15,762 – 15,609 BBY: Xim at Vontor

 I am finally able to report back on the latest piece I read.  This piece was Xim at Vontor.  As I have said in my previous posts, I find it hard to read plays.  I don't know why but there is something in my brain that attempts to deter any effort of reading them.  But this time I made it!

As I started to read, I felt like I was loathing every word.  But then I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Before I go into more detail as to why, let me give a brief summary of the story so that you know what I'm talking about.

This story of Xim starts out with an epic space battle in the Vontor system.  The battle is over some kind of precious metal/stone on the planet below that all pirate factions want for themselves.  But Xim's fleet has the upper hand.  They soon win the battle and all of the fleet Generals are invited to the capitol ship for a victory feast.  Some of Xim's Generals have been conspiring against him so Xim sets up a surprise.  During the meal, he orders one of his Generals to kill the other in cold blood.  However, this General is one of the lead people in the conspiracy so he takes this opportunity to attempt to kill Xim.  The General fires the shot at Xim's head.  Xim looses an eye and the traitors escape along with his beloved Queen, Indrexu, who I see as the kind of person that follows whoever is the most powerful at the time.  Xim gets outfitted with new robo eyes (which is pretty awesome) and sets out to Vontors surface to claim his prize of war and to try and find the traitors.  As this piece comes to an end, Xim realizes where the traitors must be hiding and orders all of his war bots to prepare for battle.

Now,  this part of the story of Xim was enjoyable for me.  At the beginning, I thought I would be faced with singing robots like I was in the first Xim story I read.  Instead I was picturing an awesome space battle.  For me this was a huge improvement.  The way that they were describing the battle and where and how the blaster bolts were striking helped to paint an even better picture in my head. What really made it cool for me was when Xim had his eye shot out.  At this point, Xim is starting to seems even more ruthless (and now he looks more like a pirate).

I am starting to realize that it's battles and miscellaneous violence that hook me into a story.  I'm not sure why this is but when story's have songs and musical robots, it tends to push me away.  I can only hope that the Xim story's that I read in the future will be structured as this one was.

For my next post, I'm going to be reading The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space from The Essential Guide to the Force book that I have.  This is one of my favorite books to report from.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you...........