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

Books Star Wars: Inferno Squad

Discussion in 'Literature' started by bsmith7174, Feb 17, 2017.

  1. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Christie Golden was basically writing a story someone else wrote before. Both her work for Star Wars have been hampered by the fact they were caught in other people's stories.
     
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  2. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    What is Christie Golden's style?

    Honestly, it's going to be interesting to see how she writes this book because it's TAILOR MADE for her style of book. However, Christie Golden's style is also something which I think is not what people normally associate with Star Wars, which is, mostly, "The Forces of Evil are people are too." As someone who has read most of Christie Golden's novels, I'm going to say she has a very good habit of writing villains and slightly greyer than normal protagonists. There's a lot of perspective from the bad guys in her books and why they think they're the heroes.

    Her protagonists also come in two varieties with the very dark and gray protagonist like Jander Sunster who try to do the right thing but stumble a lot because they have some horrifying past or curse (vampirism in Jander's case, PTSD from Theramore's destruction in Jaina Proudmoore's) or they're good and decent people who realize they have to make a lot of moral compromises in order to nake things better.

    The Hero's Journey of Larissa Snowmane is about her discovering that she can only learn the ways of magic from the Lord of the Dead (i.e. a murderous necromancer living in a Southern plantation in the middle of the swamp surrounded by slaves) which, inevitably, gets her burned. However, she ends up the stronger for it even though her powers were learned from evil. War Crimes is about Garrosh Hellscream and Sylvanas Windrunner as we see their broken perspectives on the world. Arthas is about how Arthas was, contrary to being a heroic paladin, was actually a weak man obsessed with his own legacy and too cowardly to admit he was in over his head--it's also blatantly her version of Anakin Skywalker's fall. In this case, Jaina Proudmoore standing in for Padme.

    Her "Orc" perspective books were all about the Orcs and how they're a heroic, noble, and proud people who inevitably get themselves subverted into demon-worshiping and genocidal psychopaths by a combination of pride as well as desperation. Everyone but a small handful of people get turned into monsters. Her Star Trek books? The Federation folk find a tough moral challenge that doesn't end in the same "perfect choice" as usual--it's more like Deep Space Nine in that respect as someone gets burned.

    Basically, Christie Golden is the Queen of writing books from the perspectives of bad guys and heroes who have to compromise themselves. No wonder Vestara was her primary character.
     
  3. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    If this book is as good or better than Lost Stars, I'm sold.
     
  4. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    I'm willing to bet ten credits this will be a very good book from the perspective of the Empire and First Order so very much like Ciena's parts without the Heel RealizationTM.
     
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  5. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    I'll try to stop getting spoiled plotwise.

    Points:

    It turns out the Death Star 2 was necessary. No telling how strong the rebels would eventually get. One shot one kill seem to be the only way to defeat the entire rebel fleet without DS 2, and Executor, the rebels won at Endor. So the entire Imperial starfleet sans DS 2 was not enough.

    Ciena says, hmmm the Emperor just want a show, we TIE fighters are just sent out to make the operational ceremony looks good. But then the rebels show up and the TIE fighters were needed. The Emperor knew something was up.

    Here's to forever together, forever apart.

    In my headcanon, Ciena doesn't get a fair trial, and is never let out of rebel prison (political prisoner at unknown place) , and Thane end up with Kendy in a loveless marriage
     
    SilentGuy66 likes this.
  6. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    That's your opinion. I personally loved Dark Disciple and thought it was an excellent character arc for all involved, especially Ventress.
     
  7. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    This thread is something else.

    I think we really would do with remembering that personal preferences and tastes are subjective and not necessarily reflective of writing "quality." Most of the time, people in this forum concentrate on things like continuity and/or style -- which is everyone's right to do so, but tying enjoyment to that is the definition of subjective.

    Even books that there's a community consensus on (for example, almost everybody loves Servants of the Empire) still involve subjective preferences. Some people just won't get into them because they're middle-grade books, for example.

    Like what you like, dislike what you dislike. I disliked Plagueis and liked Dark Disciple, for example. It's fine.

    But let's avoid generalizations and personal commentary.


    Missa ab iPhona mea est.
     
  8. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015
    It's July. This book is coming out in 2 weeks and nobody is talking about it anymore. It's not even on the first page of the forums! Is anyone excited for this book? I'm not a Christie Golden fan, not after Dark Disciple but Star Wars novels are like sex and pizza. Even when they're bad, they're good.
     
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  9. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    We made our positions on what we want from the book very clearly. So what else is to talk about regarding this book?
     
  10. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    I'm certainly excited. I enjoyed Dark Disciple greatly, and I'm really looking forward to another story with an Imperial perspective, like we got in Lost Stars.

    I'm especially interested in seeing how much insight it will give us into the game later this year.
     
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  11. ManWithoutAStar

    ManWithoutAStar Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2017
    I cant wait to get my hands on the audiobook.
     
  12. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    Every time the narrator says STAR WARS...
    I cringe.
    edit : yeah, audio books is probably the closest thing we can have for novels. It's not like they adapt them from novels to films ever.
     
  13. Noash_Retrac

    Noash_Retrac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2006

    Haven't I told you before? if you don't like the direction of Star Wars, then it isn't for you.
     
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  14. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    I stay for the fanfics.

    But yeah, you make a lot of sense.
     
  15. Noash_Retrac

    Noash_Retrac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2006

    I'm extremely frustrated with the fan community in everything I like. I almost left Naruto because of all the Sakura and Hinata bashing. I left the Avatar universe because of the writing on Legend of Korra and then the coupling wars until recently and I've all out abandoned Thomas & Friends (yes I like Thomas and I'm 27) and Ben 10.

    Star Wars is the last one I have to keep me sane and as much as the Disney direction (mostly Aftermath trilogy and Bloodline more than anything else - my headcanon helps me sort through Clone Wars) annoys me sometimes, I accept there is nothing I or anyone else outside the Story Group can do about it. I just don't enjoy venting.

    My biggest concern of this novel is to reconcile
    Yavin
    here with Lost Stars which indicate that
    Vader was the only survivor
    .
     
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  16. Axrendale

    Axrendale Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 4, 2017
    Noash_Retrac

    There are already a number of contradictions in the canon - including some big ones between Lost Stars and the Aftermath trilogy.

    At a certain point, I think you just have to roll with them.
     
  17. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    I'm kind of curious what those are. I read both and didn't see anything major, although I wasn't really comparing the two.
     
  18. Axrendale

    Axrendale Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 4, 2017
    Examples: in Lost Stars it is stated that at the time of the battle of Jakku, the Empire still held most of its major shipyards; whereas in Empire's End it is made clear that they have all been lost. In Lost Stars it is stated that nobody has successfully captured a Star Destroyer before; whereas Life Debt makes clear that it has been done many times. In Lost Stars the Empire lost at Jakku through rigid, inflexible tactics; whereas in Empire's End they fought with the berserker-like abandon of rebels.
     
  19. Outsourced

    Outsourced Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2017
    1: Yeah, that's fair.

    2: Well, eh? I mean, we don't have any instances of a successful takeover of a SD, at least to my knowledge. The Harbinger from the SW comics was severely damaged and basically sent on a suicide run at half capacity and a skeleton crew. The SD they tried capturing in Life Debt was a fluke, and ended up failing. And I can't really think of any others before that.

    3: The army fought like berserkers, but the navy didn't. They had a rigid formation around their SSD, which, when breached, broke down their entire like. So that's at least partially accurate.
     
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  20. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    OK, I'll lob this in.....

    Going by the excerpt, we have a lead character who is unusual because, unlike the bulk of Imperials who were conflicted over it, Iden is clearly a true believer in the Death Star. She clearly believes Alderaan deserved to be destroyed, that any world that steps out of line should be destroyed.

    If she isn't, then what is she even doing there at all? Why fly to defend a battlestation that abhors her sense of ethics? No, I think this might be quite the departure from previous Imperial portrayals.
     
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  21. JediKnight75

    JediKnight75 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2011
    I think you're right. If so it will make for an interesting sorry because Iden will ultimately not be sympathetic and be a pretty terrible person. I think this will make for a fun character exploration
     
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  22. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    I'd chalk up those inconsistencies to Imperial Proganda being proliferated throughput the fleet by the increasingly desperate High Command. They hid the truth of their waning resources from their subordinates to keep morale up. There is precedent for that in canon.

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. SilentGuy66

    SilentGuy66 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2014
    Also at the end of lost stars it's made out that there is a sizeable imperial force still active and is preparing a next major offensive while hiding in parts unknown.

    At the end of Empire's End, the only dangerous imperials went with Sloane into the unknown regions and don't appear to have any intentions of coming back for a good long while at the least.

    Kudos for Aftermath keeping Randd alive when his SSD crashes as there's a throwaway line at the end of LS that mentions he's still in command. They could easily have overlooked that and had him go do with his ship.
     
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  24. JediKnight75

    JediKnight75 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2011
    I think the Nash POV scene at the end Lost Stars is after Sloane found the Eclipse. I don't find them necessarily contradictory. Rax's intent for the fleet was to eventually retake the galaxy. I got the impression that Sloane has the same goal. However the book ends immediately after she found the Eclipse so we don't see any of her plans. When we see Nash in Lost Stars, the Jakku survivors have already met up with the fleet in the unknown regions. Nash is reflecting the POV of a soldier waiting for the moment to strike back now that the fleet is together. This is in line with Iden in the Battlefront 2 trailer saying she's been waiting 30 years to strike back.

    I guess there's always the possibility, that Nash is in a group that is separate from Sloane's and it will attack the NR soon after Jakku. Maybe they will try to unite the small hold outs and be stopped by the NR before they can be a significant threat.
     
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  25. JediBatman

    JediBatman Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 3, 2015
    Context: I've read Lost Stars, but none of the Aftermath Trilogy (I'm getting most of my info about that story from wookieepedia)

    Life Debt has Solo taking over the ISD Dominion, and the ISD Neutralizer surrenders to it. Likewise the Harbinger in the Star Wars comics was captured. You could try to say it didn't count because it was destroyed soon after, but captured means captured. Also Life Debt says that 3 Super Star Destroyers are in New Republic hands. Once again you could argue "technically those could have been surrendered without a fight instead of captured by force" but it's a stretch.

    Vialco "Imperial Propaganda" dosn't work as it is a Rebel (Thane) saying this to General Rieken, who doesn't correct him. However if we want to come up with an in-universe explanation, we can always say Rieken didn't speak up because the number of Star Destroyers in NR hands is highly classified (Or Thane was just mistaken, it wouldn't be the first time in the novel he was ignorant of galactic events. He almost vomited on Mon Mothma without recognizing her, although he was very drunk at the time.)

    Also I don't think the epilogue with Nash contradicts anything. They are preparing for war, but in a "some day" sense, not an immediate sense. IIRC the only contradiction there is that he's not specifically said to be in the Unknown Regions, just that he's hidden in a Nebulae, but it's easy to assume the nebulae is IN the Unknown Regions. (Or maybe he just met up with the FO later like Terrix did)
     
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