Archive for the ‘Jagged Fel’ Category

I do not like to be negative…Quick name one book I have said was terrible…It’s hard to do because I love books.  I love stories, and it is rare for me to not get into and enjoy reading whatever I get my hands on.  I want to enjoy everything I read, and for the most part I do, but there are aspects of Fate of the Jedi that I just don’t get.  I hope you can tell me I am wrong about this series, and I hope you can give me multiple reasons to love this series.  As of now though, Fate of the Jedi leaves me scratching my head.

First, this series was set up to fail with the earlier appointment of Admiral Daala as the Chief of State.  I don’t know whose idea this was, but it was not a very good one.  Daala as Chief of State makes no sense.  She was the developer of super weapons for the Empire.  Her work helped destroy planets and entire galaxies.  She was Grand Moff Tarkin’s lover and disciple.  How is it evenly remotely possible for her to be elected as Chief of State with that background?  This would be like the United States electing the head of the Nuclear Weapons Program of Russia as its own President.  There is just no way it would happen.  Making Daala chief is like they ran out of eligible candidates with Mothma, Ackbar, Leia, Fey’lya, Omas, among others all out of the political picture, so they went with the last character standing.  The only problem is there is only one story to tell with Daala…former imp fights with former rebels.   I can’t see any other direction.  Develop new political characters or C3PO will be the next Chief!

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This is a spoiler conscious review of Dark Nest III: The Swarm War by Troy Denning

Books and Series Mentioned

Dark Nest III: The Swarm War

The Dark Nest Trilogy

The New Jedi Order

I just completed the Dark Nest Trilogy, and there was no reason for me to like this trilogy.  There were so many plot points and events that I do not like.  Strike one, I am not big into bugs.  I do not like them in my house, and I do not like them in my stories.  Strike two, as has been well documented on the site, I am not a fan of the unifying force.  There was one scene in Dark Nest One: The Joiner King where Luke drew upon his anger and fear to cloak their ship that turned my stomach.  Strike three, I am not a fan of a hive mind.  That idea has just seemed overdone to me in the Sci-Fi universe.  I did not think that Star Wars needed to go there.  Strike four, there was its total ignoring of Jacen’s sojourn through the universe studying the force that Jacen tells Luke he will do in The Unifying Force.  I was so intrigued by Jacen telling Luke about this plan in The Unifying Force, that was the one thing I was excited to learn about in this series, and it basically ignores it with just a few offhanded mentions.  Strike five, the Jedi council, which seemed finally settled after The New Jedi Order was not so settled and we had to read through another Chief of State vs. Jedi debate.  Strike six, and the most egregious, is Luke on the cover of Dark Next III: The Swarm War shooting Sith lightning!  Let me tell you I still throw up a little in my mouth seeing that.  How many strikes do you get before you’re out?  Through the grape vine I heard about these issues and could see the cover of Dark Nest III: The Swarm War that I did not think that I would ever read it.  I was not interested at all. 

In fact I was so not interested that it took my love for reading on a Kindle to get me to read it.  I have read every other Kindle Star Wars book, and since I live in small town USA, I had to either drive 45 minutes to the nearest book store, or read The Dark Nest Trilogy, and my laziness won out, and I Kindled The Dark Nest Trilogy, and let me tell, no other book, movie or any other form of entertainment has won me over like this trilogy.  There are so many reasons for me to hate this trilogy, but I didn’t…if fact I rank it as one of the best trilogies I have read. 

You may be thinking that my expectations were so low that I could not help, but be impressed by this trilogy, but that is not the case.  This was not about my expectations.  I flat do not like, bugs, hive mind, the unifying force…these are things that bother me, so for me to like things that I do not like, is an incredible writing feat by Mr. Troy Denning, so let’s get to all the things I loved about the final installment of this thrilling trilogy. 

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I recently spent an evening talking with Matt and Chris from the Sarlacc Pitt the podcast for www.galacticbinder.com, and we discussed the prequel trilogy. One thing we spent a lengthy time discussing were th great fight scenes most notably the fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace and the final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin in Rise of the Sith. This discussion got me thinking about the best fight scenes I have ever read, so in no particular order, here are a few fight scenes that I have really enjoyed reading.

Corran Horn vs Shedao Shai. Dark Tide II: Ruin

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This is a spoilerful review of Omen by Christie Golden.  It does mention specific plots and may give away information that you may not want if you have yet to read this book. 

Novels or Series Mentioned

Omen

Outcast

The Fate of the Jedi

The Thrawn Trilogy

The Legacy of the Force

The New Jedi Order

We Star Wars fans tend to go a tad over board, and the one thing we all love to jump on all the things that frustrate us.  We scream about Mando and continuity.  We argue and argue about the Mara Jade comment about the Emperor cutting of Vader’s hand.  Just in the last book of this particular series Outcast we got all up in arms about the mysterious return of Kessel’s moon, or as was pointed out to me when I was speaking of this very matter, did Kessel have two moons.  These are the things we love to talk about that we rarely spend time on the things we enjoy about this universe.  Well I must dole out some high praise for the strategy behind The Fate of the Jedi series.  I mentioned this in my review of Outcast that I enjoyed the seemingly fragmented storyline, and I still do. 

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Novels or Series Mentioned

The Courtship of Princess Leah

Shadows of the Empire

The Thrawn Trilogy

The Hand of Thrawn Duology

The X-Wing Series

The New Jedi Order

The Legacy of the Force

The Fate of the Jedi

If we learned anything from the Princess Bride, it is that man or woman, boy or girl, we are all looking for true love, or should I more appropriately say…twuuee wwove.  Well, thankfully we have some great advice to find our soul mate found in the pages of some good old Star Wars novels.  Today, we are going to examine four couples who found true love to help us find the secret of catching that perfect guy or girl of our dreams. 

The four couples we are going to look at are as followed: Han and Leah, Luke and Mara Jade, Corran and Mirax, and Jagged Fel and Jaina.  Han and Leah have been successfully married for decades, and their marriage has weathered and been strengthened through storms that I cannot fathom going through from carbonite freezing to the death of children.  Luke and Mara Jade do not even have to talk to each other to share their feelings or love.  They have a deep connection that most couples dream about.  Who enjoys each other company more than Corran and Mirax?  From the first time they shared a ryshcate together, you saw magic spark because they truly love each others’ company, and with Jagged Fel and Jaina, we see teenage puppy love mature into a deep commitment for one another than easily spans the vast gulf between the Imperial Remnant and the Galactic Alliance.  We are going to examine these loves to help us all out in our own quest for true love. 

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