Edge of Victory I: Conquest was a cop-out!

I apologize if anyone else has covered this book to death, but I just started readin the NJO about six months ago. To be honest, most of the books were mediocre, IMHO. However, when I began reading "Conquest", I was completely engrossed from the first page. Greg Keyes is a wonderful writer, with great storytelling technique and a good ear for dialogue. So far it's easily the best NJO book, IMHO.

However, I have one serious problem with the book, namely, the resolution of the Tahiri capture. I've read the first of the Anakin/Tahiri kid's books, so I was familiar with and fond of Tahiri. I actually like her as a character, and hope to see more of her. But the resolution of her capture by the Yuuzhan Vong was a complete and utter LFL cop-out! The book-no the series of books would have been infinitely better and more interesting if Tahiri had become a full-fledged Yuuzhan Vong warrior! Think about it: the one obstacle to Vong supremacy in the galaxy, the Jedi, would no longer be a complete mystery to the Vong. Think of the dramatic conflict between "Riina" and her former best friend! The ideas are staggering.

But no, Lucas (I assume it was him), decrees that there be a semblance of a "happy ending", so Tahiri is rescued before she can become a Yuuzhan Vong. I'm sorry, but in my very humble opinion, that stinks. One of the best parts of the book was the physical and psychological manipulation of Tahiri by Mezhan Kwaad.

Just my two cents. I hope future books at least touch on the after-effects of Tahiri's torture at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

Just my two cents. I hope future books at least touch on the after-effects of Tahiri's torture at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.

They do.

JMA

 

You have to remember, Edge of Victory was a 'band-aid' novel.
It was written very quickly to patch over the cancelled 'Knightfall' series.
Keyes is a great author, but the short noticed did cramp Edge of Victory a bit.
It wasn't as elaborate as I'd have liked it to be.

Be thankful, though. The last time a novel was written on such short notice, we got 'Crystal Star'.

 

The best books from the NJO are the Hardbacks. EofV 1 is just as good as the 3 hardbacks. Nothing in the SW universe can compare to Star By Star IMO.

 

Actually I Jedi was written on short notice, as I recall it was written in like one month. Crystal Star got more time than that as I recall, I personally thought Crystal Star was an enjoyable book.

 

EoV and I,Jedi are in my top 5 fav Star Wars books. (I count a series as 1 book.)

Not bad considering they were both writen on short notice.

 

I, Jedi wasn't that good IMO. The JAT was better.

 

The problem with Crystal Star was that nothing really happened......
I mean, when you get to the end of the book, its as if nothing ever happened.
You could bypass it and there would be no effect whatsoever in the EU.
None of the 'new' characters have impact.
Tigris and Rillao seem to vanish into oblivion.
The Force-sensitive children make brief appearances in JJK and YJK, then disappear for the most part, until SBS, when Lusa is briefly mentioned being killed by a voxyn....

But this thread isn't about CS, is it.
Let's get back on track.

EoV 1 was quite enjoyable, though had there been more time on it, it would have been even better.

 

Yes but Lusa getting killed was a key factor for the YJK to take the mission. without CS and her appearnce in the YJK books, we wouldn't have that factor.

 

True.
But then there was also Lyric from YJK being murdered by the voxyn.
Plus Corran and Mirax Horn fleeing a pack of them during a supply trip.
And scores of other Jedi.

EDIT: Lyric was in JJK, not YJK.
Sorry....

 

Lyric was from JJK.

Yes a lot of people were dying, but Lusa was the perverbial straw for the YJK, Raynar and Zekk to be specific.

 

Obviously, LFL is not shooting for the staus-quo of a happy ending as Darth_Annihlus implies. You have the death of Chewie and other MAJOR characters later (I don't want to spoil it for him)

the reasoning for rescuing Tahiri escapes me also

 

He had to rescue her to establish him as the hero so that later in SBS it's more meaningful

 

Meh. Even though I really enjoy Keyes' work I wasnt crazy about EoV.

 

I thought part 2 sucked, but I loved part 1. I thought it really brought out Anakin as a Character and a hero

 

yeah it was a bit of a cop-out... but not the first by any means.

Wouldn't ROTJ been a much better film if Luke had actually turned to the darside as, so i understand, was in the first draft?

Also Tahiri being rescued with her new found alien knowledge opened up all sorts of plot uses for later on.

(pinching YV ships, talking to and understanding prisoners etc...)

 

*grins* Well if you feel that way, check the fic in my sig - I have Tahiri Shaped into Riina Kwaad there! Altho' be prepared for a looooooooooooooooooooooong read, I had a lotta fun writing it and it's NEARLY done!

My imagination too was caught with the idea too!

 

Well if Luke had turned to the Dark Side and died on the Death Star, I'd think the ending would have sucked.

 

i never said he was supposed to die... I think the first script had him turned by Vader and then redeemed by Leia - giving her a bit more to do than just being mentioned by Yoda. Lucas must have liked the idea of redemption and transfered ot to Vader.

Or something like that. Maybe I'm just talking out my a**, but I'm sure i read that somewhere...

Oh and mr. dart? Story about Taheri/Riina sounds v. interesting. Hurry up and finish it then...

 

"No Lucas decrees there to be a semblance of a happy ending."

Actually NJO is much less "happy" than the rest off star wars as you will see in SBS.

And no it wasn't Lucas it was DelRey.

 

Really? What about Alema's sister?

 

That convinced Alemia to go, but IIRC the others on the force didn't know her well.



And back on topic...

I liked EoV, Conquest was pretty good.

 

A cop-out is not an excuse. It is an admission of guilt. When someone "cops a plea", he admits guilt to some charge in exchange for better treatment if you said "She wouldn't go out with me because she said I reminded her of her brother," you are making an excuse. If you said "She didn't go out with me because I'm an unattractive schmuck," you are copping out. The trouble arises when an excuse contains a small amount of self-incriminating truth.

Hope that helped ya. So Conquest wouldn't be a cop out, it'd would be lame. Just so ya know.

 

If it is a cop-out then fine but It is my 2nd favorite NJO book behind REebirth so

 

I actually liked Hero's Trial. But then again any book without a Jedi as the main hero in it is a good book, IMO.