Seriously, why does everyone hate Drew Karpashyn?
The Darth Bane trilogy was flawless, Revan was good, the showdown between him and Scourge and Vititate was epic, and his novel Annhiliation had a good ending. Why is everyone saying he sucks? Everyone loves James Luceno but his last two novels were PAINFULLY bad. Drew always has a good story. Why all this hate?
Revan was pathetic, lmao. Action climaxes don't make up for how dull the characters are; Meetra had virtually no characterization, and Revan, as a protagonist, was also sorely lacking in that area. If anything Scourge had more characterization than Revan; that's how embarrassing it is. Revan also betrayed how little research Karpyshynn did on KotOR II before writing the book. From pretending that tens of thousands of Jedi survived the Jedi Civil War when numerous sources tell us that barely a hundred did, to pretending the Sith Triumvirate was a splinter Jedi faction after the Jedi Civil War, to having Meetra Surik get mind-****ed by the prospect of not being able to feel the Force despite doing precisely that for ten years, it just stinks of ill-preparedness and ignorance that an author shouldn't have.
Path of Destruction was passable but Rule of Two and Dynasty of Evil were pretty substandard as well. After PoD, Karpyshynn began to sacrifice characterization for this sort of writing:
At the same time, the five red-robed figures rushed in from behind him. Bane spun and thrust his open palm toward them, lashing out with the power of the dark side. Like the Jedi and Sith, one of the first techniques Shadow Assassins learned was the creation of a Force barrier. Channeling their power, they could form a protective shield around themselves to negate the Force attacks of their enemies. But if an opponent was strong enough, a concentrated attack could still breach the barrier. Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the Sith, was definitely strong enough.-- Darth Bane: Rule of Two
I mean, ****ing hell. It must just be me, but writing like that is cringeworthy. It seems like Karpyshyn just can't pass up the opportunity to wank his characters whenever he can in the text, and he doesn't do it subtly either. It also reminds me; Karpyshyn employs a lot more tell than show, which is another problem. That amateurish, crapping writing I just quoted is pretty much all tell, and not in a good way.
I've only read Annihilation once and it was a while ago, but I recall believing it was his best work. Perhaps because not writing all-powerful characters gives him a reason to give us some actual characterization for once.
Originally posted by Darth Abonis
The Darth Bane trilogy was flawless, Revan was good, the showdown between him and Scourge and Vititate was epic, and his novel Annhiliation had a good ending. Why is everyone saying he sucks? Everyone loves James Luceno but his last two novels were PAINFULLY bad. Drew always has a good story. Why all this hate?
Here's the thing. We had context clues about what he was from people we spoke with in game.
He was scholar and a fighter as a Jedi. Charismatic and wise.
He was a devious tactician and a calculating mastermind. Powerful, intimidating and intelligent.
Everything should lead to a character hardened from war, yet hopeful. A man who was wiser from walking the line on the double edge sword of the force. A man capable of cooking up a carefully laid out plan in mere moments and break man with his force powers.
Revan in Drew Karpshyns novel was anything but that.
Meetra was butchered. Theres no going back. But lets just acknowledge that Drew missed the perfect opportunity to write an interesting character.
Drew's Mass Effect novels are pretty good, and Annihilation was nice. PoD and DoE were also good, but RoT was cringeworthy and Revan was by far one of the absolute worst books I've ever read. And I read Twilight(lost a bet, don't ask).
Drew's only really good at writting action scenes, and if you're just reading a book to get an adrenaline rush from a bunch of goons shooting at each other or a lightsaber duel, go ahead... But with regards to: plot, story elements, characterization, descriptions, and pretty much any and all components of a coherent and well-done novel -- Drew comes off as fairly pathetic, especially in regards to Star Wars.
People like Luceno and Stover don't want to just offer kewl, uber stronk characters and fight scenes, they want relatable characters, characters with depth and characters with an actual story behind them.
Drew, much like Traviss, just wants to push his own agendas through literature. Drew's a good choice to make an OP character or nice power ideas and concepts, but he's not a good choice to write about that character or those concepts.
Originally posted by MythLordLike Tyth, yeah:
People like Luceno and Stover don't want to just offer kewl, uber stronk characters and fight scenes, they want relatable characters, characters with depth and characters with an actual story behind them.
Originally posted by Beniboybling
Like Tyth, yeah:
😆
Not sure tbh. I liked the Revan novel overall (not great, but still an enjoyable read for me - good tie in to SWTOR which I really like), granted I read the novel before playing KOTOR. Path of Destruction was pretty good towards the end, but I haven't finished reading Rule of Two or Dynasty of Evil. I've heard some good things about Annihilation, which I am excited to read especially because it focuses on Theron Shan (who I now know a ton about from playing the SWTOR expansions).