Archive for the ‘Corran Horn’ Category

I mentioned recently that Corran Horn is my favorite Jedi, and that the Fate of the Jedi series is missing out on the most powerful aspect of their story by not developing Horn’s relationship, service, and support of Galactic Alliance more than they have.  Vortex does focus a little bit more on Corran, but I think Fate of the Jedi missed a real opportunity.  They chose the most fascinating Jedi to have his children frozen in carbonite because of Horn’s unwavering support of the GA.  The Dark Nest Trilogy shows Corran stand against Luke’s unifying force idea because of its neglect of the GA, and Corran’s belief that the Jedi have a duty to the GA.  They have not pounced on this great idea, but I am rehashing my last article, so let me get to why Corran is my favorite Jedi. 

First, he was a cocky pilot in rogue squadron.  If there is one thing we love in Star Wars it is cocky pilots.  You have Han Solo, of course, Wedge Antillies, and the rest of Rogue Squadron, Anakin Skywalker, Syal Antillies, Jaina Solo, Jagged Fel, among others.  If you have watched Top Gun, and we all have, then you have dreamed of being of cocky arrogant pilot that put jerks like Iceman in their place.  Corran was a cocky pilot who cared deeply for his friends and put his life on the line, willing to die, to protect his friends.  I like a arrogant guy who on the inside greatly loves others. 

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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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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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If there is one thing that has been made clear in the Star Wars Universe it is this; if you are an over thinker, you will become the epitome of evil.  If you like to think four and five moves ahead, you need to stop right now, or you will end up on the wrong end of a light saber or a blaster.  Just look at the evidence. 

Case One – Grand Admiral Thrawn – This man looked at the art of a culture…the art…we are talking paintings and statues and stuff, and by examining the art, he knew how that cultures generals were going act in battle.  If that is not over thinking I don’t know what is.  Thrawn is the classic chess master villain who over thinks every situation and how did Thrawn end up?  He threw invisible asteroids at Coruscant which hurt civilians as much as it did the military and by over analyzing threats that were ten steps down the road that he totally missed the Nohgri right in front of him as a threat.  Over thinking was Thrawn’s downfall.

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This is a spoilerful review of Dark Nest I: The Joiner King by Troy Denning. 

Novels or Series Mentioned

Dark Nest I: The Joiner King

The Unifying Force

Star by Star

Dark Nest Trilogy

The New Jedi Order

This book got my blood pumping and boiling more than any Star Wars novel I have read in a long while.  My reading of this book and it’s take on the Force in particular.  The new Unifying Force espoused by Luke Skywalker during the conclusion of the New Jedi Order has already spawned a two part crossover podcast spectacular with Steve Glosson and Geek Out Loud and Star Wars Book Report to discuss the nature of the Force, which is in the editing phase, and an article where I addressed Barris Offee’s declarations on the nature of the Force because of her bota induced Force experience.  If the goal of a novel is to get a reaction, Dark Nest I: The Joiner King succeeded like no other. 

The Dark Nest Trilogy is a series that I have largely ignored.  I finished the 19 book saga of the New Jedi Order about two years ago, and after spending so much time on one time period, I wanted a break from the New Jedi Order time period, and I have jumped all over the timeline since.  One thing I love about Star Wars novels is the ability to jump around eras, and if you have followed my blog and/or podcast for long, you see I do some considerable jumping around, but I am glad that I finally landed in the wasps’ nest…and wasps’ nest it is.

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This is a spoiler conscious review of Jedi Trial by David Sherman and Dan Cragg.  Although I try to be spoiler free, any review will reveal some information about the stroy. 

Novels or Series Mentioned

Rogue Planet

The Approaching Strom

Medstar Duology

X-Wing Series

The Clone War Cartroon Tie In Novels

Luke Skywalker so often discusses how there was not much to do on an out of the way world like Tatooine, but I do not see how that could be possible.  The powers that be love to take out of the way desert planets you would never think were important and give them galactic significance, making them the center of come huge event.  Tatooine had a multi-system crime lord and syndicate…Luke could have become a wise guy if he would have stayed on Tatooine.  Then, there are other out of the way desert planets that to become all of a sudden extremely important like: Ord Cestus, Rhommamool, Geonosis, Klatooine, Apatros, Korriban, and many others.  Star Wars loves elevating out of the way desert planets to extreme importance, and Jedi Trial follows in this rich Star Wars tradition elevating the desert world of Praesitlyn to the center of a huge battle between the Republic and the Separatists.

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This is a spoiler conscious review of X-Wing: The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole.

Novels or Series Mentioned

X Wing: The Bacta War

X-Wing: The Krytos Trap

X-Wing: Rogue Squadron

X-Wing Series

X-Wing: The Bacta War is truly a tale of two books for me.  There were parts of it that I absolutely loved and thought were brilliant, and there were parts that were not so great.  In this story, Rogue Squadron prepares to free Thyferra from the evil clutches of Ysanne Isard, and restore a normal flow of the much needed miracle salve of bacta to the galaxy.  Also, Corran wants to fulfill his promise to free the prisoners of Lusankya. 

I played a little baseball in my day, and I spent many, many hours with a group of close knit guys in locker rooms, dug outs, road trips, practice, and so on, and we constantly were ribbing each other with a quick witted one line jokes or cut downs.  It was all done in jest and genuine affection between teammates, and these one liners were a language that accompanied teammates.  Michael Stackpole captures this playful one line cut downs beautifully in this work, and I appreciated it so much.  It took me back to my ball days.  These one liners are genuinely funny.

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Spoiler conscious review of X-Wing: The Krytos Trap

Novels or Series Mentioned

X-Wing: The Krytos Trap

X-Wing: Rogue Squadron

X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble

X-Wing Series

Shawdows of the Empire

            Even though I am mindful not to spoil this book for you, any review will reveal some things regarding the book, but I hope this review will excite you enough to go and read it, instead of ruin the story for you.

I have never been one to plan my week around a television show.  That is not to mean that there are not shows I love.  I called my best friend Boner just so I could be more like Mike Seaver, but if I was busy hanging out with friends, or out golfing,  or chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool, and shooting some b-ball outside my school, I did not watch my watch to run home to catch a TV show.  That all changed when in high school I discovered The Practice.  I loved this legal drama.  I don’t know what it was about this show.  I never wanted to be a lawyer, and other than trying to find ways out of speeding tickets, I am not even that interested in law.  My love for legal shows continued when I followed Alan Shore from The Practice to Boston Legal.  Just a side note if you have not watched Boston Legal, you are missing the greatest television show in the history of the known universe.  All you need to know about Boston Legal is Denny Crane.  He makes the show magical.  Also, there are only two movies I must watch if they come on TV even though I have seen both hundreds of times, and they are the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and A Few Good Men.   I tell you of my love for legal dramas and legal comedies for one reason, and that is to explain to you why I loved X-Wing: The Krytos Trap. 

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Spoiler Conscious Review of X-Wing Wedge’s Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole

Novels or Series Mentioned

X-Wing Wedge’s Gamble

X-Wing Rogue Squadron

X-Wing Series

            This review will be spoiler conscious.  Although you can’t do a review without mentioning some aspects of the story, I will be thoughtful as to not ruin this book for you.

In X-Wing Wedge’s Gamble, you have a story of a team that does one thing so well, but in this book, the same team does something completely different.  In X-Wing Rogue Squadron, Rogue Squadron does one thing great fly missions.  The wall to wall action in the space battles is what made X-Wing Rogue Squadron such a great read.  Well, in X-Wing Wedge’s Gamble, Stackpole definitely gambles by taking Rogue Squadron out of their element where they excelled and placed them in a completely different one.  It reminds me of Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan where both athletes left the sport in which they highly succeeded and took a chance in another arena.    

If you are my age, you will remember Bo Jackson in all of his glory.  He signed to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals in 1986 and became a starting outfielder for them in 1987, and wowed us all with his sheer athleticism.  I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to run a semi-circle up and down and wall like he did when making a catch in the outfield…just to let you know I couldn’t do it.  Bo was amazing.  Then in 1987, Bo does the unthinkable.  He signed with the L.A. Raiders to play football, and he was unbelievable in that sport too.  He flat out embarrassed bold talker Brian Boworth by running around, away, and just plain over him on a Monday Night Football game in 1987.  Watching Bo Jackson do two sports so well is still an achievement I am glad I got to witness. 

            If you are my age, you will also remember Michael Jordan quitting basketball because he had nothing left to accomplish and put his effort in becoming a Major League Baseball player.  Unlike Bo, this switch was painful to watch.  Jordan just looked awkward and strange in a baseball uniform, and although Jordan was a better baseball player than I ever was, you just wanted him to go back to baseball because watching someone who is so great at one thing flounder in another was painful. 

The question becomes will X-Wing Wedge’s Gamble be a Bo Jackson and succeed in their second element and be great, or will they be a Michael Jordan and need to return to where they are comfortable?  

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Spoiler Conscious Book Review of X-Wing Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole

Books or Series Mentioned

X-Wing Rogue Squadron

X-Wing Series

New Jedi Order

This review will be spoiler conscious.  Although you can’t do a review without mentioning some aspects of the story, I will be thoughtful as to not ruin this book for you. 

It has taken me a while to begin the X-Wing series.  Even though I know the significance of this series because it introduces several key characters and back story, when standing in the book store, I still chose other books over this series.  Even though I know Michael A. Stackpole is one of the best Star Wars authors out there, I still chose other books over this series for one reason…the hardest thing for a writer to write is a space battle.  How many times have you read a maneuver described in a space battle and thought, “what did the pilot just do?”  Space battles are tough to write because I, and most readers, have never experience space flight to connect these maneuvers to pictures in our mind.  I end up reading space battles for the facts of: who shot who down, who won the battle, and who survived, but rarely do I get caught up in reading a space battle and the description is so clear that I can see the battle in my mind.  Again, I do not fault writers for this, but my lack of knowledge of space maneuvering in a space craft.  This difficulty has always caused me to pause in buying the X-Wing series because it focuses on space battles, but thankfully, my wife for my birthday bought me X-Wing Rogue Squadron, which then sat on my shelf until I finished about a dozen other books, but I finally read it, and I was glad that I did.

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