Lit Crucible by Troy Denning

You know this cover is the first to feature the BIG3 since Specter of the Past. (And perhaps the last)

 

Han's not perfectly done, but it's better, and it's really not that bad. I didn't like it initially, but like Team Padme, the more I look at it, my opinion actually improves.

 

It sure doesn't look like it.

Just like Han's neck!

Yeah, the artist actually did get Han much better. It's just that he sized Han's head too small for the body it's on.

 

Maybe he's simply been through a montage and got himself buff. It could happen... right?

We've had He-Luke, why not He-Han. Hell, it works better.

 

Agreed

 

I must be the only one that thinks Han and Luke look ok. Leia looks atrocious.

 

Wait, Wookiees wear clothes?

...
Fur pajamas?

 

Actually, I think they all look atrocious.

I bet this is so we'll be pleasantly surprised when the actors appear in the ST.

 

I understand the artwork is not perfect, but this is pretty realistic. My only prob is that should they look 60 and 70 in American years, or 40 and 50's in Star Wars years. They are supposed to be a little younger in this universe. Especially Luke, who is the Jedi Master. Should be able to reduce age with the force.

 

Just because you can keep fit and athletic doesn't automatically mean your skin doesn't still lose its tightness.

Look at Dooku. Sure, he was hopping and jumping, but like Yoda he still had wrinkles. Even in real life, you might get some people doing marathons or still boxing in their 60s, but they still look 60, despite the fact they've kept themselves in shape.

I'm fine if Star Wars still wants Alec Guinness getting into lightsaber duels at his age, but that's not the same thing as it needing to embrace today's obsession with youth and the idea that women with grey hairs are useless. I think it's good to see Star Wars including positive older role models, rather than selling the idea that unless you look 20 you're no good to society, as I don't want to see the Big 3 only start looking old the minute they're pushed into retirement.

 

well when you put it that way, i agree. That said, the age difference is supposed to be that in Star Wars they live longer. How that plays out is beyond me. Maybe that just means they get a longer old age then in our universe. I wouldbe a great one to cast in Star wars. I am 42 and look 30. sadly i don't have the looks

 

Can I just say (without wanting to be all negative or judgmental and all that) that the first sentence of Crucible is already a fail:

Spoiler

With lowlifes of every species from three-eyed Gran to four-armed Hekto standing belly-to-bar, the Red Ronto reminded Han Solo of that cantina back on Mos Eisley, the one where he had first met Luke and Obi-Wan all those years ago.

I mean... haven't we talked about this? Obviously Denning is still not reading Lit (not that I can blame him)

 

Crucible will be a fail as a whole.

 

That sure doesn't look promising, Denning can't even call the cantina from Mos Eisley, Chalmun's Cantina, by name.

 

I think there's an equation that guides how Denning writes his novels.

 

Would Han even recall the cantina's name?

 

I'm sure he would. He probably went there often.

 

I don't know, this is already dead on arrival for me, since it is built on the depressing post-NJO that Denning was a major part of engineering, so the way I see it, damage done.

 

I'll just say that if Han not mentioning the Tatooine cantina's name somehow manages to be the greatest of the books problems, we may have ourselves a masterpiece.

Not that that's likely or anything.

 

I'm withholding judgement until this cantina is actually described. If it's not made of sandstone, not on a backwater planet, the bartender isn't a droid racist, or he doesn't nearly get shot I'm calling poodoo.

Honestly, we should probably be resigned to the fact that the book is gonna be a Hey! Remember the movies that you probably watch once a year?!-fest

 

That's my reaction as well.

I might remember where I ate ten years ago, whether I still will in forty years I have no idea, and I don't even remember random proprietors names now, let alone that far into the future.

 

And considering the adventures they have. In all honesty, the memory of the people in the EU books is staggering as it is. Given everything. Their lifetimes are so compacted. Basically the events of say just ROTJ -> TTT is enough for most people's lives, 1 lifetime. Add in Han's entire life, everything that's gone on, pre-ANH, ANH-ROTJ, post-ROTJ, NJO, Dark Nest, his children, Chewie, Leia, etc. The guy's lived like nineteen lifetime's and the ability to remember things as minute as bar names would be nothing short of amazing.

 

Did he compare the Duros in that cantina to Duros in Chalmun's Cantina in Episode IV?

 

I don't know if there really was a misunderstanding here, but just in case: I didn't mean to imply Han should have called the cantina by its proper name. I was simply objecting to (some) EU authors' silly habit of having the characters remember random events from the movies all the kriffing time, as if they didn't have any more recent experiences to think of. Or quoting the same lines over and over again ad nauseam, just because they were in the movies. I guess Denning is trying to evoke "that Star Wars feel" by the reference, but to me it just seemed incredibly anachronistic.

Though to be fair, I thought the rest of the preview was pretty interesting and made me want to read more.