main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew K

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Todd the Jedi , Feb 29, 2012.

  1. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Yeah, I agree. It's getting so bad I might make the US site the default for future SW books.
     
  2. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    Get Kindle, you can buy it with 1 click.
     
  3. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I do enough work on a screen. If I want to relax in bed and read, I want a real book. However, if I traveled a lot then I would consider something like a Kindle to save on weight.
     
  4. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    I find it funny how much Drew Karpyshyn is revered in Mass Effect forums. Can't think of many other figures who are so liked by one group of people and loathed by another

    Then again, Mass Effect forums are absolute cesspits of melodrama these days, guaranteed to fry a few brain cells.
     
  5. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    I asked him why did he write Gravus like that on twitter but he didn't reply.
     
  6. AusStig

    AusStig Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2010
    Trust me Mass Effect: Deception, makes Drew look like a ******** genius. Also is a bit of nostalgia and better then we have now.

    I generally like Drew but even I roled my eyes when he found Revans' holocron, and I liked Revan and Bane at this point (even if KOTOR2 made him more perfect and boring).

    But I found Revan mostly boring except for the parts with Scourge, any Pub deaths?
     
  7. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Oh god, I've read Deception. Terrible is not a strong enough word.

    Karpyshyn's Mass Effect books aren't honestly that bad, even if they are a bit on the dry and boring side
     
  8. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    Some fleet got destroyed by Karrid, but no famous republic figure death.
     
  9. AusStig

    AusStig Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2010
    So WHAT THE **** WAS THE POINT OF THIS NOVEL!!!!

    Spoilers but Darth Karrid dies. So screw this era screw this book, nothing interesting ever happens, no new Imperial characters only boring god aweful pub dipS****, who are boring as.

    I could have lived with a bad novel, I could have lived with Gravus's character assisnation and death if it lead to something, like have Darth Karrid becoming a big player in the Empire. But. It. Dosen't. At the end of the novel has anything changed other then the Empire being more screwed and the pubs winning EVEN MORE THEN BEFORE. So no I do not think I will be buying this novel or anything else in TOR.
     
    Esg likes this.
  10. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    And I don't see how is Karrid awesome beside her ship and her race.
     
  11. AusStig

    AusStig Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2010
    1. A good writer and voice actress can do wonders for a character, I could have seen her becoming the 'Thrawn' of her era. She, from what I understand, never lost a battle which is why Marr liked her. So she could have been a snarky, British, Falleen. How cool would that have been.

    2. I never said she was awesome.

    How does she die, is it... spoiler

    A Blaster exploding or is she just trapped on an exploding ship?

    Cause she had a lot of plots going on, revenge for Malgus, an alien on the DC, Marrs successor and more I am sure. So if she is dead; 99% chance, she is a wasted character.

    Should this book be setting up the next expansion? Shouldn't the Empire be hitting back or at least a stalemate.

    So what was the point of; Uninspired rewrite of A New Hope #337129
     
  12. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    Yeah I'm just saying the characterization is not awesome.

    I've read the book.
     
  13. AusStig

    AusStig Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2010

    But the characters in the game are VERY different to how they appear in the book, as you yourself have stated. She had potential was my point.

    Edit: also that the book seems pointless, does it feel so upon your reflection?
     
  14. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    A lot of TOR stories have seemed "pointless", Fatal Alliance for instance, and sort of Deceived, but both were decent stories. But Fatal Alliance was written and published years ago, before quite a few ideas had been finalized so I don't hold it against that book. This book, on the other hand, still feels mostly extraneous. Mainly it answers the question of who Theron Shan's father is (not that it wasn't already obvious), and for some family drama, but... this author can't really write romance. It was one of the Revan novel's weaker plots with Revan and Bastilla, and its still not that great here. At least Theron and Teff'ith aren't going in that direction (probably).

    I'm not an Imp fan, but I agree that this doesn't really change things for the Empire, aside from losing a few more ships. And considering how Kharrid acted in fleet battles, that might lead to an overall net .03 gain in Imperial assets, as the Minister of Logistics would put it. Gravus was particularly one-note, nothing like the calm commander we see on Taris. Heck, he's acting more like Thana than himself, and a particularly stupid Sith at that (most Sith at that level usually aren't that easily goaded).

    Didn't see much hints for an expansion, unless Theron plays a major role in-game in the future. The others, Satele and Jace, have already been kept mostly separate from most of the storylines. While I'm pro-Republic, I'm still slightly afraid they're setting all this up to have the Republic end up in a really, really bad situation in "part 2" (similar to Episode V). How, well, who knows, but the Sith can just randomly bombard Core worlds whenever they feel like, so apparently most hyperlanes aren't really defended.

    Theron and Gnost-Dural were well written, and made a nice pair. And was Teff'ith talking to a Force ghost at one point or was that just more vague writing? The dream is just easily dismissed as a guilty conscience, but after that, not so sure. Almost wonder if we'll see her again, she's pretty capable (like that one comm call).

    Its a better book than Revan, mainly for not killing off really big characters. Definitely not as good as Lost Suns was though (that was from a probably better writer... who has since departed Bioware too, if I remember right, not a good sign for the future of TOR). And Theron's final battle in Lost Suns was better than here too. At least Gnost-Dural put up a very good fight (mental and physical) against all his opponents. But Kharrid's death was kind of silly. Overall the book kind of felt stretched out though as mainly it focused on about six characters- Theron and his parents, Teff'ith, Gnost-Dural and Kharrid, and even most of that was focused on a few flashbacks and Theron and Gnost-Dural's missions (and don't think there were any references to his unfinished timeline stuff, aside from just studying history in general). Although Teff'ith had a pretty funny line with how she now understands why Theron so messed up- no surprise given who his parents were.'

    Not really surprised about this author though, I did glance through his ME books, which weren't bad, and I've heard bad things about his Bane books (sure, throw in a Revan link into a mostly unrelated era, why not? :rolleyes:).
     
  15. Manisphere

    Manisphere Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2007
    Halfway through the audiobook. Glad it was free. This is the worst Star Wars book since those TCW: Gambit books. Maybe worse. Plot is all over the place. Terrible, terrible characterizations. Theron is really unlikable. I sprained my right eye from rolling is so often at the dialogue. Weird that each Karpyshyn book is worse than the last. Literally. PoD was his best. Ro2 was pretty good but not as good as PoD. The third Bane book was the weakest of the three. Then came Revan and now this. And this makes Revan look like Traitor. I don't know that I'll finish it. Even for just listening, this is effort.
     
    GrandMasterKatarn and RC-1991 like this.
  16. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    Manisphere so you're saying this book doesn't "cement Drew Karpyshyn alongside such SWEU greats as James Luceno, Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston"? Well poo, I wanted to trust that review. :(
     
  17. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    He even let Gnost-Dural survive rather than let him die like Zho in Lost Sun.
     
  18. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    Yeah, I'm not saying she should die, just she should have more unique characterization in the book since DK ruined Gravus to give her a seat.

    Yeah it's pointless, just some family matters.
     
  19. DarthNefaris

    DarthNefaris Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 11, 2011
    I wouldn't mind the weak plot, the bad writing, the dull everything if this book had an impact on the game and future expansions. Fatal alliance came out before the game, it had an excuse (by the way, WHERE THE **** WENT DARTH HOWL AND HIS APPRENTICE?!!). Karrid could have become a major character, leading the Empire to victory during a new expansion (an Empire Strikes Back feel) but no she just dies, the Republic wins, happy ending! That disgust me. This republic bias is boring : why allowing us to play imperial characters if the Republic has to win? It would'nt be incoherent to see the Empire win and dominate the Galaxy : AFTER ALL, Sidious did say that the Sith ruled the galaxy!
    Anyway, we can't change the past, Karpyshyn did again destroy the Star wars universe and some of its best characters (RIP Exile, Gravus...).

    That is the point which ran me amok and which discredited Bane's intelligence " oh Revan is so smart, I shall take his point into consideration ". Plus, how convenient that only Bane finds a holocron not well hidden (everybody would have find it). JJM does link his stories between them but it was cleverly done at least!
     
    Zorrixor and Esg like this.
  20. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Arguably referring to Knight Errant.
     
  21. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    There goes that explanation for why he never finished his timeline research then. Oh well.
    I was expecting this book to set up an expansion too. [face_sigh]

    You'd think now that "Episode I" of TOR is finished, that they would now be wanting to do stuff to set up the next instalment, with the Empire having some victories depicted off-screen (i.e. in this book, like the webcomics did before TOR itself) which would set the scene for an expansion...

    Instead, we're all probably just going to be going to a hidden island ruled by giant pandas.

    (And yeah, I really wish they'd at least namedrop the Fatal Alliance cast. I always expected there to have at least been some interaction between BioWare and Del Rey so that the book had used one of the game's Dark Council members, even if it'd just been one that died early on.)
    I must admit, linking Bane to Revan never bothered me in itself (not like Exar Kun didn't pop up out of nowhere in the Post-ROTJ era and it still make sense), but yeah, it was the way he just magically 'knew' where to find it, when nobody else had ever bothered to check in 3000 years.
     
  22. DarthNefaris

    DarthNefaris Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 11, 2011
    Technically, the Sith did dominate the Outer Rim, not the full galaxy.
     
  23. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    An "Empire Strikes Back" type of deal would be a good move, considering the Empire is definitely on the run in the actual game, and the Emperor is supposedly consolidating his power.
     
  24. DarthNefaris

    DarthNefaris Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 11, 2011
    IMO I would really like something like this :

    - Second expansion : Darth Marr takes over the Empire, leads it to hegemony and destroys the Republic. Satele and many great Republic figures die. Darth Marr is deified.

    - Third expansion : many many years later (like 50 years?), the Republic strikes back. Yes we call it Legacy with Darth Krayt, but at least the empire would'nt stand as a looser.

    -But then Fourth expansion : Vitiate pops up out of nowhere and leads an army, just like in Dark Empire with Sidious' return.

    And so on, until the scenarists lost all their creativity.
     
  25. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    I'd enjoy something like that, but can see them rushing impatiently to do the Reborn Emperor storyline at the first chance they get.

    The casual player in me just hopes they don't decide to say that those who just want to solo already have their eight class storylines to play through, and so decide to make the Reborn Emperor an Operation raid fight exclusive...

    Albeit the MMO player in me accepts why they'd probably opt for that, albeit I'd possibly then miss out.