Welcome back Lanzothians!
Here is my Week XIV (14) book review blog post! I’m glad I’ve been consistent with this, if anything. Reviewing the books I’ve been reading every week has not only been an outlet to talk about certain books, but it also helps me to retain some of the information I’ve read, since that has always been a hurdle for me, sometimes the hurdle is lower, sometimes it’s higher, depending on the text and how actively I’ve been reading it. Also, the blog, in a way, encourages me to read or finish at least one book every week so that I have something to talk about. Because of this, most of the time I end up finishing more than, often three or more, and now, a week into April, I’ve read 41 books so far this year, which is certainly a high for me (#41 will be featured on next week’s blog post). Below is also an update on my writing and studies. I also posted a TikTok Book Review of Project Hail Mary after seeing the movie, as book to film review, and it has received over 500 views and 50 likes, which is more than double of any review I posted thus far, so be sure to check that out!
Of Reading
#38 Star Wars: The Last Order by Kwame Mbalia
Here is the most recent Star Wars YA novel released by Disney-Lucasfilm Press in October of 2025. It is also the only novel released (including those set to release) that takes place after The Rise of Skywalker film, albeit in the same year. This novel focuses on three characters: two familiar, Finn, Jannah, and a new character Coy Tria. With this, comes three different POVs. Most of the book featured flashbacks of Finn and Jannah’s lives as Stormtroopers under the First Order regime, completely separate POVs that never intersect. The remainder of the book was in the present tense with Coy Tria, a teenage tea farmer on Ajan Kloss, who ends up going on a mission with Finn and Jannah during the present POV chapters.
I do have a few critiques about the story and the way it was written, or rather presented. We begin with Coy’s POV in chapter one, giving us a new character right away, right after the Battle of Exegol, which is at the end of The Rise of Skywalker. I enjoyed seeing a new character introduced to us following the events of Episode IX, but the POV for the character ultimately fell a bit flat. Most of the book was flashbacks of Finn and Jannah previously as Stormtroopers, and we only got a handful of chapter POVs of Coy and his mission with the two. Because of how dispersed his POV chapters were, it felt a bit messy and disconnected, as there were only a few. Also, for the first half of the book, it was difficult to keep track of the Stormtrooper number designations as those were used instead of any nicknames, and listening on audio did not make it any easier. Otherwise, it neat to see Jannah’s past as a Stormtrooper, since we got very little of her in the films and a lot of Finn.
Overall, I enjoyed parts of the book, but it felt uneven and inconsistent. I wish we would have gotten more of Coy’s story, so I hope we can see more of his later, even in comics. My rating might feel harsh, but I’m going to drop a 5.9/10 for this one. Sorry Mbalia, I enjoyed it, but I felt it had a lot of promise and missed in areas that could’ve used some TLC.
#39 The Sea Wolf by Jack London
Okay, so, I had to. I had to read this one again. I read it back in November for the first time, and it was the catalyst for me starting to work on Mortimer. It immediately became one of my favorite books on the sea and I just could not stop thinking about it, even four months later. It’s short enough that I didn’t feel bad squeezing in a reread so soon. I am just enamored by Frank Muller’s narration on Audible, he really makes you feel part of the story. But more than that, Jack London writes in a way that pulls you and makes you feel like you can see and feel everything around you. His descriptions for everything, and his knack for creating an ambience make you want to be part of the story.
The Sea Wolf is about an unlucky sailor by the name of Humphrey Van Wheydon who gets picked up after a shipwreck outside his home city of San Francisco (early 1900s) by the ship, Ghost, and its captain Wolf Larson, who is a very cruel and devilish person. Throughout the book we see Larson’s sinister personality and unrelenting actions through the first person POV of Humphrey, while the quiet and scholarly Humphrey is forced to be a cabin boy, but quickly works his way up as Larson’s first-mate. Several attempted mutiny’s from the crew take place during the story, and they even rescue more shipwrecked folk, including Maude Brewster, a writer whom Humphrey knows by name, and they quickly hit it off.
I just really enjoy the characters, the setting and ambience, and how London conceives the intrigue of these characters. I am also trying to read more sea-related novels as I work on my novel, Mortimer, which takes place on the Atlantic as Mortimer sails with a crew from London to Brazil and back. It takes place in the 1830s with a Gothic style approach. I’ve rated this book a 9.5/10. It’s definitely memorable, with a lasting emotional impact – at least for me.
#40 The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen
This took me a little bit to get through, mostly because I kept putting it off to read other things, but in the end I’m really glad I dived into this little history of libraries. Pettegree and der Weduwen show us more than just a simple overview of the history of libraries, but really go in depth about the important peoples that established them over time, and the emergence of books in society and everything that had to with books in a public space. They showed us every era of libraries from as early as 650 BCE up to our modern public library system. It was incredible to see how libraries have evolved over the centuries, from private to public, from being rich in some eras to being eradicated the very next, in some cases. From Anceint Mesopotamia, and the Library of Alexandria, to the House of Wisdom and the Printing Revolution and the Renaissance, to Modern Libraries.
I learned so much from this book about how libraries came to be and all the different people that were involved in their resurgence time and time again. Thomas Bodley establishing the Bodleian Library at Oxford in 1602, one of the most well-known globally. Did you know Andrew Carnegie funded more than 2,500 libraries so that they could become free and for public use so that they would be accessible to everyone? What about the transition from scrolls to books between 300-800 CE? Or that public libraries began emerging in Rome in the 1st Century BCE under the rule of Augustus? All these and more from this book.
This definitely won’t be the last time I read this book, I may pick it up again when I finish my program as a refresher. Oh yes, I’m beginning an MLIS program (Master in Library and Information Science) this summer to study to become a librarian! So I’ll be on the hunt for more books about libraries and their histories, as this surely didn’t cover every detail that is out there. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, though the narration of the audiobook made it hard to focus at times, which is probably why I took so long to get through it. I would confidently rate this an 8.6/10.
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I’m currently reading several books: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars; Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars: The Mandalorian Armor; The Illustrated Man; Space Station Down; 1984; Crown of Midnight; and Bleak House.
If you’d like to read any of my reviews from this year so far, I have them all linked below:
Literary Classic: The Metamorphosis; Moby-Dick; Wuthering Heights; Treasure Island; Notes from Underground; Typhoon; The Count of Monte Cristo; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; The Sea Wolf
Science Fiction: Saturn’s Monsters; The Time Machine; Starship Troopers; The Martian Chronicles; Project Hail Mary; A Meeting with Medusa
Fantasy: Prince Caspian; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (full-cast production); Throne of Glass; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (full-cast production); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (full-cast production)
Star Wars: The Mask of Fear; X-Wing: Wraith Squadron; X-Wing: Iron Fist; Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter; X-Wing: Solo Command; The Courtship of Princess Leia; Tatooine Ghost; Heir to the Empire; The Jaws of Jakku; Dark Force Rising; The Last Command; I, Jedi; Outlaws: Low Red Moon; Lando Calrissian and Flamewind of Oseon; The Last Order
Dystopian: Anthem
Contemporary: They Both Die at the End
Horror: Carmilla; The Turn of the Screw
Nonfiction: The Library: A Fragile History
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Of Writing
At the end of last week, I finally got back in the groove of writing again. I know I said I would use Spring Break (in the district I work in) to my advantage and get back into a rhythm of writing every day. That definitely didn’t happen. But rereading The Sea Wolf and some much needed motivation and accountability from my partner got my writing again. I thought over some ways I could rewrite the first chapters, such as going from first person to third person. I wrote about a page and half, not much, but it’s a start, and I plan to continue writing daily or almost daily, even if it’s a page or so, so that I can build the habit.
Of Study
As I stated here last week, I’m using this section to document and discuss anything and everything I’m studying, as life goal of mine is to be considered a polymath – one who studies (applies) all. I haven’t done much of study in a few months, save for the lessons in Spanish I did daily, which I’ve also stopped about a month ago. I did a single Latin review lesson last week, and I plan to dive more in Latin as we move forward. I intend to be fully competent in reading and understanding the Latin language in the near future (a few years more like).
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Thank you for reading along. My hope is to inspire more and more readers across various genres. Farewell, and see you again next weekend!
Be sure to check out my Instagram and TikTok for bookish posts and book review videos! @tplanzarotto
T.P. Lanzarotto
7 April 2026
T.P. Lanzarotto 
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