What are you reading? — Page 18

I finished reading Heir to the Jedi. My final opinion on the novel?

It was okay. Not good, not great, not slightly-above-average, not bad, not dreadful, not abominable -- just okay.

To put things in perspective, the book had a few nice tidbits -- Luke deconstructing a dead Jedi's lightsaber to get a sense of its inner workings, Luke experimenting with telekinesis, and the subplot with the nasty brain-eating skullborers -- but they just weren't enough to compensate for the poorly-executed first-person narrative (Luke does not think or talk that way!) and the lack of a cohesive plot.

Had it been given a less bombastic title and marketed as just another SW novel which brings nothing new to the table and will have no impact on the greater SW Universe, I'd give HTTJ a pass for being a harmless time-killer. But as a spiritual successor to Heir to the Empire and a story which goes in-depth into Luke's efforts to become a Jedi post-SW/pre-TESB -- both of which this novel purports to be -- it's a complete letdown and failure and deserves to be regarded as such.

Been reading some EU. It's getting close to TFA now, and my Star Wars interest levels are rising, so I need to get a fix. I've never really read any EU before (some junior novels when I was younger and I think I got a chapter or so into Heir to the Empire but that's it), so now's the time. I'm trying to go somewhat chronological, but I'm not really interested in the really early stuff, or the really late stuff. Once you get too far away from the movies it's sort of like, what's the point? I want stuff that deals with the characters from the movies. So I want my EU to be filling in the blanks between the movies (and within them). (Also just the idea of the really early and late stuff in the timeline has me considering depressing existential ideas which I don't need from this franchise.)

Unlike most here, I'd imagine, I actually don't mind the PT stuff so I've been delving into that. I was really young when I first saw the OT, and it wasn't long before the PT came along, so most of my preconceptions and speculations about the world pre-ANH were simply replaced and supplanted (rather than squashed) with what I saw as the real events. Obviously I can look back at the PT and list the ways things should have been done differently, but I won't ignore the fact that the PT is canon, and I honestly don't mind it either.

So I read Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, and it was pretty good. I appreciated the way he explained all of the machinations of the PT in ways that Lucas never could, fully developing threads like Dooku and Sifo-Dyas that were only vaguely explained in the PT. It's pretty cool to get a behind the scenes account leading up to the dawn of the Empire, and Luceno details things well. I would probably prefer that the origins of Palpatine and Plagueis went unexplained, but that's the whole point of the book really so I can't complain. The one thing he never explicitly states is whether or not Plagueis and Palpatine created Anakin with the force, but it's pretty heavily implied and I'm okay with that.

I'm not sure if it was the best first EU book for someone to read. The beginning was a little tough, and I had to consult Wookiepedia quite a bit to figure out what the species Luceno was referring to were. It was also just hard at first to become invested into the Plagueis character, and I really just wanted to see him interact with the stuff I'm already familiar with, but I guess if I had already read a lot of EU stuff a book like this would be a nice change of pace, following an unknown villain prominently for once. Still, the first part of the book was still rather dull with politics and such (and sort of the rest of the book for that matter), but things started to pick up once Palpatine arrived. The last third was exciting, but very rushed. This is partly due to it (from my understanding) covering events that were more fully fleshed out in the novels Cloak of Deception and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, and of course The Phantom Menace. Ultimately, however, it was a satisfying read.

Next up, Terry Brooks's novelization of The Phantom Menace, in an attempt to see if the book version might be any better than the film itself. And well, it is, of course, but, like many fan edits, once you wipe away all the crap you're still left with a rather boring story. Some of the bad dialogue is still here, but I don't have to worry about any bad acting or racially insensitive accents. Jar Jar's tolerable, but ends up feeling really out of place. The truth is, reduce the really bad stuff, and you notice there's not much that's interesting about TPM.

What I really do appreciate is how Brooks expanded character motivations and thoughts. Anakin's additional material works really well, and there's a good bit of foreshadowing with the Tuskens (though way too much bad foreshadowing with Padme). Obi-Wan is the other notable. Turns out if you really pay attention to him he's actually a dick in TPM, but thankfully Brooks uses this as part of a character arc for him, something that is sorely missing from the film where he has nothing to do. Brooks's writing itself is serviceable, though at times repetitive and even childish during the Anakin stuff (obviously on purpose, but not very well done, in my opinion). Still, I enjoyed it.

After that was Greg Bear's Rogue Planet. I hadn't heard much about it, but my thought was that there should be a novel to fill in the ten year gap between TPM and AOTC. Since this was the only adult EU novel that fits (oddly enough I remember reading an old Jedi Quest book when I was a kid that I thought did a pretty good job filling that gap), I thought I would read it to see how the old EU handled that timeframe. It started out well enough, with an exciting first chapter that put the characters in an interesting situation that helped define them. And then the book slowly became what I was worried it would become - another boring and pointless story. So much time is spent on this random and largely uninteresting planet "Zonama Sekot" that reading became rather tiresome. The other problem was the whole story is built on a bunch of mysteries - mysteries neither the protagonists nor antagonists have answers to. And then when they're finally answered, at the very end, they're anticlimactic and don't even make that much sense. And the worst part of it all is that the main reason I was reading this - to see Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship develop - is one of the most undercooked aspects.

Despite all of this, the novel is actually very well written and characterization is also well done. Tarkin also shows up for a bit and we get a good insight into what he was like before the Empire (not very different) so that's fun. All in all, it wasn't a terrible book, but it was a disappointment. A lot of wasted potential.

Now I'm on to Attack of the Clones. Let's see how this goes. I'm only a few chapters in and author R.A. Salvatore is already twisting himself into knots trying to explain this assassination plot. Novelizing Lucas's screenplays must be a hard job.

Timothy Zahns trilogy is quite worth reading.  I haven't read it in quite a while but I liked it very much.  You mentioned you read a chapter or so of the first one, I recommend you pick it back up when you get a chance.  Very interesting story and well done.

Oh I definitely plan on reading that. Those are sort of the quintessential EU books. I'd be crazy not to check them out.

But not yet. My journey through the EU needs some sort of rhyme and reason, and since (some of) the makers of the old EU loved continuity, I've decided to see how well everything works chronologically. So I've got a list of books I'll be reading. I'll probably get to the Thrawn trilogy in a few months, maybe even sooner.

I hope you enjoy it.  It's got a great tone and the story is very well thought out.

Shadows of the Empire isn't all that bad either, although it's not as good as the N64 video game...

If listening to audio books counts as reading then I am in the 1%.

I just find it easier these days because I am busy and I can listen to the books while I work on something else.

When I was a kid I used to read for hours every day because I had the free time.  I remember I once read Casino Royal in a single afternoon without getting up once to use the bathroom.  My bladder was screaming at the end but I couldn't put it down, that is good writing.

I miss having the time to do that these days.

I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

I really like it.

hairy_hen said:

I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

 

I really like it.

 

What!? You go to the effort of double-spacing just to say "I really like it"?! No specific thoughts on the book?! No details?!

DrCrowTStarwars said:

If listening to audio books counts as reading then I am in the 1%.

I just find it easier these days because I am busy and I can listen to the books while I work on something else.

When I was a kid I used to read for hours every day because I had the free time.  I remember I once read Casino Royal in a single afternoon without getting up once to use the bathroom.  My bladder was screaming at the end but I couldn't put it down, that is good writing.

I miss having the time to do that these days.

 Yeah, me too, although a lot of it has to do with the way I manage my time. I have the time to read, but I spend a lot of it learning languages, reading articles and forums on the Internet, and pursuing other interests like photography.

There have been times that I had seventy books on the go all at once and was able to keep them straight in my head. Right now, I still have over thirty I'm trying to finish, some of which I've been reading for three years...which was when I was still able to read for four hours a day.

When I was in early elementary school, I homeschooled, and only for two hours a day. The rest of the day I spent reading. I ended up knowing more in just about every subject than the rest of my classmates when I started regular school, despite having only done math, a bit of music, religion, and a little bit of language arts as part of my structured homeschooling.

Yeah same thing happened to me with reading.  I spent all my free time reading books and watching PBS and I ended up way ahead of the other kids my age.  Book are great and more kids need to get into reading.

I used to read a lot when I was younger. From 1998 through to 2010, I went through books like a coke-head goes through crack. However, when my stupid sister first started listening to her shitty rap music back in 2010 -- turning the volume up as loud as physically possible from the time she woke up to the time she went to bed -- she completely destroyed my ability to read in this house. Whereas I used to be able to read comfortably with a bunch of noise going on around me -- be from a TV, a conversation, or whatever -- now I can only read late at night when everyone else is asleep.

She doesn't play her garbage pseudo-music like that anymore, but the damage has been done and I can't concentrate on a book during daylight hours in this house. I guess it's psychosomatic -- I don't have nearly as much trouble reading when I'm on a bus or in public areas with large numbers of people. 

What am I reading right now? This forum.

It's taken me way longer than I expected to post here. I wrote down reviews as I went but I kept moving on to a new book and saying "oh I'll post after that." Well, enough is enough. Sorry for the wall of text. Here's what I've been reading for the last four months.

DominicCobb said:

Now I'm on to Attack of the Clones. Let's see how this goes. I'm only a few chapters in and author R.A. Salvatore is already twisting himself into knots trying to explain this assassination plot. Novelizing Lucas's screenplays must be a hard job.

Finished Attack of the Clones and it was actually sort of enjoyable. Salvatore tries his hardest to make everything make sense - and it almost does. A lot of the book is spent on the romance to make it more believable. At times it seems like an impossible task but Salvatore manages it better than the movie does, mostly by concentrating on Padme. Anakin is not as much the focus, which might be for the best. The movie's portrayal of him is wildly inconsistent but the book somehow manages to alleviate that whilst also making Anakin likeable. Unfortunately the only way to do that and stay true to the script was to have Anakin be a sort of overgrown child, which works in an endearing sort of way but ultimately is not who the future dark lord should be.

Thankfully James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil, the next book I read, might actually have the best portrayal of Anakin Skywalker I have seen, book or otherwise. Luceno's Anakin has personality; he's dryly sarcastic, he's a clever soldier, and a good friend. What's most interesting is his grasp on the force. He's already calling on his rage and his fear, even before he turns to the dark side, and it's helping him win the war. This in my mind is a crucial step towards his turn, yet is not something shown in the films. I do wish there had been some way to bridge the gap of the naive Anakin of AOTC and the confident Anakin of this novel. I read an excerpt of Jedi Trial, which takes place in between the two, but it sucked so I didn't bother with it.

Anakin isn't the only commendable part of LOE, however. The whole book is just a fantastic adventure, and really a lot of fun. There's weight too. Luceno clearly knows his canon (more than I) and works in some interesting character motivations for Dooku and Grievous. If I have a problem with the book it's that the fact that Palpatine is Sidious is made rather obvious, even though it's supposed to be a mystery. The other thing is, by the end, you realize this story is really just an extended prologue for ROTS, rather than its own thing. I didn't really mind though. All told this is the best EU novel I have read so far.

Well, that's if you don't count novelizations as EU novels. Because Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith is without a doubt the best Star Wars novel I have ever read. Right from the start he hooks you in and doesn't let go. To say that this book is better than the film is a colossal understatement (and I actually quite like the film). I do wonder how much of this greatness belongs to Lucas. The novel is apparently based on an early draft, and Lucas's first cut of the film was supposed to be four and a half hours long. So it's entirely possible that a lot of this came from Lucas, and certainly it does seem like Stover is expanding a lot on things that Lucas set up, even if the former has to provide pay off where the latter didn't. But, at the end of the day, Lucas's cut of the film is what it is, and it does not stand up to this. (Stray observation: I estimate about 5% of the dialogue in the novel is actually from the movie.)

The result is a much more fulfilling story across the board. While reading I felt like I was just constantly saying "yes! yes!" Stover does not let any opportunity go. But good storytelling is not just about plot and character. Stover also brings a fantastic and immensely engaging prose style. It's maybe a little too effusive in parts near the start, but when it really sets in you love it.

The one could-have-been-better is, again, Anakin. To be clear, I think Stover nails him for the most part. Stover's goes piece by piece through the lead up to and the actual turn to the dark side, and it really works, a hell of a lot more so than in the movie. Towards the end though, I do wonder if he took a sort of short cut and fell back a bit on the naive Anakin characterization. While it is consistent with a lot of the other portrayals of Anakin, and while he does need to be tricked by Sidious to some extent, I think it would have been more powerful if Anakin was more fully aware of what was going on and more consciously joined the dark side and forsook the Jedi order. As it is, it still works, but I feel like there was room for more consistency with the ever confident Vader of the OT.

Speaking of Vader, next up for me was Luceno's Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. I knew going in that people had criticized this book for not focusing enough on its titular character and I'd have to agree. Not that I mind the idea of focusing on new characters, but ultimately those new characters are not all that compelling. The best parts are with the characters we know, specifically Organa trying to not to get on the Empire's bad side, Tarkin fitting into his new position very well, and of course Vader dealing with a basically a brand new life, which is really the highlight. Overall it's a pretty quick and enjoyable read but sort of forgettable and not completely satisfying, like the last two books (which supposedly make up the "Dark Lord Trilogy" with this one).

I then moved on to Alan Dean Foster's original Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, the novelization that started it all, really, book-wise. I must say for a book that came out even before the film itself, it fits surprisingly well into the franchise's canon. This an immensely enjoyable read. Like when I read Marvel's adaptation of the film, I found myself just so happy to be consuming my favorite film in a new and exciting way. It's basically the same story I know and love, with some little differences and additions and quirks (droids are styled as 'droids, something that also occurs in Daley's Solo books and Foster's other SW book, more on those later), but it's those variations that make the story all the more entertaining. I don't often reread books but I feel I will with this one.

Next comes the book that actually kicked the EU into gear, Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I know this one gets some flak from fans because of Luke's romantic feelings for Leia and it just generally not being like other SW stuff, but I really liked it. It really isn't much of a Star Wars book. You've got the Empire, the Rebellion, the Force, Luke, Leia and the droids of course - and the characters are portrayed pretty well - but the tone of the story isn't quite right (also, it's like Foster kept forgetting R2 and 3PO were even there, they basically do nothing; seriously there are two new species who speak different languages and the translating jobs go to just about everyone but 3PO it seems). It's a little bit more mature and pulpy than usual. The story itself could easily be a SW one but the way it's written makes it seem more generic sci-fi/fantasy. Doesn't have quite the right SW feel to it. Still, it's a very cool read and pretty short too so nothing lost there.

I was sort of going in chronological order but I also was concurrently reading Brian Daley's Han Solo At Stars' End. I sort of forgot to write about it when I finished so I'll just put it here at the end. I'd just like to say this is a fantastic book. Fun, fun, fun from start to finish. It's not typical SW, but it's sort of exactly what I would hope for from a book about Han Solo. Light and tight and lean and mean. If I had one qualm is that The Authority seems sort of redundant as a power in a galaxy controlled by the Empire, but that's easily over looked. A great space adventure for those looking for one. I really want to read the other two Daley books but I think I'll save them for later and focus on books about the main storyline.

Up next, The Empire Strikes Back!

Great reviews.  I've read all but the PT EU, and I pretty much agrree with what you said. Might have to give Labyrinth of Evil a try now.

darth_ender said:

Great reviews.  I've read all but the PT EU, and I pretty much agrree with what you said ight have to give Labyrinth of Evil a try now.

It's definitely worth it. I think a lot of people don't bother with the PT EU just because who cares about the PT, but LOE feels like Star Wars and makes you yearn for the PT that could have been.

I tried reading Delusions of Grandma by Carrie Fisher some time ago. It wasn't my cup of tea -- AT ALL. I stopped reading it about forty pages in.

Currently, I'm reading Starship Troopers, my second Heinlein novel. It's more engrossing than I initially thought it would be (Of course, my newfound interest in the inner workings of military hierarchy certainly has something to do with that.)

Final update on my readings before TFA:

Donald Glut’s The Empire Strikes Back was a pretty big letdown. It’s utterly devoid of any sort of interesting insight beyond what is on screen. It’s pretty much just a description of what happens in the film. I can’t hate it because it’s still an amazing story and he doesn’t ruin it by any means, but he adds exactly zero to it. Of all the adaptations of all the Star Wars books, this is easily least well done. Still, as I said, it’s Empire, so it’s a fun read.

Next, Steve Perry’s Shadows of the Empire, a story I’ve been meaning to read for awhile. It’s more or less exactly what I hoped, a Star Wars adventure between Empire and Jedi nicely shows the character changes between the two films and sets up everything that needs to be set up for the trilogy’s conclusion. I must say I’m not a huge fan of Xizor (he’s just a total d-bag in every way) but seeing him get his just desserts makes me very happy. I also question why Perry felt the need to create Dash Rendar. He’s nothing but a more cocky Han Solo, which just strikes me as completely unnecessary. Just because Han isn’t around doesn’t mean he needs to be around. Lando’s already a sort of Han replacement, but he works because he’s got some notable differences. If Perry wanted to add a character, I just wish he had done something new. Otherwise, I really love the book. Exactly what you want from a Star Wars story, and well written too.

Finally, I read James Kahn’s Return of the Jedi. After Glut’s Empire adaptation, I expected the worst (doesn’t help that Jedi is my least favorite of the trilogy). But Kahn’s interpretation blew me away. The book was quite honestly everything I hoped for and more. A fun retelling of the film, with added insight into character motivations and some real depth and emotion - more so than even in the film. Like the prequel adaptations, I’d actually say this novel was, in some ways, better than the film. Obviously the spectacle isn’t quite there in written form, but, as a story, I felt it lived up to Empire. Even though because it had to follow the film not much could be changed, the additions really helped to make it a fuller story and a more satisfying sequel and conclusion (with an unexpectedly beautiful ending). If you haven’t read this adaptation, please do yourself a favor and check it out.

Now, a sad admission. I started reading Star Wars books this spring to get me prepared for TFA and to introduce myself to the EU. Part of my goal was to read the best of what the EU had to offer, so obviously the Thrawn trilogy was high up on my list. But I made the decision to read chronologically, which meant the Thrawn books were to come at the end. But I became pretty busy within the last few months, and didn’t get to do as much reading as I wanted to. So, even though I read 13 full Star Wars novels this year (maybe more books in a single year than ever before in my life), none of them were the best that EU has to offer, the Thrawn trilogy. Sad face.

I am reading Heir to the Empire right now but am only about a quarter of the way through and and will certainly not be done before TFA. But it’s great so far and I’ll definitely have it done at some point!