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Topic:
The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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Mastadge
Title:
Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Jun '99
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 3:17pm
Subject:
The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
- Date Edited:
5/21/07 9:16pm (2 edits total)
Edited By:
The2ndQuest
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Here we go again! The book comes out in a few short days, and as usual some people are known to have received it early!
Also as usual, please rate DARK RENDEZVOUS 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 DARK RENDEZVOUS with a few words (or a lot, as you see fit).
Links to previous review threads, in case you missed 'em:
Republic Commando: Hard Contact
Shatterpoint
The Cestus Deception
MedStar I: Battle Surgeons
MedStar II: Jedi Healer
Jedi Trial
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
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"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
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 3:20pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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DarthTerrious, this Grossly Typical™ review is for you.
I’m an unabashed Stover groupie. And while I recognize that he’s not the best writer out there, he’s certainly my favorite – there’s just something about the way he writes that I find incredibly appealing. He writes what I want to read. But as I said, favorite is not necessarily best, and while Stover’s Star Wars novels are among the best out there, Sean Stewart’s novel is easily the best Clone Wars novel yet and one of the best Star Wars novels ever written.
Anyone who’s been reading my reviews will know that one of my complaints about some recent Star Wars novels is that the prose itself is boring, regardless of the actions and characters it is describing. Not so here. Unlike a good number of Star Wars writers, Sean Stewart has style. His language is often nearly poetic (sometimes a little too self-consciously so, but thankfully not often) – as one Amazon reviewer put it, “at once fluid and precise, impressionistic and razor-fine.” Which makes it a pleasure to read this book even during the more sedate moments.
Aside from the language itself, Stewart has many other assets. He’s got a wonderful grasp of character, showing for the first time in the novels the character dynamics between Ventress and Dooku, between Dooku and Sidious, between Yoda and Dooku, between Yoda and the rest of the Jedi, etc. He gets into Dooku’s and Yoda’s heads in a powerful way – Dooku becomes a more sympathetic character while remaining true to the bad guy we know he is, and Yoda in particular is handled fantastically. I was truly worried despite my faith in Stewart that he wouldn’t be able to do Yoda justice, but my fears were unfounded. Stewart drew as much from the impish, wise Yoda of ESB as from the more somber, obnoxious Yoda of the prequels, to wonderful effect and more than a few laughs (all of them appropriate – no potty humor here (well . . . kinda  )). I particularly enjoyed an exchange about how the Jedi Temple should relocate off of Coruscant, to a more living planet. Finally too we get a little more explanation of the concept between lingering “Force spirits,” and the exchange between Qui-Gon and Yoda, especially when it comes to Qui-Gon’s estimation of Dooku, is awesome. Oh, and Padmé finally also gets an appearance in a novel, however brief. There are a couple problems, though. Every once in a while, for example, Stewart seems to have a little trouble with Yoda’s syntax.
Continuity gurus should mostly be pleased (I think; I don’t really count myself among their number anymore, so there could’ve been mistakes I missed), as Stewart refers appropriately to other Clone Wars events without being heavy-handed, and his GFFA name-dropping rarely seems inappropriate or out of place. Plus Peterson’s Guide to Droids of the Republic, Vol. VII: The Great Corporate Expansion Era.  (Although the Guide’s description of a particular type of droid is pretty farfetched.) Stewart also manages to convey the pathos in the Jedi Temple very well, as it is so emptied in the months since Geonosis, with so many Padawans without masters, masters having lost friends, and so forth. There are a couple problems though. For example, I found it hard to swallow that the Ithorians would have such a heavily fortified moon – which is particularly annoying considering that the fact that it’s the Ithorian system is not relevant to the story, and it could as easily have been any other system.
Also in this book you will find some of the best lightsaber fights ever committed to the page. Including one involving my own personal favorite fencing cheat – which works, against all expectations, because that particular fight is between Padawans using lightsabers dialed down to training-settings. Plus some good heroics, a pretty good dogfight, some wonderful musings on loyalty and the light and dark sides of the Force which should please the classical Force people as well as the “There is no Dark Side” camp.
Overall, a brilliant Star Wars novel, and one it’s hard to believe will be topped anytime soon (though I have high hopes for Stover’s adaptation of Revenge of the Sith). I doubt they’ll manage to bring Stewart back for more SW novels, but I sincerely hope they will. Despite a very few minor quibbles, this is a tremendous effort. 9.8/10
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"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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lightsaber_wielder
Registered:
Jan '02
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 4:47pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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Cool, excellent review Mastadge! 
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"Show me the books he loves and I shall know a man far better than through mortal friends." - Dawn Adams "Music is the vernacular of the human soul." - Geoffrey Latham "A good story is any story you like." - Karen Traviss 
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JEDI-SOLO
Title: Former FanForce CR
Lafayette LA US
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 4:56pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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I got the book yesterday and am now on page 93. Yoda is so great in this one!
When is the release date for this one? I thought I got it way early......
The only thing I am dissapointed about is that it is apaperback.
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Master of Ringthane
I'm SO hot! No really I am.
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wilco
Registered:
Aug '00
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 5:13pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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I got mine yesterday and this is the first Clone Wars novel that has grabbed my attention so powerfully in just a few short pages that I don't want to put it down.
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"I do not believe that fate is more cruel to those who fret than she is to those who laugh.
And so I laugh"
The Golden Transcendence by John C. Wright
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sido-diuus
Registered:
Apr '03
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 5:25pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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9.5 out of 10. Great book with some awesome fight scenes. Really, really funny too.
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"When the big dog's walking, the little dogs get out of the way."
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JEDI-SOLO
Title: Former FanForce CR
Lafayette LA US
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 5:34pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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Yoda is very humorous in this one
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Master of Ringthane
I'm SO hot! No really I am.
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Mastadge
Title:
Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Jun '99
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 7:46pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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Counting 2 ratings: 19.3/2 = 9.65
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"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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royalguard96
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
11/19/04 8:04pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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I shoulda been a Lit. mod. That way I could get my mitts on these novels early, like dp and Mas seem to 
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How I rank the Star Wars movies:
1. ANH; 1. ESB; 1. ROTJ; 1. TPM; 1. AOTC; 1. ROTS
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Excellence
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
11/20/04 4:24am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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The only thing I am dissapointed about is that it is apaperback.
What the hell did you say?
Uruk-kai: attack!
Mas, you can't be serious . . . 9.8? Are you saying it's that perfect? I'll find out myself when it ships in, of course, but still . . . as killer finale as Cloak of Dception was it too had some faults. I'll look forward to reading this . . .
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My utilisation of complex locution to ask what's more pathetic, fans who worship their
movie actors, or the actors who couldn't give a damn, is more a reflection of my own
superincumbent mental actuity than any circumscribed lexicon. Don't you agree?
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Mastadge
Title:
Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Jun '99
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Date Posted:
11/20/04 4:55am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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It's not perfect. The Ithor thing, etc. Plus, if I heard "joint locks" mentioned one more time I was ready to throw the book across the room. But as far as SW novels go, it was darned close.
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"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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DarthTerrious
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
11/20/04 7:00am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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DarthTerrious, this Grossly Typical™ review is for you.
Sorry about that Mastadge, after reading Jedi Trial, I did understand your point of view....and you've been right about most of the CW novels so far anyway in some respects.
Anyway sounds like a good book from what you're saying...though after the CW stuff we've had I'm going to be cautious ever still.
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ITFC = 17th
18th Oct - FLC Ipswich Town FC v Swansea City
21st Oct - FLC Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town FC
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ATimson
Registered:
Nov '03
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Date Posted:
11/20/04 6:55pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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If you'll excuse me, I need to go off and cry since my copy hasn't arrived yet. 
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"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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Senator_Cilghal
Registered:
Jul '03
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Date Posted:
11/22/04 10:43am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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I rate is a definite 20 out of 10, b/c it is twice as good as Cloak of Deception, which I would rate 10 out of 10.
This book is superperfect.
Plot: Real good plot. Plenty of action.
Dialogue: Brilliant! Memorable. Often funny, sometimes sad. Character-defining. The kind of dialogue AOTC needed to have SO bad.
Emotional Impact: Sorta sad, feeling sorry for Dooku [which AOTC and LOTJ did not make me really do]. Deeply impressed by Yoda's compassion. Infuriated with Palps for preventing Dooku's redemption. Annoyed with Anakin for being the twerp he is, and being the Sam Gamgee to Dooku's Gollum [with Yoda as Frodo]. But overall, feeling very,very HAPPY, because the book was an upbeat, fun adventure the captured the same flavor as ANH.
Humor: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I laughed out loud more times than I can count. This book even tops Aaron Allston's funniest moments, which I did not think possible. Yoda now rivals Wes Janson in my mind as most comical SW character, and Evil R2 is even funnier than Lt. Kettch. Despite the humor, the book did not come across as ridiculous and goofy; Yoda, while amusing , maintained his dignity. A fine line, and Sean walked it like a tightrope artist!
Characters: I liked them. I cared about them. When Maks Leem was murdered, I felt the call of the Dark Side myself, wanting revenge on Asajj and her droid goons! Leem was such a gentle, maternal soul, a true SW archmother-figure that rivalled Shmi Skywalker. Scout was a bit annoying at first (as I think she was meant to be), but grew on me. Whie was so easy to empathize with, and his line to Anakin at the end was hilarious, although when I thought about it, his sadly and morbidly ironic, since he unwittingly had foreseen the Jedi Purge and Anakin (as Darth Vader) murdering him in the future. Jai was not my favorite, but he was OK, and functioned well as a straightman counterpart to Scout and Yoda, and I liked his trial before his death, and how he handled it. Dooku...well, I just wanted to hug him and give him a big bandaid, the poor, broken old man of shattered dreams; he reminded me of myself at my most depressed and bitterest moments, which is kinda scary. The actor was an amusing character, especially with his Star Trek humor. Oh, and then there's Yoda. I have waited all my fanlife for a Yoda novel, and this book fulfilled my wildest dreams, and excelled them. I always suspected the crazy Yoda oLuke first meets was not JUST an act, and am glad to see that really is a facet of his personality. The scope of his wisdom, inner strength, humor, and capacity to love shown in this book is inspiring; he is truly my role model:) I was already a Yoda fan, but this book has revigorated my admiration and love of Yoda to new heights! He so totally ROCKS! Woohoo! This is Yoda at his best...a cranky, grumpy old codger with a will of iron, a digestive system of duranium, taste buds of unfeeling lead, a heart of gold, the cunning of a serpent, and the gentleness of a trantor pigeon.
Wildlife: I love SW wildlife, and this book had plenty of it, including the magnificent spire hawks of Coruscant, which I want to see illustrated VERY MUCH. The alpha predator of uppercrust Coruscant! And yes, Coruscant DOES have an infestation of pigeons! Specifically, Trantor pigeons. The Vjun fox is such an interesting animal: I want one! Lots of other critters throughout, including at least a few in Yoda's menu:) Many of the flora and fauna are very Earthlike...even potatoes.
FINAL RATING: 20 out of 10
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dp4m
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
11/22/04 11:25am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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I'll break my review a day early...
Bascially, the gist of this is: I give it a 9.95/10.
I do, on occasion, happen to read actual literature outside of sci-fi/fantasy and Star Wars/Star Trek genres. It doesn't happen often these days, but it does happen.
And I happen to have one favorite "real" literature novel that, to me, stands head and shoulders above the rest. That novel is "Fathers and Sons," by Turgenev.
Yoda: Dark Rendevous is about as close to that as I think we're going to find in Star Wars.
Terrious was telling me in the other thread that "I didn't get it" when he was asking about why Dooku and Yoda are able to sit in a room and calmly have a discussion about the temptation of the Dark Side when last we saw them together they were clashing their lightsabers furiously against each others'. I do "get it" and it makes those scenes with Dooku and Yoda together that much more poignant.
I honestly -- HONESTLY -- had no idea if Dooku was going to be redeemed at the end of the novel. THAT'S how effective Stewart was for the 270-ish pages before Obi-Wan and Anakin show up on Vjun. And that masterstroke alone made me realize just how genius Palpatine truly is.
The book isn't an action piece, though there's certainly enough in the way of dueling and hand-to-hand to satisfy most people. The book is a quiet, character drama about what it means to go home and have a family who loves you and is willing to accept you back, no questions asked, despite the horrific things you (or they) have done. It's about fathers who love their sons and who would undertake any risk in order to save them, even if it means saving them from themselves and/or destroying them to do so.
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"Looks like you're about to get pwned" - Eric Cartman
"Awarding experience points for cleverly and creatively generating an enjoyable experience. How warped is that?" - Darths & Droids
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AdmiralNick22
Registered:
May '03
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Date Posted:
11/22/04 2:29pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (spoilers)
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Finally, a Clone Wars book worth its weight in gold. The characterizations were supurb, with excellent plotlines and dialouge. I normally hate books without at least one big space battle, but this one was still awesome!
10/10!
--Adm. Nick
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"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
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