"A Disappointed Fluke" or "Star by Star...The Disappointing Book"

IMHO, I thought SbS was excellent. Upon the second reading, I understood a lot of the situations much more.

Jedi Strike Team: As was already mentioned, they were young because the Vong would suspect more out of adults than kiddies. And just because the Solos and Barabels were related respectively doesn't mean that that would hurt the mission. In reality, brothers have fought side by side in many past wars.

As to where they were, as far as I could tell, the Jedi never set foot on Myrkr.

Borsk Fey'lya: IMO this was clear when I actually liked Borsk after reading Rebirth. I've always liked him as a cunning politician, but Keyes showed Borsk's better side. I believe that if Borsk died any other way, then he would seem out of character.

My only real disappointment was that Anakin & Borsk died, yet fell to the Leto I syndrome, where they failed to take out Nom Anor or Tsavong Lah.

Eclipse: I would really have liked more info on this place. I'm still not sure where it is, or what exactly it is. I'm also not sure if it's evacuated and/or gone, now that the Vong have discovered it's location.

Also, the shift from Eclipse to Coruscant was unclear. I had to reread the scene a couple of times to understand where everyone was fighting.

Highlights:
I liked the new technology, including the Yuuzhandroids and shadow bombs. New military units like the Wild Knights and Saber Squadron were great. I was surprised to hear of all the reactivations after all the talk about that generation passing the torch. Finally, I believe that the ending left me wanting more just as much as a Wheel of Time book or Fellowship of the Ring.

Those are my opinions anyway.

 

They couldn't use the older jedi because it wouldn't have been believable to the Vong that they would be captured so easily, but aha! Young kids, jedi, but kids... they can be captured and duped. But I do think the whole Idea of a strike team was pretty insane no matter who or how many went.

 

The YV do have expierence with Lando. The first time the invasion fleet hit a major system was the Lando owned Dubrillion area.

Lando also owns the company that is making the new YVH droids and that's public as far as I can tell from the book. That takes away your thinking Lando is a nobody. That there were that many Jedi invovled was stupid too. If it was decided they needed kids then something along the lines of 4 or 5 teens and one adult (not a Master, someone in the general level of Skidder could work). I fail to see how anybody can buy the stupidity of the whole Strike team business.

 

I'll agree with you on the description of the Worldship infiltration. At one point I thought they were on the planet.

And Borsk should've survived. He's always been an excelent character. Howeve,r I wouldn't of wanted him to go out in any other way .

 

he runs a company that is fighting. Doesnt mean he will do anything. So if a company makes missiles, all others should watch the chairman, as he might be dangerous?


I fail to see how anybody can buy the stupidity of the whole Strike team business.

I feel to see how you cant understand it

 

Um, ignore my stuff then. I'm in a low tolerant mood.

 

Yes, the battles were very hard to follow, especially the chapter where Anakin died. Had to re-read it a few times, and I'm still not 100% sure what was going on.

Other than that, it was a great book, and all of your other complaints have been discussed here or in other threads, so I won't waste anyone's time

wk_sock

 

I respectfully disagree, Fluke. I thought that SbS was amazing, easily the best of the NJO to date and one could make the argument that it is the best of the entire EU. Although I didnt agree with Anakin's death, I understand why it was done. I also wasnt crazy about the strike team being all kids. I thought that was a bit farfecthed as well, but, again, storywise, I understand why it was done. I had no difficulty at all differentiating between the worldship and Mrkyr. I think that Mr Denning did a ggod job in that respect.

This book is great for many reasons, but mostly because it has had probably the most impact on the EU ever. The events in this book are earth shattering to say the least, and SbS had reinvigorated my love for this series. Thank you for a great read, Mr.Denning.

 

I fail to see how anybody can buy the stupidity of the whole strike team business.

I don't consider the strike team business as you put it stupid. I believe the strike team was neccessary in order to stop the attacks on the jedi by the voxyn. Maybe they could have planned it out better or figured out an escape route prior to boldly going forward with their plan and perhaps they could have used older, lesser known jedi but the strike team idea was not stupid. That's just my opinion of course.

 

While Star by Star is the best in the NJO (Which isn't saying much), it is far from the best in the EU.

 

I refuse to read that book..I know all the happens but I'm totally boycotting Anakin's death..first they kill Chewie an that was bad enough..i actualy cried..now they kill Anakin and Borsk..who's next? are they gonna kill Mara now?. I know they had their chance but hey mayb theyll do it anyways. Ooo lets kill off all the good people? Ugh! why couldnt it have been Jacen? or hey lets kill Lando!

*Note- sorry if u like jacen and u dont like anakin or think mara an chewie an borsk are cool an that they deserve to die..grr but im mad >o

 

First of all, I'd like to say that SBS did have some good points to it. And the fact that Denning was able to get me to actually start liking Anakin is a very good redeeming factor for him. I simply loathed Anakin throughout the series and could not believe how someone as young and as immature as he could be seen as a figurehead for the NJO. Yet people just like him because of his powers and how great he is in destroying things. Trust me when I say I'm not a very good fan of the Solo brats. You guys may flame for that, but it's my opinion and I maybe coming on a little too harsh in calling them brats, but my tolerance for them is wearing thin. I literally danced for joy when I heard about the spoiler for Anakin's death, but Denning's writing on his caracter was so well that I was instead, almost crying... well ok, I wasn't crying, I was just... not dancing.

Now to get on with the bad. I agree with Fluke on all accounts. Especially about the battle descriptions. I thought they were on Myrkr or something and was naturally confused about why they were able to use the Force. Heck I didn't even know that Jacen had killed the Voxyn Queen until someone mentioned it here at the Lit forum.

Now about the strike team. All three Solo kids signing on board? Bad idea. Especially when you see how well the mission turned out, Jaina's turn to the darkside and everything. Some may have argued that Jaina would still have turned to the darkside, true, but if she were elsewhere, amongst family like with Leia or Han or Luke, they'd probably have calmed her. Yet she was in the middle of battle, anger, adrenaline blinding her common sense.

Borsk's death. I liked the damn Bothan, but I understood they had to kill him. So no real comment there.

SBS is a good book, but I don't find myself reading it anytime soon. BP will always be my favourite NJO book.

 

I personally loved SBS. True, the world ship description reaked of confusion but I can look past that. The Coruscant invasion, Anakin's death, and Borrisk's heroic end only made the stakes higher in the series. I have loved the NJO books because they are breathing new life into the GFFA. You all have to admit that the whole "Empire vs Rebels" story was getting WAY old. The Vong are a welcome addition. I love the fact that I am actually fearing for the welfare of the characters. The books that have been coming out during the couple of years prior to the NJO were becoming very repetative and boring. That "bubble" that Han spoke about in the VP needed to be shattered.

 

I am almost to SBS. I am on Edge of Victory 1 right now. But from what I've heard, SBS is a great book. But I do agree that the Jedi Strike team should of been veterans, not young kids. Who in there righ mind would send in Jedi Kids to do a veteran Jedi's job? I know if Luke Skywalker wrote the book himself he would of sent the most veteran Jedi, including himself. What do you guys think?

 

You shouldn't judge this 'Strike Team' being youngsters before reading the book. There's a good reason for that.

 

Hey, go to the Haters' Community to rant with other people who hate this book and others you might hate or not hate. Not bashing, just let off some steam.

 

Also considering that some of these Kids are more powerful then the majority of the older ones, it's not too bad of an idea to send them. Granted that a few of them don't have all that much experiance.

Although the Solo Kids & Tahiri have got a fair bit of experience againts the Vong.

 

Star By Star was a really good book. The Jedi strike team was composed with the right people, Mr.Denning went through all the reasons for the choosing of the three Solo kids and anyway it was time they really are let go by their parents, they have sort of reached adulthood.... Even though the battle of Coruscant was really miffed but it would be hard to write about a whole lot of ships at once and the Jedi mission was a bit ambiguous on the point whether they were on the planet or not, I admit that I got lost to exactly where they were beacuse there were slaves and stuff and the idea seemed to be that there weren't slaves on the worldships

 

As for calling them "kids" ....

Luke and Leia were both 18 in Star Wars IV: A New Hope

Anakin was 9 and Amidala was 14 in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace

Anakin is 19 in Star Wars II: Attack Of The Clones

If they can be young in the films, why not the books?

Jacen & Jaina were 18 in SxS, and Anakin was 17. Not much difference from when the Rebel Alliance trusted Luke & Wedge to destroy the Death Star. A big difference from when Qui-Gon trusted Anakin to win the pod race, and trusted Amidala to lead them into battle on Naboo. And the Jedi Council trusts Anakin to protect Padme in AotC.

Age has nothing to do with it. It's all about experience!

wk

 

While I feel that Star by Star is incredible I also had problems with the whole "Voxyn mission"

It seemed like a foolish idea from the begining. I mean could the Shaper Master Yal Praath just reshape some more Voskyrs. Those Jedi's deaths seem a little pointless when you realize this. The mission should have been about them killing the creator of the Voxyn and destroying all the Yuuzhan Vong research on them.

My favorite parts weren't the Jedi mission anyway. It was the big Jedi Battle to save the Refugee ships. The WildKnightz stuff and the Fall of Coruscant.

And the Barabel Jedi, of course!