Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Steal by Cavan Scott is the third volume in the Wild Space series or, as it’s more familiarly known amongst Star Wars fans, the Outer Rim. Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Adventures in Wild Space follows the adventures of the resourceful and adventurous Lina and Milo Graf as they attempt to find the location of their explorer parents whom have been kidnapped by the Empire. Now the Empire’s metal-jawed Captain Korda is in pursuit of the siblings and their droid CR-8R for the stellar-cartography information it contains. In this adventure, Milo and Lina arrive on the planet Lothal, source of a mysterious transmission promising help against the Empire. With a bounty hunter on their tail and a ruthless crime boss to contend with, can they pull off a daring heist?
Young Star Wars fans will enjoy picking out the familiar aspects of the Star Wars Universe, the villain is a Mon Calamari whose lieutenants are a Rodian (or a “Greedo” as my son informed me, but what do dad’s know?) and an IG assassin droid. There’s speeder bikes, a Clone Trooper’s helmet, a mysterious bounty hunter and plenty of frenetic blaster action that keeps the plot barrelling along nicely. There is nothing new nor original here for cine-literate and book savvy adults, who will be immune to the book’s twists, but for children who are developing their own reading tastes and still see wonder in the world around them, there is much to enjoy.
There’s plenty of action, peril (of the mild U certificate variety), children getting the upper hand on their elders and a cliff hanger ending. But then this series is aimed at 8 to 11 year olds and as the protagonists themselves are 9 and 10 it’s easy for the young reader to imagine themselves in such an adventure. The vocabulary is also pitched well as my 8-year-old understood most of what he read barring the odd word or specific Star Wars terminology. In fact, once he had finished The Steal he asked for more. More?! More?! Well it just so happens…
STAR WARS: ADVENTURES IN WILD SPACE: THE STEAL / AUTHOR: CAVAN SCOTT / PUBLISHER: EGMONT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
