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

Lit A Cynical Walk Through the NJO

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Cynical_Ben, Aug 17, 2013.

  1. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    Considering that much of it takes place off-screen beyond general discussion about morality and the nature of the Force, IIRC, I'd say no.
     
  2. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Alternately:


    Jacen: You were my teacher! My friend ! You said you were a jedi!
    Vergere: Haven't you learned yet that everything I tell you is a lie?
     
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  3. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    Thanks
     
  4. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    I've been listening to the Star Wars soundtracks lately, namely a compiled saga suite (in order of release), and when I hit that Episode I - Episode II region, I'm more struck by nostalgia for the NJO series (which I listened to this music while reading) than I am by the prequels.

    I'm not sure whether this says more about the prequels, the NJO, or me.

    FWIW, there's certain tracks from the albums which aren't in the films that I consequently associate with media which featured them, e.g. the album version of Snowspeeder Rescue is used in the intro for Dark Force II: Jedi Knight, and the album version of the Ice Planet Hoth is used prominently in Shadows of the Empire.
     
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  5. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    Hm, the Traitor audio book is one of the best Star Wars experiences I've had. On one hand, Jonathan Davis' performance puts emphasis on things which I never noticed. On the other, it is abridged and I know the book so damn well I know every time something is missing. But I suppose that abridgement puts emphasis on certain things as well..

    Davis' Ganner makes me appreciate the character that much more. I'll elaborate when I get on a PC.
     
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  6. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    Illumination burst within [Ganner's] brain.
    In that instant, everything finally made sense. He understood what Jacen had been talking about. There was nothing to fear.
    He understood the power of being who he was. He didn't even really have to know who he was. He could decide.
    He could choose, and act.
    Suddenly, his life made sense. His life had been a story of pretending to be a hero. Well, he thought. Okay, then.
    His nausea had vanished. It wasn't even a memory. No more weakness. No more uncertainty. Doubt and fear had disappeared along with the nausea.
    He hefted Anakin's lightsaber.
    "We both lose unless" -- he spoke slowly -- "unless somebody doesn't let them in."
    "You have to play the hero," Jacen said sadly. "Even if it kills you."
    Ganner squeezed the blade to life, and stared at its sizzling purple shaft. Here was the weapon of a hero. A real hero. Not a playactor. Not a pretend-hero, like Ganner had always been. But this weapon was now in Ganner's hand.
    I don't have to be a real hero, he thought. A dazzling, old-Ganner, forget-the-consequences-and-have-some-fun smile dawned on his face. He shook himself and years fell from his shoulders; his eyes lit up, sparking like arc gaps in the red-lit gloom. He felt shiny as a war droid and twice as tough.
    I don't have to be a hero, he thought in silent wonder. All I have to do is pretend.
    "Like I said, I'm just the sidekick here," he said carelessly. "My job is to make sure the real hero lives long enough to do his. That whole `needing to be a hero' thing has always been my greatest weakness."
    Jacen stared at him, into him, through him, as though he knew him to his very core, and he nodded. "But you should know that it can also be your greatest strength. Give yourself permission to use that strength, Ganner. You'll need it. "
    "Yeah." Ganner looked into the lightsaber's blade as though his future could be read in its amethyst shaft. He grinned at what he saw. "You know, I never liked you, Jacen. I thought you were soft. Wishy-washy. An overintellectual bleeding heart."
    "I never liked you either." Ganner looked up to find Jacen answering his grin with a gentle, knowing smile. "I thought you were nothing but a grandstander. A playacting glory hunter, more concerned with looking good than with doing good."
    Ganner laughed out loud. "You were right."
    "So were you." Jacen held out his hand. "So: here's our chance to show the Yuuzhan Vong what a grandstander and a bleeding heart can do."
    Ganner took Jacen's hand and gripped it fiercely. "It'll be a show they'll never forget."


    This scene, with accompanying music, is pretty epicly read by Jonathan Davis. His Ganner is very much like his Hiro Protagonist, and it fits the character and makes me like him even more than I already did. He imbues him with a sense of empty bravado.

    Edit: Gee, went to a lot of wasted effort. Though I suppose it illustrates what abridgement does to the book.
     
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  7. Revanfan1

    Revanfan1 Force Ghost star 6

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    Jun 3, 2013
    Listening to that was awesome, but it sort of made me mad that they cut out that much greatness. Especially:

    "You know, I never liked you, Jacen. I thought you were soft. Wishy-washy. An overintellectual bleeding heart."
    "I never liked you either." Ganner looked up to find Jacen answering his grin with a gentle, knowing smile. "I thought you were nothing but a grandstander. A playacting glory hunter, more concerned with looking good than with doing good."
    Ganner laughed out loud. "You were right."
    "So were you." Jacen held out his hand. "So: here's our chance to show the Yuuzhan Vong what a grandstander and a bleeding heart can do."

    That is one of my favorite exchanges. Why, why would they leave that out? And I may have missed it, but they also left out my favorite part during the Ganner fight, where is says something to the effect of:

    He is rising.

    It gave me chills reading it and I didn't hear it in the audio version, which annoyed me. Despite that, the narrator did an amazing job with everything and the sound effects really brought it alive for me. I was a bit disappointed that I've been pronouncing "Vergere" and "Nom" all along, though, and even sort-of mispronouncing "Yuuzhan."
     
  8. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    "Well. Okay then."

    I was mostly disappointed that my signature had the final sentence of the first line and the second line excised.
     
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  9. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jun 16, 2007
    Lol why would you abridge a 200-page book
     
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  10. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    Because novels like the Bane trilogy by Karpyshyn need to be unabridged, and books like Shadows of Mindor don't even get an audio book.

    Real answer: I don't think they started releasing unabridged SW audio books until after the NJO ended. I could be wrong. But the fact that they never did the series unabridged is a crime.

    They'd probably have filled it with tonally inappropriate music from ROTS like they did in the FOTJ audio books anyway.
     
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  11. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

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    Sep 2, 2012
    The audio version of SBS doesn't have the battle of Coruscant does it? That's just horrible.
     
  12. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    I dunno, I wouldn't listen to that audio book anyway.

    That is a book that basically couldn't be produced unabridged though. I shudder to imagine how badly the pacing would translate to that format.
     
  13. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

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    Aug 12, 2013
    Unabridged it would be like, five hours long, though, right?
     
  14. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

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    Sep 2, 2012
    Longer I would think.

    But worth it.
     
  15. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    Uhh abridged Traitor is nearly four hours.

    Unabridged SBS would probably be at least 20 hours.

    Edit: Or do you mean the battle of Coruscant? How many pages is it?

    Cryptonomicon, which is 1168 pages in paperback, is over 40 hours in audio book. I think SBS would probably be 30.
     
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  16. Grievousdude

    Grievousdude Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jan 27, 2013
    I'm reading The Unifying Force at the moment. Started the series a few years ago and have been buying a few books at a time and reading then taking a break. Once I read Traitor though I just had to buy the last few books and finish it. Traitor, Destiny's Way, Remnant and Final Prophecy I loved. Refugee was a slog to get through and was just a pointless book and Reunion was good but felt a bit slow at times. The Unifying Force is great so far. I'm about halfway through it and can't wait to see how the end of the long series plays out.
     
  17. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    And?
     
  18. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

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    Jul 19, 1999
    Unabridged audio books have only really been appearing for the last few years, say the last decade at most as they are fairly major undertakings. Advances in digital media have also helped,where someone would have to buy a 10 CD set they can now download a massive MP3 instead.
     
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  19. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    Yeah I think it was around the past five years even that we really saw unabridged SW. LOTF was abridged I'm pretty sure. FOTJ was the first series that was done unabridged.
     
  20. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    So since there's not a lot of interesting conversation going on about actual Star Wars stories, let's talk about Traitor because why not it's the best damn Star Wars novel

    The novel has three POV characters: Jacen, Nom Anor, and Ganner, and never goes into Vergere's head. In the third act, the novel switches from primarily Jacen to Ganner, and Jacen takes on the role of Vergere -- whom Ganner never meets once in the novel. Ganner, and the reader, can only guess at Jacen's motives as a consequence. I might argue this is intended to suggest to the reader they go back and look at the first two acts.

    Of particularly note, however, is when Nom Anor interacts with Vergere at the climax -- early on in the novel, Vergere asks Jacen if he believes she hasn't undergone the same treatment, and concurrent to Vergere and Nom Anor's scenes, Jacen is pouring absolute empathy and perfect compassion into the hollow in his center. During the scenes with Nom Anor and Vergere, more than once, Vergere responds to what Nom Anor is thinking. Are we to infer that Vergere has achieved Vongsense through similar means as Jacen?
     
  21. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

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    Sep 2, 2012
  22. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jun 16, 2007
    Lol remember when Vergere left Nom Anor facing certain death at the end of Traitor and then at the beginning of Destiny's Way he was back to just going about business as usual?

    Still not sure why everyone lists DW as one of the best NJO books.
     
  23. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Because Ackbar.

    (I actually did like the book.)
     
  24. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

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    Feb 17, 2004
    I think DW is pretty good tbh. Jacen has snacks in it.
     
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  25. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jun 16, 2007
    I don't really remember liking anything about it except the Ackbar stuff tbh. I remember several things that annoyed me though.