Lit All Time Lit Forum Review Rankings

I'm really surprised that McDowell didn't fair better, considering that I just re-read his books. I'd say "we" as a fan community have underrated his work. Still, I find the list of interest, and I do think the individual scores are representive of these boards. Nice job .

Edit: Oops. Invincible is on there

 

correcting my correction of a correction.

please continue.

 

Thanks Chiss Man. Hmm. I had no idea Starfighters of Adumar rated so high. That's the one I haven't read. It's the best?? I hadn't bothered with it for some reason.
Sorry, did I miss the Han Solo Trilogy in there?

 

WOW...good catch.

I wonder if they got reviewed...surely they must have at some juncture.

 

Not in the old review forum it seems.

 

I find it striking that Solo Command is so near the top of the list. I'll have to reread that at some point. I read it once quite some time ago and I did enjoy it, but it's been at least five years, and so I don't remember my response to it (though I remember the plot relatively well).

 

Wraith Squadron, Solo Command, Iron Fist...it's all blended together in my brain.

It's kind of the same with Rouge, Wedge's Gamble, KT and Bacta War...but there are some definite points that make those books distinct.

I couldn't in good conscience read any one of these without reading the rest in turn...it would be a wasted effort on my part to not get the full experience.

 

I must mention the fact that it is a relative estimation on my part when I combined the "new" scores from the review threads here and the scores from the old Review Forum. I figure though that the numbers are relatively close enough to where they would be anyway had they been given proper reviews here, instead of the old poll method. Also, I don't *think* Han Solo Trilogy was in the old forum, I remember doing a rather extensive look at that forum to make sure I represented things right.

 

Books that didn't have threads in the Lit review forum:

The Han Solo Trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, Rebel Dawn)
The Bounty Hunter Wars (The Mandalorian Armor, Slave Ship, Hard Merchandise)
The Approaching Storm
The Five Anthologies (Mos Eisley, Bounty Hunter, Jabba's Palace, Empire, New Republic)

 

Thanks for the updates Chiss_Man!

 

No prob, I like using this for reference at times as well. I had been meaning to do it for a while, but I had to wait till I had no life again.

 

Interesting that the series is getting worse internally chronologically, and overall from a publishing release schedule:

* 7.90 - The New Jedi Order
* 7.56 - Dark Nest
* 7.54 - Legacy of the Force

Hopefully the next series, Fate of the Jedi, does not continue this trend.

chiss_man, you have done a great job so far devising averages per series. Could you also put together a list per era, ie: New Republic era, eg: Truce at Bakura - Vision of the Future

 

Interesting. Nice work.

But to make a claim that series are progressively getting worse, you'd need more information.

Standard deviation would be a really good one, especially for the LOTF series--scores for the books seemed all over the place, so the standard deviation would probably be pretty high, which is not a good thing as far as making claims go (I think...these are guesses since I haven't computed anything).

Also, the most you could claim is that people who gave ratings for SW books on the TFN forums have progressively rated recent series as having lower overall averages (I would add slightly lower, but that's me).

I have programs that could quickly compute this stuff if anyone is interested.

 

I'm curious as to why in the case of trilogies or short series, the first books tends to be the highest rated, with a relatively steep decline following.

Is this a case of people getting excited about the possibilities presented in the opening act, and then disappointed that their idea didn't pan out?

I mean, the notable exception appears to be the X-wing series, with 2 of the books towards the end of the series being rated highly...why do they buck the trend.

I am seriously perplexed by this, especially given the nature of tying books together...if you truly are reviewing each book on it's merits, then you must ignore the nature of tying one book to another, which is often what I hear so many criticize when it comes to these series...but if you are going ahead and incorporating the "series" into the logic of your review score, then shouldn't the score you gave for the previous books hold significant weight in your judgment? Especially in the case of single author series...the deviation from mean is not significant in the writing...can it really be so in the review?

Are there substantially more scores for the 'first' book because many people read book one and then quit the series? wouldn't that bring down the score in comparison to the lesser reviewed, more "dedicated to the series" readers.

curious.

 

Great points that also have to be taken into consideration!

 

Statistics

Ratings: Invincible

N 106

Mean 7.0499
Median 7.5000
Mode 9.00
Std. Deviation 2.29222
Variance 5.254

Range 9.00
Minimum 1.00
Maximum 10.00
Sum 747.29



Rating Frequency Percent
1 -- 2 -- 1.9
2 -- 4 -- 3.8
2.5 -- 3 -- 2.8
3 -- 2 -- 1.9
4 -- 4 -- 3.8
5 -- 7 -- 6.6
5.2 -- 1 -- .9
5.5 -- 2 -- 1.9
6 -- 6 -- 5.7
6.7 -- 1 -- .9
6.75 -- 1 --- .9
7 -- 11 -- 10.4
7.25 -- 1 -- .9
7.4 -- 1 -- .9
7.5 -- 5 -- 4.7
8 -- 6 -- 5.7
8.5 -- 11 -- 10.4
8.6 -- 2 -- 1.9
8.8 -- 1 -- .9
8.86 -- 1 -- .9
8.98 -- 1 -- .9
9 -- 14 -- 13.2
9.5 -- 3 -- 2.8
9.6 -- 1 -- .9
9.75 -- 1 -- .9
9.9 -- 2 -- 1.9
9.99 -- 1 -- .9
10 -- 5 -- 4.7
Total -- 106 -- 100.0


So I ran an additional descriptive analysis of the ratings for Invincible. I had slightly different numbers than Havoc, but this extra numeric information gives a bigger picture.

The Mode is interesting. So are the frequencies.

 

Adding Milennium Falcom

http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/29330966/p1/?42

7.31

 

Adding Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/29632590/p2/?74

9.11

 

4.18 Children of the Jedi (Hambly)
3.81 Planet of Twlight (Hambly)

Out of 170 SW books I own, these are the only two that I have not read. I just can't get past the first chapters.

 

How did you get through The Crystal Star?

 

To be honest, only Star Wars book(s) I haven't been able to get through were the Bounty Hunter trilogy. Think I got halfway through the second.

I actually didn't mind Planet of Twilight that much. But I hated Children of the Jedi (especially the first half), and The Crystal Star.

EDIT: Now that I mention it, I notice that none of those Bounty Hunter books are listed. Were they never reviewed? What other novels are not on this list?

 

Not sure about the Bounty Hunter Wars review threads if they exist or not ... perhaps we should create them?

 

Given that, I'm going to think about and possibly launch a retrospective review of each of those, given that they never got reviews.

 

There needs to be a re-launching of reviews for some of the pre-2002 books. Maybe a "Retro Review Forum" covering a different book each month or every couple of weeks or so. BFC must score higher! Sorry, I try to spread the love of Black Fleet everywhere I go.

 

Seeing that this hasn't been updated for some time.

Master List:

9.52 EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH (Stover)
9.32 X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar (Allston)
9.26 Republic Commando: Hard Contact (Traviss)
9.20 Heir to the Empire (Zahn)
9.19 X-Wing: Solo Command (Allston)
9.18 Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream (Allston)
9.13 The Unifying Force (Luceno)
9.12 Outbound Flight (Zahn)
9.09 Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (Stover)
9.04 Dark Force Rising (Zahn)
9.03 LABYRINTH OF EVIL (Luceno)
8.96 YODA: DARK RENDEZVOUS (Stewart)
8.92 Traitor (Stover)
8.91 X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (Allston)
8.90 Star by Star (Denning)
8.89 Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (Reaves)
8.84 I, Jedi (Stackpole)
8.79 Shatterpoint (Stover)
8.79 X-Wing: Iron Fist (Allston)
8.78 X-Wing: Rogue Squadron (Stackpole)
8.73 Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas)
8.71 The Han Solo Adventures (Daley)
8.70 The Last Command (Zahn)
8.65 Tatooine Ghost (Denning)
8.64 X-Wing: The Bacta War (Stackpole)
8.63 Legacy of the Force VI: Inferno (Denning)
8.60 Cloak of Deception (Luceno)
8.59 Specter of the Past (Zahn)
8.57 Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight (Reaves)
8.56 Vision of the Future (Zahn)
8.49 Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Brooks)
8.48 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Kahn)
8.48 Republic Commando: True Colors (Traviss)
8.46 Edge of Victory I: Conquest (Keyes)
8.45 X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble (Stackpole)
8.43 Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (Allston)
8.43 Republic Commando: Triple Zero (Traviss)
8.38 Dark Tide II: Ruin (Stackpole)
8.36 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Glut)
8.27 Legacy of the Force I: Betrayal (Allston)
8.27 X-Wing: The Krytos Trap (Stackpole)
8.25 Legacy of the Force VII: Fury (Allston)
8.21 Shadows of the Empire (Perry)
8.20 Survivor's Quest (Zahn)
8.14 MEDSTAR I: BATTLE SURGEONS (Reaves, Perry)
8.12 Destiny's Way (W. J. Williams)
8.09 Dark Tide I: Onslaught (Stackpole)
8.07 Dark Nest I: The Joiner King (Denning)
8.05 Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Luceno)
8.05 Force Heretic I: Remnant (S. Williams, Dix)
8.05 The Clone Wars: Wild Space (Miller)
8.03 Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Salvatore)
7.90 Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen (Denning)
7.89 X-Wing: Isard's Revenge (Stackpole)
7.84 The Final Prophecy (Keyes)
7.82 Legacy of the Force IV: Exile (Allston)
7.80 Legacy of the Force III: Tempest (Denning)
7.76 Vector Prime (Salvatore)
7.73 The Clone Wars (Traviss)
7.72 Legacy of the Force II: Bloodlines (Traviss)
7.70 MEDSTAR II: JEDI HEALER (Reaves, Perry)
7.67 The Lando Calrissian Adventures (Smith)
7.63 The Cestus Deception (Barnes)
7.62 Coruscant Nights II: Streets of Shadows (Reaves)
7.56 Force Heretic II: Refugee (S. Williams, Dix)
7.42 Force Heretic III: Reunion (S. Williams, Dix)
7.38 Edge of Victory II: Rebirth (Keyes)
7.30 Darth Bane: Rule of Two (Karpyshyn)
7.26 Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (Karpyshyn)
7.26 Republic Commando: Order 66
7.20 Death Star (Perry/Reaves)
7.17 Millennium Falcon (Luceno)
7.05 Legacy of the Force V: Sacrifice (Traviss)
7.00 Legacy of the Force IX: Invincible (Denning)
6.96 The Courtship of Princess Leia (Wolverton)
6.96 Jedi Search (Anderson)
6.90 Tyrant's Test (Kube-McDowell)
6.87 Showdown at Centerpoint (Allen)
6.81 Ambush at Corellia (Allen)
6.72 Allegiance (Zahn)
6.72 Assualt at Selonia (Allen)
6.72 Dark Nest III: The Swarm War (Denning)
6.70 Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial (Luceno)
6.70 Dark Journey (Cunningham)
6.64 Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse (Luceno)
6.63 Before the Storm (Kube-McDowell)
6.62 The Truce at Bakura (Tyers)
6.60 Champions of the Force (Anderson)
6.60 Rogue Planet (Bear)
6.50 Balance Point (Tyers)
6.29 The New Rebellion (Rusch)
6.28 Dark Apprentice (Anderson)
6.27 The Force Unleashed (Williams)
6.13 JEDI TRIAL (Sherman, Cragg)
5.97 Darksaber (Anderson)
5.95 Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (Whitney-Robinson)
5.79 Shield of Lies (Kube-McDowell)
5.35 Legacy of the Force VIII: Revelation (Traviss)
5.20 Splinter of the Mind's Eye (Foster)
4.18 Children of the Jedi (Hambly)
3.81 Planet of Twlight (Hambly)
3.04 The Crystal Star (McIntyre)

Breakdowns by series:

Legacy of t