As far as Legacy of the Force novels go, this might very well have been my favorite. The general plot regarding the subjugation of Fondor was realistic and militarily cogent, inspiring numerous side-stories and plots. Pellaeon's death is easily the most important event that occurs within the book, and though I'm pissed that Traviss has executed him, I'm also pleased that he was made a very main character. Daala's retribution upon the traitorous Moff Council and Jaina's personal vengeance on his murderer made me tingly.
What big picture? We're all completely aware of the problems that you have with Jacen Solo and his current strata of acquired power; but the fact remains that a cogent storyline requires for an adversary to be a challenge for Luke Skywalker. The Emperor is dead, the Galactic Empire is a shadow of its former self. Just who do you think is going to rise to the challenge? Jacen has moments of brilliance and, yes, it is frustrating to see him written as incompetent some of the time, but the fact remains, he has to be a threat to Luke. It's kind've like Harry Potter. Dumbledore was made out in the books to be the only one Voldemort feared and (equipped with the Elder Wand), the only one whom Voldemort really doesn't have a realistic chance of beating in combat. Yet during the course of the series, Voldemort is always a step ahead and by HBP was winning the war against Dumbledore. Why? Because he's more cunning, he's sneakier, and can strike where Dumbledore is weak. Solo compensates for his weakness to Luke with vastly superior military might and the law and, yes, in a tactical sense, he's certainly smarter than Luke, and willing to go to greater lengths. Luke can't fight Jacen on Jacen's terms without the risk of becoming like Jacen.
When you look at it, it is rather clever. And it's interesting to see Jacen pretty much lose all the time and, yet, in the "grand scheme of things", he's still winning.
Everything you said makes perfect sense, except for why the authors couldn't give Jacen a more logical rise to power, why he couldn't have had real sith training, etc. Everything goes back to his magical powers after creating his sith name and that's still ridiculous.
I agree with the ridiculousness of how much power Jacen has attained as a Sith Lord with so little training in their ways, but I think Gideon just made everything else sound not quite as horribly lame.
And who would have thought it would have been thanks to a Harry Potter comparison...
You know what? I used to LOVE the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I enjoyed reading the books that continued the stories of Luke, Han, Leia and their friends. But I think that things started to take a tumble around Vector Prime . At the start if that novel, the Skywalker and Solo families had good lives, the Solo kids had some good friends, and Luke and Mara were discussing how they wanted to have a child.
Since then, things have just gotten progressively worse. Now, Chewbacca, Anakin Solo and Mara Jade Skywalker are all de
i gotta say, i had really liked this series right up until this book. but i agree with the guy who posted the thread when he says that nothing happened. Paelleon was dragged into a book series in which he hadn't been a part of whatsoever, and then gets killed. (what a waste of a good character) They bring Daala back from the dead, which is fine, but the overall story line is stalled. The story line is, remove Jacen from power, pretty much EVERY major character agrees this is the goal. Luke has made his peace in about three different stupid emotional places with killing Jacen, and yet he still hasn't done it. Which makes him look like a fool, because its obvious that every moment Jacen is alive, more innocent people die. Luke doesn't look like a long suffering Jedi Master, he looks like a naive, and even selfish coward. I always liked this series because they kept making it clear how luke always had the upper hand, which he well should, but now they just make him look weak. The spoilers in this forum would have been enough to know what happened in this book. That's how bad it was.
Luke's a moron in those book's
But I kinda like Jacen. Revaelation gave him the chance to calm down and I actually found some of his conversations with Tahiri to be quite sweet, for Jacen anyway.
I agree. First Luke is powerful, then weak, then powerful, then weak, this his 30 year old nephew keeps getting the best of him. These authors need to be shot.
Jacen is way too whiny to be a credible Sith Lord. He gets beaten every time he fights anyone fairly. He shouldn't even have sith lord powers, i mean, is he what, FIGURING THEM OUT AS HE GOES? that isn't how the sith works. You don't just decide to become a sith and then become incredibly powerful. it just doesn't happen. Problem is, i'm afraid the title of the final book may be setting Jacen up to win, to feed into some dumb comic series or something like that. If Jacen kills luke, i'm over starwars, i promise you that.
It seems a bit suspitious to me that in the book that she dies, they introduce (to my recollection) a cyborg of her that looks exactly the same.
If that's not the case then there's still the fact of her hardlight projections.
I hope you guys realize that this is the book right before the finale. They are setting everything up for one final book. That is why the storyline seemed so stalled. Another thing is, i love this series. Shoot me down now, but i admit i am a fan of the LOTF series. I love how they bring in so many characters, and i love how Jacen tries to reason through all his decisions, how all the soldiers love him, i love all that. There are some dull and stupid parts, but overall, i like this series. and quite frankly, i dont give a rats ass about George Lucas and his original vision. I found that quite boring. The EU that everyone hated, the NJO, the LOTF, i really enjoyed. i thought it was something fresh, original, and definitely a step in the right direction.
If you call giving Jacen as many magical powers as possible to counter Luke a step in the right direction, then I would dispute your taste in storylines.
Feb 28th, 2008 03:55 AM
