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So, I'm wondering who amongst you Jatraqueros have been reading the Star Wars Expanded Universe lately, most especially some of the Yuuzhan Vong War books, the Dark Nest Crisis, and the Legacy of the Force novels.
It's something I'm finding interesting, how Jacen Solo is being treated in these novels, and I was wondering a bit if anyone else did, too
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*rolls eyes* At least they didn't have him massacre any "younglings" within ten minutes of his conversion. It still doesn't strike me as remotely credible, though.
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*nod* I'll admit that my perceptions might be tainted by the lack of him going pure dag-nasty evil within the first quarter-hour of his conversion.
But how do you mean not remotely credible though, Tom? There are some things I think are less credible, but overall it seems to smell right from a credibility angle.
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I've read up through the Yuuzhan Vong arc, and really enjoyed "Traitor." I think Stover's easily the best of the recent crop of Star Wars tie-in novelists (and his rendering of "Revenge of the Sith" better than the actual movie). He's very good at character studies, and I really dug his take on Jacen's utter mental transformation, as dark and brutal as it was. I was less fond of the follow-ups, which didn't really address the utter hell Jacen went through, and completely marginalized the character of Vergere, one of the most interesting purely-EU characters in Star Wars.
So Jacen goes completely to the dark side, eh? That's kind of disappointing, if true- I liked that the NJO books were moving toward a more "shades of gray" morality, and away from the light side/ dark side split of the movie.
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I think he should have gone dark side without any Sith tempter. He already had compromised several times, and tried to commit murder rather than arresting his second cousin because of a vision (note that visions of the future figured prominently in Anikin's turning, too).
It should have been a much more gradual turning, with much of the details kept the same - becoming the security chief, slowly resorting to questionable methods, etc.
It would have been far more convincing, and far less like "Anakin II."
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I'm in the middle of the Dark Nest trilogy right now, and I think since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong/Beginning of Dark Nest, it was pretty easy to see what he was being pushed hard in that direction.
I'm a little surprised that Jacen, who was I would say probably the most level headed of all the young crop of Jedi, would be the one to fall, but I guess a lot changed during his little five year jaunt through the different force schools of the universe.
Also a little surprised it took him THAT long to get with Tenal Ka, and how easy it was once it happened. And a little surprise how postal he went on Ta'a Chume as well.
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Because that arc's been done. Jacen's been tempted by the Dark Side and emerged out the other side, now confident that the Force is best expressed through a combination of both LS and DS elements -- that, in other words, both motivation and consequence are more relevant to "good" and "evil" than which "side" of the Force is used to manifest a given power. Moreover, the novels basically proved him right -- and while Luke remained skeptical, the weight of canon was basically on Jacen's side.
So someone shows up, whispers in his ear, flatters him a bit, gets all sneaky, and suddenly he decides that motive and consequence no longer matter, that passion and self-interest really ARE the best ways to channel power, that he needs to cut down the Jedi who witnesses his conversation because, hey, maybe all the time he spent learning to reconcile the two sides of the Force really WAS meaningless?
I mean, this kid was raised by Han Solo and Princess Leia, and mentored by Luke Skywalker. He's been tortured by the best, and has ALREADY had to justify his philosophy at least six times -- while in excruciating pain, at that. Is he really going to shrug and say, "Okay, yeah, I'll be a Sith, just for the experience, even if it means killing the following friends...?"
Add to this the fact that the entire Republic has now essentially gone through this same cycle of "move towards incompetent bureaucracy and/or ruthless authoritarianism, wrongly accuse one of the Heroes of Yavin of something, ostracize all of them, back the wrong horse, etc..." every decade for nearly fifty years now. You can't tell me that this sort of thing doesn't throw up red flags by now. I mean, somewhere on Coruscant, they should have a little wall like grocery stores have for posting bad checks, only with pieces of paper describing what NOT to do to empower tyrants.
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Now, all that said, I think it's pretty clear that there's an editorial remit which involves hammering the reset button on the SWU. And given that, I think they're doing a pretty good job of it. I don't find Jacen's position nearly as execrable as I found Anakin's, for example; you can even make the case that all those formative experiences didn't actually forge his personality but instead broke it, in which case this is just something we should expect.
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quote:I mean, this kid was raised by Han Solo and Princess Leia, and mentored by Luke Skywalker. He's been tortured by the best, and has ALREADY had to justify his philosophy at least six times -- while in excruciating pain, at that. Is he really going to shrug and say, "Okay, yeah, I'll be a Sith, just for the experience, even if it means killing the following friends...?"
That is what throws up the most red flags for me personally. I don't get how it's probable that after ALL THAT, after losing his brother at Myrkr and feeling his sister's decline into madness through the Force, after all that he chooses, willingly, with a wee bit of effort from a Dark Force Jedi to go over to the dark side? It stretches my ability to go along quietly.
Where's Michael A. Stackpole with some Rogue Squadron v. Coralskippers books when I need him?
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quote:He's very good at character studies, and I really dug his take on Jacen's utter mental transformation, as dark and brutal as it was.
I thoroughly enjoyed Traitor as well. It rung credible to me. To answer your other question, though, I wouldn't say he's gone completely dark yet. He's pretty far over the blurry, zig-zagging line between dark and light, though.
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Dagonee,
It's funny you should say that, because to me it has been a gradual thing. All the way back in Traitor, Jacen had taken some unequivocally clear steps towards being a dark Jedi, if not necessarily a Sith. He was under duress, and he later-kind of-repented of these steps, but they were taken, nonetheless.
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Lyrhawn,
quote:I'm a little surprised that Jacen, who was I would say probably the most level headed of all the young crop of Jedi, would be the one to fall, but I guess a lot changed during his little five year jaunt through the different force schools of the universe.
This is something I'd like to find out, too. When he leaves, he seems to at least acknowledge some sort of objective morality...or acknowledge the possibility, anyway. When he gets back, though, it quickly becomes clear that all things, with the exception of his lover and his offspring, are relative and of relative value.
quote:Also a little surprised it took him THAT long to get with Tenal Ka, and how easy it was once it happened. And a little surprise how postal he went on Ta'a Chume as well.
I actually wasn't surprised at how he treated Chume. I was sort of expecting it, because Jacen had a will-to-ruthlessness pretty much tattooed into his character under Vergere's attentions...and he hadn't experienced the sort of duress he'd felt under her care up until he was facing a cold-blooded woman whom he knew, no matter what he did that was 'by the book', would return to threaten his lover and his daughter.
quote:That is what throws up the most red flags for me personally. I don't get how it's probable that after ALL THAT, after losing his brother at Myrkr and feeling his sister's decline into madness through the Force, after all that he chooses, willingly, with a wee bit of effort from a Dark Force Jedi to go over to the dark side? It stretches my ability to go along quietly.
I don't think Jacen's experiences of Jaina's descent really mesh, for him anyway. Her descent was passionate, fiery, emotional, hate-filled. Those aren't things-except when his own are threatened-he really feels at all, anymore.
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Tom,
I agree that Jacen's moral relativism was proven right as far as canon is concerned (also in my own personal judgement as well). But I don't think this is quite the same. The the arc you're describing, Jacen won out on using anger, fear, and hate as emotions to fuel very speficic uses of power in pursuit of a good cause.
Now, things are different. Now, Jacen is using cold-blooded rationality, and completely ruthless actions, in pursuit of a good cause. It's not something he's ever really done, before...but that kind of absolutism has been shown in him before, such as when he (rather stupidly, in my opinion) reverted to pacifism and inaction during the YV wars.
I certainly agree that there isn't enough foresight and psychology going into everyone's treatment of Jacen. It seems to me that after his experiences with the YV, it would be a given that he would have to be watched very, very, very closely and for a very long time. But for some reason-possibly due to his tutelage under Vergere, in which he's able to conceal his emotions and intent even from other Jedi-this is not done with him.
Perhaps it just didn't become clear to Jacen's peers for a long time that Jacen was, in fact, hiding emotions and intent practically all the time.
Heh, although perhaps my more favorable impressions here are because I kind of hit that reset button you mentioned myself. I just sort of took it as a given...perhaps because I found so many of the YV books mediocre at best, I somewhat picked and chose among them.
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I also agree that his experiences under Vergere broke him, and made him into something new, something which could conceal with nearly total effectiveness just what he was feeling, thinking, planning, and wanting. It also set him apart from all of his peers, and while he was aware of that, none of them were until many years later.
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Or do they not take their father's surname? Because then he could, logically, be a child of Mark Hammill.
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I have to be honest, I wasn't at all sad to see Ta'a Chume get what she got. I was a little surprised he pushed THAT hard, but that incident did a lot to drive home just how much of a different Jacen this is than the one we knew.
That woman has been annoying me since The Courtship of Princess Leia, and the Young Jedi Knights series. She dug her own grave.
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She'd been asking for it-quite literally-for a long time. She'd made it repeatedly, abundantly clear that the only way she would ever truly be dealt with would be in her own style. She just never really expected it from a Jedi Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Yay! I've been waiting for Jacen to hook up with Tenel Ka since the YA novels!
The universe past Zahn's 2nd Thrawn books I haven't read. I read some New Jedi Order stuff but it seemed like false conflict created a committee of writers so as to reap the financial rewards.
Jacen falling just reinforces that false creation of conflict. WTF, he was my alter-ego.
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You know I would LOVE to see a sequel written by Michael A. Stackpole. It can take place somewhere in or after the NJO series about Corran and his Jedi children from Corran's point of view. He can call it: We, Jedi.
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I terms of Jacen's story-arch and Vergere, I think there are clear indications from the beginning that this was where Jacen was going. I mean, Luke has always questioned the motive-is-only-what-matters use of the force. And the end of the Yuzhan Vong war did not PROVE Jacen right (however you or I might agree with it in real life). If so, that would simply be a case of ends justifies the means. I think the fact that the SW universe was moving towards a real ambivalence/moral relativism toward the use of the force was a real departure from GL's (admittedly simplistic and childish) view of the force. But it is his universe and he gets the set the rules.
That said, given those rules, Jacen's descent it, to me believable. From the beginning of his experiences with Vergere, Jacen has taken a different view of the force, one that he has concealed (not completely effectively) from everyone. Having studied the force among so many differing force users (indicated in The Unifying Force and afterwards in the Dark Nest trilogy), he is not bound by the same mindset as the NJO. More than that, he is unafraid to explore and use his power, for example, in actualy projecting himself into (and thus fixing) the future in the Dark Nest trilogy, an amazingly arrogant thing to do. More than that, his acceptance (and even admiration) of Anakin's decisiveness (however wrong it was)in the last Dark Nest book threw up major alarm bells and yet was in keeping of the new mindset that Vergere had given him. (Recall how she taught him the Dark Side was nothing inherently bad in Traitor, when they saw the natural hunting of that beast. One by one, she demolished the arguments about WHY the dark side was bad.)
The past decades of war and this 3rd incarnation of a post-empire government falling apart has completely convinced him that republican style government CANNOT work. He believes in stability (and wants it, most of all, for his daughter) and for the first time sees himself as the one who HAS to bring it (the first step to dictatorship.) But he has to be better than Anakin, to have more noble desires that simply a selfish fear of losing his wife, even as he follows in his steps.
Betrayal (the 2nd LOTF book) does this pretty nicely, placing you in his head. Without spoiling anything, his actions and ruthlessness in regard to Corellian "terrorists" on Coruscant are chilling, especially a certain woman related to someone we already knew. Every step of the way, he seeks to confirm to himself that he is not doing this out of a lust for power. For him that has become the arbiter of the rightness of his actions. He has become capable of any wrong and does not allow other's opinions of himself to change what he believes. He even examines Anakin's motivations to make sure he is not heading down this path. This is more fully shown in the next LOTF book, Tempest (not as good as Bloodlines [edit for wrong title].)
All in all, I really like where they are going. Jacen is a despicable person, one who I do not and never have had empathy for (unlike Anakin). But he is (and has always been) exactly the kind of idealogue he is now, regardless of the cost (the aforementioned pacifism, being a prime example). It is something about him we saw from the beginning.
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As to Jacen being proved right, well you're correct that we don't know if he was right. We do know that unlike Luke's approach, Jacen's worked, though.
In what way is Jacen Solo a despicable person, unworthy of empathy? I don't understand the difference in feeling between Anakin Skywalker and Jacen Solo is what I'm getting at.
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Just personal feelings. Back when he was doing his pacifist thing during the YV war, he was annoying and self-righteous. Even though he gave up that stance, his self-righteous annoyingness is there. Just a personal thing, I know. But I never liked him and his new ideologue cum dictator mode is just as self-righteous, with the added bonus of being evil.
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BTW, Zahn's new book, Allegience, is really, really awesome.
To be honest, I never understood how someone as relatively good as Mara could be the Emperor's Hand, at the height of the empire. Especially since she was the one, in Vision of the Future, who taught Luke that he should let the force guide him, rather than use the force as a bludgeon (as he had been doing in all the Bantam/Del Ray books that came after The Last Command. Zahn has said that he was trying to impose a 'reset' cause Luke was becoming too powerful) and used as her example of where that leads, the Emperor.
But this book showed Mara in the midst of doing her duties to the Emperor and yet she could still be the idealistic and loyal and fundamentally good person she would always be.
Plus the Hand of Judgement was just really really cool.
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I really enjoyed it as well. You can see the beginnings of some uncertainty in Mara Jade...but you can also see that the Emperor used her very carefully, very specifically, even then.
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I read Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology and thought they were total crap. I stopped reading Star Wars books altogether after the first Yuuzhan Vong book.
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Hand of Thrawn, while they had their weaknesses, fixed a lot of things that were wrong with the SW universe.
Which the NJO promptly screwed right back up. (No, I never finished it. I lost interest when it sucked worse with every book so much that even Allston couldn't completely pull it back out.)
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Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with the NJO. There were some cool things. But it was too....different. Zahn has the habit of 'fixing' things in the SW universe, though. And his standalone stuff (like Alliance, Survivor's Quest and it's sequel, Outbound Flight) are pretty cool. At least he provided some pretty nice rational for why people did what they did, especially Thrawn and C'baoth (and by implication, his clone Joruus). All in all, I would say he set up the NJO fairly well and forced some constistancy across all SW eras, from Old Repulic to NJO. And my gut tells me that he would like where things are going with LOTF. Rather than bring in some outside threat, the threat credibly comes from within from an idealogue who believes he has the only solution, is not afraid to think outside the strictures and 'prejudices' (in his mind) of the NJO (the organization), and has the power to do what must be done. More than that, all the 'crap' that has come before (including the governmental corruption and ineffectuality of now 3 post-empire governments) plays right into this, since it gives him a somewhat legitimate complaint against how things are done and what has been tried.
I guess what I like is the apparent examination of whether the dark side can be used without being corrupted. You'll notice that with very few exceptions, Jacen doesn't really act in rage. He acts coldly, calculatedly. He kills and commits acts of violence knowing he is hurting and he forces himself to feel it (somehow thinking he is noble for this, that others are making a sacrifice that he honors even as he exacts their 'sacrifice' involuntarily, and that this sets him apart from Vader and Palpatine, who appeared, at least on the surface, to not really care about the pain they inflicted. I think they'd disagree, in their more philosophical moments, as they looked at what made the sith better than the old jedi- emotions vs ivory tower mentalities.) Very rarely does he act in sheer rage. He acts, he thinks, in necessity and somehow this makes him believe that he is master of the Dark Side and that it has not corrupted him. He is constantly examining himself (especially in Bloodlines) to see if he is going in the path of Anakin and Palpatine and seems oblivious to the fact that there are many roads to evil. Perhaps Luke is partly to blame, espousing so much the danger of uncontrolled and angry use of the force, that he feels as long as he avoids that and the exact way Anakin fell, he is not going down their path. But being a sociopath who causes pain (albeit not for pleasure) in order to accomplish something is still evil. I find it all fascinating and somewhat relevant (especially the actions against Corellians in general on Coruscant and suspected terrorists in particular.)
The only complain I have is Mara, who seems to have taken stupid pills not to see the danger Ben is in. Seriously, this seems completely out of character. There needs to be a more plausible reason for Ben to be near Jacen.
Looking forward to the next one next month. I wonder if Jacen will be able to make the ultimate sacrifice that Lumiya would require, in order to show he is not Anakin even as he becomes a Sith.
But it is this ruthlessness, this pruning of mankind and willingness to cut people and nations and worlds off that he learned from Vergere. That is one of the lessons he specifically thinks about having learned from her back in Traitor, remember (to no one in particular).
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To be honest I can't believe they let Ben apprentice to Jacen at all. During the Dark Nest trilogy, Mara was nervous about Jacen being around Ben at all, and didn't even like them going on a camping trip, let alone Jacen being his sole Force tutor.
What changed that convinced Mara to be okay with that?
And someone tell me, I don't care about spoilers, what happened with Jain/Zekk/Ben being Joiners, how was that resolved? And whatever happened with Jaina and Jag?
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Once Raynar was removed from the Killiks, they went back to being the insects that they were and stopped being a threat. Jaina and Zekk eventually lost their connection. Ben was never truly a joiner (though Gorog tried to use him). Jaina (as a joiner) shot Jag down and Jag lost his position the Ascendency. They are effectively over.
Yeah, I don't get Mara. I know Jacen helped Ben open up to the force. But she still had her doubts. Funny that she became his defender against Luke. Plus I think of vision of Luke's might have played a role. Can't remember.
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Poor Jag. He's only ever tried to do the right thing, and he's done more favors to the Solo family than I think they deserved at times.
He's probably my favorite character of the NJO new characters. I hope he's exonerated and returned to his position. He earned everything he got in the Ascendancy, and only lost it for trying to help and for staying true to his feelings.
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quote:I guess what I like is the apparent examination of whether the dark side can be used without being corrupted.
I like this, too. It's always been a complaint I've had against the SW universe, that anger, fear, and hatred were completely rejected and not used sometimes when called for. I mean, us ordinary people know that sometimes, those things are not only helpful but appropriate...and the trickiest trick is to know when, not to reject them outright.
I would say that from the 'present' in the SW EU back for approximately five generations, the 'reject outright' approach has failed miserably, overall.
quote:(somehow thinking he is noble for this, that others are making a sacrifice that he honors even as he exacts their 'sacrifice' involuntarily, and that this sets him apart from Vader and Palpatine, who appeared, at least on the surface, to not really care about the pain they inflicted. I think they'd disagree, in their more philosophical moments, as they looked at what made the sith better than the old jedi- emotions vs ivory tower mentalities.)
Initially, I think it does make him noble, albeit in a twisted, sad sort of way. And I don't think he ever felt that the people he killed were sacrificing anything-he never gave them a choice in the matter. Rather, he felt he was sacrificing something-rendering himself more and more despicable in the eyes of his peers, his loved ones, and even-although he's constantly pushing this back with thoughts of his daughter, and duty and necessity-himself.
And for an ideologue who like you've mentioned focuses inward so much, this is actually quite a potent sacrifice. Perhaps he is more similar to Palpatine than he thinks...but we'll never know for sure. Unlike Palpatine, Jacen isn't engineering the wars that are rocking the ruling government. Remember, Palpatine incited war and treachery and murder and invasion so he could seize power, and make things better-things which he'd had a big hand in messing up in the first place.
Jacen starts his descent in a galaxy already filled with those things, through no doing-in fact, despite his best efforts-of his own. The trouble is, as time passes, we do see him acting more in rage and passionate anger. Perhaps it's just because the threats to his daughter are coming more frequently, or perhaps it's just him...but I think we see a very ominous, and much darker sign than anything else in the preview of the upcoming book, in which Jacen deliberately maroons and very likely murders a woman for the crime of insulting and disrespecting him.
quote:He acts, he thinks, in necessity and somehow this makes him believe that he is master of the Dark Side and that it has not corrupted him.
I'm not sure he feels he is the master of the dark side...remember, after all, that he doesn't think in those terms. He thinks now in terms of expedience, efficiency, necessity. Not light and dark.
quote:Perhaps Luke is partly to blame, espousing so much the danger of uncontrolled and angry use of the force, that he feels as long as he avoids that and the exact way Anakin fell, he is not going down their path.
I agree that Luke's teachings of the dangers of the dark side are flawed...his approach to that is not nearly subtle enough. For example, let's say that Lumiya is right about the Sith Lord she mentions, a Sith Lord who avoids the kind of murderous, power-hungry ambition and corruption associated with Palpatine, because before he ever began exploring the dark side, he was a man of strong moral principle, committed to his ethics. Granted, we cannot be sure she isn't just making this guy up...but I personally think she isn't.
I think Luke does not teach enough about the potential evils of ends justifying the means, and I think he definitely should have given the way the YV war went.
quote:But being a sociopath who causes pain (albeit not for pleasure) in order to accomplish something is still evil.
I don't think Jacen is a sociopath-yet. He still recognizes the people around him as people. If you take away the sociopathic label, though, are there any world leaders you can think of who aren't evil?
quote:The only complain I have is Mara, who seems to have taken stupid pills not to see the danger Ben is in. Seriously, this seems completely out of character. There needs to be a more plausible reason for Ben to be near Jacen.
Remember, Mara isn't feeling anything from Jacen that hints at his growing dark side tendancies. And feeling these kinds of things-especially with other Jedi-have very big stock in how they regard each other. Jacen is an anomaly at this point, someone who is able to hide his feelings by completely shutting himself down, effective even against a deliberate probe.
All she's got so far is his questionable politics, dubious law-enforcement decisions and...then he tortures and kills a suspect under interrogation. You'll notice that Ben does not, in fact, remain under Jacen's direct care for very long after that at all.
quote:But it is this ruthlessness, this pruning of mankind and willingness to cut people and nations and worlds off that he learned from Vergere. That is one of the lessons he specifically thinks about having learned from her back in Traitor, remember (to no one in particular).
I agree that his entire outlook has been shaped by Vergere, for better or worse. But I'm struggling to think of real-world nation-state rulers who have lived in such tumultuous times, and been effective...and I'm drawing a blank.
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There actually hasn't been enough death, in my opinion, in the SW EU books. I think it needs to be Whedoned up.
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What major pre-NJO deaths were there? Mon Mothma is the only one that comes to mind, but she wasn't even a serious character. Crix Madine died in Darksaber.
Post NJO had a couple deaths in Chewbacca and Anakin, Borsk Fey'la, Ganner Rhysode, Wurth Skidder, and a few other Jedi.
For the most part the core characters remain untouchable.
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: What was wrong with them?
It's been a while, so I don't remember everything that I disliked. The big thing I remember about the Hand of Thrawn is that it had really lame villains, only to reveal at the last minute that there had potentially been a really awesome villain—a clone of Admiral Thrawn—all along, but they destroyed the clone before it woke up.
Plus, I just got tired of the endless cycle of stupid New Republic squabbles, rogue Imperial warlords, and occasional dark Jedi.
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There weren't any dark Jedi in the duology. Weren't any rogue Warlords either, unless you're counting Moff...(Disra?).
And the squabbles were a long time in coming, the Caamasi storyline has been set up for years, and quite frankly I found the whole thing very plausible.
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I was referring to the entire SW EU, Lyr, not just pre- and post-NJO. I agree that there has been more death of...noteworthy-not to say important-characters in NJO than before, though. And unfortunately, the major character who does fall under the scythe, does so twice!
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There's more EU than what came before, during and after NJO?
I was agreeing with you though, entirely, there has been an unbelievable survivability rate for the characters of this series.
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I wasn't very clear—that last sentence was referring to my feelings on Star Wars books in general and why I stopped reading them.
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quote:there has been an unbelievable survivability rate for the characters of this series.
Some of us like that. That's part of why some of us are not interested in reading certain books that no longer feel like Star Wars. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I go back and forth on that KQ. When Chewie died, I almost swore off Star Wars books entirely. And when Anakin died, I kept waiting for them to undo it.
Sometimes I find that unbelievable, but at the same time, when you name most any single character, I'm wholly unwilling to part with him.
Of everyone who has died thus far in the EU, I was most sad to see Elegos A'kla go. Anakin is a close second. Oh to go back to a simpler time...
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I hope in We, Jedi, the imaginary sequel that needs to happen, there'll be a Caamasi there, maybe even a descendent of Ylenic It'kla, so he could be a Jedi, or maybe Elegos' daughter.
You and I need to start a letter writing campaign to Stackpole.
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Well, I did buy his books when he appealed to fans to buy something other than his SW books. Somehow, though, I doubt he'd love to get that letter from me.
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Mmmm, I bought a lot of his stuff but my very favorite is Eyes of Silver, which is, like most of his stuff, unfortunately, out of print. I really like it. It's a stand-alone. you're right, though, he writes really well. I enjoy his style, and I think I enjoy it MORE in his non-SW stuff.
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I've read every single Michael Stackpole book (including his BattleTech ones). He's one of my 3 most favorite authors. I still say my favorite is Talion: Revenant but it's a near thing between that and Eyes of Silver. I'm also very much enjoying his latest series and very impatiently awaiting the 3rd. . . .
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Stackpole comes up with great plots, and is better than most other SW authors at generating actual character complexity, but his dialogue makes me want to curl up in a ball and never read a book again. It's stilted and expository- textbook examples of telling rather than showing. He also has an annoying habit of ending every single chapter with an overdramatic line, as if he's trying for a foreboding television cliffhanger ("Corran nodded gravely. 'If Admiral Buggidyboo has his way, none of us will get out of this alive.'"). You can almost hear the horn section going, "DUN DUN DUNNNN!"
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Sep 1999
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(No, I never finished it. I lost interest when it sucked worse with every book so much that even Allston couldn't completely pull it back out.)
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