Books Ronin novel - all spoilers

Honestly that's all just straight Nietzsche with a pinch of Star Wars to address a then-contemporary rebuttal given the Star Wars timeline theory context.

 

I started this but have only just gotten past the chapters that deal with the events of “The Duel.” I’m going to have to stop for a while, though.

Spoiler

I’m curious to get more into the world building, even if this is just an alternate view of Star Wars. When the synopsis came out, it reminded me so much of the first Sith rebellion. That’s what got me excited for this book and the short it’s based on.

Clearly, the synopsis was not something that the short itself touched on at all. And this is far from the ideal depiction of that first Sith rebellion. I’ve mentioned before that this could be an in-universe depiction of the legends that exist around that Sith rebellion, seen through the prism of a different culture and time period. I’m hopeful that this book will touch on some of the topics that would be more relevant to that kind of story, such as greed and lust for power, and the follies of devotion to the self alone at the expense of all else.

But for that same reason, maybe I could do just as well (or better) by looking at real-word events or great works based on those events to get something similar. For example, I still like to sometimes see Macbeth and the works based on it (especially Throne of Blood), as depictions of a conflict between Sith Lords in the period of expansion and conflict that followed the initial rebellion.

 

Some post-book thoughts that I’m just going to lump under one big spoiler tag, in no particular order:

Spoiler

The mysterious voice turning out to be the Ronin’s daughter was a good, slow-burning twist. There was a while at the beginning where I thought it was the Force itself (maybe the dark side of the Force) and longer where I, like I suspect most people will, thought it was the witch. By the end the actual solution seemed correct and inevitable despite the fact that I only put all the pieces together paragraphs before the proper reveal. That’s just good construction.

I think the last chapter is potentially controversial considering the Ronin did not actually sacrifice himself, but for a franchise where everybody gets away with their wrongdoings by dying I think there’s something a bit bold going on with the Ronin ultimately having to live with having made so many messy decisions. It’s undermined slightly by my belief that this is it for this particular Vision (see below), but you can imagine a complex period of long delayed reflection, and maybe that’s enough.

I kept expecting the Traveller to literally turn out to be a fox owing to Japanese mythology around foxes. Instead they were a crystal ghost. I’m not sure how different that is, but it probably involves less bird eating.

While there are some clues that could potentially be interpreted as indicating the book takes place far in the future of the GFFA, I suspect this sets the precedent that Visions novels, should they continue, are mostly going to be a kind of hazy AU anthology of stories that don’t come up in the main timelines, rather than trying to tie the shorts into proper continuity. I also suspect they’re one shots, so this might be it for the Ronin gang (#RONINGANG). Admittedly I have complicated feelings about canon such that it doesn’t really bother me, but I could see that putting some folks off.

In conclusion, I dug it, and I hope we keep getting to see more unrestrained takes on the source material.

 

Thoughts on the book, as well as the evolving nature of the 'Visions' project...

Spoiler

The ending got a bit too surreal/abstract for me to really follow, but I did like the twist of the daughter, as well as the overall story.

It's unexpectedly appropriate that it came out in October, as I think I suspected every single character in the cast of being an undead at one point or another. XD In the end, I think the only truly 'alive' characters are Chie and Ekiya, while all the others were too damaged by the past to be considered living- plus half of them were undead anyway. It made for an interesting ghost story. Although, I'm not really sure what Chie's deal is; she seemed underdeveloped, a character who has hints of being interesting, but I don't get the same sense of what led her to this quest like all the others.

I also love the setting. Like a lot of the Visions shorts, it more directly links Jedi to its original samurai influence, but 'Ronin' is unique in that it focuses on the more feudal aspect, with the Jedi having a complicated hierarchy and answerable to corrupt royalty. Conversely, Sith become more about freedom and acting against corruption, but I appreciate that they're not portrayed as good guys; they're ultimately just as flawed as the Jedi, just on a more impulsive and selfish level. I'd love to see more in this setting, perhaps exploring the war that's hinted at being just beyond the horizon for the galaxy. It would also be cool to have a RPG in this setting.

What confuses me, though, is why this is an expansion/sequel to 'The Duel.' That's essentially a big action scene, presented in a stylized way meant to evoke old movies, with the characters all being pretty shallow archetypes. This book, though, is a very character-focused, ponderous story. It spends pages on the characters thinking about their own feelings and motivations, and there's only two major action sequences. And the descriptions are pretty vague, so the unique and signature visuals of the short are pretty much abandoned. That's not bad! I quite liked this book! But I don't get why this author and style of story was paired with the specific Vision short it was; I feel like the book is more akin to 'The Village Bride' or 'Akakiri' in style and tone. I almost wonder if it was selected purely because the studio behind 'The Duel' confirmed they have no intention to expand or revisit it- or perhaps the story was planned and initially written before more than a few designs and visuals were available.

Personally, I think I would have preferred Ronin to stand alone rather than be tied to 'The Duel,' and I'd love to see more Visions novels that are just completely doing their own thing and don't have to depend on the cartoons.

 

Ok, I am halfway through it and I am not gonna lie but it's hard for me to read it.. English is not my primary language but never had problems with reading SW books or listening to the audiobooks but with this one is getting harder.. not sure.. maybe it's because of using too many words I never knew or sometimes the sentence structure is a bit more complex. Do you, native English speaking guys, also have this feeling?

 

Mine is somewhere in an Amazon UK van at this point.

 

I've almost finished the novel. I have to say, I get a real mash-up vibe from it. Like KOTORs 1 and 2 with Jade Empire and of course Kurosawa.

I think it helps to be steeped in jidaigeki tropes when reading it. I've been reading the Lone Wolf and Cub manga for months, and watching the films. I watched the Samurai trilogy recently as well.

To me the Ronin is an interesting twist on a character like Revan.

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Ronin also gives off some Ulic vibes from Redemption, aside Revan twist and Ajunta Pall.

Imagine Kylo had survived IX, he'd be in the same role. Hunted, regretting his past, not fully letting go of it yet not falling back into it either. What abandoned concepts for post IX did end up in Visions and Ronin anyway one may wonder, given the storytelling tapestry once looked different and some elements of IX were not as final and fixed as they are now.

 

Started this today and I'm about halfway through. It's different but so far I'm liking it.

 

Not had a chance to read any of this yet, as the sole hardback I found was gone the next time I was at Waterstones. It's very much it's own thing, I gather, than very chronologically compatible. But new blood for writing Jedi and Force users is generally a neat step anyway.

 

I finished it. The author's writing style took some time to get used to but on the whole I liked the book. Wouldn't mind seeing more in this vein.

 

I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I was reading Lone Wolf and Cub and watching jidaigeki movies simultaneous with reading the novel. As the novel goes beyond the short film, I couldn't really visualize the setting so much like "Edo period Japan plus Star Wars film bits and bobs," it became more distinct for me.

Though the Imperial Dreadnought seems like it is probably the familiar Star Destroyer with a Japanese castle in place of the bridge tower.

At times it read like a remix of KOTOR and KOTOR2, with Ronin in Revan's place and the witch being a sort of Kreia/Nihilus hybrid.

The way the Force is described is pretty interesting, yet far more mysterious and nebulous than the Force usually is.

I'm definitely interested in more stuff like this. I'd like authors to have more opportunity to craft Star Wars settings through different cultural lenses.

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Read this today. A very refreshing take on SW and a great expansion of The Duel short.

The new cast worked well.

Weaknesses were that there were times when I found some of the fight sequences hard to follow and I'm not quite sure how what happened to Hanrai's dreadnought.

Is this the first time a queer writer has written SW?

 

Not sure if the author is the first but I still find the use of 'they' when referring to a single person a bit jarring. But that's just me - not a slight against the book.

 

I found that worked well with that particular character being the only user of it, made it clear who was being referred to.

 

Heh, that part I got - a bit more detail on the technique used would have been good to have.

 

Besides possibly the first queer author, is Yuehiro the first trans character in Star Wars?

 

I'm about to start this, and @Sinrebirth, where should this go timeline wise on my canon bookshelf?

 

This book really excells at something most others fail, aside the unique setting and interpretation of Jedi, Sith and the GFFA. And that is its characters. Every single one has a mysterious at first yet slowly gradually unveiled past and interesting motivations and allegiances. We are not following a good guy to fight evil, nor the other way around, but a more complex web of characters and all of them growing and changing over the course of the book. It's refreshingly different from stereotype SW we get elsewhere. Something the Expanded Universe of Legends times did last only and that so far is lacking but not missing entirely in this new canon. The villains are as human as the heroes and either side is flawed yet striving for something to make the world better as per their own pov. Maybe this is due to Yin and Yang being far better understood in asia than in the western world's abuse of it, but it really shines through the entire book and is an important message for readers about life too, several messages to be exact even.

I wonder how this author not only would continue this story and era but how the author would tackle a story set in the movie saga era and with these characters. They really should give her such a job and the same freedom she had with this novel for Visionsverse.

 

All I know is apparently her next book is about giant robots so I'm going to read the **** out of that.

 

I missed this aspect entirely.

 

Yuehiro and Shogo both use hormones with the implication that they have both transitioned from another gender. Candon said on Twitter that was their intent.