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

Books Comics JTTLJ: The Legends of Luke Skywalker

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Todd the Jedi , Apr 14, 2017.

  1. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2010
    Okay, bought this and read the whole thing last night. The stories have a nice variance in tone and style, especially for young adult readers; like Before the Awakening, this is meant to be more of a tune-up on what Luke's name will mean in TLJ to younger readers, rather than a full blown stand-alone adventure for the dedicated fans like, say Lost Stars or Thrawn. It's good for a quick, breezy read, and for what it does imply for Luke.

    Luke's gone total, 100% folk hero, complete with incredibly low profile and a distinct tendency to operate in the smaller and more obscure areas of the Galaxy. Each the stories told about him has some strong elements of either plausibility, if not for Luke himself, than at least for the events (the Jakku story). And I can't help but feel like of these are all largely new stories to the different characters who her them, which may imply that there are larger and more well-known legends that we'll only learn about once the story group starts approving Luke's more high-profile adventures after TLJ. To better explain the analysis, think about King Arthur and Robin Hood: both have dozens, if not hundreds, of obscure stories and myths, but both also have far more popular single stories, like Robin Hood at the archery contest or his duel with Guy of Gisborne, and Arthur sending out his Knights for the Holy Grail or fighting Mordred.
     
  2. Stymi

    Stymi Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2002
    Such a great collection of Luke stories, told through the perspectives of others. I enjoyed them all. Creative and different. Not as good as the Leia book, which is such a refreshing comment (her EU stories had been so comparatively dull), but a really great anthology-like colkection of Luke takes. Liu does an amazing job making each story feel Luke it was told from a different character. Not easy to do. While also moving the story forward on the characters telling the stories.

    I've been super impressed with the writers Del Rey has been bringing in for the NEU.

    Loved the mythologization of Luke in the SWU...we are ALL Luke Skywalker :)

    Joseph Campbell would approve.

    I've said it before, but if you aren't finding stories you like in the new canon, you are really determined to not like them. Why not just find stories you do like?

    But I can also see how someone who has a fixed perspective on what Luke stories should be like having a hard time with a book about different perspectives on Luke. It's almost comical.

    Sent from my Moto X-Wing
     
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  3. redxavier

    redxavier Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 23, 2003
    I generally enjoyed this but the flea story was a bit too much for me, mainly because it felt like it was a repetition of the first story (ie, Luke is fake and taking us through an OT event) and then almost made it a parody (Luke saying and doing things stupidly). Maybe it would have been different had I read this rather than listened to the audible version?
     
  4. Rogue Seven

    Rogue Seven Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2017
    I never claimed to take issue with the framing narrative (as I stated in my first reply to you), that of people on a freighter telling stories of Luke (tall or otherwise). What I expect in such stories are first or second-hand (possibly embellished) accounts of the man and his time after ROTJ. What I got were sometimes mostly second-hand account and even one 3rd-hand account that bear almost nothing on the man he would be after ROTJ. Hell, even from a depth-level I got nothing that makes him anything different than he was as of ROTJ. There was no growth there...aside from Deluge (which I think had a bit of growth).

    No.

    I'm criticizing it for not doing what it claimed to do (better), by telling compelling stories about Luke that aren't either completely fabricated, or are largely inconsequential to the character. The book gives me nothing of import about the man...and worse, the stories it did tell weren't all that good, and some of them FAR too tongue-placed-firmly-in-cheek for my liking.

    You keep saying that it was "never supposed to be what I expected" meanwhile, I'm not a dolt. I know what the book is supposed to be. A book of tales about Luke can VERY easily contain canon info. It can couch that in the framing narrative all it likes, but it can still do it.

    Ken Lui's main series of novels are asian-set epic fantasy (Dandelion Dynasty)...which read like textbooks "explaining" what happened rather than showing. So I'm not at all surprised that this is the Luke book he turned in, as it follows those tropes to a T.

    I'm going to give you an example of this type of book done well, so as not to leave it on a sour note. Hiroshi Yamamoto wrote a novel of tales called The Stories of Ibis. It is something like 6 stories (about the birth of AI and human beings living with them) with a 7th story/interludes set as the framing narrative (a young boy speaking with an angelic AI that he thinks is going to kill him). You never know if Ibis's (that's the angelic robot) tales are 100% true or not, so it's kind of similar to what Liu attempted here. Each of the 6 stories are poignant, well-written, and often emotional tour de forces which include not only information that serves the master narrative (similar to canon info I expected here), but also tell each of the singular stories in a beautiful way full of depth of character, and world-building. The book is arguably about the same length as this one. It's only of the finest books I've read as far as anthology narrative volumes go. What Ken Liu attempted with LEGENDS is (to me) not even a shadow of what Yamamoto crafted in his book (which I HIGHLY recommend BTW; Haika Soru publishes is in North America).

    Also, am I not allowed to dislike a book and post about it with my feeling why....without being told I was expecting something I should not have been? That seems counterintuitive to a message board, no?





    Apologies, it was a poor connection of thoughts...Just that Weapon of a Jedi is more of a Luke book in about 1/4 of the page count.
     
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  5. LAJ_FETT

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

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    UPS man brought mine in an order from Amazon US earlier. I'm liking it so far. I, Droid was pretty good. I'm liking the artwork as well.
     
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  6. GrandAdmiralJello

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

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Don't have time to respond at length, but specifically with regard to "am I not allowed to dislike a book" -- of course you are.

    And others are allowed to disagree with you.

    That's the message board part. Don't take my disagreement as "you are not permitted this opinion."


    Missa ab iPhona mea est.
     
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  7. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    The thing is, you're expecting canon info on Luke ahead of a big film with him in it! Perhaps a better Q would be: What kind of canon info are you after? If it is a story of limited consequence, then yeah, something like Weapon of a Jedi is going to work better for you, but if you're after canon info with consequence? Nah, don't think we'd ever get that now.

    From the start, on the new stuff, LFL has been very, very cagey about books that come out before a film - this was really noticed on Aftermath and Life Debt, the latter showed up how restrained the former had to be.

    Sure, it might be thought they had changed their MO, now the first film is done but that doesn't look to be so. On that basis, you would be better to expect major canon info to be post-film, because that looks to be the pattern they've gone with. I'd prefer it wasn't so but that's the way it is.
     
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  8. Rogue Seven

    Rogue Seven Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2017
    So, the response is "marketing/secrecy" over "story". Gotcha.

    I feel like that works MORE in my favour rather than less, no?
     
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  9. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Depends, how do you mean?

    As I read as your post as that you wanted them to reveal more now, not less.

    But yeah, they are putting the movies above everything.

    In a way, it's a compliment, as they know we'll extrapolate the hell of any single piece of info so you can see why they're being cagey.
     
  10. Maythe14thBeWithYou

    Maythe14thBeWithYou Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 26, 2014
    Overall is this book worth the purchase? I've looked at posts and some question its canonicity, others its actual contents, What's the deal?
     
  11. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    It's a set of stories-within-a-story, told by a group of people on a freighter.

    It is not, nor ever claimed to be, a canon, 'this really happened' book.

    Probably get one of those next year.

    In terms of production values the hardback is an excellent, very well-designed volume - and that, I think, is something everyone would probably agree on, regardless of their opinion of the content.
     
  12. Maythe14thBeWithYou

    Maythe14thBeWithYou Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 26, 2014
    Overall is this book worth the purchase? I've looked at posts and some question its canonicity, others its actual contents, What's the deal?
     
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  13. Stymi

    Stymi Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2002
    It's a brilliant book. Unless you need your Luke stories in a specific way and you can't deal with different perspectives. If so, just read the Bantam run again.

    Sent from my Moto X-Wing
     
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  14. Dr. Steve Brule

    Dr. Steve Brule Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2012
    I think a big part of it is actually Wookieepedia, and the larger culture it reinforces within the community (not only the fans, but the people involved in official production). It's an encylopedia which encourages everything to be quantified as much as possible, and has its own internal culture where speculation is generally not tolerated and there will be really convoluted arguments made about how X fits into Y even though that wasn't the author's intention because someone over in source Z said this, and it's set down as fact and accepted by newer users who probably don't even have the sources in question.

    On a deeper level, I think a lot of stuff coming from WEG, where as a roleplaying game a lot gets quantified and set down in stone due to the need of gameplay mechanics, which are then taken at face-value for storytelling purposes that they weren't originally supposed to be.
     
  15. Rogue Seven

    Rogue Seven Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2017

    Oh look, a dig at me. Lovely!
     
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  16. LAJ_FETT

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

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Finished the book today. I liked it.
     
  17. Maythe14thBeWithYou

    Maythe14thBeWithYou Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 26, 2014
    So if you wanted to prepare yourself for TLJ would you go for this or Phasma? I just want to know what'd be the best bet in those regards.
     
  18. StarWarsFan1997

    StarWarsFan1997 Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 22, 2005

    I would call it more of a meta-text about Luke Skywalker's place in the GFFA than anything else. As others have pointed out, the individual stories aren't firmly placed in the overall chronology - some seem like they could have happened after ROTJ, like Deluge, while others, like I, Droid, could have happened between Empire and Jedi. A few of the stories are plainly false, while the rest could have happened. In fact, the only story that one can consider 100% reliable is frame story. I ended up enjoying it more than the Certain Point of View anthology, because although many of its stories share the latter's dubious canonicity, with Legends of Luke Skywalker I at least understood the book's purpose, which was to show how Luke's legend has grown throughout the galaxy in the time between the OT and ST, whereas A Certain Point of View felt like a hollow exercise meant to capitalize on the 40th Anniversary.
     
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  19. StarWarsFan1997

    StarWarsFan1997 Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 22, 2005

    Definitely Phasma. Without spoiling things, the fact that we see Phasma fighting with a spear in the trailer strongly implies a greater like between the Phasma book and TLJ. If you read the Phasma book, you'll also want to read the Phasma comic mini-series, as that also has ties to the Phasma novel.
     
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  20. JediMara77

    JediMara77 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004

    Read both.
     
  21. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    I was really expecting and ready to hate this. Even the binding and font size of the book pissed me off.

    But it was not bad at all for what it is, an eccentric, young reader adventure book with a humorous overtone. Very different from the classic EU but that's fine. Didn't mind it at all but not sure if I would read it again.

    I would recommend it. Don't get carried away by it having the "Journey to the Last Jedi" on it though. It has nothing even remotely to do with TLJ.
     
  22. Taalcon

    Taalcon Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 1998
    [duplicate]
     
  23. Taalcon

    Taalcon Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 1998
    ...how would you know that?
     
  24. EmperorHorus

    EmperorHorus Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2016
    I guess I was making a bit of an assumption. At most I'd expect any connection between this book and the movie to be very tenuous. For example a minor character that has appearances in both.

    But I'd be very surprised if there was any real connection between the two other than marketing.
     
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  25. TheAvengerButton

    TheAvengerButton Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2011
    The connection of this book to TLJ is as follows:

    The characters are on their way to Canto Bight, and their ship carries Falthiers. That's about it.

    Expect that to be the only thing. These "Journey to..." books usually just take one weird small element from the film they are titled after and run with that. Don't expect any clues or MAJOR character connections. That is not how these book work.
     
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