Memph, TN Unofficial Memphis EU Board.

Jeez, Tim- where were you when George Lucas wrote that whole midichlorine junk?!

I do have to agree that I've always thought of it as good and evil, or dark and light, yin and yang- can't have one without the other. I think the force is more fun when it can't be truly explained. When you break it down (or show the man behind the curtain) it loses its magic. If any of you have seen any of the highlander movies you know what I mean. Whether it's Yoda talking about binding the galaxy together, or Sean Connery as Ramirez asking, "Why does the sun come up, and are the stars just pinholes in the curtain of night- who knows?" The force should be treated as religion, or at least a discipline. The harder you work and sacrifice for it the more you gain.

Since the last Star Wars book I read was probably 'Han Solo at Star's End' or 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' (yeah, it's been a while!) and only SW books I've read have been some of the Dark Horse comics or a couple audio books, any one have a good suggestion or two? What's a good starting one?

 

Oops- looks like I posted to an OLD post from pg1! Sorry...

Lin

PS- Since I've been out of the SW book reading for a good while now, who in the blue milk is Jacen?

 

OMG - I loved Traitor! At first it was just fun seeing Jacen suffer , but then I started to like him once he grew up a little. Now they're writing him as a wuss again...too bad...he had potential.

Traitor was okay. I just can't stand Jacen. Oh, how I wish he'd been the one to take that amphistaff to the chest.... I really like Anakin, he's was one of the few characters that had come out of the NJO with some depth intact.....(read: not hacked to pieces like Han and Leia, and sometimes Luke and Mara). I loved Reunion because it linked the prequel to the NJO via Sekot. I liked it when Luke got to see his dad. Don't know about the Vergere thing as I personally revile that character. CoPL sucked. A LOT of those Bantam era books were ALL OVER THE CONTINUITY, and came up with sci fi instead of the mythical aspect of the saga. At least Del Rey has watched continuity... but that's about it. I think the prequel era books are starting to shine as true works in all of this. Mainly because Lucas is watching these closer. And some good authors like Zahn, Denning, and Keyes will be writing some prequel and bridging stories. I think that should give us some hope from the likes of the drudgery of 90% of the Bantam and DR books....(Rhonda steps off her soapbox now). Lin, if you're going to read the NJO, I would start from Vector Prime and read through the series sequentially. If you don't you'll miss some stuff and be REALLY confused. Even if you do, at times you'll be really confused, but not as much.

My picks:

Shadows of the Empire
Rogue Planet
Tatooine Ghost
Reunion
The Dark Tide dualogy in the NJO
The Edge of Victory dualogy in the NJO
The Han Solo Trilogy (Corellian)
Tales comics
Maul Vs Vader comic
The Republic/Clone Wars comics
The Jedi Quest books

My stinkers:

Splinter of the Minds Eye - IMO this shouldn't even be in continuity... sheer rubbish

Courtship of Princess Leia - see Tim's rant above...right on!!!! Thank God, Denning fixes all this one's mistakes in Tatooine Ghost.

Children of the Jedi.....please, just please....

Planet of Twilight....see above.....

The Black Fleet Crisis - Just say "No" to crack.........

 

Quick update for Lin - Han and Leia had 3 kids who all became Jedi: Jacen and Jaina are twins and Anakin was their younger brother. This whole thread has been about Jacen a lot, hasn't it? He has been one of the more pivotal and controversial characters in the New Jedi Order. In the midst of a galactic war, he came up with the idea that Jedi should be more passive than active and even went so far as to give up the use of the Force completely at one point because he refused to fight....at least that was part of the reason...I don't remember the rest of it. (Can you imagine the Dual of the Fates if Jacen had been involved?)

ITA re: Anakin Solo. I think I was more upset about his death than I was about Chewbacca's.

My faves are easy:

Everything by Timothy Zahn, LOL, and almost everything by Mike Stackpole, Aaron Allston and Kathy Tyers.

And anything featuring Mara Jade.....but y'all probably figured that out by now.

 

[Vinnie Barbarino voice]Ooo...Oooo....Read the X-Wing/Rogue Squadron Books, Mr. Kotter.[/Vinnie Barbarino voice]

I loved the Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology by Timothy Zahn. That's where I started, and haven't regretted picking those to begin with. They made me want to read more SW books. Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston's X-Wing: Rogue Squadron/Wraith Squadron Series of 9 books was well worth reading.

More SW recommendations:

Shadows of the Empire

Tatooine Ghost

I, Jedi

Truce at Bakura

Darth Maul, Shadow Hunter

Rogue Planet

Cloak of Deception

Approaching Storm


I just started reading "Force Heretic I: Remnant" in the NJO series, and so far I'm not overly happy with not only the writing, but the structure of the book. If I could sit down and read it in one sitting, the chapterless format would work fine. Since I can't, it bugs the crap out of me.

 

I never even noticed the chapterless format in the Force Heretic trilogy until someone over in the Lit forum mentioned it. Observant, aren't I? Then again, I rarely get to read an entire chapter in one sitting anyway - my children seem to think that I need to be "rescued" from any book that doesn't have pictures, LOL.

 

Thanks for the book sugestions and catching me up on those Skywalker/Solo kids.

Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do...

Lin

 

Drum roll please.......I have an announcement: For the first time in 13 years of reading EU, I finally read my first pre-ROTJ novel! Yep, I finished Shadows of the Empire.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!....(this means you, Steve)
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It took me a while to get into it, but the second half was fun and the last chapter positively ROCKED!!! OMG - Vader coming to Luke's rescue was so........WIZARD!!!

Do you think Luke knew? I mean, Wow. That just blows me away.....and reminds me of one of my favorite songs:

"I can't believe you love me,
I never thought you'd come.
I guess I mis-judged love
between a father and his son."

-Elton John, The Last Song



*sniff* OK, on to my next endeavor: Tatooine Ghost.

 

Hey gang, I just woke up from a drunken stupor (j/k) and thought I'd drop a line. Well summer is coming to an end so now I finally have some time to get back to more serious matters. Anywho I've been reading Force Heretic III, is it just me are is that name totally wrong for these three books? no one so far has done anything to challenge the jedi philosophy about the force in these. Anywho its an ok book, I was hoping for more but I've read worse. I'm also still working on the X-wing series. Bacta War just seems such a boring book at times, its been a hard read for me.

 

Has anyone read Shatterpoint yet? is it Any good?

 

Tim's back!!

I didn't care much for the Force Heretic trilogy. And those titles and covers don't have anything to do with the books. They're all slow and get better in the second half, but Refugee was the only one that was really intense at the climax...IMHO.

We have Rhonda's copy of Shatterpoint but haven't started it yet.

I'm still trudging my way through all this pseudo-pod racing in Tatooine Ghost.

 

I just finished Force Heritic I: Remnant this morning. Pallaeon is one bad motha...

watch yo mouth

I was just talkin' 'bout Pallaeon!

I liked the second half of the book when it got cranked up with action and plot. Really, it probably could've easily been condensed to half of its bulk and been much better. Loquatious the authors were. Wordy. Like Yoda I sound. Hmmmm... Meditate on this I will.

 

OMG.... Y'all just have to pick up issue #16 of the Star Wars Tales comic book. There's this story called "Lunch Break" that's absolutely hilarious.

Anybody else read it?

I enjoyed all of the X-Wing books, Tim. I really liked Starfighters of Adumar. Isn't Bacta War about the Verpine's struggle against the rival corporations that control the bacta supply? I'm struggling to remember right now.

Do any of you get that "EU Meld Syndrome", where all of the events from the books get jumbled in your head? I may have to take a SW break and read something else before I get too boggled and start remembering things like Luke floating down from the stratosphere of a planet unharmed via the Force while his X-wing crashes.

Oh, wait....that did happen....in COPL. Yep...time for a break.

 

Is that the one with Vader's diary where the stormtrooper wishes him "Happy Birthday"? If so, that was funny!

 

That's the one, Rhonda. That was great. I've read it three times already.

 

I definetly agree that the force heretic trilogy was too wordy but other than that I thought it was good and did a great job of tying up loose ends.

Yeah Bacta War is where the Vratix are fighting the Bacta cartel and Ysanne Isard is trying to kill Rogue Squadron. I know what you mean about the books kind of just merge together, especially the bad ones. *shivers* Wraith squadron is pretty good so far.

I read the sample chapter from shatter point in the back of the third force heretic book, and it looks like it'll be really good. I can't wait to get a copy.

 

I finished Tatooine Ghost today: pretty cool and an AWESOME Han & Leia book. Granted, running around in the desert got old pretty quick, but I really liked the way that some of the events of Ep. II were incorporated.

**Spoiler alert**
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And this has got to be one of the best EU dialogues ever:

<when Han and Leia reach the place where Anakin slaughtered the Tuskens in AOTC...>

"He should have known better." Leia passed the electrobinoculars to Han. "He was a Jedi."

"He was a kid with a dead mother." Han raised the electrobinoculars......."He vented his anger on the ones who killed her. I might have done the same thing."

"That doesn't make it right," Leia said.

"And it doesn't make me a Sith monster, either," Han retorted.

It goes on, but I just wanna say: HAN ROX!!

 

I LVOED that book. It is one of the best. Like you though, they could have done with a little less time on Banthas...

And if I'd read another paragraph with TIE fighters flying over, I would have screamed. Other than that, the book was a solid 8.5 to 9 out of 10. I loved the EpI protions about Wald, etc.

"I can't believe you love me,
I never thought you'd come.
I guess I mis-judged love
between a father and his son."

-Elton John, The Last Song


snif, snif, don't tell me, I know this song...from Lion King??

 

No, it's an older Elton John song from his 1992 CD "The One." But if you've ever seen the movie And the Band Played On, it's at the end of that during the montage scene.

The lyrics, especially the second half, fit the Luke/Anakin relationship at the end of ROTJ perfectly:

"Things we never said come together
The hidden truth no longer haunting me
Tonight we touched on the things that were never spoken
That kind of understanding sets me free

`Cause I never thought I'd lose
I only thought I'd win
I never dreamed I'd feel
This fire beneath my skin
I can't believe you love me
I never thought you'd come
I guess I misjudged love
Between a father and his son"

....I think I need a kleenex now.....

 

Okay, Traci and Tim, I totally forgot about the part in Shadows of the Empire when Vader feels "Luke's" presence, but Luke is not on Coruscant (Imperial Center), it's Leia he actually feels when he's reaching, he just doesn't know it... this book rocks!

 

Man....that part was great!

I'm going to buy us a copy so I can go back and re-read it as well. I'll do that after I finish with the Force Heretic trilogy. I'm halfway there.

I wan't to write a fanfic where I beat Jacen Solo to a bloody pulp with a crowbar. That little merf gets on my nerves.

 

Jacen Solo - First Jedi hippy.....

I'd like to take both he and Vergere and nail them to the wall in the caves of Dagobah, maybe Vader would come kick both their asses......

 

Here's another idea: Jacen vs. Mace Windu.

Mace: "I'm a prophet. I can see the future."

Jacen: "What do you see?"

Mace: "You. Bleeding."

<dialogue pirated from Shatterpoint>


I'm halfway through Shatterpoint and Mace is one bad-a$$ Jedi!!! Why can't he be like that in the movies?

 

Instead, we get a Mace Windu that runs like a girl.

 

"This party's over."

Nuff said.

(Hope no one minds me butting in here btw)