Books

Anyone else love how Zahn has made Luke a pansy pushover in his last 2 books? That was awesome.

Wow, just now noticed the thread had reset. :(

Anyway, I'm nearly done with Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. About 3/4 the way through the last book. So far, it's been excellent. The only other SW books I've ever read were Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and that book dealing with Qui-Gon's apprentice, Xanatos or something.

So far, the Thrawn Trilogy has been my favorite. Thrawn himself has secured a place as one of my favorite SW villains, probably even more so than Palpatine himself.

<.<
>.>

Does anyone else have some recommended reading after I finish the Thrawn Trilogy?

[Whill Felix]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Darth Plagueis book? Specifically the way the Force was portrayed?

Haven't read it yet. In your opinion, was it a good read?


[quote="Dragg'rim'muro":3bcesi57]

Does anyone else have some recommended reading after I finish the Thrawn Trilogy?[/quote:3bcesi57]

Depends on what you already have read. I enjoyed the Dark Nest trilogy. The Jedi Academy trilogy was good as well. There are so many good ones that it depends on what you like to read. Republic Commando Series is great and it doesn't involve much Jedi/Sith intervention. Its based on the Republic troopers.

[Whill Shaman Gotrek]

Yesterday I finished "SW: FOTJ: Apocalypse" by Troy Denning. If you haven't read it yet and don't want it to be spoiled for you, don't read the rest of this post. I'll hit the return key a few times so you can avoid accidentally peeking.








Okay, a couple of things.

Number 1: I really enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting that they connected it with season three of the new cartoon, which I know a lot of people don't care for, but it still was pretty neat to catch that. It's funny how Luke Skywalker always already knows something about everything. You don't catch too much of his training by Yoda in the ESB, but in the novels he constantly refers to stuff that was said off camera. "Oh yeah, Yoda told me that way back when. No biggy". It reminded me of that time where Jaina was describing Jacen's use of shatterpoint like it was some mysterious move, and Luke was all like, "Bah. That power is mad easy. I learned that ages ago".

Number 2: What's the deal with all this baradium? I get the impression the author just discovered it because in this novel and the last, the only explosive type you hear about is baradium. Maybe they missed the part in ROTJ where Leia whipped out a thermal det, since baradium has been around since then, but either way there seemed to be an obsession with it. Not really anything important, I just thought that was curious.

Number 3: Jag's no longer the Imperial Head of State. So how does the Fel Empire come about? They are definitely teasing us. Each time you think that it is going to happen, they pull it away. At least he and Jaina finally got married at the end. For a while there I didn't think it was going to happen.

Number 4: That strange Sith that helps Luke beat Abeloth in behind the shadows. Darth Krayt? The facial tattoos, missing eye, and withered arm seemed to suggest as much. It is kinda neat that he was able to use the mind walker ability to. The Lost Tribe of Sith seemed to be lacking in the power department, so it is nice to see a Sith who can actually do stuff. Plus I am dying to see this Order of One thing go down. We've caught glimpses in the Jaden Korr novels by Paul Kemp, but nothing quite so concrete as the man himself. He even showed up on Coruscant which was pretty sweet.

Number 5: A lot of epic battles. Tahira and Fett teaming up to beat Abeloth number 1, pretty awesome. Ben and Vestera fighting Abeloth in the Maw, also pretty sweet. Too bad things didn't work out for the love birds. I feel bad for Vestera mostly, she's a victim of circumstance. If she didn't toss that thermal det at the Falcon then it would have been her butt getting skewered by a lightsaber.


I think that is about all I have for right now. Still letting some of the facts settle in me lil'ol noggin'. Good way to end the series I thought.

Just finished "Riptide" by Paul Kemp... wTf?

Soooooo confused about Jaden

Just now recently got my "Book of Sith: Secrets of the Dark Side," in the mail. Ordered it at Barnes & Noble, and decided to get the deluxe edition, as I have doubts they'll make a trade edition like the "Jedi Path." Using both books to get ideas for the Jensaarai group I'm in and building up.

Book came with a Sith-holocron replica, that with a press of a button shaped as triangle, opens it and shows the book inside which can be removed. Also came with a replica of the Tailsman of Finding that Savage Opress was given by Mother Talizin, and a red lightsaber synth-crystal. Also came with five other removable items used as bookmarks inside the book. The removable items are a nice touch, but I did come for the book.

Still reading the book as of this time of this post being made. It's interesting how the book is actually six books assembled in one in the form of chapters. One written by Sorzus Syn, another written by Darth Malgus, another by Darth Bane, a Nightsister chapter by Mother Talzin, another written by Darth Plagueis, and the last one written by Palpatine who in-universe assembled the books and put them into one book.

Only criticism I have of the book is that during Darth Bane's part of the book, during his explanation of lightsaber combat, he mentions Juyo but also calls it Vaapad. I thought in "Darth Bane: Path of Destruction," the part in the book of it accidently refers to Juyo as Vaapad, as a mistake that was said to have been done by it's author, since it was Mace Windu who had invented the lightsaber form long after the events of Darth Bane. I'm wondering if Vaapad's mention was intentional in this book, as if perhaps hinting that it wasn't Mace Windu who invented it, but Kas'im and the Brotherhood of Darkness. Or at least, probably a form that was being invented at the time of that era and that it was incomplete. Then the Jedi must of found the info on Vaapad after defeating the Sith, and sometime afterword Mace Windu finding out about the form and further developed it, eventually mastering it. If that mention of Vaapad was intentional, I think that would be the only way to explain how Vaapad's development came about, unless if it was invented and still incomplete by the Sith long before the Brotherhood of Darkness.

Read or rather listened to my first starwars book the other day. Legacy of the force, the final book. At first I was confused because it started off with a dream or something then it all made sense. I liked the Fel in it seeing as I am part of his Empire.

I read a little of the Revan book and looked at the storylines related to it in TOR....I stopped reading it after the 100th retcon. Drew K really seems to love taking established canon and throwing it into the wind. How this man wrote the much beloved KOTOR and Mass Effect 1 and 2 games is beyond my comprehension considering he leaves a wake of destruction when it comes to canon and logic in his novels.

[Whill Felix]

They probably assumed since he did ok with Bane, he could do ok with Revan.

[Whill Shaman Gotrek]

The only thing I really liked about the Revan book was that it explained the origins of the Sith Emperor. The rest of it was just okay, but then I've never cared much for the KOTOR storyline. It was also kinda neat what happened to that Sith dude at the end. Emperor is like, "Now you can live forever, oh, but did I forget to mention you are going to be in constant agony for the rest of your life? My bad."

So. Finally got around to reading Apocalypse.

Let's roll off a list here:

1. The most touching scene in any Star Wars media ever was Bazel Warv's sacrifice at the secret Jedi Temple entrance. The whole Allana dynamic and her kick-butt skills at age Nine tied it all together.

2. Seeing part of the Clone Wars cartoon added in was pretty sweet. I stopped the minute Luke said, "Hmmm, my dad and Obi-Wan once..." and started laughing, because I had not seen that coming.

3. Was really confused by Jag leaving the Empire behind. We all know he has to be the Fel part of 'Fel' Empire, but whatevs. My guess is that Reige pulls him back in some way (or his progeny when he and Jaina make some kick-ass baby) because they obviously hinted at that.

4. Kinda miffed that this end to a series was hardly an end at all. I mean they left so many things open ended it was ridiculous. Honestly, at this rate, it's pointless to limit the series to nine books. Let's just pull another YV war and have a bunch until Luke dies. I'm fine with that.

5. The mysterious Sith was really interesting. It's also obvious that the Tribe is being left to flounder with their opulence. They may minorly become a problem, but I highly doubt that anything big will come of them. Plus, Vestara being hinted to be qualified for the title of Sith Lord is honestly fine by me. She has the right emotinal drive, the right mindset, and the right motives. I can already see Ben easily taking over the spotlight in the next series as his dad slowly withers (comeon, the hole in his chest is Luke's demise, obviously) and fighting the new powerful Sith, be it Vestara, the spiky dude, or both.

6. The whole climax sequence, where we had three different Abeloth battles was pretty sweet. I mean sure, it meant Abeloth was pretty much cheated out of a fair fight (unlike when Luke beat her down previously), but having Bern and Vestara take one on, Saba and Tahiri fight another, and Luke and the Sith fight a third was pretty sweet. Saba's kill was the best. She not only bashed in Abeloth's face, but literally chewed her head off. Epic.

7. Jaina becoming Master was nice. And speaking of the Solo's, I cannot lie; I was kinda disappointed when Han didn't die when the Falcon's cockpit blew up. That and R2-D2 didn't go with him. Comics be damned, I still don't get how either of them escaped while R2 was still plugged in. While tragic and very sad even for me, their deaths would have been pretty acceptable.

So that's it. I hope at least Troy Denning is back for the next series. He's the most balanced of the authors in the last two series, and while I can't complain about Christie Golden's contirbution, I just think the main series focus shouldn't contain the starship oriented nature of Allston. Sure, I loved the X-wing series, but that was their purpose: Starfighters.

People like Harrison Ford and Gary Kurtz have wanted to kill off Han since The Empire Strikes Back, but Lucas would throw a fit whenever it was suggested a main character like Han, Luke, or Leia die.

I just finished reading 'X-Wing: Mercy Kill' by Aaron Allston. It has been a long time since I have read an X-wing book and it totally reminded my why I enjoyed the series in the first place. What I thought was cool was that it took place as far as the current novel series is, but it still kept that edge that I liked. A lot of the new FOTJ books were really lame, but this with its all Wraith cast, was fantastic. I also liked how it gave you some insight into their activities during the Yuuzhan Vong War. In fact that seemed to be a large theme of it.

Even cooler, there is now a Yuuzhan Vong member of Wraith Squadron. That blew me away and excited me for what I should think are obvious reasons (hint hint, I RP one).

All I can really say is that I hope they write another. 5 Ewoks out of 5.

Thought Vong can't touch tech, Nerd.

This Vong touched tech in some pretty interesting ways. He was a war orphan adopted by human parents.

[quote="Major":15vktqma][color=#80FFFF:15vktqma]Thought Vong can't touch tech, Nerd.[/color:15vktqma][/quote:15vktqma]

Only on JvS ;-)

Scut, as he was nicknamed, was a member of the Extolled (formerly known as the Shamed Ones). During the war he was part of a work group left behind to serve as a distraction for the New Republic troops. As he was just a child, the troops took custody of him and eventually adopted him off to a human family, which raised him as their son alongside their other children. In the book it addresses the issue of him being afraid of technology as a child. His adopted parents got him a toy droid to get him over it.

Anywho, as a member of Wraith Squadron he was actually quite proficient with tech, but his main role on the team was as a biofabricator. He made masquer outfits for the team to wear as disguises. Speaking of which, that gives me a new piece of tech to play around with in RP. He called it a neoglith masquer. It is like an ooglith except it isn't self aware, or at least that's how they explained it. The cool thing was that Scut did a lot of what I do. He took organic samples of things wherever he went. He even fabricated a masquer using the DNA of some world's native wildlife to pass one of the Wraith's off as an entirely newly discovered species.

He didn't get along with Piggy for the first three quarters of the book, but they solve their differences towards the end. Piggy was one of his heroes growing up and the first thing he does when he sees Scut is to call him a monster, so you can see how that might have hurt the little guy's feelings a tad.

Oh, I should probably say "Spoiler Alert". Peeps, if you haven't read it yet, don't read my posts.

It's okay, I fell asleep while reading.

You can read?