After two haunting collections of myths and dark legends within the Star Wars universe, George Mann and Grant Griffin, with Cavan Scott joining, bring revelry and cheer in their next outing: Life Day Treasury. A celebration of mid-winter traditions, with a few frights of its own, Life Day Treasury is another excellent entry in this series and a fun change of pace, with more stellar illustrations, making this a book worth sharing around your next Life Day gathering.
After Myth & Fables focused on tales larger than life (or were they?) within the galaxy and Dark Legends proved a horror-themed version was even more delightful, the return of this mythical anthology series was always welcomed, though never did I imagine the next collection would dive into mid-winter celebration stories but the idea sounded rather excellent. The change doesn’t lessen this series’ impactful ideas and universal themes, but rather seems to strengthen them, proving how ubiquitous and the Star Wars universe can be and how it can hold important lessons within its own fantasy/sci-fi framework via stories that feel similar to ones we have in our universe. Already familiar with George Mann’s style of wistful but impactful storytelling and Cavan Scott’s reference-heavy (in a good way!) prose with natural, engaging characters, the two writers blend together like Lando Calrissian and capes in Life Day Treasury, their strengths providing tales with strong moral messages and emotional connections to readers which will linger long after the book closes.
Grant Griffin returns to wow us with another collection of illustrations, and whereas he made the mythical tangible with his drawings for Myth & Fables or scared us to our bones in the Dark Legends images, there’s a sense of joy and jubilation to his illustrations for Life Day Treasury that still captures a mythical, larger than life feeling. The eye catching cover, the illustration for “A Coruscant Solstice,” which has Jedi Master Stellan Gios perched with his lighsaber drawn, snow falling over Coruscant, is an arresting and memorable image, especially since it made me think of a Santa Claus-like figure watching over the joy of the season, with an eye on protecting people. The one for the Ewoks in the snow, with the creepy, giant creature in the shadows behind them takes on a new life once you’ve read the great little story. Of course the Wookiees in their Life Day garb is a great final image for the book, alongside its hopeful message and focus on family, it brings the wide collection of tales back to the meaning of the mid-winter seasons and its many traditions no matter which planet you’re from.
And now a sentence or two review for each of the Life Day Treasury tales:
“A Coruscant Solstice”
A great place to start, as it shines a bright light on the unique place the Jedi of the High Republic era are in that Cavan Scott and his fellow luminous author are building, while offering a hopeful opening.
“An Old Hope”
There’s some great humor in this one as droids captured by the Jawas discuss the Oil Bringer, a mythical being who helps droids in need, while what actually happens plays into Ahsoka Tano’s line about there being truth in legends. Love how this is another stealth appearance by a certain Jedi Master in these stories!
“The Kindling”
This tale within a tale has an exciting framing story that makes readers act like the one listening to their rebel friend, impatient for the story to end, but you’ll also not want it to as it’s so entertaining itself.
“The Kroolok”
The initial image showing Ewoks in the snow, Wicket and Kneesaa even, was more than enough to get me excited for Life Day Treasury as a whole, and thankfully the “The Kroolok” lives up to my rather insanely high expectations. Ewok culture is rather fascinating and I’m curious how much of the little details line up with stuff from the old Ewoks show (that you can now watch on Disney+). It was hard to pick a favorite, as it always seems with these, but “The Kroolok” gets my vote for now!
“The Song of Winter’s Heart”
The first of two tales that hit me in the emotional bits, “Winter’s Heart” tale of two friends, divided by war and sides, enjoying one peaceful night together again is so well told and the characters so relatable, it’s ending still gets me a bit just thinking about it. I love how it plays into moments in the past much like this in our world, WWI’s Christmas Truce (which Scott says he was inspired by), while it even brought back memories of the stellar Lost Stars tale of friends similarly divided.
“The Spirit of Life Day”
I’m not afraid to admit I was reading this one late at night and had to stop, I was too spooked out! The only real scary one of the bunch, it still doesn’t miss a Life Day-inspired beat with an uplifting ending.
“Reflection Day”
A spiritual trip to Jedha for one non-believer both reveals a more celebratory time for the ancient walled city and how mysteriously the Force really works. Really loved all the references to various sects of Force religions and seeing Jedha before the war took much (and later all) of its magic away.
“The Tree of Life”
No Life Day inspired anthology collection would be complete without a tale about the Wookiee’s and their Life Day celebrations that started it all. A slight tongue-in-cheek reference to the much lambasted Holiday Special, I love the story it imparts about the importance of family while filling in some fun little tidbits about Wookiee culture, Life Day itself, and Chewbacca’s family. A perfect ending that hit me in the emotional bits as well.
Here are a few other things:
- The previous two story collections ended up with multiple editions after their release, adding new stories but adding barriers to entry on reading them, so I’m hoping Life Day Treasury doesn’t end up going down the same path. Something to look out for though, as previous updates came in the form of a Target exclusive edition or a Galaxy’s Edge one as well, both with new tales (which all the new stories were just as excellent as the original ones, though!).
- This isn’t the only Life Day celebration coming to readers this year: Marvel has a special Life Day one-shot comic out in November!
- Since Cavan Scott’s Tempest Runner didn’t come with the script or a script book initially, there have been many items we don’t quite know the spelling for, so I found it somewhat funny and enjoyed how “The Kindling” finally showed us how to spell Aaloth, Twi’lek Lourna Dee’s home.
Life Day Treasury, written by Cavan Scott and George Mann, with stellar illustrations by Grant Griffith, is the perfect yuletide collection of tales everyone should have over their fireplace equivalent.
+ Hits all the right Life Day notes to get readers into the spirit
+ Emotions, humor, and even some frights abound
+ Grant’s illustrations are a delight….EWOKS IN SNOW!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
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