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I feel no guilt at all that my second favourite character in all the Star Wars Universe is Ahsoka Tano. I love Han Solo the most -- always have and always will (and he knows) -- but you may be surprised to hear that my second place finisher is not even a close run contest. Ahsoka is my second fave by a considerable distance.

And if Rosario Dawson ever plays Ahsoka in some live action incarnation of Star Wars, Harrison Ford will finally have some true competition for my Star Wars heart.

All this to say I am heavily predisposed to love this anything about Ahsoka, and my bias should be noted as I move forward into gushing territory. You may not agree with my gushing, and you may even make great arguments for your position, but I can't imagine anything you say can change my mind.

Yes, I loved this book, absolutely. I bought it in hardcover and fully intended to read it the first day it arrived, but then I heard that Ashley Eckstein -- the actual Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: Clone Wars (which remains my second favourite Star Wars property after Empire, and what I credit for reviving my opinion of the Prequels) -- was reading this book, performing her coolest character, and I shelved the hard cover and carved out some time to listen instead.

That may have made my bias complete because hearing the real Ahsoka reading her own story meant that if there were problems in this tale, I wasn't hearing them. I was just absorbed by the voice of Ahsoka, backed as she was by John Williams' music and the entire sound effects library of THX, which was the perfect audio setting for a simple tale of Ahsoka finding her way after her self-imposed exile from the Jedi, from the overwhelming loss of her Jedi family and Clone friends at the end of the Clone Wars, from her attempts to hide from the newly formed Empire while trying to find a path to her own future, and in many ways from herself.

E.K. Johnston does a fine job of placing Ahsoka in the greater Star Wars universe, offering flashbacks and side journeys that connect us to some of our favourite classic characters. We see the birth of a movement; we see the birth of tragedy; we see the birth of Fulcrum; we move from Clone Wars to Rebels with the hint of may more amazing Ahsoka adventures just waiting to be told.

I hope Johnston keeps going with this amazing character. But what I really wish for is for Disney-Lucasfilm to stiffen their spines and give us the coolest solo movie they could ever make.