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The Approaching Storm Discussion (with AotC Spoilers!)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by wild_karrde, Jan 31, 2002.

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  1. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    This thread will be for discussing the Prequel Prequel, with spoilers from AotC, because there are quite a few events in TAS that involve AotC, and not everyone is spoiled.

    I'm only about 8 chapeters in so far, so I can't add much to the conversation myself, but there are a few things I've noticed with AotC ties:

    - Mention of Count Dooku, but not much discussion about him. And I guess he actually shows up in the last chapter.

    - Anakin's feelings towards his mother, and the Jedi code, really set him up for events in AotC.

    wk
     
  2. royalguard96

    royalguard96 Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 13, 2001
    I am also about 8 or 9 chapters into this book....a few thoughts.....

    ADF seems to have nailed the character of Anakin when it comes to his inner thoughts and such, but I think he seems bent on making him look a little incompetent, which I'm not too crazy about. And who knew the boy could sing?? I love the evolution we see in Obi-Wan Kenobi, changing more into the character we will see in ANH with his calm demeanor and unflappable appearance in all situations.

    I am taking the most interest in seeing how Anakin develops, because to me, he will end up to be the most intriguiing character in all the movies. Perhaps we'll see him become a bit more well-rounded as the book continues.

    Is Barriss a female human? I never did quite pick that up.
     
  3. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    I'm pretty sure she is. Both her and Luminara are in AotC, but there are no pics of her on TOS.

    I think, judging from what I know about the story and from the previews, Foster's depiction of Anakin is right on target.

    Anakin seems both mature and childish at the same time Remember his temper tantrum(sp?) in the previews?

    Ani: It's all Obi-Wan's fault, he's holding me back!
    Padme: You aren't all powerful ...
    Ani: Well I should be.

    Anakin is not very emotionally developed. He has the development of a 9 year old, because the Jedi are against emotions (There is no emotion ...), so he's all messed up.

    wk
     
  4. SWfan2002

    SWfan2002 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2002
    Just to let you know The Approaching Storm is ranked number 86 at Amazon.com.
     
  5. Wedge 88

    Wedge 88 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 16, 1999
    http://www.jedinet.com/prequels/episode-ii/cast.asp

    Scroll down, you'll find one of the only pics of Baris. There is another one of her, standing with her master, but it was taken off the net for being illegal or something. You know, the usual stuff that happens.
     
  6. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    I don't think that pic is right for 2 reasons:

    1) It doesn't describe Barriss as having facial tattoos in TAS

    2) It lists the wrong actress

    wk
     
  7. BobTheGoon

    BobTheGoon Moderator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2000
    It's her.
     
  8. Mavrick889

    Mavrick889 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 1999
    Yep, they're both human according to the book. I just finished it and it was excellent! Nice cameo at the end!

    Being the crazy timeline guy I am, I noted that the books spans about 30 days, and ends a day or two before Attack of the Clones begins.
     
  9. Wedge 88

    Wedge 88 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 16, 1999
    Yeah, she is from the same planet as her master it seems. Facial diamond tatoo custom (err, is that worded correctly?). Also like the dude in CoD.
     
  10. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    Yeah, seems I got her name mixed up with the actress playing Aayla Secura. [face_blush]

    Anyhoo, jut finished it, and it was pretty damn good. As I said before, you can really see a lot of the traits that Anakin will have in AotC, as well as Obi-Wan. He's really matured since TPM.

    I'm just wondering exactly how much of this story will be mentioned in the film. They'll probably just say something like "We just returned from Ansion where we helped in the negotiations to lepp them in the Republic" :(

    And I wonder if Tooqui will still be hanging with Barriss? Probably not, but it'd be neat to see the little guy. Also, Shu Mai will be in AotC. It'll be nice to see what she looks like. Not sure about Mousul tho.

    wk
     
  11. IAmTheDarkSide

    IAmTheDarkSide Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2002
    I'm around page 200, so I decided to share my thoughts so far:

    Foreshadowing = good and bad. There's lots of good foreshadowing, about Anakin and Obi-Wan's natures and all that. But there are also some very awkward instances where a paragraph will seem to have been inserted solely for the purpose of foreshadowing the fall of the Republic and all.

    The Humor. I don't know, but I didn't find the humor, in its context, nearly as out-standing, noteworthy or offensive as TFN's reviewers seemed to.

    I enjoyed ADF's mention of Yuzzem, the only link I've noticed so far to SotME.

    It seems that by this point Ki-Adi-Mundi has become a full Master.

    I'm enjoying the displays of the Force and the new characters, but I'd have liked to seen a little more. This book, entirely on one world, without even a scene on a ship showing how they got there, just doesn't feel very Star Wars-ey. Luminara's levitation was awesome, though. :D

    The most annoying thing about ADF in this book is that he constantly switches POV without any breaks, and to a lesser degree he doesn't italicize thoughts. It's annoying to think you're getting Anakin's POV and only realize it's actually Bariss because it uses the pronoun she.

    More thoughts when I finish the book.
     
  12. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    <<The most annoying thing about ADF in this book is that he constantly switches POV without any breaks, and to a lesser degree he doesn't italicize thoughts. It's annoying to think you're getting Anakin's POV and only realize it's actually Bariss because it uses the pronoun she. >>

    I totally agree. This got very distracting. However, ADF's storytelling ability has gotten much better since SotME.

    And I too caught the Yuzzem ref. :D

    wk
     
  13. leif

    leif Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 1999
    my biggest compliant is that it seems like a nature safari... almost like they are exploring Naboo's outback or something...

    i just got tired of the one creature attack after another.....

    other than that it is a pretty good book. but i can see why others have been complaining about it.
     
  14. Esgalagar

    Esgalagar Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jan 12, 2002
    " I'm just wondering exactly how much of this story will be mentioned in the film."

    EP 2 Spoilers





















    "That's possible. He has just returned from a Border dispute on Ansion." -Mace
    That's it, I think.













    About the book, pretty good. :)
     
  15. DVader316

    DVader316 Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2000
    Im only about 100 or so pages into it, so I'll come back in a few days when Im done and discuss. Incidentally, I am liking TAS alot more than I thought I would, which is certainly a good thing... :D
     
  16. LawgSkrak

    LawgSkrak Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 1999
    I need to get this book.
     
  17. wild_karrde

    wild_karrde Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    <<"That's possible. He has just returned from a Border dispute on Ansion." -Mace>>

    Who's he talking about? Anakin or Obi-Wan?

    wk
     
  18. IAmTheDarkSide

    IAmTheDarkSide Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2002
    I've finished TAS, and I must say I found it a little disappointing. It seemed to drag, for me -- too much of a picaresque or travel log, with every once in a while a little snippet of Shu Mai or Soergg just to remind us that there's still a plot moving forward. I like the characters, and think he nailed Anakin, but I'd have liked more time inside Ani and Obi's heads, or even Lumi and Barriss', because it seems that throughout the novel it was mostly a floating POV, sometimes pulling back to omniscient narrator, that just didn't let it flow well and didn't let us become the characters, but rather just experience them.

    Also, I'm surprised that the lightsabers worked underwater considering that scene from TPM. There was a lot of cool Force stuff in this book, but it didn't always mesh with what we've come to see-- I can't, for instance, picture Jedi having much trouble with the Qulun, being impeded in no other way than being tied tight a few places. And we know Jedi can hold their breath -- as soon as they felt something was amiss, they should've. And, the Jedi were taken by surprise too easily. In TPM we see clearly that they can sense intentions of those around them, and yet over and over here they were ambushed.
     
  19. Mavrick889

    Mavrick889 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 1999
    In regards to the lightsaber thing, I think it's obvious that Anakin designed a lightsaber that does indeed work underwater. He is good at building things, remember. Plus, in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Luke jumps into a lake with his father's lightsaber on...so we know at least one of Anakin's sabers works underwater.
     
  20. glen

    glen Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 2001
    Re: the lightsaber/water question....remember, that scene in EpOne was cut so Lucas wouldn't box himself into a corner as to what conditions a light saber will work under. Judging from the trailers (and spoilers posted everywhere) we see Obi-Wan using his saber quite effectively in a rainstorm on Kamino...

    As for the book, I'm about halfway through and so far, I'm liking it alot. I really enjoyed the desert encounter where the four jedi had to demonstrate they had souls by entertaining the nomads. All four instances were strikingly different from one another yet easily pictured as one read them. From Barriss's saber dance to Anakin's sad lament to Obi-Wan's oratory (was I the only one to catch a glimmer of Sir Alec in that idea?) to Luminera's whirling sand display, it was a very moving and novel idea. Great job, ADF!

    I'm not minding the "nature preserve" feel to the story...in fact, I like the idea of placing a story in one enviroment almost exclusively and in turn making the enviroment seem like another character as opposed to the standard SW way of skipping all over the place location-wise. It helps illustrate the differances between the republic's techno-heavy worlds and Ansion's more back-to-nature approach.

    I'll be back with some more thoughts when I finish the book....
     
  21. IAmTheDarkSide

    IAmTheDarkSide Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2002
    (was I the only one to catch a glimmer of Sir Alec in that idea?)

    No, but then I read ADF's interview (where he said ANH Obi's mannerisms -- especially the smirk -- were just as important to him as PT's) before I read the book, so I was looking out for that kind of stuff.
     
  22. Sturm Antilles

    Sturm Antilles Former Manager star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 22, 2000
    Some lightsabers work underwater, but some don't. Each one has elements of different construction. For example, as noted by Mavrick, Anakin's two lightsabers ( his AotC one and ANH one ) work underwater, as do Kyle Katarn's in Jedi Knight. :p
     
  23. naw ibo

    naw ibo Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 1999
    I liked the floating point of view because it gave us a chance to get to know all the main characters pretty well. As I said in other places, especially Obi-Wan who is usually just shoved aside in Star Wars books to make way for more Qui-Gon angst, Anakin angst and heavy-handed dark side foreshadowing.

    Even in Rogue Planet, I was a little like 'Who is this?', although I tried to make the best of it and get out of it what I could. There was almost nothing that meshed with TPM Obi and almost nothing that meshed with ANH Obi, which was strange seeing as reading the interview with the guy he seemed to have a decent handle on some of the basic traits of Obi-Wan's nature, he just didn't bring them out well at all. He wasn't really a very complete character. He was there only to be Anakin's master. Just like in other books, he's usually there just to be Qui-Gon's padawan. In TAS, he was first and foremost a Jedi with a sensitive mission to complete, a padawan to teach and still curious about wanting to learn more himself.

    Plus, the floating view point helped the audience get into the heads of all the Jedi, it showed there difference and similarities. Anakin was particularlly well-done, all his doubts, his worries, his sense of denial, just how his mind worked. In Luminara we see yet another Jedi Master, different from Obi-Wan and his own former master Qui-Gon. The PT era Jedi are not robots who all walk in lockstep, they have their own thoughts, they deal with their lives in their own individual ways. I thought it was interesting when Luminara was telling Bariss about how some Jedi are more suited to the ascentic lifestyle than others and Obi-Wan and herself kind of provided an interesting, even if small, contrast.

    We got to see all of them through each others eyes, as well as through their own minds. This is something that I think can be important to telling us about a character, how other people see them. I honestly didn't find the pov confusing. I don't know, I always knew who was "talking".

    I also liked having it set on mainly on the Ansion plains, dealing with the Olwari, etc and the wildlife. For one thing it was probably relatively realistic, just because they are Jedi doesn't mean they just go in and are gone one-two-three. I'm sure there would often be times, when missions are very involved and take some time. I liked that the focus was very much on developing the characters.

    Star Wars really always has been first and foremost a fantasy that happens to be set in outer space before being science fiction and I liked that it seemed to be more focused on that aspect of it.
     
  24. naw ibo

    naw ibo Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 1999
    BTW, anyone have any ideas about those demonstrations of their "souls" the Jedi were required to do at the first Alwari camp? Anakin sang(his is pretty obvious I guess with it's focus on his longing for his mother) but Obi-Wan told a story and Luminara made that incredible sand ribbon and Bariss I believe did the lightsaber dance.
     
  25. Esgalagar

    Esgalagar Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jan 12, 2002
    "Who's he talking about? Anakin or Obi-Wan?"

    Obi-Wan
     
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