Lit The New Jedi Order: Still polarizing? Or has it fared better over time?

Now that I look back, there were quite a lot of dull and repetitive moments in the NJO. But I think the reason I kept going through it was that I had read a bunch of spoilers on the internet about all these epic battles against the Vong, and also because the NJO was really my first foray into the EU so I had nothing else to compare it to. Overall though I'd still say I have a positive impression of the series.

I always read that line as a bit of humor on Fett's part. Didn't think he actually meant it seriously.

 

Boba Fett having a sense of humor would still be out of character.

 

Hi. I've been busy with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

 

Bobafett does have a sense of hunmor, it's just very dry

 

Onslaught was a damn good book, a little too bloody at times for my liking and here, at least, there is some reason for political scepticism - although there was the little matter of Sernpidal going up in smoke, planets don't get destroyed by their moons everyday! It's definitely one of the better NJO books and is one of the select few I've retained.

 

I must say, I really like book 7 of NJO. The Anakin here is very interesting and even the Vong become much more nuanced. The crafters and the shamed ones are definitely more interesting than the warrior caste.

 

The NJO is and will always be my favorite period of the EU. It's where I started really reading Star Wars and getting to know characters. I admit I did read it out of order starting wtih latter half (Force Heretic) and finishing up to SbS, then going back and doing a complete reread. So far it is the only series I have read more than once.

I may be in the minority on this too but the Force Heretic series is my favorite part, with Traitor being the exception and I think these four are so great because the war is really the back drop and the characters are the main focus. We are seeing how all of these different worlds are handling the war and just how far some will go to spare their people. Plus they feature Jacen heavily and he is my favorite EU character.

 

I don't think it matters anymore. When Episode 7 is released its most likely that this will be written off. I did and still enjoy the NJO, but I don't see it part of the canon portion anymore after the next movie comes out.

 

You don't know the power of the retcon.

 

As a BIG Han fan, this was hard reading for me. But his climb back was a lot of fun to read, IMO.

 

Ah, well.... On that point.... Er....

 

I thought it was great to see Han so devastated, it's ******* Han, almost nothing gets that guy down, so it had all the more impact to see despair from someone who usually gives you a cocky smile and a sarcastic remark before diving right back into impossible odds.

 

Thrawn McEwok once described Edge of Victory I as the perfect Star Wars novel, IIRC. It really is a fantastic book, and is probably the point where the series really starts to come into its own. It's also one of Greg Keyes' sadly few contributions to the EU.

 

Greg Keyes' novels were amazing. He needs to come back.

 

I actually think it's one of the better ones, though not one of the best (the best is yet to come). Dark Tide is probably the highlight of the stretch from the first hardcover, Vector Prime, to the second hardcover, Balance Point. The Agents of Chaos duology coming up after Dark Tide is also excellent (and even Balance Point and Vector Prime tend to be somewhat underrated, IMO), but it appeals to a more particular taste, and I can see how some would find it duller than the upcoming stretch.

 

I still cringe, though, when I think of how sadly ignored Greg Keyes's "The Final Prophecy" was insofar as Tahiri went. How many authors tried to redeem her character, make her move on, and have her do something positive, only for her to be horribly misused later.

At any rate, I admired Greg Keyes's work in NJO, and the obvious respect he had for other people's pet characters, like Corran Horn or Talon Karrde. I would highly recommend his non-Star Wars work as well.

 

This, this, this. As a self-professed Tahiri fan, I consider Keyes Tahiri (and TFP Tahiri in particular) to be the definitive Tahiri; tough, smart, with a fun sense of humor, someone whose inner demons are, if not totally defeated, at least at a manageable level, with her Vong side a prominent and well-explored part of her character. Oh yeah, and while TFP Tahiri is still clearly haunted by Anakin's death, her grief is not the defining thrust of her personality. Unfortunately, the LOTF team basically dialed her back to Force Heretic I-II Tahiri, in other words her weakest and most vulnerable (though FH-Tahiri had the excuse of being under mental siege from the emotionally-unstable Vong warrior living in her subconscious, something LOTF-Tahiri can't say), undoing pretty much everything Keyes (and Williams and Dix, for that matter) sunk into her character in order to turn her into a shadow of herself that Jacen could manipulate with visions of Anakin into becoming his apprentice. Now, I'm not opposed to Dark!Tahiri on principle- TFP-Tahiri had a pretty obvious and un-Jedi-like bloodthirsty streak- but IMO the character from the late NJO books would never have fallen for such an obvious and frankly clumsy attempt at manipulation.

Sorry for the rant, but what LOTF did to one of my favorite characters really ticks me off. Still, seconding the love for Keyes' NJO entries if the next big arc had him as one of the authors, I'd feel a whole lot more positive about it ('specially if the other two were some combination of Allston, Stover, Zahn, or Stackpole... sigh...)

 

Agreed 100%! The only way I want a dark Tahiri is if she was with a fallen Anakin Solo or if she was overtaken by the Vong side and Anakin redeemed her.

 

Kyp can be written all over the place by the authors. 2nded about a certain scene from EOV II