SM
Bigfooty Legend
Dark Nest isn't NJo. You've also got Ebooks there.
Star Wars Star Wars - General Discussion / Legends / Comics
- Thread starter Exe Gesis
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Dark Nest isn't NJo. You've also got Ebooks there.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Didn't you laugh at me for only just getting to the Fate of the Jedi seriesOr is this a re-read? Fate of the Jedi was really bog average, a struggle to get to the end, just finished it a couple of weeks back. Looking forward to Alphabet Squadron and Thrawn in the next month.
As pointed out, why would it. Nothing stands out, it gives you background on Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, a little on Dooku. It touches on the Jedi Council and its problems leading up to TPM. I liked it, it fits in well with the prequels.
Re-read. Read them as they came out as a kid, and think I might have done one re-read since then, but thought I'd delve back in as it's probably my favourite era. In some ways I think you'd like it, Luke aligns a lot with the ST interpretation of his character, and there's a lot of echos (NR refusing to see the Vong as a threat, Leia/Wedge and others setting up a "Resistance" to fight the Vong; Luke not wanting to fight the Vong because he doesn't see that as the role of the Jedi).
Alphabet Squadron looks fantastic.
Yeah they add to the lore, I don't know how it could 'break' the law.
- Sep 15, 2011
- 33,824
- 53,287
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I read them when they came out, I didn't mind them, but I recall finding that it dragged; I was excited when the first book came out, I enjoyed it, but 19 books was way too many. Also, too much potential for one bad book to just kill momentum. Off-hand, I recall liking Vector Prime, Balance Point, Traitor and Destiny's Way, but I'm not sure of the details. The rest ranged in quality.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Yeah I'm up to Remnant, which is absolutely dragging, not helped by the fact it doesn't have chapter breaks. That trilogy will be hard to get through, but then I'm basically done.
Balance Point was awful, surprised you liked it. Rebel Dream and Stand were fantastic.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
I actually love that it's 19 books. It's an entire integrated era. What should have then happened is that the NJO be a launch pad to standalone books and series set WITHIN the NJO war that explore other areas or people dealing with the Vong, but the reaction wasn't favourable so they left it pretty much alone until the Invasion/Legacy comics.
- Sep 15, 2011
- 33,824
- 53,287
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I might be mixing up Balance Point with something else, Star by Star perhaps? Specific plot points fail me now, I recall Chewie dying, Jacen's capture, Anakin's fate etc. I think it would have been much better done as three trilogies, maybe 10 books max.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Star by Star is Anakin's death and was a pretty great book. Balance Point is just a small contained story on Duros where they try to find out where Nom Anor is. It was ok, exagerrating a bit with it being terrible, but it feels very small compared to the books around it.
Eh, three trilogies is what Fate/Legacy series did which I fundamentally don't think works as you only have three authors so very distinct styles and voices. 19 books of duologies and standalones means that no author's voice overwhelms at any time.
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
- Thread starter
- #358
It took me a very long time (not that I was bored) to finish LOST STARS by Claudia Gray. Just kept picking it up reading a chapter, then life got in the way for weeks, then another chapter, more life in the way etc.
But once I finished it, I picked up LORDS OF THE SITH by Paul Kemp. Much shorter book, and I just focused on getting thru it. Finished it in like two days.
I loved LOST STARS, had a broad scope to it, Gray is really talented.
But what do you guys think of LORDS OF THE SITH? I didn't like it much, felt too cheesy, and like the only powers Vader and Sidious had were force choking and force lightning. No imagination to conjure up on his own other stuff, but I'm sure this was written before TFA and TLJ where LFL started rapidly expanding force powers in the movies. Also, his writing wasn't that great. Tho there were elements of the basic plot that were interesting.
But once I finished it, I picked up LORDS OF THE SITH by Paul Kemp. Much shorter book, and I just focused on getting thru it. Finished it in like two days.
I loved LOST STARS, had a broad scope to it, Gray is really talented.
But what do you guys think of LORDS OF THE SITH? I didn't like it much, felt too cheesy, and like the only powers Vader and Sidious had were force choking and force lightning. No imagination to conjure up on his own other stuff, but I'm sure this was written before TFA and TLJ where LFL started rapidly expanding force powers in the movies. Also, his writing wasn't that great. Tho there were elements of the basic plot that were interesting.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
I thought it was great. Was one of the first nu Canon books I read.
- Sep 15, 2011
- 33,824
- 53,287
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I recall enjoying Lords of the Sith but finding it relatively lightweight without adding much. Interestingly, it’s new canon but was originally created for the old canon, yes (just like Heir to the Jedi, both seem a little off tonally).
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Yep, although LotS is a much better book (not that I've even bothered with Heir to the Jedi).
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Then how do you know
You are correct though, Heir to the Jedi was pretty average and I don’t think the main plot felt very ‘Star Wars’.
From reviews.
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
- Thread starter
- #364
Let me re-say what I said before about Lords of the Sith....
The basic synopsis is pretty good....Twilek terrorists bring down a Star Destroyer with the help of an Imperial administrator traitor, causing the mass evacuation of the ship, including Vader and the Emperor on a shuttle, crashing into a Ryloth forest. Pursued by the terrorists by air and foot, but time is running out to kill them before the internal treachery is discovered and rescue operation arrives.
It's cool how Vader and the Emperor bring down enemy ships and kill an entire horde of these gigantic indigenous Ryloth monsters, and how the terrorists catching up to them on foot, following their trail of destruction, are in awe and fear at (especially) Vader's abilities. The Apex Predator indeed.
So all that was pretty good. Made for a cool adventure.
It's just that Paul Kemp's writing is unremarkable. So many repeated phrases, words. A lack of imagination with fleshing out certain things. And a lack of descriptive creativity and dexterity in general writing. He spent far too long describing certain things and just kept repeating the same descriptions. He also kept preempting plot points, and TELLING the reader how to intake information -- treating us like we're stupid and giving out the story, the twists and turns, and not letting us come to those ourselves. He's basically below-average as a writer. That's what brought the experience down. Not the story, but the writing.
MEANWHILE....
I'm already about a third of the way thru the next book I've picked up, James Luceno's TARKIN. And you can already tell the huge difference in writing skill. Not just the penmanship per se, but the way he crafts a story and moves it along. Far superior in that regard too than Kemps LOTS story, how it moves along. Again, unlike Kemp, he doesn't ever treat us as idiots who need to be told what could be happening, but let's us figure it out ourselves and thru the characters in the story as they figure it out.
The basic synopsis is pretty good....Twilek terrorists bring down a Star Destroyer with the help of an Imperial administrator traitor, causing the mass evacuation of the ship, including Vader and the Emperor on a shuttle, crashing into a Ryloth forest. Pursued by the terrorists by air and foot, but time is running out to kill them before the internal treachery is discovered and rescue operation arrives.
It's cool how Vader and the Emperor bring down enemy ships and kill an entire horde of these gigantic indigenous Ryloth monsters, and how the terrorists catching up to them on foot, following their trail of destruction, are in awe and fear at (especially) Vader's abilities. The Apex Predator indeed.
So all that was pretty good. Made for a cool adventure.
It's just that Paul Kemp's writing is unremarkable. So many repeated phrases, words. A lack of imagination with fleshing out certain things. And a lack of descriptive creativity and dexterity in general writing. He spent far too long describing certain things and just kept repeating the same descriptions. He also kept preempting plot points, and TELLING the reader how to intake information -- treating us like we're stupid and giving out the story, the twists and turns, and not letting us come to those ourselves. He's basically below-average as a writer. That's what brought the experience down. Not the story, but the writing.
MEANWHILE....
I'm already about a third of the way thru the next book I've picked up, James Luceno's TARKIN. And you can already tell the huge difference in writing skill. Not just the penmanship per se, but the way he crafts a story and moves it along. Far superior in that regard too than Kemps LOTS story, how it moves along. Again, unlike Kemp, he doesn't ever treat us as idiots who need to be told what could be happening, but let's us figure it out ourselves and thru the characters in the story as they figure it out.
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
- Thread starter
- #365
Am half-way thru PLAGUEIS by James Lucena.
It's already my favorite Star Wars to date, of the number that I've read (still have plenty of Legends books to read tho).
He's done a fantastic job of 1) fleshing out Plagueis, and 2) tying so much that reverberates in the many decades after Plagueis, the PT, OT, and ST eras, all back to the climate of Plagueis era, politics, Plagueis himself, etc.
The only knock I have on Lucena, as always with writers, is the extravagant amount of vocabulary showing-off that he does. Many times the words aren't even really appropriate (when I look up the word to understand what the **** he's on about), or he's redundantly using it in a sentence with other similarly-related words. Just way too much showing-off, or dictionary/thesaurus work done post-writing to replace phrases and words with words that no human being would ever use or even know about that exist in the dictionary.
But it's a marvelous story and character development of Plagueis and Palpatine. The way he's fleshed out Plagueis just from the ROTS line "tale of plagueis the wise"....that's all he had to work on, and he created and really fleshed out a character so powerful and wise. My favorite Sith lord so far.
It's already my favorite Star Wars to date, of the number that I've read (still have plenty of Legends books to read tho).
He's done a fantastic job of 1) fleshing out Plagueis, and 2) tying so much that reverberates in the many decades after Plagueis, the PT, OT, and ST eras, all back to the climate of Plagueis era, politics, Plagueis himself, etc.
The only knock I have on Lucena, as always with writers, is the extravagant amount of vocabulary showing-off that he does. Many times the words aren't even really appropriate (when I look up the word to understand what the **** he's on about), or he's redundantly using it in a sentence with other similarly-related words. Just way too much showing-off, or dictionary/thesaurus work done post-writing to replace phrases and words with words that no human being would ever use or even know about that exist in the dictionary.
But it's a marvelous story and character development of Plagueis and Palpatine. The way he's fleshed out Plagueis just from the ROTS line "tale of plagueis the wise"....that's all he had to work on, and he created and really fleshed out a character so powerful and wise. My favorite Sith lord so far.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
ST era? You know Plagueis is Legends, right?
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
- Thread starter
- #367
I meant, so much that happens in the PT, OT and EVEN the ST can be seen to have roots in this book. The climate of the time, things Plagueis put in place, planned for, etc. Like, sure, Luceno wrote this before the ST came out, but there's so much stuff in the book that you can see how it eventually unfolds in the movie novology.
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
- Thread starter
- #368
Have finished DARTH PLAGUEIS by James Luceno last night.
Wonderful story. My favorite star wars book to date (still got a billion to get thru).
Still stand by my earlier criticism of the overly-verbose writing. But the characterization of Plagueis based on just the little that was given in TROS to work on was amazing. What a legendary fleshing out and establishment of a character by Luceno.
It was interesting given the books is officially LEGENDS. How there's a bunch of stuff in there that these days is just not canon, and probably for the best. I mean specifically the latter part of the book -- where Plagueis is alive right up until the eve of the vote for Palpatine as Supreme Chancellor. And how he is watching Anakin from afar as Anakin first steps off the ship in TPM on Coruscant. Tries to find him in the chambers, etc. Also didn't like the very death scene of Plagueis. He was supposedly killed in his sleep by Palpatine, but in the book he WAS asleep but then Palpatine does what he does and he wakes up and it takes a long time to kill him while he's still very awake and struggling to fight it off. That whole scene of what Palpatine does to him to kill him was way over the top and far-fetched, too dramatic that it was a letdown.
Also, no way Palpatine kills him given Plagueis had hidden so much dark side power from Palpatine, only given him a taste of things, and was incredibly more powerful than Palpatine was.
I did like how Maul was introduced and how that relationship existed between Plagueis-Palpatine-Maul. How Luceno fleshed out that relationship, with Maul often erriing, Palpatine's teaching often erring, and Plagueis always the super wise master who found many ways to reproach Palpatine, lessons he had to learn, etc.
Anyway....next book i'll start reading tonight will probably be ROGUE ONE by Luceno again.
Have really started knocking out books now like one two or three weeks. Gonna try to see if i can quicken that to one every week.
Wonderful story. My favorite star wars book to date (still got a billion to get thru).
Still stand by my earlier criticism of the overly-verbose writing. But the characterization of Plagueis based on just the little that was given in TROS to work on was amazing. What a legendary fleshing out and establishment of a character by Luceno.
It was interesting given the books is officially LEGENDS. How there's a bunch of stuff in there that these days is just not canon, and probably for the best. I mean specifically the latter part of the book -- where Plagueis is alive right up until the eve of the vote for Palpatine as Supreme Chancellor. And how he is watching Anakin from afar as Anakin first steps off the ship in TPM on Coruscant. Tries to find him in the chambers, etc. Also didn't like the very death scene of Plagueis. He was supposedly killed in his sleep by Palpatine, but in the book he WAS asleep but then Palpatine does what he does and he wakes up and it takes a long time to kill him while he's still very awake and struggling to fight it off. That whole scene of what Palpatine does to him to kill him was way over the top and far-fetched, too dramatic that it was a letdown.
Also, no way Palpatine kills him given Plagueis had hidden so much dark side power from Palpatine, only given him a taste of things, and was incredibly more powerful than Palpatine was.
I did like how Maul was introduced and how that relationship existed between Plagueis-Palpatine-Maul. How Luceno fleshed out that relationship, with Maul often erriing, Palpatine's teaching often erring, and Plagueis always the super wise master who found many ways to reproach Palpatine, lessons he had to learn, etc.
Anyway....next book i'll start reading tonight will probably be ROGUE ONE by Luceno again.
Have really started knocking out books now like one two or three weeks. Gonna try to see if i can quicken that to one every week.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Luceno didn't write Rogue One, Freed did.
Exe Gesis
Kylo was here
SM
Bigfooty Legend
- Sep 15, 2011
- 33,824
- 53,287
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I remember largely enjoying that without it being an exceptional standout.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Yeah it was ok, not as awesome as I thought it'd be.
SM
Bigfooty Legend
Has been a theme of the new canon books actually. Just finished Master and Apprentice, and despite tearing through the first third, the plot just started to drag and I really struggled to finish it. Hoping Alphabet Squadron is better.
