Author Analysis: Karen Traviss

Rule the First: BEHAVE. Act like adults and analyze the writing style and skill, not the person. Personal attacks are not cool and will get modly penalties, whether against an author or a fellow poster. NO BASHING AND NO GUSHING.

Previous Author Analyses:
Jan Strnad
John Jackson Miller
Ron Marz
Steven Barnes
Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl
L. Neil Smith
Jeremy Barlow
Dan Wallace
Alan Dean Foster
Paul and Hollace Davids
James Luceno
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!

 

I like her. So what if she like Mandos? The way she does it makes sense in the time periods she's written in. And I like that she approaches the Jedi without any preconceived notions as to their goodness. Sure, her books may be a bit lacking in action sequences, but there's room for all types in SW fiction.

 

Uh oh.



Anyway, I very much enjoy her writing. Not all books have to have lots of action. Hard Contact didn't have much action and she was treated like a goddess when that came out. She was somewhat overrated back then, and everyone couldn't wait for 000 to come out. Then all of a sudden (my guess is that it didn't live up to the overblown expectations of the fanboys), everyone hated her, and have not gone back since.

I'm one of the few that still likes her. Yes the mando stuff can get annoying at times, but every author has their pet characters, ships or concepts. She did a good job at writing Boba Fett IMO in Bloodlines, and is given way too much flack for the Mando stuff.

In other words she went from over-rated to under-rated

 

I personally like her writing style. She makes interesting characters and plots, and the epigraphs at the start of each chapter are a nice touch, too.

I really don't understand why she is so disliked by some, though. Sure, she overdoes the Mando stuff a bit, but like Kaje and ThrawnRocks said, every author has their pet characters, and the use of the Mandos in her stuff makes sense for the most part.

She's one of the few EU authors whose other stuff I've ever gotten around to reading, too.

 

She's a fairly good writer. Achilles heel? Mandos. Seriously, when Boba Fett was mentioned in the Vong War? I liked it. When he was a major player in Bloodlines, I hated it. Sacrifice will probably be about Boba doing something expectedly vile or unexpectedly heroic or both.

 

I like her usually. I loved Hard Contact, hated Triple Zero and thought Bloodlines was good barring the pointless Boba Fett inclusion.

 

Her writing's perfectly fine, but the Mandos, personally, annoy the heck out of me, particularly Boba. I liked Bloodlines except for the Boba Fett storyline, which I didn't care one iota for. For that reason, I'm not really looking forward to Sacrifice because I'm afraid Boba Fett will feature prominently yet again.

 

I've only read Bloodlines, but I do plan on reading both Republic Commando novels in the future. In the former, I thought that Traviss did an excellent job of writing from Ben's point of view, in that he was coming of age in an unfamiliar Universe. However, some of his reservations and uncertainties were rather bluntly stated a little too often. "Ben just didn't understand grownups" got a bit old, but the idea behind it was well-done. It brought back the Bear Clan mentality ("Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is") of Ben believing that everyone had ample reason to get along. His interactions with Barit Saiy were some of the most intriguing dialogue of the book. The same was true with Jacen --- great character development, but his worrying of following his grandfather's path a bit too bluntly stated a few too many times.

I felt that Fett was well-written, but that too much of the book was about him. I was also very distraught by Traviss contradicting previous Fett lore. For example, she had Fett muse that there had never been a rivalry between he and Han Solo. That contradicted pretty much all seventy pages of The Last One Standing. Fett hated Solo, with a burning passion, until they encountered eachother in 15 ABY. Heck, Fett found out where Solo was, and hunted him down, with no bounty- or money-induced motive --- he wanted to kill Han. I also love the line from said tale, where Leia is trying to get Fett to join the Alliance:

Leia: "You're just like Han."

Fett: "I am nothing like Han Solo."

That wasn't the only contradiction of previous works with Fett, either --- remember the scene in The Unifying Force where Han and Leia see Fett without his helmet, and Han swears he recognizes the man, but he can't remember where from? Well, it's said in Bloodlines that Fett ventures into public without his helmet for the first time in his adult life. OK, so maybe he didn't consider Caluula Station to be "public". But then it's stated that Han has never seen Fett without his helmet on.

It doesn't seem like it would have killed her to have read those few scenes from The Unifying Force. It also seemed like the large emphasis on Boba served to push characters such as Jaina to the side.

A unique feature of Bloodlines was that the narratives were very short. We were never with one character for more than a few pages, and though it was unique enough for me to take notice, it definitely wasn't a drawback, like it was in the Force Heretic trilogy, where the battle of Esfandia, due to being revisited for one page at a time for 300 pages, was the most long, drawn-out battle in EU history. It was a bit disorienting to see Jacen on Coruscant at the beginning of a chapter, and then at the Corellian blockade later in the chapter, though. And a consequence of the short narratives was the noticeable lack of scenery and situation description, as they were sacrificed for character musings and reveries. Character development was great in Bloodlines, and definitely seems to be like one of Traviss's greatest strengths.

 

Wasn't that from TUF or something? I could've sworn I heard about it before Bloodlines came out.

Anyways, I really like Traviss's writing. To varying degrees, I've enjoyed all of her stories.

Hard Contact was really good, but IMO Triple Zero and her two Omega Squad short stories were less compelling. Part of that is probably just generic sequel shortcomings; the characters and the whole clone commando thing are no longer new and exciting. Or maybe they simply weren't quite as good. But I still liked 'em, I'll buy True Colors when it comes out.

Bloodlines was good. The continuity issues are regrettable, but they didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. Really good characterization with Ben. I also liked Fett's inclusion; and I don't think it could be reasonably argued that his presence made less sense than Aurra Sing's in Tempest.

It also tied into Boba Fett: A Practical Man, her pre-Bloodlines e-book. That was actually my first literary encounter with the Vong, and it convincingly portrayed them as a threat. It was a Mando-fest, but that was anticipated. A bit more action than some of her stories.

However, I think her strongest work might be her two Vader short stories. I think she writes a very compelling Vader, and learning about cloning in the Imperial era was a big fanboy moment for me. Also, flamethrowers are great. I've got no complaints about her two insider articles either.

 

The implication would be that Han is remembering the Clone faces.

Oh, and yes, the idea that Boba wasn't really after Han for personal reasons comes from TUF.



I forgot about the Vader story in Insider. Very enjoyable. I should read that again.

 

Ah...well...um, she referenced Parmel. That's good, right?

 

She's a perfectly decent SW author. I never really understood why some people were so vocal in disliking her. So she has pet characters, so what? Stackpole has Corran Horn, Zahn has Mara Jade/Talon Karrde/Thrawn, Denning seems to have a thing for Killiks and Squibs, and so on. Personally, I really like the fact she is so excited about Mandalorians as it taught me more about something in SW that I knew little about beforehand.

 

Look, the Mandos are annoying, but it's not simply because they're Mandos-- it's because they're shoehorned in when, frankly, not welcome. When they're used in Knights of the Old Republic or, yes, even "A Practical Man," that's certainly expected-- though I may not care to read about them, they're not out of place. (As an aside, I am quite enjoying the Mandies in KotOR.)

When I pick up a book titled "Republic Commando," though, I expect to read a story involving Republic clones, not an exposé on the greatness of the modern Mandalorian.

And, yes, I do realize that other authors are guilty of similar character/element overusage. The issue is, for one, the fact that others did it is no excuse, and two, I've honestly yet to read another novel where such elements are so painfully out of place.

 

I'll do the good first. Traviss scatters little everyday details throughout her work, which I find interesting. It's hard to explain, but little tidbits like apartment buildings or business suits or any other of the tiny things in normal people's lives that a lot of works wouldn't mention. She also has good sounding dialogue and prose. Hard Contact was quite good too.

Now the bad: Traviss' writing has two major problems.

The first is her insistence on turning dialogue and plot into an essay on This is What Karen Traviss Thinks of Star Wars. She cheers at Order 66, so her characters can't talk enough about how horrible and ineffectual the Jedi Order is. She loves the Mandalorians, so just about every single character waxes poetic about how durned awesome they are. She likes the clones, and maybe that's why most pages of TZ remind us that they're just the most put-upon beings anywhere, and dontcha feel sorry for them? The hand of the author is felt very heavily. It's contrived, like the elements of the GFFA are little more than props being moved about to make a point. TZ felt that way a lot, as if instead of reading a story we were getting a dissertation with the characters as mouthpieces. And when Bloodlines had Ben think out of the blue how great it would be to be a Mandalorian...well, that's not the character, it's Karen Traviss talking through him.

And this isn't even getting into Odds, where Traviss actually tries to rewrite canon because it's not the way she thinks it should be. The plot itself is just a toy to attempt to change god knows how much canon in the most contrived, illogical, plot hole filled way possible. It's bad form all around: poor respect for continuity, poor respect for the universe, poor respect for the readers. And that brings me into the next major criticism, continuity.

Traviss, by her own admission, doesn't read Star Wars books. This is a problem. Star Wars is a shared universe, and if someone can't be bothered to read about the universe she's supposed to be writing in, then she probably shouldn't be writing there. I read an interview with Aaron Allston where he talks about doing a ton of research for Betrayal, and I have to wonder, how can you then have an author who does no reading of the fiction at all?

Now, to be fair, she says she reads the Holocron. Except the Holocron is the Cliff's Notes version of things. It's the large plot elements, the broad strokes; and, again to be fair, she usually doesn't miss things like that (except with Odds, though that was deliberate). But what she does miss are the details. A few details missed are easy to overlook, but a pattern of behavior on this just comes across as lazy. Whether it's not knowing that there's already a Mandalorian word for "brother" already, Boba Fett exposing his face for the first time to Han when he's done so already, Centerpoint Station flying around the Corellian system, the amazing disappearing Five Worlds government, or any number of assorted details that by themselves would be minor, but together paint a larger picture of just not caring, what she ends up with is something that seems like it should flow together, but just doesn't mesh on the basic level.

And then there's Ben. I really don't understand the talk about Ben's characterization being good in Bloodlines, because what I saw was a mangling. The Ben of Betrayal was respectful to his parents and, when he was confused and lost, went to them for help, and took and appreciated their advice. Days later, and suddenly he's resentful and withdrawn. And it's not even like the book indicates this is a change in personality; Bloodlines would have us believe he's always been like that. How can you reconcile the boy who sought his parents' advice on Toryaz Station with the one who thought "As if he would discuss anything with his father. He wasn't even comfortable discussing some things with his mother these days."? Which goes back to detail. My theory is that that little character moment wasn't in the Holocron, hence Traviss didn't rea

 

I understood that about TUF --- Han remembering the clone faces. But that doesn't change the fact that by the time of Bloodlines, it was his second time seeing Fett's face.

Is that really from TUF, though? Fett not hating Solo? Does anyone have a quote?

 

There was a Boba Fett story in Tales of the Bounty Hunters which talked about Fett no longer hating Solo and they both put down their weapons and walk away from each other. It was an amazing story, but I imagine it is completely invalidated now considering it features a now "alternate" backstory for Fett.

 

Here here. Thanks for the quote, too, and bonus points for including the yeep.

 

She does read the comics and has stated that she has read parts of the older books and scripts and such from the LoTF series. She usually added to the "doesn't read" statement that she doesn't retain the info she needs that way. She wants hard info on one plate, and her entertainment on another, and she does speak highly and often of the comic book work, which is rather surprising after that little non-tussle between Randy and Karen where Randy said something and some fans on his own board made him apologize for it.

And she has said she's in close contact with Denning and talks to Aaron as well as regular emails flying back and forth from Sue and Leland.

I think people have taken the whole "Doesn't read" thing waaay too far, and she's stated enough times WHY she doesn't read much fiction, if at all, and she has gone so far as to recommend graphic novels she has read and rescue a TALES story from Infinities so it was in canon and set up A PRACTICAL MAN.

None of that is to say you shouldn't think she should read every novel, or that you shouldn't think she should not be allowed in the SW authors pool, but it is to add a little context to that statement. It simply isn't as simple as it is made out to be.

The problem with TZ, I think, is that you had the two Mando instructors there, and you had the squads trying to "mando" up for them. The rank and file are seen doing the parade song they're ALL supposed to know, even if they may or may not understand it. It's their marching song from the game.

I like the Mando trainers because it allows the Mandos to become complicit in the Clone War again.

TZ suffers from having too many Mando characters and Mando inclined characters and Etain's personality is overwhelmed by their charge to do things their own way.

I think there are problems, but when something is brought to her attention or something from the past is mentioned she asks for references to it and finds out what or who it is and thinks on it.

If she were totally closed to the universe...well, one, she wouldn't be doing it, but two, you wouldn't see some of the touches she's TRYING to put in. And I think in the rush to judgement some of those things get either ignored or overblown; like the reference to the "Sing" look, which could have been a kid of my neice's generation describing someone with a mullet as a "Billy Ray" without ever hearing "Achy-Breaky Heart", especially in the circles they moved in. No big mystery, just a little joke and you would have thought she said the DS destroyed Yavin and captured Luke.

So...in closing...everyone has brought up valid points, but I do think that some are missing the more open aspects of her that were there and still are there, and the fact that she continues to educate herself in the EU in her own way.

 

In general, I'm very fond of Karen Traviss. She's one of the few EU authors to directly talk with fans even if she'll never grace these boards again.

Frankly, the issue of clone numbers has become too freaking large a deal for the fans. Odds was an attempt to settle the debate once and for all and it was approved by Lucasfilm. That should be the end of the story since it only soldified 'in character' what had already been published in Insider.

As for the rest of her stories, there's only three of them. Hard Contact remains my favorite of her stories because it's a nice little story that's somewhat similiar to 08th MS Team. We know the Jedi, Anakin, and all the big battles that are important. Hard Contact is a story about a battle that pretty much has no impact on the war whatsoever. It's dubious that the plague they stop would have actually worked or been able to be replicated to have sufficent impact on the war. More likely, the stormtrooper suits probably protect against things like that.

However, the CONTEXT of the story make it seem like its intensely important...because it is to the people involved.

Her Vader stories also are one of the only tales that takes the tact that I like about DV. The idea that the Dark Lord of the Sith is actually fairly well loved by his infantry and the men who AREN'T flag officers. That he's also an extremely capable military Captain.

Triple Zero I also enjoyed. This is partially because the book is just 'squicky' enough to remind you that the clones are not-nice people. I don't mind the idea that Jango was remaking the clones as Mandalorians. It's a little thick at times but there's a symmetry to the fact that the Mandalorians will always end up returning to their Sith masters. Plus, it reminds us how easily it is to slip into the Imperial mindset.

Her Bloodlines work had some serious bumps with Allston but was otherwise good in my opinion. I do note that she wrote Jacen as Saddam Hussein as opposed to a man that's falling to the Dark Side that was once a hero though.

 

Traviss is my favorite author for various reasons. These reasons are direct parallels to reasons why I don't like the vast majority of Star Wars authors. I'm not going to go to deep into these reasons because I spent five years of my adult life as student of the English language and literature. I have very high expectations and go point by point it'll take a long time and seem like I'm 'flaming' certain authors. I'd call it objective literary criticism, but the TOS would call it flaming. I value Triple Zero more than Hard Contact, so take from that what you will. I'm literary snob.

And I'm new and I don't want to piss a bunch of people off. Yet.

I will say this about Karen: I think she has an easier time writing men than women. Skirata, Vau, Jusik, and the individual all came across as sympathetic and well rounded people. I even felt bad when Hoken (sociopath though he was) died because I understood the kind of person he was. Most Star Wars villains are understood to be villains because of the inclusion of a red lightsaber. Hoken was a monster, but he was a multi-faceted monster.

Etain and Besany Wennen (the only two major female characters in the RC series) are fairly shallow characters. One's a homely tomboy and the other is defined by her 'dangerous' attractiveness. Mirta Gev is more filled out, but she is decidedly masculine. Karen seems to have a stronger grasp on the concept of 'fraternity'.

And I do think she is pushing the Mandalorians a pit much, but I have a theory that's Lucas Book's doing. Let's face it, when you become a Star Wars author you have to do what your paymaster tells you. Lucas Licensing has been building up the Mandalorians since the KotOR series, probably as a way attract to readers who gravitate towards anti-heroes. We would have seen a greater Mandalorian presence in the EU, Karen Traviss or not. Just be happy it was Karen.

It could have been Troy Denning. Jetpacks spewing efflux everywhere.

 

There's one.

 

Well, favorite Star Wars author. Neil Gaiman is my favorite all-around author.

 

The Holocron is clearly chock full of obscure stuff that the average reader or author isn't aware of; that's how Travvis is able to reference things like Fest and Glimmik. However, I'm less confident in its ability to capture things like characterization. Traviss's whole "I can figure out how a character ticks with just the basic outline of their biography" thing is a little worrisome, although I'm ok with the results so far.

 

I have to confess myself unimpressed. The prequel era is only vaguely attractive to me, and the Mandalorians seem to me to be little more than a tangent; thus I'm unlikely to have much interest in Traviss' books on the prequel era and the Mandalorians. My comments can only be based upon what I've read; Bloodlines.

Which was a problem, frankly. It wouldn't have been a problem as a standalone, but as the second part of an ongoing series, especially after the continuity-rich and well-researched Betrayal, it simply wasn't good enough imo. In Betrayal, precious little seemed to happen, and most of the characters conflicted with their previous renditions. And, what's worse, Betrayal wasn't a book that improved on reread; the problems just became more gaping. The speed with which Jacen gets to Corellia is bizarre, because in the time it takes someone to have a conversation he seems to get from one world to another. The character POVs didn't mesh at all with previous portrayals (see Ben's respect for his parents, cited earlier in this thread; or see Luke and Mara full-stop imo). Events in the previous book were mismanaged, and I have a theory as to why. I think that Traviss had probably only read a synopsis of the book, and assumed that the destruction of AniBot etc occurred during a massive battle at the end of Betrayal - hence her comments to the exterior of Centerpoint looking very different after what Ben and Jacen did to it, which doesn't match at all with Betrayal. The assumption that Centerpoint was sabotaged in a massive conflict at the end would make Traviss' writing work a bit better. But, of course, the assumption wasn't a valid one.

The Battle of Tralus wasn't referenced once. The political system shown in Betrayal was suborned to make Thrackan pretty much leader of the Five Worlds (of whom no mention was made). Geographically (or whatever the right term is), the entire blockade doesn't make a terrible amount of sense. Some of the dialogue is unclear; how is Jacen firing the first shots of the real war, after the invasion of Tralus by the GFFA and its subsequent retaking by the Corellians? No, I wasn't impressed with Bloodlines at all.

Surprisingly, however, there is one element which has improved with rereads; the non-mains. Specifically, Niathal and Boba. Both of these characters have improved considerably upon rereading the books, especially Niathal. However, on reread the plot with Ailyn (iirc that was her name) should have been transparently obvious when I read the book the first time - her name is explicitly stated several times, but I missed the catch. I suspect that was because I was finding those parts to be a diversion from the main plot.

All in all, Traviss is a competent writer, but not with characters who have previous characterisations. I suspect her tangential stories are superb, but they're uninteresting to me. Evidence so far is that she isn't so good with established characters. Oh, and the introducing of each chapter with quotes didn't work, especially with some quotes that could only be said later in the sequence of events - e.g. Cilghal's.