Canto Bight

By: Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, John Jackson Miller

Narrated by: Sean Kenin, Saskia Maarleveld, Marc Thompson, Jonathan Davis

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

Soon to be seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, welcome to the casino city of Canto Bight. A place where exotic aliens, captivating creatures, and other would-be high rollers are willing to risk everything to make their fortunes. Set across one fateful evening, these four original novellas explore the deception and danger of the lavish casino city.

An honest salesman meets a career criminal as a dream vacation turns into the worst nightmare imaginable in a story by Saladin Ahmed.

Dreams and schemes collide when a deal over a priceless bottle of wine becomes a struggle for survival, as told by Mira Grant.

Old habits die hard when a servant is forced into a mad struggle for power among Canto Bight's elite in a tale by Rae Carson.

A deadbeat gambler has one last chance to turn his luck around; all he has to do is survive one wild night, as told by John Jackson Miller.

In Canto Bight, one is free to revel in excess, untouched from the problems of a galaxy once again descending into chaos and war. Dreams can become reality, but the stakes have never been higher - for there is a darkness obscured by all the glamour and luxury.

Cast of narrators:

• Rules of the Game by Saladin Ahmed, read by Sean Kenin
• The Wine in Dreams by Mira Grant, read by Saskia Maarleveld
• Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing by Rae Carson, read by Marc Thompson
• The Ride by John Jackson Miller, read by Jonathan Davis

©2017 John Jackson Miller, Saladin Ahmed, Mira Grant and Rae Carson (P)2017 Random House Audio

A fun group of stories with a few great moments

Great narrators and neat stories helped make Canto Bight more alive and worth exploring. Decent!

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

worth the time

These stories make Canto Bight an interesting place. They deal with different characters but some of the locations overlap a little bit and it all adds up to give a lot of character to Canto Bight. There is one story in particular where the protagonist is a non-human species and it is one of the best most original stories I've heard in awhile, even outside of Star Wars. For me it made Canto Bight feel like it's own distinct world rather than a Mos Eisley knockoff. There are cool species, distinct interesting characters, compelling story-lines, and more great performances from the narrators. As with any anthology some of the stories are better than others but all of them were worthwhile in some way. It's worth the time to check out.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Surprisingly wonderful.

I started this book, but abandoned it early on. I came back when I was between books. I so glad I did. This book captures the spirit of Star Wars with out a single lightsaber or battle. I can’t recommend it enough.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Pleasantly Surprised

This book is comprised of 4 Short stories about activities on Canto Bight. This not your typical Star Wars novel. That said, I found the characters very likable and the stories were thoughtful and interesting. There was not much time for character and plot development, but a good enough job was done.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

For hardcore fans only

The production values, as with any Star Wars audiobook, are stellar. The first two stories were tough and seemed to drag. The second story especially about some twins and a cat of wine did not hold much interest. The final two stories are much more engaging and relatable.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The Best Production Since Disney Took Over, IMHO

I have not been a fan of the Disney productions of late, as a Star Wars fan. Many were just too heavy on the SJW / LGBTQ agenda IMO.

While this still has some of that stuff, it is at least done well within the context of the story as to not be so overt.

The stories were all interesting and had great narration and production. The ending was well done and captivating.

I have always felt that JJM is one of the best authors to ever pen a Star Wars story. I have always enjoyed narration by Marc T. and Jonathan D., even when the stories were slow.

Keep this crew together for more please!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Mixed Bag

A great one, a couple that were good, and one that was bad. Like the Last Jedi Canto Bight sequence, not a really necessary story, but a painless way to spend a few hours. As always, the cast of narrators knocks it out of the park bringing life to what I would assume would be a slog to actually read.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A Must Read for any Star Wars Fan!

Canto Bight is a collection of 4 short-to-medium stories about the Legendary gambling City of Canto-Bight on Cantonica. This is the place to go if you want to be involved in gambling of any sort, and those involved in the high stakes are always at Canto Bight. Lando and Han would have LIVED at Canto Bight back in their time if it had existed. Whilst these stories don’t follow any of the main characters, they give us the feel for Canto Bight, those that live and visit, the type of business dealings and the general, overall ambience. If you are a Star Wars fan, this is a fantastic book, with some really great stories and some brilliant characters. This is what Star Wars short stories are all about, fun, action, adventure, aliens, strange and amazing creatures, abilities and technology.
Following are reviews of the 4 individual stories for those interested – but this is brilliant!

Rules of the Game – 4.5/5 – The first of our stories introduces us to Kedpin Shoklop, vaporator sales being of the year in his company, and winner of an all expenses trip for 2wks to Canto Bight. Of course Kedpin is totally clueless and this is like dropping a baby seal covered in fresh blood into the middle of a pack of hungry sharks. He doesn’t even make it through customs before he has lost pretty much everything. Poor Kedpin is not off to a good start. Even worse, he unbeknownst to him, he has been chosen by one of the best assassins on Canto Bight to help kill the corrupt Police Chief in the local Police station.
What unfolds is like a Mr Bean movie as Kedpin stumbles through one event after another, never quite realising the danger he is in, but at the same time, never quite dying either. This is a story that is incredibly well written, were even though Kedpin is annoying at times, you can’t help but back the little guy. You even like the assassin.
Wonderfully clever, with exceptional characters, this is Star Wars at its absolute best.
The Wine of Dreams – 4/5 – this was a rather fascinating story about a wine sommelier, Derla Pidys, looking for this perfect bottle of wine that she has heard about, ‘The Wine of Dreams’, that is sold by a pair of Sisters, who are reportedly from a different dimension. She has been tracking the Sisters all over, and has finally found them in Canto Bight and set up a meeting, but of course, being Star Wars, things do not go exactly to plan. For starters, Derla is intercepted en-route to her meeting by Ubialla Gheal, owner of the establishment and all-round general rogue. However, the Sisters like to be ‘entertained’, and when they decide to be entertained, chaos ensues.
What unfolds is utter entertainment. It is incredibly well written, with lots of little bits and pieces going on that I am sure will turn up in side stories and possibly even movies. This has the Cantina scene all over it from ‘A New Hope’, and I am sure that the Sisters will make an appearance later down the track in other stories to.
Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing – 4/5 – Lexo is a Dor Namethian masseuse, one of the finest in all of Canto Bight, working in one of the finest establishments in Canto Bight, Zord’s Spa and Bathhouse. However, he is getting on a bit now, and his hands are starting to suffer a bit. He found a human child years ago and adopted her, Lula, who is now 13, and she cares for him. Lexo has a policy of keeping to himself, not listening, seeing, hearing or saying anything to his clients so he doesn’t get involved in anything he shouldn’t, and hopefully staying out of trouble. However, this policy all goes wrong for him one day when his Daughter is kidnapped. She is taken by one of the local crime lords who has decided that Lexo would make a great source of information for him, and that he is going to work for him, or else. Of course what the Crime Boss, Big Sturg Ganna, doesn’t count on, is that Lexo has not only a huge amount of courage and strength, especially when it comes to his adopted daughter, but that Lexo has a past that not many people know about. Again, this is another thrilling and captivating story that is absolutely brilliant in the Star Wars Universe, with all the different aliens, the mystery of Canto Bight, and the history of the galaxy allowing people to have unique pasts and stories that create this incredible tales.
This has some wonderful characters in it (apart from Lexo), there is Big Sturg Ganna, the Contessa who runs the city of Canto Bight and numerous others. This is a great story for learning of a lot of the history, and as we come up to the Last Jedi, and Canto Bight is going to make an appearance in the Movie, it will be a lot of fun trying to match characters from the story to the book.
Exceptional read and a lot of run!
The Ride – 5/5 – This was one of the best stories in the set just because of the side characters. The story follows Kaljach ‘Kal’ Sonmi, who play cards for a living at one of the casinos as a professional player to try and make some money for himself, but he is also employed by the Casino to entice other people to play and have fun.
During the course of the story, he loses big, loses his job, and is now basically on death row, with 24hrs to come up with a huge sum of money or he is going to be cashed in by the mob. This is where it gets kind of hilarious. He lost to a set of brothers, known as the Lucky 3. Now the brothers, Dodi, Thodi and Wobi, play for fun, not caring if they win or lose, and on that particular game, Kal had this special hand, so big, he could have paid off all his debts and been a free man. However, with the 3 brothers together, a 2nd ‘special’ hand was drawn in such a way so as to beat him, and is basically impossible the odds on it are so improbable. So Kal goes a bit silly, loses his job, and is now on death row so to speak. However, the brothers spot him a coin. And with that coin he wins a small fortune beating on ‘ONE’ of the brothers. And then Kal works it out with the brothers, he thinks. And so it goes, Kal has the most amazing night of his life, and he plays all sorts of things for ‘FUN’ for the first time in a long time.
The way this story plays out is like Lando and Han on steroids at a Sabaac table, only with a lot more fun. The story itself is not only the true meaning of Creativity and Fun in the Star Wars Universe, it is utterly brilliant. The character work is exceptional, and what is really great is that the Author has included bits from the other stories in this one so there are guest appearances.
This is absolutely brilliant and outstanding fun, plus another great look at the Star Wars Canto Bight universe.
Definitely worth the read!!
Canto Bight is a fabulous collection of short stories and is a must read for any Star Wars fan, but absolutely if you are looking forward to the new movie ‘The Last Jedi’, just to have the ability to compare and contrast the book to the real Canto Bight in the Movie (yes, of course it's real!!)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Nice set of stories

Four separate stores. while not all four are great, the second and last were really good with the third fun and the first being the least impressive.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Slow at first better towards end.

The first two stories were slow and I put this book off to the side for a while. The third story was better and I really enjoyed the 4th story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful