New star wars novels
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The Shadows of Mindor is the best Star Wars novel in years. A review I wrote a couple weeks back:
Why is this? Because, quite simply, Stover gets Star Wars. The book's real glory is its characterizations: I've never seen so many of the original trilogy cast done right in one book probably ever. Luke is awesome, Leia is feisty, Han is roguish, the Rogues are all perfect. Even R2-D2 and C-3P0 get their moments. Even Lando Calrissian is done right. Do you know rare it is that he's in a book, much less written correctly? The book is heavily dependent on obscure continuity but pulls everything together effortlessly; the plot is both a fun action/adventure and your more nuanced Stover rumination. The book might be full of the Dark, but unlike so much modern Star Wars literature, it tells us not to be afraid of it. My only complaint is that there's really no point to a couple of the peripheral characters being there, but it's so much fun to see one of them again that I can't really complain about it that much.
Why is this? Because, quite simply, Stover gets Star Wars. The book's real glory is its characterizations: I've never seen so many of the original trilogy cast done right in one book probably ever. Luke is awesome, Leia is feisty, Han is roguish, the Rogues are all perfect. Even R2-D2 and C-3P0 get their moments. Even Lando Calrissian is done right. Do you know rare it is that he's in a book, much less written correctly? The book is heavily dependent on obscure continuity but pulls everything together effortlessly; the plot is both a fun action/adventure and your more nuanced Stover rumination. The book might be full of the Dark, but unlike so much modern Star Wars literature, it tells us not to be afraid of it. My only complaint is that there's really no point to a couple of the peripheral characters being there, but it's so much fun to see one of them again that I can't really complain about it that much.
I thought it was good as a way of trying to 'recapture' that Saturday serial feel, even if it was quite self-aware of that fact.
Compared to a lot of the hand-wringing and second guessing of the NJO and LotF series it was a nice simple story with lots of action, some lessons learned, some new facet of the characters, but still a story about friends pulling through when the rest of the galaxy is trying to kill them.
Compared to a lot of the hand-wringing and second guessing of the NJO and LotF series it was a nice simple story with lots of action, some lessons learned, some new facet of the characters, but still a story about friends pulling through when the rest of the galaxy is trying to kill them.
Here's a thread on Mindor from back in January: http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=79649&highlight=Shadows+Mindor As for Coruscant Nights, I'm 100 pages into book two so far. I waited until all three were out to start reading it so I could read it all at once. I'd give it a 3/4 so far. Good but nothing earth-shattering. I'm not crazy about a trilogy starring C-list characters but they're fleshed out well enough. I liked the Xizor involvement in the first book, but I'm wondering what, if any, importance this trilogy will have to the larger saga.
I had high hopes for Coruscant Nights-- a noir detective story set in Coruscant's underbelly sounded so fun! Unfortunately, it's more like Jax Pavan wandering around a lot.
I'm reading Patterns of Force now. I like the books, they seem like cyberpunk Star Wars. More in atmosphere than the cyber, but they have that Neuromancer feel. Considering cyberpunk draws heavily on the noir tradition I suppose that's not surprising.
Haven't read Mindor yet. Will wait for paperback.
Haven't read Mindor yet. Will wait for paperback.
Having read Order 66, its well worth the wait and probably the best of the Republic Commando series.
Coruscant Nights was somewhat disappointing, mainly because it was hyped up as something it wasnt - the books are ok but they are nowhere near film noir in tone or content.
Personally im still trying to actually find a copy of Millenium Falcon in the UK, so that im caught up for the Fate of the Jedi series.
Coruscant Nights was somewhat disappointing, mainly because it was hyped up as something it wasnt - the books are ok but they are nowhere near film noir in tone or content.
Personally im still trying to actually find a copy of Millenium Falcon in the UK, so that im caught up for the Fate of the Jedi series.
Falcon was okayish, but it didn't capture that same spirit as Mindor.
The Coruscant Nights books were a bit of a ponderous slog for me. I wasn't hugely fond of the Medstar novels but I thought that the premise outweighed any reluctance. I read all three and I can't really say by the third I was excited to crack it open. I do think that the Gray Paladin angle and how they fit in was under used, especially since they could have been a fairly significant population of Force users if they weren't running around as CW Generals.
The Coruscant Nights books were a bit of a ponderous slog for me. I wasn't hugely fond of the Medstar novels but I thought that the premise outweighed any reluctance. I read all three and I can't really say by the third I was excited to crack it open. I do think that the Gray Paladin angle and how they fit in was under used, especially since they could have been a fairly significant population of Force users if they weren't running around as CW Generals.
I actually haven't read the Medstar books, they're the only Clone Wars books I haven't read. "MASH In Space" doesn't sound terribly interesting to me, is there any action in it? So that's another reason I'm not crazy about Coruscant Nights because apparently this is one vast sequel to a book I never read 
The sequel aspects are pretty light-- a few characters carry over, but the plots don't substantially connect. Though, I found MedStar pretty enjoyable. Not fantastic, but certainly better than Jedi Trial or The Cestus Deception.
I too am eagerly awaiting the paperback of Order 66.
I too am eagerly awaiting the paperback of Order 66.
Shadows of Mindor was good for about half the book. Really reminded me of the stand alone adventures from the Bantam Era. Then Stover had to inject his bullshit view of the Force (which made Traitor suck more than it might have without it) into the story and everything turned meh real fast. Throwing in his pet characters who were never cool to begin with was irritating, though I get the urge to do that sort of thing. I didn't find his Lando interpretation to be all that great, either. Lando shouldn't piss me off and I remember him doing that in almost every scene he was in.
Courscant Nights was all around underwhelming. Even Peel is a friggin' joke character and the rest were largely uninteresting. No noir, no real detective work. I couldn't be bothered with books 2 or 3. I'm well beyond the time when I would buy every new Star Wars book that came out. If the first book of the trilogy leaves me wanting less, why waste the time or money slogging through the rest?
I really wish Bantam would get the license back. Del Rey's SW department has largely left me disappointed. Sure, there were some clunkers in the Bantam Era, but the stories felt more like Star Wars adventures and less like angst-filled melodramatic crap trying to be grimdark and edgy and utterly failing. I'm looking at you New Jedi Order and beyond.
Courscant Nights was all around underwhelming. Even Peel is a friggin' joke character and the rest were largely uninteresting. No noir, no real detective work. I couldn't be bothered with books 2 or 3. I'm well beyond the time when I would buy every new Star Wars book that came out. If the first book of the trilogy leaves me wanting less, why waste the time or money slogging through the rest?
I really wish Bantam would get the license back. Del Rey's SW department has largely left me disappointed. Sure, there were some clunkers in the Bantam Era, but the stories felt more like Star Wars adventures and less like angst-filled melodramatic crap trying to be grimdark and edgy and utterly failing. I'm looking at you New Jedi Order and beyond.
OK, Book Two of Coruscant Nights was awful. The first one was vaguely interesting, but I could barely get through this one. Who cares about a murder mystery about a big fat nobody? Who cares about Captain Typho? I don't even really care for Aurra Sing. I almost stopped reading the book. Hopefully the third one will be better. Because really there just seemed to be no point to Book Two. Should have been a Duology.
What's presented (by the villain, so it's probably not something you should trust) in Shadows of Mindor is not even remotely the same as the view of the Force in Traitor. Vergere argued in Traitor that there was no Dark Side; Cronal/Blackhole claimed that there was nothing but the Dark Side.
I'm the only person in the world who absolutely hated Shadows of Mindor. I could barely get through it and gave up a third of the way in or so.
