Lit 181st Imperial Discussion Group: Young Jedi Knights, Books 7 - 9!

Welcome back fellow readers and young Jedi Knights! Especially the latter, because this month, we'll return to the series that developed the characters of Jaina and Jacen Solo so well that Vector Prime got tons of hate mail for getting them wrong! That or some other reason.

Discussion of the first story arc concluded way back in December 2008. Just in case you want to brush up your YJK knowledge.

This month, we'll have the first three books of the second arc, the "Diversity Alliance" story: Shards Of Alderaan, Diversity Alliance, and Delusions Of Grandeur, as always by Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson. We'll concentrate on one book per week, with me updating the thread on weekends, and the last days of the month being a free-for-all. The final two books for this arc, Jedi Bounty and The Emperor's Plague, will be up in April.

This means that we'll start with Shards Of Alderaan.

- We start off pretty soon after the events of the last arc, with Zekk still healing and the temples being rebuilt. Would we have preferred a larger gap, so that the events could sink in a bit and we have more space to put hypothetical additional Jaina/Jacen adventures on the map? Or do we like the fact that we get to see the aftermath of the last arc? In that regard, do you think it's a good resolution of the situation, especially Zekk's choice to leave?

- Dude, we're bounty hunters! While the first arc was about Jedi and the dark side, the second arc opens with a fan favourite (especially back then in 1997) - bounty hunters. Boba Fett is the guest star of this week's episode, he gets the cover and hopefully pulls a lot of new readers in. IG-88 and Dengar will be around soon. And what's the second career option if you can't be a Jedi in Star Wars? That's right, bounty hunter. One might have thought smuggler, the nicer kind of scoundrel (especially since Jaina's got a reeeeally obvious crush by now). How is the fanboy reacting to this amount of bounty hunting, how is the more critical EU connoisseur reacting to it?

- Yeah, well, about Boba Fett... there was this retcon, and he's actually not himself. Of course, the book gives no clue about this as he truly was intended to be Boba. What's our thoughts about that? Personally, I tend to dislike stunts like that, explaining stuff you already read away as something that wasn't in the text at all. What reasons for Boba not being Boba even though he's Boba work for you? Or do they?

- Excessive continuity nods: Darth Plagueis gets top marks for name-checking every little bit of EU lore available. With KJA's work, continuity nods have always been a bit of a two-edged sword, giving strength to the connection of all SW sources while creating outrageous connections just to have something readers might fill in from that other KJA story they need to buy, or those promo pics that they surely were amazed about. Jacen's ronto is supposed to be the exact same one from the Special Edition Mos Eisley swoop scene, isn't it? What do you think about stuff like that, and if you're into Plagueis, what's your take on Luceno and KJA?

- Exit through the gift shop: As a less controversial topic, how did you like the twin's idea for Leia's gift? Seeing how Stackpole gave us the idea of Alderaan's survivors leaving proverbial flowers on the cemetary, don't you think today's EU would have strip-mined Alderaan's remnants soon after its destruction? As realistic as glass replicas of Han's and Luke's famous starships and holo dramas From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, it could be compared with real-life memorabilia like stones from the Berlin wall. So, would 15-year old Jacen and Jaina even still find an Alderaan asteroid field in modern-day EU? Would it be as special for Leia as the Corellian fast food advertisement she once gave Han?

Happy discussion everyone!

 

I think it?s a good idea to have this take place shortly after the first arc. We know how the first arc ended, but we only began to see some of the repercussions from that battle. Not just the physical recovery, but the mental and emotional ones. This isn?t without precedence. Shadows of the Empire did that with ESB. Truce at Bakura did that with ROTJ. Even though they?re part of the same arc, The Krytos Trap did that with Wedge?s Gamble, in that we saw some of the transitions in government taking place on Coruscant.

As for Zekk?s decision to leave, I can see a slight parallel between him and one of the few Jedi one should never cross ? Kyle Katarn. If you?ve played the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight games, you know that Kyle learned to use the Force and proceeded on a vital mission. The same could be said about Zekk, regardless of the nature of the mission. However, while completing said mission, both committed questionable acts. Though Kyle took longer to do so, after completing said mission, both swore off using the Force. They decided they couldn?t trust the Force, nor could they trust themselves should they use the Force. Understandable, given the circumstances, but the Force is one of those things where half-trained is even more dangerous than fully trained. What happened to Luke at Bespin was one such example.

I?m also a little miffed at something that, to my knowledge, has never occurred. I?ve been expecting since Rebel Dream, or at the very least after the Vong War, Jaina and Zekk to cross paths and have a serious heart-to-heart talk. The talk stems on why Zekk abandoned Jaina after the events of Myrkr, rather than stick by her side, and during their talk, Zekk would make a reference to the talk they had in this book after the battle was over.

I have to admit I was a little surprised that Zekk became a bounty hunter. There were other options he could have turned to. A perfect example was Uldir, Anakin?s and Tahiri?s friend who was a main character in the second arc of the Junior Jedi Knight series. At the time, he lacked enough Force potential to become a Jedi, so he let the Jedi way become a cornerstone of his persona and he went on to become a member of the Search and Rescue Force. Zekk could have done something like that, or become a smuggler, or a commercial pilot, etc. I wonder if his decision to become a smuggler came from a subconscious desire to protect Jaina. The bounty hunters were starting to target Bornan Thul for some reason. It?s reasonable to assume that his son Raynar would be targeted and used as bait or a hostage to force Bornan out of hiding. So one couldn?t discount the possibility that Jaina might get caught up in the attempt. By becoming a bounty hunter, he?d gain inside intel.

 

Does anyone know why they changed it from being Boba to not being him?

 

I think it was changed because of the events of the LOTF.

 

No, it happened before that. The retcon that YJK "Boba Fett" was actually Ailyn Vel was made in Abel Pena's History of the Mandalorians, which came out in 2005. Legacy of the Force started in 2006.

Abel explains his reasoning here. Basically, YJK Boba Fett is out of character. The way he behaves doesn't jive with a lot of other sources, especially Last One Standing. For example, he values the Bounty Hunters Creed very highly in YJK, contra many other stories. Coupled with Nolaa Tarkona's question in Diversity Alliance ("Tell me, Boba Fett: under that helmet, and behind your voice synthesizer, are you perhaps... a female yourself?"), that was enough to justify the idea of a female Fett imposter.

...who just happens to be Fett's daughter, tying in with the once-nameless Boba+Sintas baby seen in Outbid But Never Outgunned.

It's somewhat flimsy, but I don't mind it.

 

Ah. I knew that there was a retcon explanation that involved Boba Fett's role amongst the Mandalorians. Just didn't recall the exact source.

 

I feel making Zekk a bounty hunter is part of KJA's "fanboy" agenda, if I may call it that. As I raised in the other discussion point, Luceno's work tends to build connections between established details in a very different way. If I'm not misjudging his work based on Plagueis alone, he's mostly taking obscure stuff into account; KJA definitely makes connection to stuff that's a bit better known, to a degree where you actually need less imagination to get what's going on. He's using the better known toys, as mentioned in my ronto example; the SE ronto was one of the few images (as it was one of the few new scenes, of course) that was widely available in 96/97. One step worse would have been saying that it was "a ronto just like the very memorable one that uncle Luke had seen that day when he drove to Mos Eisley with Ben Kenobi". Still, the ronto in question must come from Tatooine.

The bounty hunters of Empire were so popular that they are like the third faction of the SW galaxy - not unlike what was proposed for the Mandalorians (who are kind of an offshoot of the "bounty hunter theme") or by Zahn's smuggler alliance. Other underworld characters (safe for Jabba-style mob bosses as Xizor or the one from JAT) never seem to shine that much as they weren't in the movies - although we have a popular con artist in Gryph and almost got a private detective in CN. So if he's no Dark Jedi and no Jedi, Zekk can only be from one of the two other super-human classes: bounty hunter or smuggler. Bounty hunter ties in better with the story, but I can't help but feel like bounty hunter is always the "dark side" choice. Just look at TOR: smugglers start on the good side, bounty hunters on the evil side (even if you can form your character into being good or evil regardless) - the Han/Boba division survives to this day.

Zekk really brings something new to the bounty hunter idea; not just Boba Fett's law-and-order or bounty hunter's creed ideas that never convinced me of him being a cool guy to emulate, but rather a true good side. Zekk's brush with the dark side is obviously over. If he's going to do questionable bounty hunting stuff in the coming books, we'll be very surprised. Which makes me think about the general idea of the bounty hunter in the SW galaxy: ESB made it look like they are scum, about as (or more) criminal than the guys they are sent to c

 

Plus, in "The Last One Standing," Boba Fett and Han set aside their differences and come to some measure of peace with each other, then in YJK Boba's hunting the Solo kids for no reason. Now someone just needs to make a similar retcon for Boba Fett's behavior in all of LOTF.

 

Huh, I was just thinking how Fett says in TUF that his personal war was always with the Jedi (see: Mace Windu) and not with Han, which came out of nowhere since Fett never had real conflict with Jedi in the time he knew Han. But now I see it: Since the Rebellion was largely a Jedi's personal project (see TFU/Starkiller), disrupting the Rebellion had always been Fett's way of getting back at Windu and the Jedi! Once the Rebellion/New Republic was replaced by the GA, his job was done. Or was it?

OK, I'll admit that I'm really off-topic with this...

In regards to Bantam era Boba, the bounty hunter anthology always felt a bit too off anyway, so I guess it wasn't a stretch for KJA and RM to ignore the Fett story (which had the what, third EU origin for Boba? Plus the peace-with-Solo idea that seemed pretty fresh in TUF). Which is really funny in combination with IG-88's nonsensical story being woven into the third book with a wink and a smile and a wasn't that great. But hey, since everyone else ignored the idea of Boba and Han being too old to be truly useful... why not retcon the stand-off peace-with-Solo ending to 20 years after FOTJ or something like that? And have them shoot each other anyway?

 

Can't really answer the question about Zekk. I've been as negligent as you in regards to reading up on post-NJO books. The only thing that made Zekk stand out amongst the Jedi was his being involved in the love triangle that comprised of him, Jaina, and Jagged.

 

Week two - Diversity Alliance.

- The idea behind the Diversity Alliance is a big one, and it deals with something that's been fairly understated most of the time, IMO: humans feeling superiour to non-humans, most of all during the reign of the Empire. In response, the DA wants to rally every race except the humans. What do you think about the ramifications of this? Does it make all the non-human races look weak on their own? Does it make sense that you could build a movement that is basically an anti-Empire movement 20 years after Palpatine's death, especially when humans have proven to be a quite diverse lot themselves? Does the DA come across as a movement that could really cause trouble in the long run, or is it just a negliable minority that happens to get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction?

- Seeing how these books were intended for younger minds, do we have enough of a balance between the DA position that is basically black and white and the position of the YJK, which seems to embrace diversity without any fundamentalism? Do you feel that there's enough diversity on the hero side, or is Lowie kind of a token family dog?

- Oola's half-sister becoming a fundamentalist leader - here we go again with over-the-top movie connections. Seeing how Oola's demise is cited as being down to the Empire's stance on slavery and, in the end, the failures of humanity, does this ring true? Seeing how the Twi'Lek culture is, as the book reminds us, overly patriarchial, and how Oola was held and killed by Jabba?

- While the A-cast doesn't develop a lot, the B-cast of Zekk, Raynar and Raaba gets to do a lot more. Are you happy with how these diverge from the expectations to a SW main character, and how they have more to do than your average side character?

- The Thul family - how did you enjoy the idea of the ever-moving fleet as a hiding place? Is there a Galactica reference hidden in it, especially since the Thuls have been driven off their now-destroyed homeworld? Is Tyko too fishy to begin with, or is this simply to expect from a young readers book?

- And more Boba Fett... this time, he's giving Zekk "valuable advice" that's more or less just a personal moral code, in return for hints at finding the prize. Is it out of character for him to do so? Do you see Fett in this scene, or do you think that this must have been someone else, as the retcon had it turn out?

Plus anything anyone wants to talk about, of course.


On a side note, there's been rather little response to the first book. Is it because regular/on-and-off 181st participants have no time, don't have the books, or have no interest in the books? I'm interested in what books we should read in the future, and I wish to have as many people interested as possible.

 

I could understand something like this occurring during Palpatine?s reign, but in this time frame? I see the DA as a group of individuals who have allowed their hatred over what the Empire have done and how they have been treated by humans to consume them. Are they justified in feeling the hatred and feeling victimized? Yes. Considering how a good portion of the key leadership positions in the galaxy are being held by humans, they?re still feeling slighted. They want to see these injustices addressed, and they?re perfectly justified in that response. But it?s their prime motivator ? hatred ? that makes them a potential problem rather than a potential asset. I?d like to say more about this, but I want to wait until we get to the final book, since I think this topic might be more relevant in that novel.

I admit that there?s not a lot of diversity amongst the heroes. In fact, there?s a thread on the boards here that addresses that issue. However, while there seems to be plenty of diversity amongst the DA, there?s a black/white issue that you raised, and it?s due to the hatred the members feel.

While I can sympathize with Nolaa over the death of her sister, we have to consider how she got to be Jabba?s slave in the first place. It wasn?t the Empire who was responsible, but the Hutts and Bib Fortuna. I?ll address more about the Twi?leks and the DA next month. She grew bitter, and that fed into her hatred.

Considering what was set up in the previous novel, it?s no surprise that we get to see some development in Zekk?s and Raynar?s stories. As for Raaba, she started as a throw-away reference to Lowie?s past, yet here she suddenly showed up. Though considering what happened from this book onwards, her ?return from the dead? was essential for the plotline.

I think it might have started as a Galactica-type theme, but once the NR got a hold of Coruscant, they establishe

 

I don't normally post on these topics but I do like to read them.

One of the reasons this series isn't getting alot of attention is because it is a young adult franchise and I (and plenty of other sw fans, though I don't know enough to estimate an actual percentage) don't read young adult material. Also, it has KJA's name on the cover and that is rarely associated with quality...he has become one of the few authors I actively avoid when it comes to franchise tie ins. Finally, like JediAlly said, these are a bit harder to find than the typical EU novel.

 

The Diversity Alliance idea is always going to be somewhat clumsy, because it assumes that simply being "not X" is going to be enough common ground for everyone to come around together and rally to a common grievance. And while it's possible for such things to happen, that needs to executed well. The same basic idea has been executed two times before, at least, in the EU, and both times I think it was handled a little more sensibly. Stackpole's take on it in the X-wing books, with Asyr's Alien Combine, was a bit more logical placement for this kind of politicized group to be rallying together to act on its resentment, as it was a bunch of aliens who were being actively oppressed by the Empire at that time and shared a community as members of Invisec. Their cause was urgent and they already had common ground.

The other would be Borsk's anti-human grievance politics throughout his senatorial career and administration, which is simply an easy way to score political points, and naturally gets various senators to flock to the general position out of self-interest without requiring significant cooperation or organization. It finds its fullest expression in the early days of Borsk's administration, when he's trying to use it to rally support and, after at least sixty years of human administration of the galaxy (minus the very brief Puffers fill-in), there's a sense of logic to it as a basic "It's time for our turn" affirmative-action-style political position. It's just Borsk playing the race card.

The Diversity Alliance, on the other hand, requires essentially that Alien Combine-style cooperation toward a genuinely human-hostile agenda would develop fifteen years or so after the New Republic has eliminated Imperial oppression of nonhumans. Even with the idea that this is a longstanding grievance about disproportionate human dominance, the idea lacks the kind of urgency to make it really believable as a galactic threat, and its direction against the New Republic in general rather than directed at some kind of flagrant speciesism in specific just makes it more problematic. It's not that it's impossible that such a group could crop up, but that it's clumsily set up -- the idea that it was formed because Oola's sister was mad at her death is crowning idiocy, being as that it creates no possible realistic motivation or reflection on the actual targets of Tarkona's rage. That was all a matter of Hutts and Twi'leks and their longstanding slave trade; humans never came into the damn thing. The problem is also that the group isn't set up as a credible big threat, aside from acquiring a silly virus. Had it been handled as a problematic terrorist cell, the kind of little group that would make trouble in a time of peace and be worth stopping even without posing a galactic threat, it would have been much more credible. But setting it up as this big galactic thing that's somehow turned its resentment of the Empire, twenty years later, back around on the New Republic through an inconceivable shifting of the blame for Twi'lek slavery -- it's just inane.

That handling isn't improved by the clumsy way it deals with the issue of racism/speciesism. I'm fully behind the idea that the correct answer to racism is not hatred and resentment and reverse racism. However, the idea needs a mature handling and an intelligent response as to what the correct answer is, other than shrugging and saying that our heroes are mostly humans, and humans must be all right and it's wrong to attack humans. Which is what the EU's response has been pretty much every time the issue has been brought up. It would also help if there were actual aliens involved in the books somewhere. Lowie is basically the only alien at the Academy, and is certainly the only meaningful one. KJA's trying to ape the movie setup, pretty blatantly, with Jacen and Jaina as the new Luke and Leia, Lowie as the new Chewie, Zekk as the new Han, and then Tenel Ka thrown in to give Luke/Jacen a love interest this time around, since now everyone knows who's related. You've even got Em Teedee as the ne

 

Thanks for your contributions so far. Good reading to you, Sheperd492, maybe we'll spark your interest for discussion one day, but until then, it's nice to know we've got an audience.


JediAlly - perfectly fair point to address the DA only after all has been said and done by the books, so I'm looking forward to read your detailled thoughts later on. As for the "girl" question - one problem might be that it's perfectly clear that Jacen and Tenel are set up for each other, but what's more, Lightsabers already saw them closer than "just friends", and it didn't take the obvious romantic turn then (hey, you wouldn't have been able to play out the tension, would you?). So it's a bit weird to have both of them obviously interested, and even though brave Jacen might be too shy when it comes to his favourite girl - as evidenced by the immature joking bit - Tenel is enough of a strong female entity to have dragged him off to ice cream and the movies long ago. Teenage relationships don't normally start with a wedding, and no, I don't think the fact that they usually don't include almost getting killed once per month either should affect this.

I feel like a segue into Harry Potter from my side is overdue, as I'm currently in a kind of marathon to read those (one per month, already managed to sneak a two month gap in). First, the romances - as much as Rowling strives to get the teenage hormone insecurity confusion right, I can't help but feel like her romantic plots just hinge on someone suddenly being in love with somebody else, with no preparation whatsoever. It works better with the hero as it's always his POV and we get that he's totally insecure after he's seen that one beautiful girl that he's really digging, but with the others, I felt like everything came out of nowhere or forever stays in the realm of "let's just not talk about it". Same here in YJK - the romances are just there because. I was surprised that Jaina's longing for Zekk was so obvious in this arc, nearly as surprised that Jacen/Tenel is confirmed over and over again. The problem is, of course, that YJK doesn't really try to get into teenager's minds, so it's all just awkward and "let's better wait until we can marry".

Another thing, and this comes from Sheperd's input - how do we go about the fact that these are teenager books? I feel like they're somewhat important in that we get to know the Solo twins' generation, and the subsequent "serious" novels work better if we know that there is a generation in the wings that we already came to care about, no matter how bland their characterization might be. So, other than, say, Galaxy of Horror, isn't there a built-in interest in these books because it's the "main Skywalker/Solo story"? Furthermore, I must admit that I found the Potter books strangely gripping, especially when they're not hitting you repeatedly over the head with the frustration club. In comparison, YJK is run of the mill stuff that's hardly building up huge suspense in twenty/thirty-somethings (no matter how much we may have loved them when we were at the right age). What are the characteristics that tell you that this is a very simple book? And that maybe even a teen might be puzzled why everything gets repeated over and over again?


Havac - nail on the head. While re-reading the books I thought that it really works best if it's just some small sect-like thing that's collecting hillbilly blockheads and wide-eyed kids who never even got to know the Empire. And while it's theoretically for all kinds of non-humans, they don't have all non-humans on board yet. So it's not really a big deal because you always got some blockhead group that gets their 0.01% at a voting. Therefore, it's perfectly viable that the only people to bump into them are some comittee guy that only his family truly misses and some meddling kids that want to cheer up their new best friend, the guy's father. And all of a sudden, the hillbillies have a weapon of mass destruction, so a situation that would probably have been too boring for anyone above local law enforcem

 

As for Jacen and Tenel Ka - I admit that througout the first arc, the authors were trying to create the Han/Leia relationship for the next generation. And we have two attempts at that - Jacen/Tenel Ka and Jaina/Zekk. With Jaina/Zekk, we get to see from practically the beginning that those two clearly have feelings for one another. Jacen's attraction for Tenel Ka was a no-brainer. I bet when Han heard this, he's thinking, "He's taking after his old man. Heh, heh, heh, that's my boy!" As for Tenel Ka, we see her as the tough girl who's loyal to twins. She openly acknowledged the twins as friends in The Shadow Academy. In Lightsabers, we get to see that the tough girl was a mask, and that she did have emotions. It was only in Diversity Alliance that we saw the first signs that Tenel Ka's feelings for Jacen might be more than friendship. I'll get more into that as we get on with the books. Although I sometimes wonder where Jacen's sense of humor came from. I'm half convinced it's the result of some advice Han gave him towards getting girls to notice him. Obviously, the results aren't exactly what Jacen was hoping for, though considering what Han went through to get Leia to married him, it's much less painful and stressful.

BTW, I know we'll finish the Diversity Alliance arc next month, but has anything been settled for May? If not, why not just get the YJK finished by doing the Black Sun arc in May.

 

I admit that I've been in my teens myself when I read the first arc, so my memory may be a bit hazy, but from what I remember, I actually found it more obvious that Jacen and Tenel were about to be paired as Zekk was an early childhood friend of both twins - to me, that seemed to be beyond romance, as if Zekk was another brother (and I think EU eventually turned it out that way). Lightsabers showed that Jacen/Tenel were sharing something deeper, and even though much of that might have had to do with the hacking off of limbs, I felt like it was meant as a situation in which they could finally get closer as Tenel learned to let someone beyond her shell of bravery. But, hey, I can remember it wrong and, most of all, not have gotten it back then.

The joking as an immature attempt at Han's immaturity... yeah, that makes sense. Although I guess it wouldn't be Han's conscious advice but rather Jacen imitating his dad without really getting what his dad is on about.


I'd rather have something else in May as we'd get a better distinction between arcs 2 and 3. What's more, there's apparently not much interest in the series, so I guess it would only grow worse with an even later arc. We'll eventually do it (my first suggestion was july, but I'd probably move it even farther back), but right now, the schedule is up for guesses again, as we've got suggestions reaching from really old novels and adaptations to NJO books to Hard Contact, with lots of reasons why we shouldn't do one or the other. Bring more suggestions to the HQ thread and we'll try to work something out...

 

I love this series... but what happens later on in other series *COUGHLOTF* has dulled my interest.

I think it's great, natch. A lot better than it had to be and still pretty damned good. Although one thing that bugged me is Zekk... you don't have to go after any target. Hook up with law enforcement or something.

 

How will the upcoming move affect this month's and next month's discussions?

 

First of all, discussion for the third book will be cut short because I didn't manage to start it at the beginning of the weekend... but I'd say we'll just pick up next month where we leave it. We should be back in here in mid-april, right?

Which also leads me to the second point - i think april discussion should start mid-april in the new forum, which would be great because it's only two small books anyway. In that regard we're kind of lucky as there's not much discussion going on anyway - we won't be missing much in those weeks.

 

Cheesily using movie quotes, we must accelerate our plans! So, Delusions Of Grandeur.

- IG-88. Sort of. We get a cute nod to the infamous Death Star anecdote. So, what's the impact of having this new IG-88? I had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be all blown up by the time of the last book, and when I remembered I thought they'd have some backup copy plot handy. Having the droid reduced to a mere security appliance - what does that do to SW droid sentience theories? What does it do to the myth of the bounty hunters?

- Dengar! Finally, one of the big bounty hunters who is actually still himself, unless I missed a retcon. Does he come across in character from the little interactions he has with the plot?

- The title: it's obviously a cheesy play on the movie quote - Threepio telling Artoo that he can't save the Falcon, i.e. that he's "just a droid". Who in this story is trying to be more than he/she/it can? Or is it simply an utterly non-working joke on the droid factory plot?

- Raaba proves her strength. Is that due to the DA's pep talk, or did the time away from home help in other ways as well?

- Lusa is back, and boys staring at girls is a common activity at the Yavin Praxeum. How does she help Raynar's development? Is her brush with the DA and her lingering fear/hatred towards humans plausible, seeing how her saviours from Hethrir's clutches were the Solos, and Hethrir himself wasn't that human, even though the DA position would like to have you believe otherwise?

- Did you notice that this book is referebcing both the IG-88 Death Star story and Crystal Star?

 

Probably worth noting that it can be hard to nail down what exactly is "in character" for Dengar; in my experience, at least, he seems different in every source he's featured in.

Haven't read these yet... off-topic, but how do the Anakin-centric Junior Jedi Knight books compare?

 

Even more kid-appropriate (Anakin is younger in those than the twins are here), but I can't really give you any details anymore. Last three books are by Moesta, btw, so there's a bit of movie name dropping, like going to Vader's fortress to collect Kenobi's lightsaber. And a bit of obvious namesake angst - if grandfather Anakin did fall, will I too? - that really came across as somewhat mature for a kid's story.

If we get a lobby, we might do them next year - would love to re-read them.

 

I see you decided to get the discussions, however few they might be, in now, rather than wait for the move to end.

I am only vaguely aware of the IG-88/Death Star plotline. In one sense, I can understand the backup copy because it shows that the droid wishes to survive. Completely understandable. As for the droid sentience issue, it does look like it took a hit. But at the same time, IG-88 transferred his programming ? his essence ? from one body to another. It?s akin to how Palpatine transferred his essence from one clone body to another. When IG-88 transferred his programming, all that was left was an empty shell. And it was as if there was an open invitation for anyone who found it to take the shell and program it however he or she wants.

Don?t need to worry about a retcon. His brief appearance in TCW didn?t do anything. While I don?t know him as well as Boba Fett, I say he was in-character in this novel.

I don?t get the connection here. I do think, though, that the title of the novel was aimed more at the plans of the DA and perhaps Raaba. We now know what the DA is planning. And Raaba seems intent on recruiting Lowie to the DA. They both think they have grand plans. Are their plans deluded? I?ll get back to that next month when we discuss the final two novels.

Continuing with Raaba, when she failed to get the fibers for her belt, she was deeply discouraged. The DA helped her get her self-confidence back, so in that regard, the DA was beneficial. I?m wondering if, when she failed, she was also filled with anger. Anger towards her failure. Towards her failure to proving herself worthy of being with Lowie. Unfortunately, the DA didn?t help her deal with her anger. They simply redirected it. Again, from a certain point of view, what Tarkona and the others say is true. And their grievances are justified. That?s all I?ll say about that for now.

What I said about the DA probably redirecting Raaba?s hatred could also apply to Lusa. The only difference between the two was that Lusa had good memories of her friends, Jacen and Jaina. And those memories help her see the errors of her way. Raaba?s memories of Lowie and Sirra, on the other hand, didn?t help.

As for the boys staring at the girls, nice to see some normal teenage reactions going on. I also liked how Jacen felt a twinge of jealousy towards Raynar, believing he was eyeing Tenel Ka. Once Jacen learned Raynar was attracted to Lusa, he encouraged him. And Raynar was right in his descriptions of Jaina and Tenel

 

I thought we'd begin as early as possible and then return to the discussion in april. It does have the advantage that we're able to think about stuff we've heard and then elaborate on it (theoretical as this advantage is).

It's interesting that the delusions of grandeur title can refer to the DA itself, showing that they try to play in a league much bigger than their own. Although a devastating plague isn't really a delusion, is it... Not sure if it's coincidence that Raaba and Tyko fall into the pattern as well, as it's a pretty generic pattern. And somehow, if a KJA book goes for something that seems to be a movie quote, i'm always pretty sure that it is a movie quote. Seeing how there's a droid planet and a famous droid assassin in this, I feel like there needs to be a connection, but I can't find any that makes enough sense.