Author Topic: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Havac  14343 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 10/11/06 9:17pm Subject: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Analyze and discuss Luceno's strengths and weaknesses as an author, what unique role he may play in the EU, whether you would prefer to see him write more books, etc. No bashing or gushing.

Previous Author Analyses:
Daniel Keys Moran
Elaine Cunningham
R. A. Salvatore
Sean Williams and Shane Dix
Greg Bear
Kathy Tyers
Darko Macan
Vonda McIntyre
Walter Jon Williams
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Roger MacBride Allen
John Ostrander
Steve Perry
Brian Daley
Barbara Hambly
Dave Wolverton
Troy Denning
Ann C. Crispin
K. W. Jeter
Sean Stewart
Haden Blackman
Greg Keyes
Michael Stackpole
Kevin J. Anderson
Matthew Stover
Michael Reaves
Aaron Allston

Go at it! grin

 

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Kyptastic  8214 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
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Registered: Sep '05
46137_Shaak Ti: Wanted!
Date Posted: 10/11/06 10:34pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Except for the first Agents of Chaos book I've really enjoyed his work. His attention to detail is usually superb and I can follow most of the action quite easily. Cloak of Deception is terribly underrated. Labyrinth of Evil is an excellent lead up to ROTS and Dark Lord follows on and really gets into Vaders head quite nicely. Despite a slow start, The Unifying Force is breathtaking.

On a whole, I'd give him 9.5/10

 

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Jedi_Knight88  669 posts
Registered: Jan '05
42014_Jaina Solo
Date Posted: 10/12/06 3:55am Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Well, he taught me the word 'crepuscular'... happy

I find his writing is very...correct. He's pretty good with continuity and as Kyptastic said, attention to detail. His characterisation of Luke and Mara in his NJO duology was a bit strange, but he writes Han and Leia very well (especially in the opening scenes of TuF).

 

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Havac  14343 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 10/12/06 1:24pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Yeah, he's got quite the vocabulary.

 

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Whizkid  1202 posts
Registered: Sep '03
24189_Palpatine
Date Posted: 10/12/06 1:54pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno

Cloak of Deception: This was freakin awesome. It actually made TPM more enjoyable for me. Lots of suspense and a great plot twist. Good use of cameos and nice action scenes.

Labyrinth of Evil: A great lead up to RotS. Luceno took a minute movie detail (the mechno-chair) and made a whole plot around it. Slightly less awesome than CoD, only because the plot wasn't as complex.

Dark Lord: Took a while to get started, but once it did, it never let up. The insights of Vader and Sidious were great and we saw how the Empire gradually morphed into the evil it was in the OT. The only flaw was other than Shryne and Starstone, none of the other jedi had any personality.

AoC duology: Probably my least favorite Luceno work. Hero's Trial was decent, but it slowed the pace of the series after 3 lightning fast novels. Jedi Eclipse was all around better, probably because it returned to showing the macro view of the Vong War instead of the localized story in HT.

The Unifying Force: Awesome conclusion to a great series. There were so many epic scenes and so many characters were used. The ending felt a little too neat, but thats a minor point.


All in all, I think Luceno is among the best EU authors. He's not as good as Stover, but i'd put him on the same level as Zahn and Denning, and Stackpole. I have high hopes for the Plagueis novel.

 

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DurronFan  1385 posts
Registered: Jul '05
22350_Evil Eye
Date Posted: 10/12/06 1:55pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
That's something I respect about Luceno. At least his language challenges you to some extent, unlike Anderson whose vocabulary even a second grader could understand.

I've read Cloak Of Deception, the Agents of Chaos Duology, The Unifying Force and Dark Lord. All were good, an 8.5 on average, except for Agents of Chaos. Those books didn't click for me. Which is surprising considering that TUF, which was also in the NJO, was really good. He has a really good grasp of Han IMO.

 

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ThrawnRocks  14867 posts
Registered: Apr '04
49039_Cody (804091)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 2:21pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
While I've only read AoC and TUF I must say that while he has a wonderful grasp of continuity, he has a very bland style of writing. AoC was downright terrible, and writing wise, TUF wasn;t anything special, although I did like the plot. I truly wish that instead of writing Star Wars books, he would be some sort of continuity editor employed at LFL, so while everyone else is completely ignoring continuity, he actually knows what he is talking about, and can catch things *choughartoobeingbuiltbytheempirecough*

 

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Sinrebirth  19018 posts
Title: Sith Emperor of the SWC
Registered: Nov '04
47748_Dath Vectivus
Date Posted: 10/12/06 2:36pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
*whichwaslaterfixedasImperialpropagandainthesameseries*

None too difficult a plot detail.

One of the better authors, up there with Denning and Stover. Good writing, good plotting, and excellent wrapping up. He's good at the macroview and the microview, and I love him for it.

 

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sidious618  11601 posts
Registered: Apr '03
8059_Qui-Gon Jinn
Date Posted: 10/12/06 5:06pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
He's my favorite Star Wars author. Something about his writing always works for me.

 

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Katana_Geldar  27945 posts
Title: Former CR Tasmania, AU'
Registered: Mar '03
48693_Elaine (617092)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 6:28pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
LOE is my fave SW book after Shatterpoint, someone described it as a guilty pleasure and it is. Reading LOE for me is like devouring a large box of rich chocolates. drooling

Things I loved about LOE:
Obi-Wan and Anakin's pub crawl
Padme's scenes
The attack on Cato Neimoidia
His characterisations of Dooku and Grevious
The attack on Coruscant
The ending
The Sifo-Dyas scene
The hunt for Sidious

Luceno has proven that he is adaptable, he can write a very good poltical thriller (CoD) as well as an explosion-packed fanboy fest (LOE). Dark Lord was a mixture of both as well as a very difficult bike to get onto given it's the first of it's era yet he did it well.

Luceno also does his research well, like Stover he references across the EU and brings in various threads. He is a new author, but IMHO he is up there with Zahn and Stackpole as one of the best. Will we get more from him?

 

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ThrawnRocks  14867 posts
Registered: Apr '04
49039_Cody (804091)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 6:46pm Subject: Someone get me a coughdrop - Date Edited: 10/12/06 6:47pm (1 edits total) Edited By: ThrawnRocks
Sinrebirth posted:
*whichwaslaterfixedasImperialpropagandainthesameseries*

None too difficult a plot detail.


*coughiknowthatbutthatwasjustanexamplehecouldbeveryhelpfulpointingoutcontinuityerrorsthatpeopleherelovetocomplainaboutcough*

 

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s65horsey  22589 posts
Title: EUC and Arena Moddess
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Registered: Jun '06
49063_Corran Horn (81109)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 7:41pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Wow...I can't believe I just read the previous posts.

I like his work. I like authors that use different words to describe things and use the $5 word to challenge our vocabularies.

 

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Katana_Geldar  27945 posts
Title: Former CR Tasmania, AU'
Registered: Mar '03
48693_Elaine (617092)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 9:03pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
I am hoping that Luceno will do a Han/Luke/Leia novel in the Classic Era, perhaps between Yavin and Hoth.

For some reason I still can’t work out LOE reminded me of the Classic Era, I think it was when Anakin and Obi-Wan went to the prison, and I’m convinced we need to have a novel from him during this time.

 

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Koroshiya_keefu  336 posts
Registered: Jan '05
7453_Mace Shatterpoint
Date Posted: 10/12/06 9:18pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno - Date Edited: 10/12/06 9:19pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Koroshiya_keefu
I have a good deal of confidence in Luceno's abilities to form a coherent novel, and he does seem to have a good grasp on the tiniest details in the Star Wars Universe... As many others are, I'm hoping he pulls out all the stops and gives us a nice meaty and dark read with the upcoming Plagueis story...

 

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Katana_Geldar  27945 posts
Title: Former CR Tasmania, AU'
Registered: Mar '03
48693_Elaine (617092)
Date Posted: 10/12/06 9:48pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
He was dropping a few hints for us in Dark Lord about Plagueis, as well as about Bane.

 

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Koroshiya_keefu  336 posts
Registered: Jan '05
7453_Mace Shatterpoint
Date Posted: 10/12/06 9:58pm Subject: RE: Author Analysis: James Luceno
Cool.

I own Dark Lord, but haven't been able to read it yet, just plowing through other titles first... Looking forward to it though!

 

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