Where's the war tech in LOTF vs. all the bells and whistles of the Clone Wars? *Legacy Spoilers*

I was just thinking how frenetic everything was in the Clone Wars, with all the fighters and walkers and high-speed action going on; Jedi jumping around like crazy and nutso Force abilities (also consider the upcoming video game The Force Unleashed) with people crushing AT-STs and what not.

Where is all that in the Legacy book series? There's political intrigue with Jacen going dark, and of course I'm sure the politcs of war are different, but really- the warfare is a little lacking in interesting facets. The GAG is evocative of the Hitler WWII war machine, but where are the crazy action sequences?

I feel like the cinematic aspects are losing out in favor of philosophical dithering (not that philosophy doesn't have it's importance, but it's done a tad blandly).

Also, where are the big monster/animal beasties? In the movies we had some interesting critters.

I dunno. What do you guys think? Whare's the *cinema* in these books? (though the stuff on Ziost was pretty cool).

 

We have a KJA fan in the making!

 

For each EU reader who wants more "cinema" in the books, there's another who will spend pages moaning about how reading space dogfights is the most boring thing ever written. No EU author or book can satisfy everyone, and we should keep in mind the overall importance of each aspect of the storytelling. Dogfights and firefights were the bread and butter of the X-Wing series, so we got a lot of them, and it makes sense for there to be a ton of that in a series focusing on two Fighter Squadrons. The thrust of the narrative in LOTF is not machinery and large beasts, it's in philosophy and family ties, hence we don't see (and shouldn't expect to see) lots of pages of description of battles and what not. I read in another post someone who was nearly livid about the fact that Traviss didn't spend time detailing the dimensions and troop capacity and what not of the "new Bothan cruiser." My rebuttal would be . . . so freaking what? It wasn't important to the story being told.

And that's the point, I think, of my long, rambling post. Regarding "crazy action sequences" and "beasties" . . . it's not important to the story being told in LOTF.

KW

 

Well, even so, there's a certain expectation for Star Wars to deliver on certain fronts. I appreciate the intrigue and philosophy- I just want the rest of the "space opera" that goes along with it.

And I wasn't necessarily talking about dogfights, but about the cogs of war.

I think the "he will have a pet" part of the Sith prophecy regarding to Jacen will harken back to his finess with and affinity for animals.

I also hope to see Jacen getting ahold of Sith holocrons. That would be sweet.

 

Frett I think you've got a point there.
Which makes me think... where are the FREAK ALIEN SPECIES?

 

There haven't been any major battles yet in LotF; mostly it's just been political intrigue and small-scale police operations. I have a feeling we'll be seeing pronounced engagements as the lines between allies and enemies become more clearly drawn in the next few books.

 

But its already been four/five books (five counting Sacrifice, which is still a touchy subject, in terms of spoilers, so not sure whether to count that)! Shouldn't there have been an actual major battle already? Well, the end of the Corellian blockade might count, but only barely. The war should be in full swing by now, but instead we mostly get more Jacen plotting, and more Lumiya assassinating people.

Its kind of sad how the final battle of Exile, the fourth book out of nine books total, ends up being not a major confrontation, but instead it just... ends with a whimper as both sides just call it a draw, and try to portray themselves as winning.

Anyway, this war won't be anywhere near as long as the Clone or Galactic Civil War, so there won't be that much new war tech. Not to mention that both sides are somewhat conventional. Its not like the Yuuzhan Vong, who have a totally different kind of technology and could make new things at a really fast pace.

There's been some new tech, but I wish there would have been more. Anyway, this series is more about Jacen and his attempt to imitate his grandfather (with hopefully Luke playing the role of Obi-wan eventually).

 

One thing is that the leadership on both sides did not want a full scale fleet battles. omas wanted to convience the corillians to rejoin the allaince without killing to many of them and the corillain government could not afford to lose any military assets until in gain allies. exile on the other hand had a limited engagement to break a blockade and stalemate battle that was designed to take out the leadership of the corillian alliance but was instead a trap. book 5 was focussed on getting rid of omas and setting up a confed plan to invade the core worlds which sould happen in inferno

 

the thing to remember is that the only person in LOTF who flat out WANTS a war is Lumiya, and even that is just a means to the end of having Jacen go Sith. Thracken just wants power... Jacen wants peace at any cost... Luke wants his son to like him... Omas just wants to stop seeing wars in his lifetime... etc.

the war is the setting for the plot of Jacen's fall, it isn't the point of the story. the Vong war was the war that really mattered, and saw huge battles, technological leaps, political changes, and all that. this war is just the aftershocks of that war in many ways.

 

So far, it's been more Caamas Document Crisis than Clone Wars. And I think it's an angle that works.

 

I'm sorry, but you don't read flashy "No spoilers" warnings at the top and bottom of pages?