Books CRUCIBLE by Troy Denning: The Official Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

How do know ep 7 hasn't ?

And NJO didn't manage it for a good half of its books. NJO started off as positing the generations in this weird macho competitiveness that did no one any favours.

 

¿Que?

 

That's the sense I always had of them, Solo brats thinking themselves so damn wonderful. Still don't really like 2/3 of them being dead, they didn't deserve that, but NJO really missed its chance to sell me the characters.

 

Not really sure what to say to that opinion.

 

It'd be kinda boring if we all agreed about everything, wouldn't you say?

It's quite simple, I bought and read every NJO as they came out, despite it dropping the ball left and right and centre, it had to get better right? And in some respects it did!

(Though by the time Betrayal started walking the same path I wasn't so inclined to be charitable second time around.)

But did I ever really come to like the Solo kids? No, not really. Didn't want them dead because then there's always the chance that some author, somewhere, can make the characters work for me in a way no one else has.

It's not just the Solos, Mara Jade? Another character I've rarely really warmed to, but there have been some excellent portraits that did make her work for me, but they're in the minority.

 

I'm not asking you to agree with me. I agree about Anakin Solo. He's essentially characterized identically to Anakin Skywalker in Episode II, yet fans like one and not the other, which I never got. Perhaps whining or moping comes across better on the page than on the screen? But then most fans seem to dislike Jacen in the New Jedi Order for precisely that reason, so perhaps not.

 

The problem I had with both Jacen and Jaina's whinging was they didn't have all that much to really whinge about. Bar the odd kidnapping attempt they were raised in a reasonably peaceful and secure environment.

For Jacen, I liked that in BP he decided he was liability on the front line, that he was unsuited to it - and there's a missed opportunity right there, what happens if you just don't have the temperament for being a warrior in a family of them? - pity about it taking Fondor to make him realise it but that was a dumb idea anyway, yes, Luke thinks sending a pair of teenagers off to fire a superweapon, one of which is ambivalent about the very notion, is fine!

If the philosophy had been better, I would have been less harsh but it was so simplistic and badly premised. A Jedi schism that would have got my attention? They have the resources to defend 5 of 10 planets, which are chosen? Instead it was: Attack the Vong! We can't attack the Vong! Huh? You what?

EDIT: Am curious about what makes the Solo kids - or Jacen / Jaina - work for you as characters though.

 

Traitor. As for Jaina, I thought she worked best with Kyp Durron as a foil.

 

They never really try to fool us with Vestara. They reference her scar immediately and that she has a red lightsaber and is lying about her identity.

 

The problem with the young generation taking over was always that while it was the way the SW story needed to be told to make sense as a SW story (notice how the original trilogy is not about Obi-Wan, Vader, Yoda and Palpatine with guest spots by those young guys), keeping the old guys in the spotlight was the only reasonable way to make money out of it. For every fan who'd love to get a proper hero's journey for Jacen Solo (the basic idea behind the existence of the NJO series), there's dozens who wouldn't be interested in a new character with a name that wasn't in the movies. Or at least that's what executives think; the masses will probably just consume it anyway, not understanding that Episode 1 is meant to take place before the old movies.

 

well Jacen came into his own in the last 6 books in the njo series. sadly all that progress was destroyed in LOTF.

 

It was quite disappointing that they had to go the route of turning one of the Solo kids to the dark side... I never particularly liked Jacen but he did warm to me eventually and the fact that they did what they did with him was annoying for me.

 

Meh What does it matter this EU is not long for this world.

 

Alright, I've read this thread and can't seem to figure out what everyone is so freaked out about. All the tidbits I've read are incredibly vague. As I understand this is the spoiler thread, what do we know is confirmed for the plot and what is unconfirmed, but not yet refuted? Seriously. I'm curious as Hell.

 

Ha...I was one of the winners of his spoiler contest.

 

Amazon preview, for more page use your account

 

Read a few pages of the preview...looks like Jaina may finally be taking an apprentice!

 

Well that sounds positive at least.

 

Is it bad that as I read the first couple pages I was put into mind of the Jedi Prince books? Maybe its thanks to the review thread, but the writing style and dialogue seems rather similar for some reason...
Been reading some more. Style-wise it does remind me of the Jedi Prince books, especially the dialogue and decision-making skills of the characters. And the casual discrimination/violence towards droids. It's a Denning book though, with plenty of mentions of bodily harm and the specifics of injuries.

There is one genuinely funny line so far: "She was dressed in a white, form-fitting flight suit that made Marvid wonder if if Jedi women aged at the same rate as normal humans."

I don't plan to buy this one, though I will read it when the Library gets a copy.

 

Oh Troy Denning, will your creepy sexualization of elderly women ever cease? No really, that's a serious question.

 

I thought Denning was all about the youngsters.

 

I'm curious as Hell.

im worried as hell. my beloved universe is about to be destroyed and replaced with a possibly pathetic twin. I don't see the st being good for luke

 

Not to start a fuss, but as an aging woman myself, I'm kinda glad if elder women can be seen as sexy too. It's not that common. And I have a hard time imagining it in any way reduces Leia if she's still sexualized. Indeed, to my generation, Leia was one of the first examples that a woman can be both a strong subject you don't want to mess with - and attractive still.

 

Idk, I think Leia can be attractive without Denning dressing her up in some slutty costume or writing sleazy descriptions of her body in every book.

 

Yet your avatar looks like an angry grandmother. I'd have to sy Leia isn't Carrie and is athletic. And has tons of money, and can afford to look good.