Review: Star Wars: Kenobi SPOILERS!

On 27th August 2013, comics author John Jackson Miller published his third Star Wars novel and fourth novel in general. John Jackson Miller brings a new light to the Star Wars Expanded Universe in a way that freshens the feel of the galaxy. Unlike Troy Denning, whose work has angered the fandom at large, JJM shows that he definitely has the correct view of the universe and has been received with open arms by the fandom. It just goes to show what an extra step toward telling a great story can do, and serves to show that no author can be hindered by continuity if you allow it to work for you. This novel is set between Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope, for you film-versers; Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, for you Expanded Universe fans. Synopsis: The Republic has fallen. Sith Lords rule the galaxy. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has lost everything . . . everything but hope. Tatooine—a harsh desert world where farmers toil in the heat of two suns while trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from the marauding Tusken Raiders. A backwater planet on the edge of civilized space. And an unlikely place to find a Jedi Master in hiding, or an orphaned infant boy on whose tiny shoulders rests the future of a galaxy. Known to locals only as “Ben,” the bearded and robed offworlder is an enigmatic stranger who keeps to himself, shares nothing of his past, and goes to great pains to remain an outsider. But as tensions escalate between the farmers and a tribe of Sand People led by a ruthless war chief, Ben finds himself drawn into the fight, endangering the very mission that brought him to Tatooine. Ben—Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, hero of the Clone Wars, traitor to the Empire, and protector of the galaxy’s last hope—can no more turn his back on evil than he can reject his Jedi training. And when blood is unjustly spilled, innocent lives threatened, and a ruthless opponent unmasked, Ben has no choice but to call on the wisdom of the Jedi—and the formidable power of the Force—in his never-ending fight for justice.

The novel opens with a moisture farmer named Wyle Ulbreck, drunk in a bar in Anchorhead when teenage Veeka Gault, her older brother Mullen, tank-like human Zedd Grobbo, and young Jabe Calwell start a fight; Ulbreck watches in semi-awareness as a beared man enters the bar, leaves him with a baby, and shoots out the light, then  manages to take down everyone, leaving the Gault siblings and Jabe to take Zedd away in a panic. Fast-forward toward a couple weeks later and Tusken Raider war chief A'Yark is trying to rally the rest of the tribe into attacking more humans, but a fake recorded voice of a krayt dragon scares the attackers off. A'Yark grudgingly leaves. Big shot Orrin Gault recalls his team from hunting the Tuskens, learns that his old farm hand Lotho Pelhane was killed [note that Orrin doesn't feel that much guilt]. Orrin also brought his kids there, as well as Jabe, Annileen Calwell's son despite her feelings on the matter. She later rips into her son and Orrin for their recklessness. Orrin and Annileen are old friends through her deceased husband who managed to make his moisture vaporator produce the sweetest water on Tatooine--something Orrin has gone to great pains to replicate, but can't for some unknown reason. Annileen runs the Pika Oasis' diner; Jabe is supposed to be helping her but like all teenagers, he'd rather not; Kallie helps her mom, but would rather tend to her animals every minute if she could. Much to the embarrassment of Annileen and Orrin, the farms tell them to get on with it and kiss already; Annileen, angered, tells Kallie to go do something. Kallie takes the wild dewback Snit out and it runs away, with Kallie barely hanging on; Annileen, on the dewback Vilas, chases after her, but a stranger calling himself Ben Kenobi uses the Force to prevent Annileen from hitting the desert floor and saves Kallie at the same time. Kallie becomes enamored with Ben. Snit is devoured by a young sarlaac, but the others get away. A'Yark believes Annileen has the magic power and starts a plan to get her, remembering the ways of one Tusken who united tribes into a great army.

Orrin visits Annileen and discovers Kallie talking about the mysterious figure known as Ben and how he heroically saved her from death; Orrin notes to Annileen that her daughter is making Ben out to be some kind of deity. He also warns Annileen that Jawas are coming and she prepares to meet them with blasters until Veeka, Jabe, and Mullen start throwing Jawas around like a toy. Jabe chases after one and runs into Ben. Veeka, Mullen, and Zedd demand to know what Ben's doing buying junk and if he'd like to save a real woman; Ben asks Veeka to inform him when one enters; Zedd takes offense and goes to harm Ben but Kallie rushes them with a cattle prod and tries to hit Veeka, but Ben uses the Force to deflect it, but the prod hits Mullen. Ben, embarrassed, leaves. Orrin, after berating his kids, meets Ben on his way back and gives him the tour and sales pitch of the Settler's Call--a way to warn other about a Tusken attack--but Ben only seems interested in getting home. Annileen, after learning from Orrin that Ben lives in the Jundland Wastes, leaves Kallie behind to mind the store and delivers Ben's supplies to him. A few days later, with everyone coming back early from the Comet Run Podrace, A'Yark attacks the Pika Oasis to get Annileen. During the attack, Orrin and Annileen watch on a holomonitor as Ulbreck fires at the Tuskens before the lights go out; Ben leaves the group and rushes to help Ulbreck. Orrin and company get in and find that the Tuskens in the bar are all dead and Ben says that Ulbreck killed them all. Orrin leads the group in a hunt; Ben and Annileen follow, intending to get Jabe back before he dies. A'Deen, A'Yark's son, dies and Ben and Annileen return the body and gaderffii to the Tuskens; Annileen notes that A'Yark is female; A'Yark notes that Annileen is not the Force-user, but that Ben is and she remembers Sharad Hett (see Star Wars: Republic: Outlander for more details). Ben, having recognized A'Yark from Ki-Adi-Mundi's report, tells A'Yark to take A'Deen's body and leave, that there's been enough killing. Both sides depart; A'Yark wants Ben to lead the tribe, like Sharad Hett did.

Mosep Binneed--one of Jabba's shakers--arrives and threaten Orrin, but Orrin talks them into leaving. A'Yark's tribe manages to capture a moisture vaporator. For Annileen's birthday, Orrin sends her to Mos Eisley with Jabe and Kallie to pick up her new landspeeder; along the way, they pick up Ben and take him into the city. After getting the speeder, Ben and Annileen note Orrin being dragged into a building; Ben goes into investigate; Orrin has a debt to repay to Jabba Desilijic Tiure and has been low on the money for a while, hence he's scamming people with the Settler's Call fund. Ben ends up distracting the guards and Orrin steals a few credits and gets out; he sees Annileen and meets up with her seconds before Ben comes back from the wrong direction--Orrin doesn't know that Ben was there at all. Orrin tells Mullen and Veeka that he wants to raid Ulbreck's farm to convince him to pay for the fund and finally get enough money to pay off Jabba; with Zedd too injured and high on Wookiee meds, Jabe is pulled in. At Ulbreck's farm, Orrin and gang, dressed as Tuskens, perform the hit, but Jabe is injured in the process as Tuskens storm them, and they leave him behind; Orrin thinks he sees Ben coming to Jabe's aid as A'Yark goes in for the kill. Orrin confesses to Annileen about his deal with Jabba and the banks, the loan, and lies about the Tuskens killing Jabe and doesn't mention his plan to raze Ulbreck's farm for money. Annileen yells at him, especially when he still wants to marry her for her money to get Jabba off his back; Kallie threatens to kill Orrin, even when he proposes marriage to her, which Orrin has coming to him. Ben finds out from A'Yark that Orrin has been doing these raids on farmers and Tuskens alike since the raid on the Lars' Homestead stopped because of a powerful man (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones); since Ben won't join the Tuskens, he agrees to force Orrin to stop in exchange for Jabe's life, and A'Yark agrees. Jabe arrives back in time and Annileen and Kallie hate Orrin for his selfish actions--Jabe also hates Orrin and comes to the conclusion that Ben is a good man. Jabe says that Ben left a message for Orrin: "Turn back now."

Jabe admits to Kallie and Annileen that he'll follow Ben's advice and stop following Orrin's lead, lest he end up a dead fool. Ben convinces Annileen to leave Tatooine; she and the kids pack up, intending to leave for Ben's house. Annileen sells Danner's Claim to Gloamer. Orrin gathers everyone plus Ulbrek to hunt down Ben; Annileen hears this and calls Jabba's thugs and tells them about Orrin's mad gambit. The farmers chase him into the Roiya Rift, but a stampede by Banthas cuts confrontation semi-short. Orrin, Mullen, and Veeka find themselves facing the Tuskens and Kenobi; Kenobi reveals everything to all the farmers, and Orrin tries to lie but the arrival of Jabba's thugs has him panicking. The thugs and settlers fight and Orrin flees with Annileen as a hostage. A'Yark tells Ben that Orrin must be killed because he'll never stop hunting him; Ben says he'll deal with Orrin without killing or harming Annileen. Ben lures Orrin away and Mullen and Veeka declare that they've never needed the Calwells and prepare to kill her, but A'Yark intervenes, wounding Veeka and killing Mullen. The earlier calls of a krayt dragon summon it and both Annileen and A'Yark hide the Tusken children. Ben kills the krayt dragon and leaves Orrin to the fate of the sands, but Orrin gets on his faulty JG-8 luxury landspeeder and tries to take off, but it crashes into the wastes below. Veeka, still alive, claims that Annileen knew everything and was involved from the beginning, but Annileen leaves for Ben's hut with her kids, vowing to never return. Orrin survives his crash and discovers his worst fear has become a reality: he is now a Tusken because A'Yark saved him; she tells him that as long as he gives the Tuskens water, he'll live; he vows never to speak again. The Calwells discover that they're leaving Tatooine for good, thanks to Ben and (unknowingly) Bail Organa; Annileen demands that Ben come with her, but he says no and she states that he's been lying to her. Ben tells her that he must stay and watch over his "family" though this really means Luke and the future of the Jedi Order, but Annileen doesn't know that. A'Yark notes that the elders want a powerful leader to help them, but A'Yark hopes not. Annileen tells Jabe and Kallie that since she did her time on Tatooine because of her marriage to Danner, that perhaps Ben was staying because of a promise and that maybe he'll leave when it's overseen.

Sprinkled throughout are First Person POV meditations from Ben. In them, he references Satine Kryze, Siri Tachi, Kerra Holt, Darth Bane, Arca Jeth, Yoda, Owen Lars, Beru Lars, and Zayne Carrick, plus he's "talking" to Qui-Gon. They reflect very well how Obi-Wan became Ben, the crazy old wizard in the Jundland Wastes.

This novel is the first part epic western, part romance, and part high-stakes drama that Star Wars has had. It contains wonderful characterizations, great setting and use of Tatooine, a wonderful look at moisture farming, and several great moments that will capture readers. Props to John Jackson Miller for his third great Star Wars novel.

Book Review: Memory SPOILERS!

In 1996, Lois McMaster Bujold published yet another entry into the Vorkosigan Saga. This time, as Miles turns 30, 30 hits back in the most unexpected way. Synopsis: Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. At least that's what Miles Vorkosigan thinks and he should know, having done both once already. That was when he last visited the planet of Jackson's Whole, while rescuing his brother. Thanks to quick thinking on that part of his staff, and incredible artistry on the part of the specialist who revived him, his first death won't be his last. But his next one might be, a realization he finds profoundly unsettling. Even after he returns to military duty, his late death seems to be having a greater effect than he's willing to admit. Unfortunately, his weakness reveals itself to the world at just the wrong time and in just the wrong way, and Miles is summoned home to face Barrayaran security chief Simon Illyan. But when things begin to go subtly wrong in Imperial Security itself, "Who shall guard the guardians?" becomes a more-than-rhetorical question, with a potentially lethal answer. Things look bad, but they are far worse than Miles imagines, as he discovers his worst nightmares about Simon Illyan don't compare to Illyan's worst nightmares--or are they memories?

Ever since Miles returned from the dead, he's been having weird seizures where he blacks out and doesn't recall what happened. This costs him the mission to rescue courier officer Lt. Vorberg. Vorberg's legs were blown off as a result. Elli Quinn tells Miles that he kneecapped Vorberg during the seizure; Elli figures out that this isn't the first time this has happened since Miles' cryo-revival one year ago, and she verbally rips into him. During refit, Elena and Baz tell Miles they want to resign; Miles is shocked and dismayed, but lets them go, and promotes Captain Elli Quinn to Commodore. Miles goes to tell Elli, but a note from Simon ends up recalling Miles to Barrayar; Sergeant Taura acts as escort. Once back at Barrayar, Duv Galeni visits Miles and tells Miles about his girlfriend Dr. Laisa Toscane. During a State Dinner hosted by Gregor, Miles watches as, despite Duv's shock, Laisa and Gregor talk about the concerns that Komarr Shippers' Syndicate has. Days later, and in ImpSec, Simon lays into Miles for his stupidity in neglecting to mention these seizures; during this, Miles has another seizure and rips off his ImpSec Eyes and throws them at Simon, saying that he resigns--Simon's horrified by this and hopes that he never has to go through something like this again. (This also ruins Simon's plans to have Miles take over ImpSec, something Gregor is also displeased about, though not as angry as he is at Miles' lies.)

Miles hears from Ivan and Duv that General Haroche thought Simon beat up Miles and ripped off the "eyes"; he tells them why he was fired from ImpSec. Miles, in a bit of horror at having to learn how to run the Vorkosigan House and staff it, hires Corproal Kosti's brother, Martin, as a driver, then Kosti's mother as the cook. Alys Vorpatil visits Miles and tells him that Gregor is hosting a lunch and wants Miles there beforehand to talk. After their talk--which is a calmer version of what Simon said to Miles--Gregor asks Miles to stay for the lunch and observe; Laisa is at the lunch, as well. Alys admits her surprise to Miles about Laisa becoming the first Komarran Empress if Gregor is serious in courting her. After a couple of weeks in isolation in the mountains, Galeni calls Miles to complain about Gregor and Laisa's marriage announcement. A day or so later, Galeni drops by the Vorkosigan House and apologizes to Miles and lets him know about Simon being unable to remember simple things and acting extremely out of character. Miles doesn't think much of it until Simon calls a few days later about the Dagoola Mission and Miles informs Simon that he (Miles) was fired by Simon over a month ago; Simon asks Miles if he's lost his mind, then Simon freezes, then hangs up; Miles is terrified. Miles informs General Haroche; Haroche arrests Simon the following day after Simon breaks down int he ImpSec HQ.

Needless to say, ImpSec goes dark. Haroche refuses to let Miles see Simon, so Miles goes and complains to Gregor. Miles continues to complain over the next few days, even with no evidence as to what caused Simon's breakdown--except that it might have something to do with Simon's memory chip. Alys is angered that neither Miles, Gregor, nor Ivan informed her of Simon's condition. THe wounded Vorberg from earlier comes calling at the Vorkosigan House and informs Miles that Simon is asking to see him. After being threatened by Haroche, Miles decides enough's enough and "becomes the Vor lord with intent" as Gregor puts it. Miles visits Gregor and demands an Imperial Auditor be attached to him so he can investigate Simon's illness, but Gregor points out that Miles would constantly be back at the palace demanding more Auditors to overwrite the others and instead appoints Miles as the Ninth Imperial Auditor. Miles requests Ivan as his assistant; Ivan remarks that he always thought Miles needed a choke-chain. Miles, with Ivan, goes to Haroche who finally admits Miles to the hospital; Haroche updates Miles on Simon's condition--but it's clear that Haroche doesn't want Miles there at all. Miles talks to Simon, who relapses through various stages of his life, and states that the chip is melting in his head.

Miles, with orders from Gregor, orders that the chip be removed. Miles has Haroche apologize to Lady Alys; she says she can get ready to see Simon in 15 minutes. Miles and Dr. Ruibal note that Simon's blood pressure dropped when Alys entered the room. The surgery goes through, Simon is fine, and Alys declares that she wants Simon. While the scientists study what caused the meltdown, Miles takes Simon to Vorkosigan House and later fishing. During all this, Miles' doctor has found a way to control the seizures, while Simon goes on a "date" with Alys. During this--cos I'm skipping through the repetitive date scenes, naval gazing, and back and forth "what if it's this"--Miles finds fake evidence of himself visiting the evidence room 12 weeks ago; Miles, slightly confused, asks Ivan to take a good look at it. Ivan finds the mystery infection--a Komarran bioengineered apoptotic prokaryote, it attacks and eats neurochip proteins--in Weapons Room 4 of ImpSec. Miles is slightly insulted that he was chosen to be the scapegoat. At a party, Miles figures out that Alys and Simon are sleeping together and thinks that he'll let Ivan figure it out for himself; Galeni and Delia are also dating. Galeni is arrested at said party for treason by order of General Haroche. Haroche, Miles realizes, is pulling at straws to have Galeni arrested, but without evidence, Miles can't counter Haroche.

Dr. Weddell tells Miles how the prokaryote got loose--it was released into the air. Haroche tries to subtly bribe Miles with his old command; later, Miles muses on it and realizes that Haroche not only tried to bribe him, but also poisoned Illyan with the prokaryote, and goes to check the air filters at ImpSec, specifically Simon's, Galeni's, and Haroche's old rooms. Miles, with Simon, General Allegre, Ivan, and Delia, goes to ImpSec--Miles leaves Delia with Galeni. Dr. Weddell checks and confirms that Galeni's air filter is clear of the virus, and so is Simon's. Miles leads everyone to Haroche's old office and find Haroche in the process of trying to clear his filter. Miles appoints Allegre as acting chief of ImpSec and orders him to arrest Haroche for the capital charge of treason. Galeni is freed and made the head of Komarran affairs, Miles writes up one hell of a detailed report, and Haroche tells all to Gregor, Ivan, Miles, and Simon and then gets court-martialed. It should be noted that "Gregor had grown so neutral as to seem almost gray"--Miles notes that that's what rage looks like on the Emperor. Ivan has a full blown panic attack when he learns that his mother and Simon are dating and rants to Miles; Miles points out that if she's too preoccupied with her own love life, then maybe she'll leave Ivan's alone. Ivan drops the subject. Miles brings Gregor the full report, including the footnotes and Gregor sends it next door. Auditors Vorhovis, Vorkalloner, and Vorgustafson agree with Gregor that Miles will do as the Eighth Imperial Auditor, and this Miles accepts and is made so. Dr. Chenko installs the controlled-seizure device into Miles' brain, complete with a remote control. During the formal announcement of Gregor and Laisa's engagement, Count Aral Vorkosigan offers his congratulations to Miles for earning a captaincy and the rank of Imperial Auditor. Miles hands complete control of the Dendarii Mercenary Fleet over to newly promoted Admiral Elli Quinn, who tries to get Miles to be Admiral Naismith while he tries to get her to be his Lady Vorkosigan; both realize that it won't work and they depart.

All in all, a very good, decently paced novel. I highly recommend this to any fan of the Vorkosigan saga. Now, onto Komarr and Star Wars: Kenobi. 

Fall Book Reviews and the recent lack of Book Reviews

As you may have noticed, dear readers and viewers, I've not posted anything in the last couple of weeks. I apologize and can only state that I've been busy reading some new books such as John Jackson Miller's excellent Star Wars: Kenobi novel and Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatil's Alliance, as well as others, such as James Lovegrove's Age of [insert deity here] series. Doing so has reminded me that I started these book reviews as a way to not only summarize books I've enjoyed but to also give my opinions on them. And in short, I can no longer do that with certain series' that I've started, namely those by Lois Bujold and certain Bantam era Star Wars novels that I've been longing to do.

To start, I'll name the first I will no longer be finishing: The Vorkosigan Saga. This may come as a shock, but I simply do not have the time or resources--or books, for that matter--to track down each of them and reread them. I'm at my limits and have had to come to terms with that. I can, however, briefly summarize Brother's In Arms, Borders of Infinity, and Mirror Dance into a couple of paragraphs. Most of this will be off the top of my head and what I recall happening. Those will be below and the titles of which will be marked in bold. Note, this does not mean I'll abandon almost finished series, such as Lois' Sharing Knife series--I've only got one book left to review, so I may as well finish it.

Another that will take a while will be the Star Wars: X-Wing books by Mike Stackpole and Aaron Allston. First, because I have a strong dislike of Allston's works in that all his characters come across as juvenile wannabe jokers in the maturity range of 13- to 14-year-olds. That and I've loaned them out to a friend who wanted to read them. So they are on hold for a while.

But fear not, for I shall finish the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn as well as most of his books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. But I shall only do them in the order they were published, not chronologically. To this end, I also state that I will do a couple of reviews for the Vorkosigan Saga, namely those of Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Captian Vorpatil's Alliance--three of which I enjoyed and one I'm in the process of reading. Also, I'll be trying to get the review for JJM's Kenobi up soon, but it's a really good book and I can't stop rereading it, folks.

To make up for this, I'll do some special reviews in November for the game tie-ins that I didn't get around to, such as The Force Unleashed, The Force Unleashed II, the Star Wars: Dark Forces novella trilogy by William C. Deitz, the Assassin's Creed novels, and maybe the Resistance novels by Deitz. Now, I'm not promising anything, because I'll be extremely busy with school and work, but I will do my best to get as many of those done as I can for you.

Brothers In Arms
Okay, so this is supposed to be a mystery novel. I can handle those, but frankly, this one does seem rather easy to see through. First off, Miles and some of the members his mercenary gang stop at Earth for repairs, but the funds are delayed. Miles doesn't like this, especially when he's detained and held in the Barrayaran embassy to serve Duv Galeni, who is a nice Komarran chap, except he sees Miles as a threat by ImpSec to get him fired or something. (Remember, I'm trying to recall from my memory here, folks.) A lot of people notice that Miles and Admiral Naismith look alike, but Miles brushes it off, trying to keep both identities separate. Add in the fact that he's also having a sort of hard time keeping them apart and you've got the perfect recipe for disaster. But Miles, being Miles, suspects a couple of Komarrans are up to something and is proved right when he comes face to face with his clone. The clone (later called Mark) is to be take over Miles' job and help free the Komarran's from the rule of the Barrayarans. Naturally, Miles won't allow that and does end up stopping them and their leader, who happens to be a relative of Galeni's. Mark, now free, ends up running away to figure out who he is. Galeni is promoted, I believe and recalled back to Barrayar. This marks the last appearance of Ky Tung, who retires to Brazil on Earth to be with his family.

Side note: The actual title for this, in my opinion, should've been Mirror Dance, seeing as how Miles starts to lose it on Earth. This is just my personal opinion folks, please don't yell at me.

Borders of Infinity
This has got to be the worst of Lois' books. It's an anthology disguised as a novel. Basically, it's three stories wrapped around four very god-awful pages of Miles being interrogated in a hospital room by Simon Illyan which is supposed to ferret out an assassination attempt against Aral. I didn't believe it when I read it and I still don't. Anyway the first one deals with Miles investigating a killing in the backwater parts of backwater Barrayar. Apparently, the grandmother did it to spare the child of growing up with some sort of weird genetic mutation. I can't recall what, excatly, only that it was ludicrously ridiculous and had me rolling my eyes. The second story had something to do with picking up a rogue scientist in Jackson's Whole, but there's a complication--as always--and Miles seeks to rid himself of it. In this, he meets a quaddie, and some other creature whose name eludes me. During this, another rival scientist gets his lab burnt down by Miles and the creature-whose-name-eludes-me, and they manage to escape. Straightforward and simple, this is the longest novella in the omnibus--for that's what Borders of Infinity is--and is an enjoyable read. The last one is set during a war and somehow or another, the person Miles was sent to retrieve has died and so Miles helps the resistance movement--if I recall correctly--and then leaves. I don't recall much of this last one, which should be some indication of how forgettable I found it.

Mirror Dance
Ah, lovely Mirror Dance, and it's wacky plot. Mark, impersonating Miles, gets the Dendarii mercs to go to Jackson's Whole and seek revenge while freeing genetic slaves, something that Bel Thorne hates. Well, things go sour, Miles gets involved, relieves Thorne of command, and then Miles dies. He's placed into cryostasis and left on the planet. Mark, under watch by a tempermental and angry Elli Quinn, head back to Barrayar. Elli reports this to Simon. Mark meets Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan. They treat him like their second son and Mark, unable to stand any of the asinine Barrayaran ways, convinces Elli to help him get Miles back. Meanwhile, a scientist revives Miles and over the course of a few weeks, starts to recall his life. It's only complete when Mark, Elli and the Dendarii free Miles from that and leave Jackson's Whole behind, with Mark--who has fallen for Kareen Koudelka--wants to turn his life around and goes to Beta to begin therapy, or I recall. I know it happened at some point, just not exactly sure which book.

Side Note: the correct title of this book should've been Brothers In Arms, at least, I think so, considering how Miles and Mark fight to rescue each other and how close their sibling bond gets. But maybe that's just me, folks.