Adventures in Wild Space: The Escape

Author: Cavan Scott

Time: 18 BBY, a year after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The Empire is beginning its rule.

Place: Graf-World, an uncharted planet in Wild Space.

Lina and Milo Graf are the children of two really cool cartographers, Rhyssa and Auric. The Grafs spend their lives mapping Wild Space, the vast, uncharted region of the galaxy. Milo is interested in biology. He often gets into trouble searching for new lifeforms. Lina isn't into all that, but she is pretty good with technology. They are accompanied by their droid assistant CR-8R ("Crater") and Milo's Kowakian monkey-lizard Morq (i.e., Salalcious B. Crumb's species).

I really hate when droid's names are cutesy or form words (see: L3-37 and CH-33P). However, this is a children's book, and I do love CR-8R's character design. Rhyssa built him from a bunch of different droid parts, so he's not your standard protocol droid. 

Milo are Morq are out in the wild chasing some animal, and Lina and CR-8R are chasing after them. It's a good thing they're away from camp, because the Empire is coming after their parents. Captain Visler Korda wants the Grafs' maps, and he'll stop at nothing to get them. The adult Grafs refuse. Rhyssa transmits very important information to CR-8R before Korda takes them captive.

Milo and Lina sneak back to their ship, the Whisper Bird. They get caught, but they manage to escape and fly away. CR-8R is trying to decrypt the transmission he received from Rhyssa. It is taking a very long time because, according to CR-8R, it was sent in binary, which hasn't been spoken in centuries! The kids don't know where their parents are being held. They decide to head to the planet Thune, where their parents' best friend and agent Dil Pexton lives.

Quotes: 

• "We're not Imperial citizens, you can't order us around!"
• "Lo-Bro"

Final Judgment: 3 out of 5 Kinor bats. This was basically a short story, an introduction to the Adventures in Wild Space series. Lina and Milo are both likable and sympathetic. Milo is a little annoying in this book...  but, once again, I remind myself that it was written for children.