Does anyone else hate the Republic Commando books and 3 of the 9 Legacy of the Forces?

It appears that if I mention the author of these books by name, I get banned, so lets just call her the author.

I hate these books. I think the author is, hands down, the worst Star Wars author ever. Her books are boring, she invents new Jedi powers left and right like she has never read another Star Wars book. And I am sick of her writing in a different language, forcing the reader to be constantly looking up words. Does anyone else feel this way? I'm sick of how she is now writing just about EVERY Star Wars book out there. Does she have some strange contract with Lucas Books, or does Lucas Books actually like the crap she writes? Thoughts?

 

New Jedi powers?

Karen Traviss is a controversial author for a number of reasons.

I'm divided.

1. I think she's a wonderful person who answered a lot of my fan mail.

2. She even owns copies of my books.

3. I love the Republic Commando Book Hard contact.

4. I hate the way she writes Jedi.

 

I don't think leaving out the name changes a whole lot...

 

So thats who bought your books....

No really, could you PM me Charles, I'd love to see if I can find your novels and check them out.

Edit: You've got them listed on your profile. I shall seek them out.

 

No.

 

Try Amazon.com. Enter the words Charles Phipps. I'm the guy who didn't write books on shoe medicine but science fiction.



But, sadly, I no longer get money from those books as I had a serious breakdown with my publishers. It got so bad I had to take a couple of years off from writing. My next books will be RPG supplements released this September and December.

Thanks for your interest though, I'm very proud of those novels.

Re: Karen

Personally, I think some people just write certain things better than others. In Phippsland, Karen Traviss would just write Mandalorian books and not ever reference the Jedi in any way.

 

I hate the LotF as a whole even when there were good books in the series. It's the overall thing that counts. Sure, the Mandos were an annoying group of authorial pets, but compared to the ending of the series and the mess Invincible left things in I think the glorification of Mandos is not a big deal. Jacen's death and the flop ending are.

In my opinion, the first RC book was pretty ok.

 

Karen Traviss is one of the best star wars authors out their. Her Republic commando books are great and her LOTF are really good too. She writes Jedi just fine. She has brought a new side to mandalorians. They were once looked at as murderers and savage warriors. She has brought a humane side to them.

 

Hmmm, I admit I'm not a fan of Traviss' writing - partly because I like the Jedi, and haven't got the slightest interest in Mandalorians. Having those two major divergences with her writing tends to leave me somewhat... underwhelmed... with her LotF contributions, and obviously means I aren't interested in the RC books in the slightest (frankly, it was some years before I even got into the X-Wing series, and that says everything!)

 

Her stuff often doesn't appeal for a certain lack of humor and a dryness that I just don't take to. I just don't find myself getting engaged in her characters as much as some of the other EU authors. It's not that she's a bad writer or that her stuff doesn't sell. It's just her own version of Star Wars isn't as fun for me as the other writers take on the GFFA.

 

Amen to that!!

 

Well, I'm not banned yet. I guess leaving out her name, did make the difference. What's the point of having a literature forum if you are not allowed to say that you don't like something?

 

You can slice and dice any piece of SW EU you want in the lit forum. You just can't rag on one particular author by name. It makes it personal and detracts away a respectability your argument might have. Trash the writer's stuff. Not the writer's name.

 

Because you're not saying you don't like something -- you're saying you don't like someone.

Plus, much of what you say is nonsensical in terms of criticism because there's not a single point in any of the RC books where there are "new" powers of any sort. As well, please don't ever read true science-fiction or anything written by Dumas if you won't be bothered to look up words you don't know (a favorite trick of my parents when I was growing up, so I would learn to actually have a vocabulary).

I also fail to see how anything in either Hard Contact, True Colors or Sacrifice can be considered "boring" -- you may not like them, but "boring?" Please.

If you want to properly critique something, go ahead and do it. But out and out hachet jobs? Really?

 

I can't say I've ever really noticed any difficult words in Traviss's books personally. While her work does tend to be slightly more "adult" than "young adult", I'd probably say there are some more "adult" Star Wars authors out there, she's just the one with the most books.

Reaves, for instance, actually managed to have me reach for the dictionary a few times during Coruscant Nights, not that I'm complaining, it was refreshing to get a Star Wars book that was a bit of a challenge for once. I suppose I can see though why for some Traviss's more "description heavy" style may be a turn off, I guess it depends where one personally chooses to draw the "show/tell" line.