New SW Books ! Read 'em ?

[Astrotoy7]

sheesh, after the beauty contests and flame fests that have erupted in the other threads, I decided to start up this thread to get back to the original aim of the EU thread.....

 

Has anyone read any of the newer SW novels. I am mainly thinking about the newer Jedi Quest Books and also the Medstar series ? I find it interesting that a SW series isnt concentrating on fighters/pilots/jedi....

 

check out the reviews at TFN if interested....

Medstar 1 : Battle Surgeons

 

Also at TFN, this review of the Novel focusing on Obi Wan and Kit Fisto :

 

Cestus Deception (Clone Wars Era Novel)

 

Interestingly enough the first post NJO Novels have been announced ....kicking off with the "Dark Nest' Trilogy.... which have some decidedly un-"star warsy" titles

 

I : The Joiner King

II : The Unseen Queen

III : The Swarm War

 

Not too much has been divulged about these books, save they will feature Jacen, Jaina, Lowie, Mara, Leia, Hane...some Chiss

 

A post RoTS novel series called "Coruscant Nights" has also been scheduled for release next year.....

 

also, the ep3 prelude novel, 'Labyrinthe of Evil' has been announced. Not unlike 'The Approaching Storm' it will describe events leading up to and directly tying into the start of Ep3....

Cool Cover Art of 'Labyrinthe' from sw.com

 

if anyone knows any more about this make sure you use SPOILER TAGS plz !

 

 

mtfbwya

[Master_Keralys]

I have indeed read The Cestus Deception, though I have (unfortunately) not yet gotten a chance to read Medstar I. TCD was good, but didn't really match up to Shatterpoint, at least in my opinion. Talk about some plot twists, though. The final revelation is close in terms of total twist to the main twist in KOTOR.

 

While I'm enjoying the Clone Wars novels, I just haven't found them to be as satisfying as the NJO was... they just don't feel like they have the same scope or that the war itself is as intense or large. Everything is one-planet stories that don't really seem to truly affect the rest of the war. The comic books have been better (though I haven't yet had a chance to read Clone Wars III or IV), but again, the whole thing just doesn't seem to have the same sense of scale that the Rebellion or Yuuzhan Vong invasion did: it doesn't feel like a truly galactic war. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

 

The post-NJO books look interesting - after all, it's Denning and Allston, they can't be bad... I've got some theories on things that I might be posting in another thread soon, too, after reading Survivor's Quest. Yeah, the titles don't do much for me, but hey, that's LucasBooks for you: some great titles, some not so great. Labyrinth of Evil looks very promising, especially now that we've seen what Jim Luceno can do (TUF, anyone?). Coruscant Nights doesn't appeal to me as much, though I'm sure I'll read it.

 

Surprisingly, Astro missed one - in the VIP thread at SW.com it was recently announced that the title for the final book in Tim Zahn's "Thrawn Septology" - yeah, the one talking about Outbound Flight - will probably be called (get this), Star Wars: Outbound Flight.

 

Overall, things are looking pretty good from my vantage point, though I'm very curious about the direction the universe will go in light of the TV series coming after Ep. III and given how changed the universe is in wake of the NJO.

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Master_Keralys

I.....Surprisingly, Astro missed one - in the VIP thread at SW.com it was recently announced that the title for the final book in Tim Zahn's "Thrawn Septology" - yeah, the one talking about Outbound Flight - will probably be called (get this), Star Wars: Outbound Flight.

 

welcome back Keralys....

 

I deliberately left out Zahn's book, enough has been said about them AFAIC, I was more wanting to put the focus on the lesser known books....

 

mtfbwya

[wassup]

None of the new SW books that have come out have interested me like the NJO did, with its grand scope and all. Like M_K mentioned, the new novels make the Clone Wars feel like the a series of disconnected battles, unlike the grand galactical conflict that captivated Luke so much in Ep. 4. Perhaps I'll check out TCD now that you recommended it though.

[Darth Talliusc]

i didnt like cestus deception and havent gotten around to reading medstar yet. i probably wont ever read it because it just doesnt look very interesting. im really looking forward to "jedi trial" though. for those who dont know this book is due out in november and has anakin skywalker teaming up with nejaa halcyon (thats right, corran horns grandpa).

 

the SW universe has gotten kinda dull since ep2 hit. hopefully the pre-ep3 books will bring it up a notch, you can only reread the thrawn trilogy so many times.

[fuzzyfreaker]

medstar was ok.

 

Cestus Deception was good too, just not anything great

[Coloured Albino]

any more info about the post NJO books?

 

Medstar was good!

[swphreak]

The latest "newer" EU books I've read would be Shatterpoint, Tatooine Ghost, and The Approaching Storm...

 

I've been avoiding the Clone War novels because I didn't think they'd be interesting, but they were good.

 

I hate waiting for the new releases

[Prime]

I've just finished Shatterpoint and TCD, and they were both very enjoyable. I'm finding the prequel/clone wars EU to be very well done.

[Master_Keralys]

Medstar I: Battle Surgeons was pretty good. It had an interesting feel to it, kind of like M*A*S*H* but in the Star Wars universe. There's not a lot of plot to it, per se, but what plot there is is interesting, and the character development is truly what drives it - that part is very well done. Medstar II: Jedi Healer just came out, and though I haven't read it, it's set to tell us

exactly what it takes to become a Jedi Knight.

I'm also highly intrigued by Jedi Trial. I'm not familiar with the author, but anyone who's going to write Anakin's passage to Knighthood, in conjunction with the first full-length tale to feature Nejaa Halcyon, had better do a darn good job, or I'm going to get seriously ticked off at LF. On the other hand, it could be one of the best books of the entire Clone Wars series.

 

Labyrinth of Evil certainly looks interesting, and given my newfound (since TUF came out almost a year ago, that is) respect for James Luceno, I'm expecting it to be a great book. Then, of course, you have the greatest author of Star Wars history writing the novelisation of Revenge of the Sith, the ultimate Matthew Woodring Stover himself.

 

Regarding the post NJO saga, it's intriguing to note that Karen Traviss, the author of the forthcoming Commando novel that ties in with the game has been picked to write three of the books. LF must have been really happy with what she did with that book. Perhaps it's just me, but such a reaction seems a little over the top, since they haven't even seen the public's reaction to her game tie-in novel. On the other hand, as long as she coordinates well with Allston and Denning, and is at least a decent writer, the series should be pretty good.

 

Anyone else find it intriguing that of twleve post-NJO books scheduled to come out in the next three to four years, TD is writing half of them?

 

Further notes: Timothy Zahn, whatever your thoughts of him at this point are, is writing two more novels, the aforementioned Outbound Flight being one of them and the other being a new novel set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Anyone else want to bet that it'll at least peripherally involve one of the main trio he's famous for (Thrawn, Jade, or Karrde)?

 

Two novels are forthcoming in the Old Republic era, as well, standalone type books that LA is, it seems, using to test the waters of how well the public will react to stories set in that era. Could be good (see game KotOR for reference) could suck, too. We'll see on that count.

 

Finally, a number of post-Ep. III novels are in the works, including a couple by Michael Reeves (Darth Maul author and Medstar coathur), and one by James Luceno, set almost right after Revenge. Interesting that he's getting the one right before the movie and the one right after it, I'd say.

 

Two other novels about which nothing is known at this time also exist in the Del Rey publishing schedule, and that about wraps it up.

[Astrotoy7]

Nice stuff Keralys !

 

wow...Im *really* interested in reading more about Nejaa Halcyon...lets hope Luceno consults Mike Stackpole when he is figuring out the character

 

and when I heard that Matt Stover was doing the Ep3 novelisation........i just thought one thing... AWESOME !

 

mtfbwya

[Shok_Tinoktin]

For anyone curious

 

 

 

http://www.theforce.net/books/bookschedule.shtml

[Master_Keralys]

Thanks for the compliment.

wow...Im *really* interested in reading more about Nejaa Halcyon...lets hope Luceno consults Mike Stackpole when he is figuring out the character

Even if he didn't, he'd nail the characters (see TUF for corroboration). But I think he will; he's one of those good authors who nail that kind of thing.

 

Holy crud... I just looked at that post, and I should go join tfn's book staff. I think I just nailed most of their big "future publishing" news items that I looked up about ten minutes after I wrote that post... scary.

 

Matt Stover + Ep. 3 (greatest of the prequels, trust me, Astro) = one of the best SW books ever (and definitely the greatest novelisation of any of them).

[Shok_Tinoktin]

I'm most anticipating Jedi Trial and the post-NJO books.

 

 

I love the Horn/Halcyon family. They are amongst the best EU characters IMO. I only wish it was Michael Stackpole writing it.

 

 

As far as the post NJO books, my favorite stories are those that continue the tale beyond ROTJ. And I like to see the galaxy going into new eras, and am curious to see where they go after this. I am also curious about the Killiks (the Denning trilogy). Also, IMO Denning is one of the best SW authors ever (I loved SBS and TG). I dont know about Karen Traviss, and I dont really like Aaron Allston all that much, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

 

 

 

Edit: Problem solved, thanks Keralys.

[Master_Keralys]

Err... correction: James Luceno isn't writing Jedi Trial. I don't remember who is. JL's writing the prequel and sequel to Revenge of the Sith, but someone else is writing Jedi Trial. Not sure where Astro pulled that one from. But it's somebody else...

 

Either way, I'm sure they'll do a decent job with Nejaa Halcyon; it ought to be a really fun read...

[Shok_Tinoktin]

Originally posted by Master_Keralys

Err... correction: James Luceno isn't writing Jedi Trial. I don't remember who is. JL's writing the prequel and sequel to Revenge of the Sith, but someone else is writing Jedi Trial. Not sure where Astro pulled that one from. But it's somebody else...

 

 

David Sherman and Dan Cragg are writing Jedi Trial.

[Lieutenant_kettch]

Post NJO is the big hope for me. And the horns/halcyons are among the greatest families ever written SW. I do agree with others that Stackpole would write them, because he is the "Horn" writer, but i hope sherman and cragg pull it off well

[Master_Keralys]

I have, unfortunately, now read Jedi Trial. It was, without a doubt, the worst SW book - and probably the worst book, period - that I have ever read. More on that later.

 

First, the Medstar duology:

It was pretty good. I liked Medstar I: Battle Surgeons better of the two, but as I already reviewed that one, I'll skip it. Medstar II: Jedi Healer was no Traitor or Shatterpoint or The Unifying Force, but it was good. The predicted Jedi test certainly existed, though it was less satisfying than I had hoped.

The bota proves addictive to Jedi, and young Barriss Offee finds herself confronting such an addiction by accident, the overcoming of it being her trial.

In the case of both books, the strongest point wasn't the plot. It wasn't that the plot was bad so much as not that big a part of the books. My favorite character was, of course, I-5 (I think that was his name...): best droid ever. Even beats out HK-47 of KotOR fame, which is tough to do in my book. The entire Medstar duology is worth a read. It's not great, but it's fun and entertaining.

 

Now, on to Jedi Trial.

I must admit, I went in with very high expectations for this novel, which may be why it seems to have flopped so badly. I went in with such high expectations because (1) seeing Anakin's Jedi Trials, particularly given the "synopsis/overview" of the book cover, looked to be really awesome, (2) it paired up Anakin with Nejaa Halcyon, one of the all-time coolest Jedi, and (3) the cover looks positively awesome.

Thus, the book was even worse because my expectations had been so high. I'm sure what Lucasbooks was thinking when it hired Cragg and Sherman to do this. They're two Vietnam vets, and I have a lot of respect for that, but not their writing. The entire novel was set in 14-pt font (as opposed to the usual 12-pt), double spaced (which is standard for the hardcovers, but adds up to more empty space when it's in 14-pt font size) and still couldn't pass 400 pages. It was the shortest single "adult" EU novel I've ever read - and a couple books in the YJK are probably about as long. At least those had decent character interactions. That brings me to my next point. While Cragg and Sherman did a fantastic job penning battle sequences - probably drawing off their mutual military backgrounds - their character writing left, well much to be desire. Much, much, much. I have, unfortunately for this book, read some bad fan fiction over at TF.N that was better than this in terms of characterization. It read somewhere about the 7-year old's level for characterization. The entire book. I kept expecting it to get better for the first third of the book. By the middle third, it had become a fading hope that somehow the writing of Anakin and Nejaa would improve. By the final third, it was a despairing cry of, "You've got to be kidding! I can write better than this!" And then it ended. While the premise of the novel was interesting, the authors failed to deliver a solid conclusion (or a solid much of anything else, for that matter). I have to place this book under such flops as The Crystal Star and Planet of Twilight. I'd rather have been reading the Boba Fett or Jedi Apprentice books than this. I really hope the rest of the Clone Wars novels aren't this disappointing.

 

I'm pretty dissatisfied with the Clone Wars novels overall, though. I enjoyed Shatterpoint immensely, and to a lesser extent, The Cestus Deception as well. But I expected a massive war, and none of these books have delivered; given Stover's writing talent, my guess is that LB didn't want that feel. I've been spoiled by the war levels of the NJO and for that matter, the Rebellion. Given all the hype about the Clone Wars, I expected these books to have that same feel of grand and all-encompassing war. It has never fulfilled on that promise, though. Everything is too confined to single planets, too locked into tiny battles that don't affect anything in the overall picture in the end. These are the stories that the side comics should tell, and instead we're getting the wrost Clone Wars imaginable. It's a tragedy, and one I can only hope will be remedied by the genius of Stover and Luceno in the novelization and prequel book. And, in the meantime, I'm waiting on Dark Nest and the new Zahn books.

 

Here's to the worst book in SW history.

[Shok_Tinoktin]

*possible minor Yoda: Dark Rendezvous spoilers*

 

I just finished reading Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. There hasn't been too much talk about this one, and maybe there is a reason for that. I would have to say that this is one of the weaker Star Wars books in print. I don't think that the characters were portrayed properly. I kept thinking things like: Mace Windu would never do that, or Yoda would never say that. The only character that I think was acceptably captured in the book was Count Dooku, and to a lesser extent Obi and Ani (their minimal involvement made problems I might otherwise have acceptable). Not only did I not like the way individual characters were done, I think there was something missing from the "generic" characters. For example, the Padawans in the Bear Clan seemed much more mature than the advanced students that were just about ready for apprentices in the book. Also, all the characters seemed to be sloppy. Even the ones this would be least expected from. Palpatine (prior to the near end of the book) even had this problem. My other main issue, was that the story lacked focus. It would go for a while, following a solid story line, then for no reason, it would start over and sacrafice all the momentum. Eventually, it focused into two story lines, that felt more parallel then connected. The two seemed to have far to little affect on each other. Then there were some minor annoyances. Nothing that would hurt an otherwise strong story, but just some little things that bothered me. I of course wont list them all, but heres an example: A tournament of thirty-two padawans. You can win by either hitting your opponent three times with a lightsaber (obviously on a low setting), or by them submitting. Yet, not a single battle was won with the lightsabers. They all ended with one person getting the other in some hold, and then the one in the hold would submitt. Don't get me wrong, there were minor good things as well, they were just far outnumbered by the annoying things. The only somewhat redeeming thing for the book as a whole was the second to last chapter. It had some really good stuff, that showed there may be something to the story after all. If these things had been more strongly built up to by the rest of the book, and the characters had more closely resembled their on-screen selves, this could have been a real winner. However, it fell far short of that mark.

[Astrotoy7]

wow. great posts/reviews Keralys(as always ) and shok. Keralys, you can rest assured sir that after reading your comments, I will never go near Jedi Trial.

 

TFNs review makes similar comments about the dialogue....

 

I did have a number of problems with Jedi Trial. First and foremost, the dialogue was pretty bad at times. At one point a character exclaims, “Great balls of fire!” At another point, Tonith says, “’We’ you say? We? Have you by any chance a dianoga stuffed if your pocket?” There are other examples throughout the book, but you get the idea.

 

....Lucasbooks.... NEVER give the pen to these TWO FOOLS again ! In all my EU travels, Ive never heard anything close to dialogue that aweful

 

Lets hope the Ep3 prequel novel will be good, and Ep3 for that matter

 

Keep up the good work

 

Astro

your friendly EU Shadow Moderator

 

mtfbwya

[Master_Keralys]

Exactly what I was talking about. The dialogue:

"I have an assignment-"

"Already?" Anakin interrupted, excited. "We haven'te ven been debriefed from the last one yet! Must be important." He turned away to begin reassembling his gear and clothing.

"Anakin-"

"I've barely begun to unpack - I can meet you att hespaceport in an hour."

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan tried again. "Anakin!"

Anakin didn't turn around. "Where should I meet you?"

"ANAKIN!"

Obi-Wan's shout finally caught Anakin's attention and he spun about, taken aback by the unusually harsh tone. "Master?"

"Sorry I shouted, but you weren't eharing me."

"master? I'm listening." Anakin used all his self-control to stand still and wait.

"I have a mission, Anakin. Not us..."

 

And so it goes. That was on page 4, and it didn't get any better, in fact, it was uaully worse.

 

I'm not at all worried about the pre-Ep. 3 novel: James Luceno really hasn't gone truly wrong, yet, and he's gotten better with every book he's written for SW, and we all know that Matt Stover is the single best SW author in history. Period.

 

Interesting, Shok. I am increasingly disappointed in the Clone Wars series; what you've said about Yoda: Dark Rendezvous makes me less than inclined to read it. Yuck. What went wrong over at LF? What went wrong?

[Astrotoy7]

OMG.... that dialogue is really scary Keralys....and these guys fought for your country I think they must also have striggled to finish elementary school

 

That really IS how a 7 year old writes

 

mtfbwya

[Master_Keralys]

Exactly. Scary is about the only word I can possibly come up with to describe it. My little sister was working on a "book" a while back, and though her narrative wasn't bad, that was about how her dialogue was. And she writes better now than those two do; she's only in middle school...

 

It just goes to prove that you don't have to be a genius to be a soldier, and even to survive... you just have to be blessed enough to be in the right places at the right times, and not be in the wrong places at the wrong times.

 

If LB ever gives them a pen again, I will personally go in and set explosives up around the licensing department... anyone with me?

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Master_Keralys

....If LB ever gives them a pen again, I will personally go in and set explosives up around the licensing department... anyone with me?

 

the best way to protest is to not buy their books and let LB know why I have a feeling though LB wasnt too pleased with the end product either, but because of time constraints, this thing had to be rushed out, and you know what happens in most instances to things that are rushed

 

personally, I am waiting for the post njo books, thats the part of EU Im most interested, especially to see how the twins fare post NJO...

 

mtfbwya

[Master_Keralys]

*is counting down the days till the release of James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil arrives* This is sick: this is the first time in probably eight years that I have not had a single SW book on my Christmas wish list. Why? Because there haven't been any SW books worth getting since Shatterpoint came out! Admittedly, the Medstars weren't bad, but they're nothing special either. So, who's planning on reading the EP. III novelization before they see the movie? Despite the fact that Matt Stover is the one doing the novelization, I am bound and determined to wait. I want that midnight showing to be the first thing I truly know of it (though I'm a spoiler fan overall, I don't want the whole plot to be ruined). Besides, that way I'll be left with the consolation of reading Matt Stover even if the movie sucks - because the book can't and won't. *goes back to counting down the minutes...*