a character but four books in to this iteration of her adventures and I'm still waiting for anything particularly interesting to happen. Pairing her with Sana Starros doesn't help matters because the smuggler is desperately bland, lacking the charm of the likes of Lando or the dash of Han. Furthermore, although this book is apparently a tie-in to the Crimson Reign event (written by Charles Soule), it actually has almost nothing to do with it and has been given the 'Crimson Reign' branding just to try to trick people into buying a book they otherwise wouldn't.
My other main complaint here is in regards to the Ascendant; a sinister ancient cult which uses dark power to attempt to control others and live forever. Sound familiar? That's because in every conceivable functional way the Ascendant are the Sith. I can only imagine that Disney has put some embargo on using the ancient Sith (much like writers in the old EU weren't allowed to use Sith post-RotJ, unless they were dead Sith, for a long time), which has forced Wong to create a very transparent analogue. If she'd wanted to make the Ascendant truly interesting then they should've been made much less Sith-like or have actually been Sith.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad book or series (unlike, for example, Greg Pak's current Darth Vader run), but it is a needlessly bland one. It's just 'fine', but definitely could've been more.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Fortune And Fate
(Art by Marika Cresta)
Book one of the second Doctor Aphra series, set between 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi'. Aphra puts together a team, including her old ally Black Krrsantan, to find the fabled Rings of Vaale, worth a fortune and said to be the key to immortality. Matters are complicated, however, when the wealthy and ruthless Ronen Tagge also sets his sights on the Rings.
If you've not read any Doctor Aphra, then she's basically an unscrupulous Star Wars version of Indiana Jones and this story fits perfectly into that as a mission statement. There's adventure, dark and mysterious ruins, betrayal and an ancient curse. It's almost certainly not a coincidence that the book's title has a certain similarity to Indy's motto of "Fortune and glory, kid". This would absolutely be a perfect book for someone new to the character to jump onboard with.
Unfortunately, I'm not new to the character and, as such, this story felt pretty familiar and derivative. In fact, it feels like a little bit of a back slide from the interesting character development Aphra received by the end of her previous series (collected in the 'Doctor Aphra Omnibus Vol.1', reviewed here, if you're interested). I had very much enjoyed the relationships Aphra had developed in that series, toxic though some of them were, and was therefore pretty disappointed to see none of it picked up here.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - The Engine Job
(Art by Ray-Anthony Height, Robert Gill, Minkyu Jung and Victor Olazaba)
Book 2, 3 ABY. Aphra is hired by Lady Domina Tagge to steal an advanced engine design, based on the Path engines of the Nihil, from a competitor and enlists the help of her old flame Sana Starros to do so.
This is mostly just 'more of the same' for the title character, as she's employed by a ruthless boss to steal an artifact, with double-crosses all around. It's perfectly enjoyable as far as it goes but it doesn't do anything particularly new or interesting either, which feels like a shame and is the same fault I found with the last book, 'Fortune and Fate'. Things are made a little more interesting with the inclusion of Sana but, even then, there are just allusions to their past as lovers and then nothing more is really done with the fact.
There was also something of a two-edged sword with how this book connects to the larger Star Wars mythos too. Here's we get significant links to both the High Republic stories and to 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', but they feel fairly crowbarred-in. It's as if (evil) Disney are trying to develop the kind of interconnectivity that Star Wars canon used to have all in one go, despite the fact that the supposed confusing nature of that connectivity was the main justification for binning off the old canon in the first place. Although I'm all in favour of Star Wars stories being woven together, doing it like this feels like the same kind of clumsy last-minute course-correction that produced 'The Rise of Skywalker'.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - The Spark Eternal
(Art by Minkyu Jung and Natacha Bustos)
The fifth book in the series sees Aphra trapped within her own memories whilst the malevolent biomechanical AI known as the Spark Eternal has seized control of her body. Meanwhile, Sana Starros gathers a team of Aphra's former allies and lovers with the intention of saving the rogue archaeologist but infiltrating the hub of Crimson Dawn.
This was the first book of Wong's run on Aphra that I found genuinely engaging. I particularly enjoyed the parts where Aphra manages to access the Spark's own memories and learns of the history of the Ascendant and their downfall at the hands of the Sith. These scenes finally felt like they justified why the writer had gone to the effort of creating the Sith-like Ascendant when she could've just used the Sith. And honestly, just seeing the Sith wipe out the Ascendant with red lightsabers glowing left-right-and-centre was the sort of thing I hoped for.
I've often found Aphra a hard protagonist to get behind, despite liking the concept of her as a character, so it also made this book easier to enjoy by having the weight of the plot resting on the shoulders of her supporting cast of characters instead. Whilst I can't claim to particularly like Sana, Magna Tolvan is one of the most wonderfully nuanced characters of the (evil) Disney era of Star Wars comics and the others of the rogues gallery of exes and betrayed allies makes for an interesting rescue team, to say the least.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - War Of The Bounty Hunters
(Art by Minkyu Jung, Federico Sabbatini and Victor Olazaba)
Book 3, tying-in to the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event. Now in the employ of Lady Domina Tagge, Aphra and Sana are sent to attend a gathering hosted by the powerful underworld organisation Crimson Dawn. The event brings them perilously close to the Rebels, Boba Fett and Darth Vader himself, but Aphra is determined to recover an invaluable necklace of data crystals.
This book started well, with Aphra and Sana boarding a ghost ship and there encountering the bounty hunter Durge. I've liked Durge since he was first introduced back in the Expanded Universe ('Legends') stories set in the Clone Wars, so it was cool to see him introduced to the new canon. I also liked the in-joke that he's notoriously hard to kill (he was last seen being sent into a sun by Anakin).
The ending of the book was good too, with Aphra tapping into the power of a powerful and dangerous dark side artefact in order to escape from Crimson Dawn. It's a suitably dark moment and is a nice example of Aphra biting off more than she can chew when dealing with the ancient items she covets.
Unfortunately everything between the beginning and the end was really very dull. The War of the Bounty Hunters crossover has been singularly uninspiring in general, but Aphra's tie-in in particular was just boring and, ultimately, inconsequential. Honestly, if it weren't for the strong start and finish, I'd only give this book two out of five.
3 out of 5