Author Topic: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Havac  14313 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 9/6/06 12:10pm Subject: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Analyze and discuss her writing style, strengths and weaknesses, etc, without bashing or gushing.

Previous Author Analyses:
Darko Macan
Vonda McIntyre
Walter Jon Williams
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Roger MacBride Allen
John Ostrander
Steve Perry
Brian Daley
Barbara Hambly
Dave Wolverton
Troy Denning
Ann C. Crispin
K. W. Jeter
Sean Stewart
Haden Blackman
Greg Keyes
Michael Stackpole
Kevin J. Anderson
Matthew Stover
Michael Reaves
Aaron Allston

Go at it! grin

 

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Excellence  24488 posts
Registered: Jul '02
6338_New Republic Seal
Date Posted: 9/7/06 3:15am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers

My knowledge of her writing begins and ends with 2 SW books, so I'm inadequateky experienced to comment much. Bakura was okay for an average read, nothing extraordinary, nothing outright horrible.

Regarding BP, crack an egg on my head and I'll omlette it for you . . . say, half a minute.

 

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MariahJade2  9734 posts
Title: Former Fan Fiction Archive Editor
Registered: Mar '01
6611_Luke Skywalker
Date Posted: 9/7/06 5:01am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Kathy is one of the very few authors that actually wrote Luke well. Not only did he have brains, but he used them and she did pretty good with Mara too. So I thank her for that. If it wasn't for her Luke wouldn't have Ben at all or any sort of Legacy.

 

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Kaje  1800 posts
Registered: May '05
42004_Darth Krayt
Date Posted: 9/7/06 6:01am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers - Date Edited: 9/7/06 6:02am (1 edits total) Edited By: Kaje
She had the opportunity to really show us how the Rebels, Imperials, and galaxy at large reacted to the death of Palpatine. Instead she gave us deinonychus's that turned people into spaceships. And then she disproved the idea that the hardcovers were the important entries in the NJO. Let's just say I'm not a fan.

 

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_ViE_AcheRoN_  714 posts
Registered: May '03
8203_Chewbacca
Date Posted: 9/7/06 12:40pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Kaje posted:
She had the opportunity to really show us how the Rebels, Imperials, and galaxy at large reacted to the death of Palpatine. Instead she gave us deinonychus's that turned people into spaceships.
laugh

 

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NelanisGhost  2191 posts
Registered: Jun '06
14535_Yuuzhan Vong High Priestess
Date Posted: 9/7/06 2:41pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
I bet she has a Mara outfit at home and posters of Mark Hamill. J/K!

shhh

She was too pro (Luke and Mara and their almost embarrassing) lust scenes. I didn't like it much. I don't care for including of the thoughts of the person, I find it distracting. Esp Mara's thoughts. She's such a stuck up arrogant person. I like Mara much better when a non fangirl or boy writes her. She's much cooler in the newer books except for Jacen fixation.

Mainly. I thought Jacen was a flake. But then, Jacen IS a flake. What do you expect. I never liked Jacen. Luke should have punished more in childhood. He should have taken all his pets and freed them or made him hold Lifeboy soap in his mouth for lousy jokes.
I didn't like the way she wrote the Solo family. She didn't do a very good job in that regard.

Maybe I am letting myself be influenced here. I read around the fanboards that Tyers ruined the pacing by writing about Luke and Mara and not about some other characters. Is that accurate? Then some other book was cancelled because she didn't develop the story enough. I guess something must have happened because they never asked her back.

 

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Jedi Trace  9524 posts
Title:
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Registered: Dec '99
49024_Deliah Blue (804094)
Date Posted: 9/7/06 6:18pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Kathy will always have my highest regards for the years she spent posting in this very forum and the respect and camaraderie that she showed the fans here.

I thought Truce at Bakura was fine book. Kathy introduced a unique antagonist into the EU and touched on subjects that would have been at the forefront immediately after RotJ: Luke coming into his own as a Jedi and Leia facing her heritage.

IMHO, Balance Point was one of the more climactic installations in the NJO and the interpersonal relationships between characters were handled exceptionally well, especially Luke/Mara and Leia/Jaina.

Of her short stories, I’ve only read Tinian on Trial from Tales from the Empire, but I thought it was a strong, well-constructed short. She has a talent for writing page-turning drama without descending into melodrama.



 

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Excellence  24488 posts
Registered: Jul '02
6338_New Republic Seal
Date Posted: 9/7/06 10:27pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers - Date Edited: 9/7/06 10:29pm (2 edits total) Edited By: Excellence

Interesting. I didn't find anything "climatic" in Balance Point, Trace. The book was almost three-quarters boredom, filled with forgettable filler characters, a finale you knew by midbook, in an environment so restrictive it constrained your entire visual creativity and description. The target world was conquered with overwhelming numbers, not via strategy, and Anor was Agents of Chaos repeated.

The Kalarba moon going to drop like Sernpidal was offhand in description, like such phenomena is all in a day's work. The showdown with Lah was over in a page---a boy tossed an appliance, and out a window Lah went. That was it. Many fans have issues with Organa Solo wailing like some timid kitten too. It was the book that confirmed too, screaming Vong don't stun well.

So, not only are they taller, longer lived and heavier than humans, they also can't get stunned the same way. Why not make their bodies force fields and be done with it?

No, Balance Point was not well written, not at all, and the transparent ending was the biggest cheat for readers.

 

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Thanos6  1798 posts
Registered: Apr '99
16250_Gilad Pellaeon
Date Posted: 9/8/06 4:47am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
It's been a while since I read BP, but Bakura was excellent. Still one of my favorites. If things hadn't worked out with Mara, Gaeriel would have made a fine Mrs. Skywalker...

 

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Havac  14313 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 9/8/06 1:45pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
The Ssi-ruuk were creative. Gaeriel was a good OC who had original aspect -- not only did she have a religion, but it thought Jedi were bad, and for a good reason. She also gave us Ben Skywalker, which is enough to praise her for there. On the other hand, her books were never particularly exicting, which isn't good. She's a competent enough writer, but hasn't done much to stand out. On general principal I wouldn't object to having her back to write again, but we have so many authors who are not just good but great that it would seem like a waste.

 

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NelanisGhost  2191 posts
Registered: Jun '06
14535_Yuuzhan Vong High Priestess
Date Posted: 9/8/06 1:54pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Thanos6 posted:
It's been a while since I read BP, but Bakura was excellent. Still one of my favorites. If things hadn't worked out with Mara, Gaeriel would have made a fine Mrs. Skywalker...


She wrote that?

 

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Commander5052  3504 posts
Registered: Aug '05
45237_Mando'ade
Date Posted: 9/8/06 3:53pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
Her books may have been unexciting, but I really enjoyed the character she created for the Adventure Journal, Tinian I'att.

 

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blackmyron  2524 posts
Registered: Oct '05
Date Posted: 9/8/06 5:08pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
I felt cheated by the "bait-and-switch" of TAB. We are set up with the premise of seeing the Rebel Alliance in the aftermath of Endor, and instead we're whisked away to a far-off planet where they enjoy an adventure that easily could've been placed in a few issues of the old Marvel Comics series - before or after Endor. The "historic" first treaty between the Alliance and the Empire (never mind that it was broken almost immediately or that the Imperial representative was from a far-off backwater) and Leia coming to terms with her father didn't make up for it.

I didn't have any issues with her in Balance Point. Most of the apparent flaws were of the NJO series as a whole.

 

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ChildOfWinds  6266 posts
Registered: Apr '01
14696_Luke Skywalker
Date Posted: 9/8/06 7:09pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
It was Kathy Tyers and her Truce at Bakura that renewed my interest in SW after a long hiatus. I very much enjoyed her characterizations.

I am grateful to her for lobbying Del Rey and LFL to allow her to give Luke and Mara a child. If it weren't for her, Luke would probably never have been given any children. Ben was the one positive that came out of the NJO, and he was the best surprise of Betrayal. I just hope he isn't ruined in future LotF books.

 

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Ive_Got_Two_Legs  3647 posts
Registered: Jul '05
7434_Gilad Pellaeon
Date Posted: 9/15/06 9:43pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers
TAB was one of my first Star Wars books (mainly because of the Ssi-ruuvi entries in the EGTVV). I liked it a lot at the time but looking back years later saw more flaws. However, I did like the description of Bakura and I always liked Gaeriel.

Balance Point is probably one of the better NJO books. It actually connects well with the books preceding it; unlike most NJO, instead of a few general references, it mentions even minor events and characters from the earlier five.

 

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Excellence  24488 posts
Registered: Jul '02
6338_New Republic Seal
Date Posted: 9/16/06 3:47am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: Kathy Tyers

So the exciting adventures of Randa and a few gargoyle Vor was interesting reading, in an artificial environment that made visual creative description all but extinct? wink

 

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Rock-a-by baby, on the treetop,
Beaming with pride, the filth they hold,
But when the wind blows, my temper implodes,
High above a pit, filled with sharkticons,
Down will come hardcover addicts, beaming no more. ©
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