Jedi Council Forums - The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)

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Author	Topic: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
Mastadge Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Jun '99	Date Posted: 9/24/04 5:48pm Subject: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Here we go again! As usual, please rate JEDI HEALER on a scale from 1 to 10. Please don't rate the book until after you've finished it. Thank you. Also, please supplement your rating of JEDI HEALER with a few words (or a lot, as you see fit). Links to previous review threads, in case you missed 'em: Shatterpoint The Cestus Deception MedStar I: Battle Surgeons Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine Tatooine Ghost Survivor's Quest Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand Traitor Destiny's Way Force Heretic I: Remnant Force Heretic II: Refugee Force Heretic III: Reunion The Final Prophecy The Unifying Force -----signature----- "This will be our reply to violence: To make music more intensely, More beautifully, More devotedly than ever before." - Leonard Bernstein
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Mastadge Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Jun '99	Date Posted: 9/28/04 7:02am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	It's officially out today. Anyone read it yet? -----signature----- "This will be our reply to violence: To make music more intensely, More beautifully, More devotedly than ever before." - Leonard Bernstein
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JediTrilobite Registered: Nov '99	Date Posted: 9/28/04 7:14am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	I'm getting mine today. -----signature----- Ever wonder what happened during the clone wars? Visit: http://www.theclonewarz.net My Blogs: http://www.jeditrilobite.com , http://tk3220.wordpress.com TK-3220, NEG VT Rep
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masterskywalker Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 9/28/04 11:12am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Groovy! I'll go and pick it up today. -----signature----- Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste.
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JediTrilobite Registered: Nov '99	Date Posted: 9/28/04 11:20am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Just got my copy. I'll probably finish it this week. -----signature----- Ever wonder what happened during the clone wars? Visit: http://www.theclonewarz.net My Blogs: http://www.jeditrilobite.com , http://tk3220.wordpress.com TK-3220, NEG VT Rep
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dark_jedi666 Registered: Feb '02	Date Posted: 9/29/04 7:27pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Well I guess I will be the first to rate the book, dont have time for a review. 9 out of 10. I thought this book was even better than Battle Surgeons, and I liked that book immensely. -----signature----- Favorite Book: I, Jedi (Stackpole) Currently Reading: Truce at Bakura (Tyers) Up Next: Bounty Hunter Wars 1: Mandalorian Armor (Jeter) Favorite Movie : Empire Strikes Back
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AdmiralNick22 Registered: May '03	Date Posted: 9/29/04 10:25pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	I give it a 7. The book was a little slow, but the character development was outstanding. It made me feel like I literally was watching a SW version of MASH*. --Adm. Nick -----signature----- Fleet Junkie Founding Father Official Greatest Admiral Ackbar Fan "A peaceful Galactic Alliance is the strongest pillar of a peaceful galaxy." - Luke Skywalker "I will surrender, Admiral, when I can no longer fight!" - Admiral Gar Stazi A New Hope
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masterskywalker Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 9/29/04 11:46pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	My money is on the female nurse being the spy, dames are posion. -----signature----- Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste.
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ATimson Registered: Nov '03	Date Posted: 9/30/04 8:17pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Mine showed up today, but unlike last time, I'm not going to be able to rush through it; I've got an ARC of Crossing the Line to read first. ^_^ -----signature----- "Actually, VIPs are more important [than other users]." --The2ndQuest It's nice to know that those who make the board possible matter. If someone other than me edited this, please don't attribute anything in it to me in quotes. It's not mine anymore.
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masterskywalker Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 9/30/04 9:56pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers) - Date Edited: 9/30/04 10:40pm (5 edits total) Edited By: masterskywalker
	6/10 Well, I was wrong about Tolk, but I knew fairly quickly into book two that she wasn't the spy. Like they said in Minority Report, it was an evidence orgy, and that NEVER happens. The main problem with this book is its inspiration, MASH. MASH worked great as a television series, but books are not television. This book was essentially a rehash of everything that was in the previous book. Jos' philsophical meanderings, the Sullistan's cynicism, I5's dower ponderings, Bariss' doubts, there was literally nothing new. There was even less action here than the last book, which meant that the book had very long, LONG dry sections. It wasn't entertaining after a while, it just drug on and on. The ENTIRE Black Sun subplot was utterly pointless and the whole thing should have been scrapped for narative flow. Tolk also really SHOULD have been the Spy. The Clone Wars are supposed to be dark, really dark. What better way to show how devastating this war is than to show the main character's lover is a bitter Confederate spy? The whole brother against brother issue could have been brought up again which would have been much more emotionally powerful. Basically, I'm all about kicking the crap out of our heroes. Why? Because it works. There were a few highlights that kept it from being drug further down. Really, the most interesting revelation of the book wasn't who the spy was, but rather why he became one. The Republic was apparently testing the superlaser component of the new Death Star. The ramifications of this are staggering. Palpatine is briliantly manipulating both sides into making his ultimate weapon. The whole, "force drug" thing was interesting but again, it was just a repeated loop of Barris' doubts from the LAST book. Plus this was already covered in the Jedi Quest books. The character interactions were written well enough to keep me going, but I kept waiting for a climax that never came. Ironically, the true climax was in the last book, the death of Phow Ji. The "massive attack" which was supposed to kill everyone at the base took up literally five pages. I think these two books could have been edited and combined and nothing really could have been lost. Okay, the MASH style character experiment is over with mixed results. Can we get back to the kriffing war now, please? And yes, for a preemptive defense, I KNOW these books were never intended to be action oriented. But they're supposed to be called Star Wars for a reason. There should have at least been character action, but that never came. -----signature----- Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste.
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rogue_wookiee Registered: Apr '04	Date Posted: 9/30/04 10:20pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	I enjoyed Battle Surgeons. It was well written. Had a few action scenes to keep me from getting bored. And had some cool characters. Unfortunatly Jedi Healer isn't as good. The spy. I was pretty sure when I began reading this book that Klo would be the spy and not Tolk because Jos went through to much in the last book. The characters. I knew this book had it coming when the 2 best characters from Medstar I died in it. Bleyd and Phow Ji were great characters and are sorely missed. Barris gets hooked on bota. (Just what teenagers need to read about. A Jedi who is hooked on drugs.) I5 remembers. Even though he doesn't mention Maul. And the Jos and the clones thing that was really cool in BS was gone. The new characters aren't interesting enough to fill the void. The action went straight downhill. There was almost no combat at all. Overall the book is well written and the dialouge is good. Perry and Reaves are good authors. It's too bad this book lacked to much of the good stuff. I was really disappointed with this book. A 4 out of 10. Worst Clone Wars book yet. -----signature----- “You’re probably the biggest taxer in the country, even bigger than the Congress,” - Ron Paul on the Federal Reserve. Be aware of inflation and how it affects our daily life. http://mises.org/story/2914 -What You Should Know About Inflation
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Csillan_girl Registered: May '03	Date Posted: 10/1/04 3:46am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers) - Date Edited: 10/1/04 3:56am (1 edits total) Edited By: Csillan_girl
	So if I got that right, Klo Merit was the spy, and became one because Palpatine was involved in destroying his homeworld?? Wow. That is exactly the theory I posted here a while ago. Amazing. here -----signature----- We're professionals. Don't try this at home. crazy, sexy, marvellous. Shadow Sith Army - Master, retired "Ensalada mista, Baby!!" ~ Rock Pelly: My Gartenzwerg pwns your Laaf!
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Mastadge Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Jun '99	Date Posted: 10/1/04 10:56am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Hmm. I give this one a 6.5. I didn't find it nearly as satisfying as MedStar I. I thought it came together too easily, too quickly . . . through almost the whole novel, I kept waiting for the thing to actually start, and then the payoff wasn't worth the wait. The characters were still fine, particularly Den and I5, but the Jedi Trial bit was somewhat disappointing, the bota thing was kind of disappointing . . . eh. It was a fun, fast read, but it's missing something that the first one had. Still better than Cestus Deception, it's a good bit worse than MedStar I. -----signature----- "This will be our reply to violence: To make music more intensely, More beautifully, More devotedly than ever before." - Leonard Bernstein
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Mastadge Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Jun '99	Date Posted: 10/1/04 10:59am Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	Counting 5 reviews: 32.5/5 = 6.5 -----signature----- "This will be our reply to violence: To make music more intensely, More beautifully, More devotedly than ever before." - Leonard Bernstein
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King_of_Red_Lions Registered: Mar '03	Date Posted: 10/1/04 7:53pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers) - Date Edited: 10/1/04 8:10pm (3 edits total) Edited By: King_of_Red_Lions
	I said this in another thread, but I'll say it again here: The biggest complaint I have with Jedi Healer (and Battle Surgeons) is the sci-fi equivalency of earth vernacular tossed around throughout. References to The Wizard Of Oz, People magazine and Bob Hope made me a little queasy; it was too cute. Also in the 'too cute' category: a wookiee pulls a droid's arm out of its socket after losing a dejarik game. But there were some good moments that were in direct contrast to all the cuteness: a main character spends 90% of the book off-his-rocker drunk. I got a kick out of the reporter spending most of his time at the cantina and the rest of his time sobering up or getting laid. We need more anti-heroes like this in Star Wars. If only Barriss had become physically dependent on the bota, we would have had a real gem on our hands. Imagine the direction they could have taken the story by running with a drug addicted Jedi: She could have been caught stealing needles in the OT, gone through detox under the care of Jos, attended counseling sessions with Klo Merit, found a kindred spirit in Den Dhur, the possibilities were endless. Screw Star Wars:M.A.S.H., lets do Star Wars:Trainspotting! Another non-cute aspect I respected is the way the authors tackled curse words. Rather than using lame phrases like 'Blaster Bolts' or 'Sithspawn' they created exotic words like 'mopaq' and 'kark(ing).' The consistent context in which these words are used easily allows us to discern the four-letter word they represent. Also, kudos to the authors for using an extensive vocabulary. Besides all the medical terms, words like anodyne, ectomorph, discombobulate, chilblains, vertiginous and sobriquet had me going to the dictionary while reading a Star Wars book for the first time since The Approaching Storm. Jedi Healer was a quick, easy read; the plot moved smoothly from Jos to the spy to Barriss to the reporter to Kaird, etc. Reaves and Perry juggled multiple story lines well. However, the resolution to a few of the story lines were weak. The spy went out like a punk considering the amount of suspense built up over 600 pages. The authors pulled a cheap trick by having the Force simply give Barriss a revelation that gasp! the explosions were not accidents! and gasp! there is a spy among us! And then she immediately ruled out everyone at the rimsoo except those close to her and then simply went to that hand full of people and Force-probed each of their minds for hints of malice. Come on, man, at least give me some good investigative work or a suspenseful moment of catching the spy red-handed. I'm no Timothy Zahn fan, but he would never resort to such a cheap resolution. Another weak resolution was the action that took place 'off-screen' concerning Jos and Tolk's relationship. The authors spent a large amount of pages on the break-up, Jos contemplating suicide over it, the good-intentioned but meddling family member and the added pressure of the eckster/enster situation. And after all of this relationship angst and suspense, the big reconciliation occurred off-screen with a throw-away line akin to 'oh yeah, we got back together.' The authors missed a great opportunity here for a very sappy, emotional moment. I was dissatisfied with Kaird's resolution as well. He escaped, discovered a bomb on his ship, jettisoned it, vowed vengeance on his betrayers and then left. Unless we see more of him in the future (which is highly unlikely), his story was wasted. After building him up to be a devious, intelligent bad guy, he was outsmarted by a couple of wanna-bes. I was rooting for him to pay off Black Sun and retire to his home world. They could have at least had him captured or killed. They didn't have a problem killing off intriguing characters in the last book (Phow Ji and Admiral Bleyd). I thought all the other story lines were wrapped up very well. Some great things could be done with the I-Five and Den Dhur partnership. I was satisfied with Barriss' facedown with the Dark Side and ascension to Jedi Knight. On a side note: Is Barriss Ofee some sort of expanded universe darling? She co-starred in this duology (gracing the cover of both), had a large role in The Approaching Storm and I remember reading a summary about an upcoming book in which she will be a main player. She was also in a couple episodes of the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars series. I don't read the comics, so I don't know if she gets as much attention there. I'm not complaining (because she is an interesting character being a healer and all) but why does she get the attention she does? She is humanoid, not alien and it seems like they would focus more on visually exotic Jedi like Plo Koon or Saesee Tiin. In my opinion, the good and the bad almost evens out in this book. It wasn't bad, but I can't give it a very high score because it could have been so much better. The first one was good and I expect a follow up to go above and beyond. Instead, it was basically the same book. It's like picking up the newest Everclear album: it's always good, but no new territory is explored; if you have Sparkle and Fade, you have them all. 5/10. -----signature----- Who is John Galt?
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ezekiel22x Registered: Aug '02	Date Posted: 10/1/04 9:19pm Subject: RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (spoilers)
	I liked this one better than the first Medstar. The slower pace throughout most of the novel didn't bother me at all, quite the opposite in fact. I loved seeing the day to day aspects of the medical camp, which included a lot of medical babble and even more scenes of characters relieving stress by excessively drinking. Some scenes like Den contemplating how to get I-Five drunk and the unexpected snow were a bit surreal, but not out of place at all and added a unique spin to the war atmosphere. The unveiling of the spy was a bit anti-climactic, but nonetheless I loved the reason why he turned against the Republic and in turn the final confrontation with Jos. Basically, Medstar II was a quick, enjoyable read that introduced characters that actually interested me, and at the same time was able to hammer across the point that war, even in the GFFA, sucks. 9/10
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