Author Analysis: Michael Reaves

This is the second of a series (see the first on Aaron Allstonhere): threads in which you can discuss and analyze the authors of Star Wars. Rational, intelligent discussion about the authors. No bashing allowed, but no gushing, either. Also, I don't want to hear "OMG, teh joiners suk!!111!!!!" in a Troy Denning thread, nor do I wish to hear "Stover is liek teh awsomist evar!!!11!!" -- I want actual legitimate analysis. If you can't contribute intelligently and constructively, I WILL refer you to the mods.

Sample topics for discussion: what are this author's strengths/weaknesses? Does he/she have a special niche in SW? Would you like to see this author write in SW again? If this author has an upcoming book, what do you expect from it? What are some common fan responses to this author, and are they justified? However, this will not be a speculation/discussion thread for their books, but an overall look at the author as an author.

Note that you're free to discuss any prior or future Reaves/Perry collaboration.

Go at it.

 

I'm interested to see what Death Star will be like; though I'm hoping it'll be more than just "Medstar III" with a battlestation background.

 

While Shadow Hunter showed a sound knowledge of SW material, the book suffered from serious and editorially inexcusable storyline and writing issues that completely destroy the reading worth of a potentially tasty elf.

 

The Medstars are the best books in SW. Full stop.

 

Right Kriffing On.

Both Perry and Reaves are some of the best of SW's authors and are criminally underused. The fact that they as a whole prefer to dance around the maincharacters and give us OCs that are interesting.

 

Medstar I rocked hard-core. Medstar II was . . . disappointing. It should have been one book, IMO. JH just felt like a couple more chapters at the end of BS stretched out to full book length. If they would've developed that new kid at all, that could have saved it.

I think Reaves is really good, though. He's one of the best for OCs out there IMO, just behind Allston and Zahn. He certainly knows how to tell a story, and I very much look forward to his new material. DR seems to have decided to add him to their "stable" with Denning, Stover, Traviss, Allston, and Luceno, which is a good thing.

 

Reaves is excellent- I was dubious when I first picked up 'Shadow Hunter', as it seemed to be all about Maul, but it was really good. The Medstar books are pretty good as well, though I'm not such a fan of Perry. I didn't like SOTE.

Reaves makes you really care about the characters- in Shadow Hunter, we knew to some extent that Lorn wouldn't survive but we wanted him to anyway (well, at least I did). Darsha's sacrifice was pretty powerful too.

 

Come on, folks. I know you care about Reaves more than this.

 

I find myself agreeing with Excellence, in regards to Shadow Hunter. It was a good book, with good characters and great insight into the workings of Coruscant. But the whole business of failing to contact the Jedi Temple, when you're on Coruscant, was pretty unbelievable, even by my loose standards.

 

I thought SH was a pretty good thriller and that Medstar was a good break from the status quo. I look forward to more from Reaves soon.

 

As most people can tell, there are two main types of Star Wars stories. Epic, Galaxy spanning, everyone live or die consequences is the first. The second is, while still important, more localized, less big characters, more character development etc. Both of these are good, which is one reason why I find Star Wars literature great, a mix of a lot of things. I think Reaves writes very well in the second type. I think they made a good choice on picking him to do the Death Star Novel, since it will probably be based to the build site, possibly the Maw, and Coruscant. I also bet there will be a bunch of new original characters, along with some old ones, like Bevel, etc. SH and the Medstar Duology were good, not much to say.

 

I couldn't put Shadow Hunter down. I want to say that I read it in one sitting, but it might have been two. Waiting hours ahead of time at the airport will really give you a chance to sit down and devour something awesome. I've enjoyed all his books so far, and I know that his new trilogy with Perry will be a thrill.

 

I only know Reaves from Medstar, and I didn't much care for those books. Although the two of them alone aren't enough to judge the guy, I'll go ahead and say he's not terrible, but he's far from my favorite.

 

How did the co-authoring go in Medstar? Who wrote what? It's hard to judge the writing to one person when it could've been the other. There's no guarantee your voice will stay the same each time. Though if Medstar had the same voice style as Shadow Hunter I can pick Michael out of a haystack. I'll never forget that style. Like Luceno, heavy technical words in simple sentences.

Why say the tergiversator Monchar is dead, as Maul reported to his cowled cackler, when you can say the traitor Monchar? You're not impressing anyone by being fancy, you know. There's and place for things. Still, the book had good and exotic SW material. It had promise. Gandalf had promise too, and for all the puffing he did it was more old age than exotic puffing, bah.

 

As a Swede, I find it rather amusing/confusing, that Reaves now and then uses Swedish. In Shadow Hunter he mentions the 'förräderi' (betrayal) stance, and in Medstar there's both the 'hustrufönster' (supposed to mean 'the woman in the window' but put that way it actually says 'wife window' - turning the word around to 'fönsterhustru' would be more appropriate) and 'djav'l' (I think it's spelled) as in 'better the djav'l you know'. The Swedish word for 'devil' is djävul...

Of course, this is of no great consequence, but I would really like to find out why Swedish - not the most well-known of languages, and only spoken by about ten or eleven million people in Sweden and Finland. Perhaps he's got an old dictionary lying around...

 

i had a similar experience with Shadow Hunter - as a real pageturner, i didn't want to put it down. great action, easily devourable. i think i finished the day i bought it.

the MedStars weren't as gripping, but had more intricate plots.

 

I very much enjoyed Shadow Hunter, but it is true that there are some things wrong with it. But, it was good for a book where you know everyone will die at the end. Reaves really fleshed out the characters, but I thought Obi-wan was thrown in there just so a more major character would be in it.

On Medstar, I thought the first book was excellent, the second not as much. Like he did in Shadow Hunter, he fleshed out the characters into very likable ones, and I was upset when Dr.Yant died. Intermezzo was pretty good though, and brought up an interesting moral dilemma.

I was looking forward to reading Coruscant Knights, but seeing as they have been pushed back...oh well...In a few years we can read them and Death Star. Hope they are as good as his others. Plus the fact that Nick Rostu will be in Knights is always a good thing, because I liked him in Shatterpoint.

 

Better Swedish than the utterly cliche greek and italian numerals.

 

I, personally, would suggest you read DM:SH, then. Better work than Medstar II ceratinly, and about equal to Medstar I. Anyway, it's quite good.

 

I would go as far to say that Shadow Hunter is the best Prequel Trilogy EU story going.

He captured Coruscant and opened it up like no other author, thats why the Coruscant Nights trilogy I am waiting for with baited breath.
I reread it recently, and couldn't help but see the blazing comparisons with Maul's and the Vong Warrior Caste's sense of honour in combat is almost identical. Lah Vs Maul is worth an infinities tale surely!

Woody Allen=Manhattan

Michael Reaves=Coruscant

 

Hmmm. Interesting point. He certainly did the Coruscant underworld well. I didn't think it was that great, but I'm sure he'll do good things with CN.

 

I'm an Urbanite and Coruscant lover, so don't mention the emotional pain of SBS.

Anakin's death blah! Coruscants death, heartwrenching. I was in a zombified state for 3 days.

 

Bump

 

Well, the nonstop starhopping seen in most Star Wars mediums makes us loose sight of the true enormity of planets. If you had to get to Singapore, Anchorage, or Paris with the lack of preparation and desperation the Shadow Hunter characters went through, it wouldn't really be a leisurely walk through the park. Not to say that they didn't have a relatively close proximity to the captiol and the Temple anyway, but Coruscant is more than just the area around the Jedi Temple and the Senate Chamber.

Reaves and Perry seem to obviously have a feel and taste for the seedier side of Star Wars and can portray it like no other (John Ostrander and Jan Duursema may rival them if this was trans-medium).

$5 says Jax Pavan's in Coruscant Nights.

 

The problem with Medstar was that most of the best characters died in the first one and were replaced by less interesting characters. For example Admiral Bleyd I was interested in reading about. His replacement wasn't interesting at all.