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First Blood
- GenresStar Wars
Paperback
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About the author
Christie Golden
170 books1,872 followersAward-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.
2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.
In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.
2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book
Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.
Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.
Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .
The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .
Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.
Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.
2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.
In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.
2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book
Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.
Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.
Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .
The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .
Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.
Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.
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November 14, 2023
For 2023, I decided to reread the post-NJO books set after the Dark Nest trilogy, especially as I abandoned the Legacy of the Force series after Sacrifice all the way back in 2007. This shakes out to the nine books of the Legacy of the Force series, the nine books of the Fate of the Jedi series, three standalone novels, and five short stories.
This week’s focus: a short story prequel to the Fate of the Jedi series published in Star Wars Insider magazine, “First Blood” by Christie Golden.
Intro:
“First Blood" is a four-page short story set prior to the events of the Fate of the Jedi series, or more specifically after Ship tells the Lost Tribe of the Sith about the outside world in Omen. Written by Christie Golden with artwork by Brian Rood, it appeared in Star Wars Insider 125 in April 2011, and was later reprinted in Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2013 and Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection Volume 1.
Summary:
“First Blood” is the story of Vestara’s first mission off her homeworld of Kesh, as well as her first kill.
The good:
After the reveal in Ascension that “Kameron Sudar” from B’nish was actually High Lord Ivaar Workan of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, I wondered what the connection was between B’nish and the Keshiri Sith. “First Blood” maybe gives us an explanation: since the slave girl that Vestara kills was escaping from B’nish (Ship said the freighter was “enroute from Eriadu”) perhaps that’s how the planet got on their radar?
“First Blood” also gives us more insight into how vital Ship was to the Lost Tribe of the Sith: he picks the people to go on this first mission off Kesh, he specifically targets this freighter, and he obviously has a connection with Vestara that will play out through the rest of the Fate of the Jedi series.
But mainly, “First Blood” is a good (brief) glimpse into Vestara’s character around Omen. She’s excited to be chosen for this mission, she wants to be treated like an adult Sith, she senses things that the others don’t, but she’s also accepting of High Lord Taalon’s cool treatment of her because she’s just an apprentice. She wants to be able to claim a kill like the other Sith, but when confronted with the B’nish slave girl she offers a gentler death—and when the slave girl doesn’t take her up on that offer, she’s shocked by what she senses in the Force during her moment of death. She’s surprisingly upset by the situation, but it’s also one of her first steps on her Sith journey, and death will come much easier to Vestara as the series progresses.
The Meh:
Like Christie Golden’s other Vestara story, “Imprint,” it's hard to recommend “First Blood” as essential reading because it’s very slight. It’s more like an additional deep dive into Vestara’s character than new insights.
“First Blood” is more about small connections: an introduction to Sith Saber Myal, who we see very very briefly in Apocalypse; a hint at how highly regarded Workan was before Ascension. The Sith are on A Mission, but we don’t get any specifics there—just that they need the unknown cargo of this vessel for their future expansions.
In Short:
“First Blood” illustrates one of the first steps of Vestara’s Sith training, and I can’t help feeling like she’s ill-suited to her culture. She’s eager to learn and experience more, she tries to make the slave girl’s death easier on her, but in the end she automatically obeys her Sith upbringing. It doesn’t impart any new/necessary information about Vestara, though, just builds on our understanding of her character from the Fate of the Jedi series—but after all, it’s only a four-page short story.
Next up: the final book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Apocalypse by Troy Denning.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/D6d7gAhE-sc
“First Blood” by Christie Golden: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YRi4...
This week’s focus: a short story prequel to the Fate of the Jedi series published in Star Wars Insider magazine, “First Blood” by Christie Golden.
Intro:
“First Blood" is a four-page short story set prior to the events of the Fate of the Jedi series, or more specifically after Ship tells the Lost Tribe of the Sith about the outside world in Omen. Written by Christie Golden with artwork by Brian Rood, it appeared in Star Wars Insider 125 in April 2011, and was later reprinted in Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2013 and Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection Volume 1.
Summary:
“First Blood” is the story of Vestara’s first mission off her homeworld of Kesh, as well as her first kill.
The good:
After the reveal in Ascension that “Kameron Sudar” from B’nish was actually High Lord Ivaar Workan of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, I wondered what the connection was between B’nish and the Keshiri Sith. “First Blood” maybe gives us an explanation: since the slave girl that Vestara kills was escaping from B’nish (Ship said the freighter was “enroute from Eriadu”) perhaps that’s how the planet got on their radar?
“First Blood” also gives us more insight into how vital Ship was to the Lost Tribe of the Sith: he picks the people to go on this first mission off Kesh, he specifically targets this freighter, and he obviously has a connection with Vestara that will play out through the rest of the Fate of the Jedi series.
But mainly, “First Blood” is a good (brief) glimpse into Vestara’s character around Omen. She’s excited to be chosen for this mission, she wants to be treated like an adult Sith, she senses things that the others don’t, but she’s also accepting of High Lord Taalon’s cool treatment of her because she’s just an apprentice. She wants to be able to claim a kill like the other Sith, but when confronted with the B’nish slave girl she offers a gentler death—and when the slave girl doesn’t take her up on that offer, she’s shocked by what she senses in the Force during her moment of death. She’s surprisingly upset by the situation, but it’s also one of her first steps on her Sith journey, and death will come much easier to Vestara as the series progresses.
The Meh:
Like Christie Golden’s other Vestara story, “Imprint,” it's hard to recommend “First Blood” as essential reading because it’s very slight. It’s more like an additional deep dive into Vestara’s character than new insights.
“First Blood” is more about small connections: an introduction to Sith Saber Myal, who we see very very briefly in Apocalypse; a hint at how highly regarded Workan was before Ascension. The Sith are on A Mission, but we don’t get any specifics there—just that they need the unknown cargo of this vessel for their future expansions.
In Short:
“First Blood” illustrates one of the first steps of Vestara’s Sith training, and I can’t help feeling like she’s ill-suited to her culture. She’s eager to learn and experience more, she tries to make the slave girl’s death easier on her, but in the end she automatically obeys her Sith upbringing. It doesn’t impart any new/necessary information about Vestara, though, just builds on our understanding of her character from the Fate of the Jedi series—but after all, it’s only a four-page short story.
Next up: the final book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Apocalypse by Troy Denning.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/D6d7gAhE-sc
“First Blood” by Christie Golden: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YRi4...
Displaying 1 of 1 review