FF:WA Novels and Comics

Post reviews and share your thoughts here about Star Wars and other novels and comics.

 

Why don't you start us off then Daniel.

 

Well I'm actually looking for comic stores in Perth but I don't have a Perth phone book down here. Does anyone know of any that sell Star Wars comic books?

 

Quality Comics is the best comic store I know of in Perth. They're located at 872 Hay Street (somewhere between His Majesty's Theatre and 78 Records, its downstairs but theirs a sign pointing it out).

They've got a good range of comics there including all the current Star Wars ones, they've also got some back issues and older trade paperbacks too.

 

Thanks Dingbat. Do they have a website?

 

Not that I know of. Their phone number is 9321 2168 if you want to contact them though.

 

www.qualitycomics.com.au

I found it interesting in that the NJO has tied in with stuff that is set post episode 1 ie Rogue Planet. Without going into spoilers anyone who has read any of the NJO and RP will know what/who I'm on about.

 

Thanks for the information about Quality Comics

Well while I was in Sydney I bought the Thrawn Trilogy. I'm up to Chapter 21 in Heir to the Empire and it's going really well so far. I now know why many Star Wars fans swear by these novels

 

Quality comics do have some good stuff JD, if you head up this way I strongly suggest a visit.

Hope you enjoy the Thrawn trilogy, I must say it is one of my favourite series, think I have read them half adozen times since relase.

I think I know what you mean Griz, about RP. I have only read a couple of the NJO books, so I could be wrong.

 

Has anyone read the novel called Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson? If so, please tell me what you think.

 

it;s not a starwars book...but i really like it!

Dune by Frank Herbert,

i can't give you a review, coz i'm still reading it, but i think it's really good

 

Dune's damn impressive. I keep rereading it every few months or so, and every time I do I realise that is was a hopeless enterprise to even try and squeeze the entire novel into a two-hour movie. I've had some bad reviews of the TV series, so I haven't watched that, but then I'd recommend a book over its TV adaptation anytime...

The original Star Wars novelisation, nominally by George Lucas but actually ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, is actually not bad. If you can put aside Obi-Wan's reference to a duck at one point, it has a nice feel to it and a very quirky way of looking at the SW universe. Foster's actually not bad at novelisations...we were fortunate enough to have him write the first three novelisations of the "Alien/s" series, and his style in those books meshes *perfectly* with the atmosphere of the movies, IMHHO. And I've always found it a joy that because he wrote three, some images (such as "x number of dreamers" at the beginning of the novels) echo between the novels. Nice.

In terms of original sci-fi, I recommend a little book called "The Legacy of Heorot" by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and ... one other guy whose name I can't remember. In the vein of Aliens without copying it; literate; several interesting characters; and classical references to Beowulf. If you can find it, read it.

Dragonsdawn and All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey are also pretty cool, though you might have to go read Dragonflight before you get into those. Dragonsdawn's also about colonisation.

In that vein, I've always been meaning to get back to Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" series. Guess I was too young and easily bored when I last tried them.

Rather enjoyed Greg Bear's "The Forge of God". Good if you're in the mood for the destruction of the earth.

Oh, but let me ask you this: can *anyone* beat ENDER'S GAME???? That would have to be one of the best sci-fi novels I've read...


Some thoughts,
Saintheart

 

i thought that the TV mini-series was very good indeed!

it's about 3 times the size of David Lynches movie, and i thought it was much better! However some of the effects aren't up to movie standard, but that doesn't really matter.

I really love it! i think it's great, and recommend it to Dune fans.

The only place where i know u can borrow it is at VideoEzy in Scarborough, but i have then all out atm, so u might have to wait!

I ignore critics. everything i like ,they hate, so i ignore them

 

Blockbuster in Nedlands had them, too, last time I looked...

And I must admit, when it comes to Dune, that if nothing else the movie (or, I imagine, the TV series) does form a useful summary to orient yourself by...BTW, I'll go out on a limb and suggest the casting for the movie was pretty good...Kyle MacLachlan's what I had in mind (if a little old) for Paul Atreides, and Sting as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen ... well, I didn't have any other image of Feyd when I was reading it properly. He fitted it too well.

On SW books, the Thrawn Trilogy is, for me, the best...but I will rate Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future a close second. It (I think you have to approach them as one volume) manages to convey the sheer size of the galaxy; it brings two characters together (don't want to spoil it for anyone); and the book seems even more sophisticated than the Thrawn Trilogy in its writing, if that makes any sense. Okay, okay, it's missing one important character which does flaw it, but at least Zahn stuck to his guns and didn't resort to a Dark Horse "clone solution" to that particular character's demise (Jedi Daniel: all will become clear in due course. )

Bearing the Thrawn Trilogy in mind, can I ask this question: are Rogue Planet or Dark Conspiracy really worth the read, or are they just *shudder* potboiler novels that give us no real insights into the characters?

Just on sci-fi/fantasy (since SW can be accused of both ) -- I've been reading George Martin's "A Game of Thrones". Good stuff. Large cast (perhaps its only weakness) and an involved plot in a well-realised world. Recommend it.

Leafing through text,
Saintheart

 

Yeah I've borrowed all the Dune books so far off my uncle. Going to read them after I've read the Thrawn Trilogy

I've seen the Dune mini series on FOXTEL at the start of this year and thought it was quite good. I haven't seen the 1982 movie though. Children of Dune mini series comes out next year.

 

CHILDREN OF DUNE MINI-SERIES?

IS IT BY THE SAME PEOPLE? WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE

OH BOY OH BOY!

 

I think the Dune min-series was far better than the movie. When the movie came out it was a hige disappointment for me, even though I wasn't all that old at the time. The mini-series followed the story far better (though they still couldn't seem to resist the urge to embellish it) and I thought the casting was far more true to the book. And the fremen actually fought rather than the poor excuse for weirding ways in the movie.
As for Starwars books, The Timothy Zahn books rate far above the rest in my opinion. Some of the others I also thougth were very good were Shadows of the Empire and Ann Crispin's Han Solo trilogy. Most of the other ones I've read were reasonable but didn't grab me enough to make me want to read more. They tend to be a bit far fetched for my liking.

 

they couldn't resist to embellish it?(the dune mini-series)

what do you mean?

 

monkey_abbot, for more information about the Children of Dune mini series head over to Sci-Fi Channels Children of Dune Website

 

Soneil: All right, I'll concede the weirding modules were a bit hokey...the script was written by Frank Herbert anyway, wasn't it? Guess he couldn't explain the Fremen's unmatched fighting abilities any way other than technology Guess I'm biased because I saw the movie before I touched the book.

Shadows of the Empire was worth reading for the one scene with Luke on the tightrope. Rest of the novel...ehhh.

 

I've read Enders Game and I have to agree it is one of the best books I have ever read.

Has anyone here read the Prelude to Dune series ? I am about half way through the first one, a very good read.

For those who thought the original Dune was somewhat lacking, I read somewhere that the directors cut is to be released soon. It's 3 hours instead of 2. I can't wait as I have the original and the mini series on dvd.

 

Jedi-Aztek: I think I've seen that version of Dune...it's been out for a while, if we're thinking of the same one. I should correct myself, though; I saw the first half hour of this version before I turned it off for fear of falling asleep. And normally a director's cut has me on the edge of my seat looking for deleted scenes They restored a lot of footage, but it adds nothing to the story--a single shoulder shot of Gaius Helen Mohiam sitting silently in her spaceship as it travels to Caladan, no dialogue, no voiceover, nothing? Hello? And that, unfortunately, is only the beginning...they insert a voiceover at the start about the Butlerian Jihad, but it doesn't ring true with the Herbert plot, and it's told in a series of (yecch!) handpainted images, rather than any live action...and the lists go on and on.

I'm not actually sure that the one I saw was a Director's Cut, since that implies David Lynch was prepared to put his name to it. This one is directed by "Alan Smithee", which (for those of you who came in late ) means he was that pissed off with the cut he was forced to make he demanded his name be taken off the picture. I think this one was actually meant to be screened on TV, but the producers forced Lynch to restore a lot of footage to ostensibly make the plot easier to follow.

Never again will I class a film editor with any less status than the director. This version was *bad*. And I'm not talking Michael Jackson bad.

Or maybe I am, given his current image...

EDIT: Sorry about the length of the rant...but this version deserves it. Watch at your own peril, then go back to the original.

 

ey! michael's cooL! leave him alonE!

on the otherhand...i thought that David lynche's dune looked like something from the 70's, and it was written by david lynch for the screen, but it was approved by Frank Herbert. I think he would've liked the new one much better!

has anyone read the old, short kid's novels that are set after ROTJ, the first one being Darth Vaders Glove...or something like that?

 

The embellishments I refer to are all the scenes with the princess. She barely appeared in the book and they made her in to a fairly major character for the mini-series. Thankfully they did it in a reasonable way but it annoys me when someone adapting a book just has to add their own bits. I can think of very few movies/shows that come from a book that actually stay close to the book. The directors just can't seem to resist putting their own stamp all over someone else's story. Harry Potter's one of the more faithful book adaptations in my opinion (even if you're not in to it I thought it was very true to the book).
Shortening a story and changing a few bits here and there to make it work better on screen is one thing but I see no reason for inventing bits to add to a story that worked perfectly well in the first place. After all, Dune was a huge book and those extra scenes meant that parts which really were in the book had to be sacrificed to make room (I think the same criticism applies doubly so for LOTR which is a bit of a sore point for this long time Tolkien fan).

 

monkey_abbott: *bows* Sorry. I will leave Michael alone.