Lit Reading NJO...Again

While it helps Luke, it hurts Jacen... because killing Onimi was inconsequential, as we discussed above.

If you wanted Luke to still have a big moment like that, then maybe instead of Onimi being melted by Jacen being the "enlightenment" moment, perhaps it could be Jacen reconnecting with a dying World Brain and his "one-ness" heals not only the World Brain but the entire planet.

Or, as I originally said, there's no Onimi, Luke and Shimmra injure each other but Shimmra escapes, and Jacen stops Shimmra with his "one-ness" moment instead. That, I feel, shows a passing of the torch... the new generation doing what the past generation failed at. Fans might have wanted a big moment for Luke, but it shouldn't have been taking out the Big Bad... have him kill the Slayers and just injure the Supreme Overlord (and then hold true to Luke "never being as strong again" with his permanent injury from Shimmra). Or just make Luke the commander of the battle, not a foot soldier.

 

The thing is Onimi was controlling Shimmra-he had lost his mind and independent thought. Luke took down the puppet, Jacen the puppet master.

And it's not as if the Onimi reveal was just added on-if you read the scenes in the Vong court closely you will get hints something isn't normal in the relationship between Shimmra and his supposed court jester and familiar.

Luke and Jacen both get big moments-Jacen his mystical moment of glory, and Luke gets to take down the rainbow eyed big bad.

 

We already talked about that. I feel like the canon situation takes away from both. I don't want to repeat myself too much, so I'll drop it for now.

 

Ylesia: as the New Republic subdues the Peace Brigade on Ylesia, Crait comes to mind. With a role reversal. The Republic here plays the role of First Order, complete with huge lasers to cut through a massive blast door on a bunker.

Taking a view of Legends and Canon to be 2 possible timelines in the Force, i find it interesting from an In-Universe perspective to see echoes of similar events happening in both timelines. Almost as if you were a Force spirit taking in all possibilities, or one of the Ones of Mortis, or a Force Priestess in the World Between Worlds looking through the portals/windows into all the possibilities.

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I always found the peace brigade to be an interesting idea that wasn't explored well enough in the NJO. What were its average members like? What did its leadership hope to gain? After the war were there any reprisals against Vong collaborators? Maybe expulsions, mob violence, government sanctioned confiscation of property, lack of fair trials?

In RL collaborationist movements and those supporting them real or alleged often faced severe blowback once the occupying force or government they were collaborating with was defeated.

Could this have led to outbreaks of xenophobia where species or members therof that were perceived to be Vong collaborators or complicit in that regard targeted?

 

I am struggling with Force Heretic 1: Remnant. It's not the writing. It's the baffling choice to not have chapters. WTH? It doesnt feel like there are natural stopping points as you read without chapter breaks, and it starts to feel tedious without those points of reference.

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y

yea totally hated that trilogy for many reasons, that being a major one though

 

As someone who actually really enjoyed that portion of NJO, I sympathize. Noticed a lot of the fatigue in reading Force Heretic was due to that problem.

 

I definitely dont have a problem with the slower pace, exploration and diplomacy part of the story. I think that was necessary in the NJO over all, a lot of which juat feels like all out war 90% of the time. Focal characters need breathing room.

Luke, Mara, Han and Leia got some of that when setting up the Great River earlier on... but that pretty much all happened off page while we followed Jaina, and Anakin. So, it's nice to see major characters do this important work and be out of the direct heat of constant war.

But the lack of chapters is a serious pain.

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I definitely agree. Even our heroes need time off-screen. It's really good to focus on other characters at times, seeing that they too have a story to tell.

 

Really happy to see this thread again. Apologies, returning to the US after 27 months serving in Indonesia was abrupt and work started again very quickly.

I believe I left my own reread off at Dark Journey before leaving country. Will pick it up again.

Thanks for keeping it going well after I returned in June. I hope to have something of interest to post concerning the NJO shorty, but for now I look forward to reading the posts I've missed.





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I've started a thread too! But can migrate here if easier.

 

That would be cool, we'll leave that up to the mods.

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If an author is good, really good, like say the much-missed Sir Terry Pratchett, it can work really well, but few are anywhere near as good as Pratchett was at it.

 

Still havent finished Force Heretic 1. May just skip the rest of the trilogy and read The Final Prophecy.

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I have vague memories of the final prophecy I know I read it but I don't remember much about it, except Tahiri and Harrar running around in the jungle of Zonama.

 

Despite how long it took me to get through this one, I actually really liked Edge of Victory: Conquest, and was always one of my favourites as a kid. The characters are vibrant, the plot fresh and interesting. Ironically this is another book set almost exclusively on the one planet, so I can't really hold my observation of Balance Point as valid. Love the depth of exploration Tahiri and Anakin's relationship gets as well as the really interesting angle Keyes takes in terms of trying to shape Tahiri into a Vong.

I always find it weird reading back through NJO how quickly things are happening, and it's crazy to think Anakin is going to be dead in two books' time.

7.5/10

 

Oh man, forgot how much I love Rebirth. Have smashed through this, will be finished tomorrow.

Still can't get over the Kyp-Jaina creep levels though.

 

Sorry for the triple post..

Why has Keyes never come back to SW after NJO? His stories are so much fun.

The Anakin-Tahiri romance blossoms fully, and their plot with Corran carries this book. Not to say the other plots are weak, but it's amazing when you step back and consider that three EU characters are at the heart of the most compelling plotline in this book, and wonder why there was any concern about these characters being able to stand on their own. Jaina's sideplot (which I expressed cringe about above) is also compelling and interesting in its own way, and it's great to see Rogue Squadron back, and written in such a way that there is no disparity with Stackpole's books.

Han and Leia's plot drags a bit for me, and feels jammed in after being conspicuously absent from the first part, but still picks up pace and becomes quite enjoyable in the second half of the book. Seeing Jacen and Han bouncing off each other is fantastic, and Keyes really gets Han quite well in his writing.

Really enjoy this one. 8/10

 

Keyes didn't want Anakin Solo to die... he tried to write his books in a way so Del Rey could be convinced he has too much potential to be killed-off.

 

Heh, I did get that feeling in his books, he definitely hyped Anakin up a lot. But he does it in a pretty convincing way!

How early in the process was the decision made? I always got the feeling it was kind of made out of the blue, because the Clone Wars novels started coming out and we had Anakin as a protagonist in two different eras, but was it done a lot earlier? Otherwise an argument could be made that Keyes was just following the seeds set up in the previous books.

 

It sure as hell worked for me. But alas, the Powers That Be wanted their pound of flesh.

 

I think it was decided by the time Vector Prime was released, and definite by the time of Balance Point's release.

 

Man, that just makes Keyes' duology even crazier.

 

I would love to see Keyes return.
EOV is one of the best 2 parters in SW imo.
Would have been nice to see him write a Corran and Tahiri team up after TUF.