Is there anything in the EU that's generally, all-around LIKED?

The trouble with this is that as soon as someone says, "most everyone likes X," somebody will jump in just to say they don't like it. Still, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about the ROTS novelization or Cloak of Deception. Nor have I heard of anyone who read the ANH Infinities and didn't enjoy it. There are also a few EU characters who are almost universally loved. A certain Chiss Grand Admiral and his Captain come to mind.

 

Shatterpoint is the book by Stover right?

 

Put me down as 'dislikes the ROTS novelization'. Love Shatterpoint, though.

 

>I think we all-around like this forum.
at least, I pray no one comes here as some form of self-punishment or self-hatred.
Whether you come to cheer or cry, or just to see people cheer and cry...we all like coming here.<

Group hug, everybody!

TC

 

everyone loves lando =]

 

It's all about Billy-dee...he's the man...

 

Here, I will complain about the ROTS novelization.

-The Empire Day thing is gay.

-Stover has the biggest man crush ever on Samuel L. Jackson, or Mace Windu, or both. That "shatterpoint" stuff is just so painful to read. "Oh yeah, Mace Windu totally would have saved the day, but, he was...ummm...tired. Yeah, that's it."

-The characterization of Count Dooku as an humanocentric rascist. That was so painfully cliched, and just put in to make Dooku into a bigger lameo that just begs to have several essential body parts sabered off.

Yeah, there you have it.

 

Although campy, what about the Han Solo Trilogy.

 

Stars' End was fun, Revenge was blah and occasionally confusing, and Lost Legacy--well, after the first read-through, I've never been able to finish it a second time.

 

Thrawn's a huge Gary Stu and a nerd wish-fulfillment character. Pellaeon gets off too easy for having been the willing servant of a brutal and evil regime.

Unless he means the AC Crispin Han Solo trilogy, in which case Bria is a huge Mary Sue and a nerd wish-fulfillment character.

 

Not to mention being an all-around worthless ninny.

 

He's a bona fide expert at retreating.

Which, to be fair, is an important skill.

 

I hated that hat when everyone & their momma wore it in Star Wars Galaxies.

 

How could they not? He is the coolest.

I find one of the wierdest things to go on in this or any forums is not for someone to only hate on this or that EU thingy, but then go on a long rant trying to convince you why you should hate it too. There's a line between going into detail about why someone doesn't like something & them explaining why it doesn't work for them & the other kind of hate where they're basically calling you all kinds of idiots & what nots for daring to like the thing they do not. Yeah, I really cannot deal with those kind of people, at all.

 

I think alot of people liked BFC even tho we knew the truth about Luke's lil trip with that White Current chic was a lie.

 

I'm digging the BFC right now so much. It really has amped up my love of SW. Just when I was getting a bit burnt on Bantam era SW along comes a pitch perfect set of novels. I'm about to start the third at the moment and hoping it doesn't let me down.

Oddly, the writing reminds me of Traviss' writing for some reason, perhaps the military leanings is what does it, but I feel closer to these characters here than in a lot of the novels.

 

Stover is probally a well like author. Everyone loves at least one of his novels.

X- wing was enjoyable and is well liked.

Thrawn is well liked.

A lot people liked PoD.


Is anyone thing like no but than it would be scary if there was one thing everyone liked.

 

Then it's time to be very afraid cause everyone likes R2-D2, everyone! Boo!

 

QFT. When I saw this thread a minute ago I thought "R2-D2! Everyone likes Artoo! Wait. He's movie, not EU "

 

The simpsons says...Its bart's moon party from outer space with R2D2 playing the bass...

 

Ugh! I can't stand neither Stackpole nor Corran Horn.

Love Allston's X-Wing novels, however.

 

James, I think that you expressed everything I wanted to say quite beautifully in that post. Fear not, because you're not alone in the "entertained by 99% of the EU" train. I've actually found it not difficult at all to find positive and winning elements in even the most hated pieces of EU --- The Crystal Star, for example, contains an eerie pervasive aura that acts as an unsettling undertone that the reader can't help but notice throughout the entire book, and uses Threepio in a fresh and new way. Planet of Twilight had excellent characterization of Leia. However, going beyond those two books, which are two of the most despised by fans, I might even actually like almost everything else from the EU. Rather than let a disappointing quality of a book/comic ruin the entire reading experience, I notice the good qualities, and they near always overpower everything else for me.

I may be very unique in this case --- I do have very diverse tastes, and am generally a pretty positive person. I think one of the defining factors of this attitude is that I don't go into a book with preconceived notions of what I want to happen. Sure, I love speculation, but I still go in with a blank slate, an

 

Yeah, it's a video game called KOTOR. Everything Post ROTJ hasn't been executed properly. Good characters with potential but are never used properly.

 

Everything that follows has been predicated on the characters losing the battle they won in the films, more or less.

Sure, it made sense for them to continue fighting the Empire for a while, and go through the hard work of building the New Republic.

But to "keep it interesting" we have to have Reborn Emperors, more Sith, skipping ahead to that new government decaying from the weight of corruption, more Empires, more galaxy-spanning world-destroying wars, etc, and rather than moving a lot of that to a new era, to capitalize on the movie characters it comes one right after the other.

Whether it's Vader's sacrifice and the prophecy of balance, the rebuilding of the Jedi Order, a New Republic, or whatever, everyone had something to look forward to from the ending of RoTJ. But whatever it was that captured people's imaginations that they expected to see rebuilt, ultimately is destroyed or some new villain shows up and runs circles around them, making them look like fools. Some people might like the Empire, so seeing that back doesn't bother them. But then, there is something else that they like, perhaps that Vader brought balance to the Force and - whoops! There goes the satisfaction.

It's the result of everything falling apart at one point or another, everyone has their threshold and something that has failed will bother them. They'll accept that Luke's Order doesn't work out, but not the New Republic, or vice versa. There was a lot of expectation in that ending of RoTJ, and a lot of promise that these were heroes that were strong enough and smart enough to build something better. It's also the result of making the characters either stupid or blind to certain things in order to create a credible threat.

There's a reason there is usually considerably less vocal criticism of the pre-RoTJ EU than there is of the post-RoTJ EU. Every egg in the carton has been busted at one point or another, one of them is bound to be someone's favorite egg.

 

Well, some EU does feel the need to address the Empire's lack of alien officers and such. Both James Luceno and Stover seem to do this in different ways. I think the Dooku thing is a nod to this, in that the humanocentric idea endured, even if Dooku didn't.