A&A The Official Barbara Hambly Discussion Thread

HATED CotJ and PoT. But I really liked Taster's Choice-the tale of Jabba's chef and the story about Nightlily and the Gotal.

Or maybe it's just that I absolutely hated Callista in general.

 

PoT was actually preety good in my mind. It was kind of like seeing Leia as a Kyle Katarn character. Pretty goood political plot as well, which I always enjoy.

 

Hambly is actually one of my favourite SW authors.

 

Well Im going to go out on a limb, but Isee Hambly as one of the best Warlord writers in the EU, she really made POT a all out book with that plot.

 

I thought Planet of Twilight was a vast improvement over Children of the Jedi. It was great to see Leia fight with a lightsaber and those droch things were pretty cool. I was impressed with the characterizations of Artoo and Threepio and their misadventure was great. Daala returning was also good

It isn't the best Star Wars book out there, but it isn't as bad as people say it is IMO.

 

After 50 pages of COTJ my eyes hurt. After 100 pages my brain started to ache. After 200 pages I wanted to kill myself. It took me several days to brave finishing off this book. I did so in the hope of finding some redeeming qualities, what a mistake that turned out to be. The writing was impossible to follow, the storyline was pathetic and Calista is one of the worst charachters in Star Wars.

Barbara Hambley MUST NEVER be allowed back in to the Star Wars universe ever again. NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!

 

I must say that I Barbara Hambly is not going to be profitting from me. I feel that of all of the SW books, that her 2 books were the worst. I struggled immensely with the story. It had no flow. I only finished the books because they were SW books.

I don't mean to be mean, but Ms. Hambly is not an author that I want to follow.

 

I think Barbara Hambly is one of the better EU authors out there. I really liked COTJ, and POT was so-so (it was great to see Leia use a lightsaber in action, finally). I think she writes Han and Leia better than any of the other authors, and I actually liked Callista's character (too bad she didn't stick around; she's MUCH more tolerable than the irritating Mara Jade).

She may not be the best, but she's far from the worst.

 

I will stand up for Hambly because she a) doesn't appear to care for Mara very much; and b) likes Han and Leia.

There are too few EU authors who share either of those sentiments. Hence the constant mistreatment of H/L and the nauseating gushing over Mara that has characterized the NJO.

 

It's funny how people feel free to make personal attacks on Hambly, but if you dare criticize any other EU authors, you're scolded.

Hambly was just about the only EU author who displayed a genuine affection for Han and Leia as a couple, and who appeared to have a disdain for Mara. That alone is enough to, in my mind, put her above undeservedly praised EU authors such as Kathy Tyers, A.C. Crispin, and James Luceno, who are openly hostile to H/L and/or worship Mara.

 

I much prefer Hambly's books to Zahn's.

 

I just could not deal with PoT at all, it was mind numbing.

COTJ, well it was confusing as hell.

Still none of them match the Crystal Star for "why am I reading this?" factor.

 

I have to agree, as well.. However revolting POT was, COTJ was actually quite good. And, I agree as well, Vonda McIntyre's novel teamed up with the Corellian Trilogy make me disgusted, and would gladly see Barbara Hambly write another book than have Vonda McIntyre write one. The only problem I have with Hambly is that she does go into too much detail compared to everything else. And, I'm gonna have to agree with someone earlier on this page that he had to read a sentence several times to get it. I'll go for that one. But, once it was understood, it made for a better story than Crystal Star or the Corellian Trilogy.

 

I found the description of "han and leia made love on a rug the previous night" totally inappropriate.


[face_disgusted]



Luke was whimpy in the books - and she injured him in both books as well.


Blah......

Callista *was* interesting - but I think she should have been expanded on better.

 

I much prefer Hambly's books to Zahn's.

I find this so unbelievable that I just can't think of a way to respond. Oh well each to his own.

 

Loved Callista in Hambly's books, HATED her with a passion in Darksaber. KJA's writing was abominable; it almost turned her into an anti-Callista fan.

I loved COTJ and (to a lesser degree) PoT. Callista's final goodbye to Luke in PoT was touching and sad. I really wish she'd come back (as long as she's not a Dark Jedi, or anything like that).

Oh, and I think Zahn's books are terrible. I'd rank them alongside The Crystal Star and the NJO as some of the worst EU books ever written. But that's just my opinion.

 

I don't think a reference to Han and Leia making love is any more inappropriate than Luke and Mara's innumerable boinking scenes all throughout the NJO, and it's certainly not more inappropriate than Anakin drooling over his aunt in "Balance Point."

I wish Callista hadn't just been thrown away. She wasn't my favorite but she was an interesting character with potential.

But I much preferred how Hambly wrote her to KJA.

I agree, Empress Palpatine, Zahn is incredibly overrated.

 

Barbara Hambly is one of my favorite authors, SW or otherwise. I love how poetic her language is, and how she brings even the most fantastical worlds down to earth (par example:Han Solo and the dishwashers. I loved that!).

Jedi_Liz, I totally agree with you when you say that Callista's character could have been expanded on better. If Hambly had written Darksaber, I don't think people would hate her as much. KJA really sucks when it comes to characterization, especially females. Callista didn't turn into a whiny shrew until Anderson got a hold of her. Notice that she's like two different people in CotJ/PoT and DS? Granted, she did make some weird decisions (Bringing Daala back being the worst).

If you guys liked CotJ and PoT, you definitely need to check out the Dragonsbane series. They're romantic, exciting and wonderfully written. What's most amazing about the series is that the heroine, Jenny Waynest, rather than being a young, beautiful fairy of an enchantress, is middle-aged, not especially beautiful, and not especially all-powerful, and that makes her all the more interesting.

To the people that have read the DragonsBane books: Did anyone else see the similarities between Jenny and Callista?

 

I liked Callista best in COTJ, when she originally appeared. Couldn't stand her after, in Darksaber and even PoT. I found two books by Hambly at a secondhand bookstore the other day and I was wondering if the series was any good. Can't remember the name of the series, but one book is called Walls of Air . Has anyone else read these?

 

No, I haven't. The only other books I've read of hers are A Free Man of Color, Dragonsbane, Dragonshadow, Knight of the Demon Queen, and Dragonstar. KotDQ ended on such a cliffhanger, and it took them forever to release DS. I about died when it came out. Great book! I highly recommend reading them.

Luke and Callista Forever!

 

Hambly's writing style is just not my cup of tea. It's like watching a movie where the director's style distracts from the story, one of those 'art movies' that always win the Cannes film festival thingy. But like some mention, at least she handled Callista well.

Thus, I have to agree with those who wish that Hambly don't write anymore SW novels. No more!

 

I gotta say that, of all the EU books I have read (all but the Bounty Hunter Wars), these two rank among my top five worst SW books of all time. I found them boring, hard to follow, and a painful experience to read overall. On thing that still gets me is that in CotJ, Luke spends most of the novel whining about a broken leg. He wasn't even that annoying in the films! Whatever happened to the Jedi powers that help heal? Sorry, but I wont read these two again unless it's absolutely necessary. I really hope that we see no more Barbara Hambly SW books.

 

I'm currently rereading Ms Hambly's Callista stories ( just finished COTJ this morning ), and here's the thing I don't understand:

How people can just blast her writing, her characterizations, her plots and planning, without really understanding something about SW novels in general.

These are not movies. They are not scripts, comics, video games, trading cards, cereal boxes, online missives ( or as the case may be, DISmissives ) or greeting cards. They are NOVELS, a different art form altogether from the flash-in-the-pan entertainments that we are so used to these days. I can certainly see why the exposition used in a novel can fly right over the pointed little heads of a great many fans of ANY franchise. It doesn't hold their attention. It makes them THINK. It forces them to USE their IMAGINATIONS.

I LOVE Hambly's SW writing, because it's written by a novelist, not a scriptwriter or advertising hack. It makes full use of language, and of the characters and situations of the GFFA. It's also a lot more realistic. Our Heroes aren't superbeings. They're allowed to express doubt, love, humor, pain. They get to change their clothes! We get to see them being people, acting appropriately in the moment.

Luke, whiny with a busted leg? Man, y'all need to reread those passages. I know if I got hacked in the leg, had no real medical attention, and had to limp everywhere on a ship of fools that's falling apart...well, that whole situation doesn't show him as being weak. If anything, it shows us more of his strengths, that he was able to fulfill his goals under extreme circumstances. Heroes don't always have to flex their muscles or come up with a brilliant plan in order to be heroic.

Now, Admiral Daala in PoT. I thought her inclusion toward the end of the book was wonderful. Ms Hambly showed compassion for someone who was seen as a loose cannon, an angry and bitter woman who sought to exact her vengeance upon a galaxy turned topsy-turvy while she was secluded in the Maw while Life went on without her. I never saw her as a mastermind, someone else who was trying to consolidate power and forge a new Empire. She acted on her own. Like Howard the Duck, she was trapped in a world she never made.

That KJA created the character is beside the point. But after a trilogy of guerilla strikes and another go at rebuilding the Empire ( and failing miserably ), one would think she'd learned her lesson and wanted to change. That's what Ms Hambly presented us with by including her in PoT. She and her compatriots from the Maw days were tired; that she and her crew went on to fight One Last Battle for their own personal peace says a lot about the sea change in her character. It was appropriate for her to give up the race for the crown, as it were; she'd spent a good many years trying to control the will of others because SHE was upset. It was better for her to just get on with her life. Ms Hambly does this touchingly with the inclusion of Liegus in the novel.

I was more than slightly miffed that KJA chose as his denouement for Daala, in the Essential Chronology, to have her continue this useless dabbling in uniting the Deep Core factions and continuing to strike at the New Republic until she was "presumably killed in action". One more nail in KJA's SW coffin...he can't leave well enough alone. Bad enough he ruined Callista in Darksaber, now he ruins Daala.

Irek and Roganda Ismaren's fates were equally bizarre. NEVER would I expect to see that little brat so transformed that he comes *gasp* Lord Nyax. Oh please.

Bri

 

I quite agree, RB. Hambly's style is fantastic. It's poetry, really. It's interesting how her fragmented senteces sometimes get the point across better than full ones, like she's dictating emotions. I love that.

 

Great post, RB-wan!

I was more than slightly miffed that KJA chose as his denouement for Daala, in the Essential Chronology, to have her continue this useless dabbling in uniting the Deep Core factions and continuing to strike at the New Republic until she was "presumably killed in action". One more nail in KJA's SW coffin...he can't leave well enough alone. Bad enough he ruined Callista in Darksaber, now he ruins Daala.

WTF? Well, that sucks, considering that Daala was actually semi-tolerable in Planet of Twilight.

So, whatever happened to Liegeus?