Re-read Survivor's Quest after reading Outbound Flight

This is a short message just to say that for those who didn't appreciate Timothy Zahn's Survivor's Quest when it came out originally, I would highly recommend that you read Outbound Flight, another brilliant Zahn novel for us EU fans who can't get enough prequel era material, and then re-read Survivor's Quest - the same as I would recommend that anyone who has seen the ROTS movie recently go back and watch Episodes 1 and 2 again, the first two prequels have much more depth when you see them within the context of Ep3. This also applies to Survivor's Quest, which I thought was good book when it first came out, but given the lack of background detail I felt confused at times about the true significance of certain aspects of the story e.g. Lorana Jinzler's sacrifice, the Geroon / Vaagaari history, etc.

On a more general note I would recommend that Star Wars fans go back and re-read many of their books again - sometimes having a better grasp of the wider Star Wars history (including the pre-KOTOR, KOTOR, prequel, OT and NJO/LOF eras) can give a certain story a greater resonance and mae your reading of it that much more enjoyable. Note: while re-reading some backs may reveal certain continuity gaffs (these are bound to happen with such a vast galaxy of stories and different media) this should not distract from the enjoyment of the stories.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Yasura.

 

Must admit that i'm re-reading it myself now after reading outbound flight and I wold tend to agree with you. When I first read SQ I was on holiday and had just read Shatterpoint and compared to that SQ seemed boring and so I did not absorb it properly. But now I am re-reading it to see how it all fits together. E.g the Jinzler family has a much deeper context now.

It's a shame the books don't give you the entire story of outbound flight but they make a lot more sense when read in chronological order.

 

Glad you agree younghansolo.

It's funny you mention Shatterpoint because the events in the book also have greater significance when taken in the context of Ep3 e.g. Mace's ability to see Shatterpoints and the part they play in the scene with Palpatine/Sidious and Anakin and the very end of the book when Palpatine finds it interesting that even an esteemed Jedi Master can be corrupted / fall to the Dark Side.

 

I enjoyed reading the novels in the order that they appeared... I don't expect Star Wars to give me all the backstory immediately, and I really enjoyed reevaluating Survivor's Quest after Outbound Flight...

For instance, why was Formbi acting the way he was, when what happened to Outbound Flight wasn't obviously something that would have caused "Chiss collective guilt", as Mara thought in SQ, but a very personal failure of the young Grand Admiral Thrawn?

And can you find any evidence that Chak or the stormtroopers didn't know from the start that the "Geroons" were Vagaari? Rereading SQ, I can see a couple of little hints suggesting that perhaps they were well aware what was going on...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I'd agree with the general sentiment encouraging re-reading as well. Since i've gotten more into and gained more knowledge of the EU as a whole, i've gone back and re-read a few things, and just recently re-played KOTOR 1 (about to replay 2 as well). It definitely enhances and adds to the overall experience (for instance, getting the Vong reference in KOTOR as i'm now reading NJO (on FH2 currently), knowing the Nomi & Ulic stories while playing KOTOR after having recently read the Tales of the Jedi TBPs).

In fact, even as much as it pains me to admit, i just yesterday re-read Dark Empire and DE2 and actually rather enjoyed them -- DE far more than DE2 -- as i was able to look past their inherent problems that previously bothered me to no end and was able to absorb just the underlying story.

I'd reccomened re-reading of almost any EU that one previously thought "sucked" -- especially if your EU knowledge/immersion has grown since the original reading.


EDIT: grammatical OCD activated!