I would also expect them to use droid labor but that doesn't seem to hold up.
Star Wars Books Thread
- Thread starter Mr Light
- Start date
Again: "blame" and "responsibility" are not synonyms for "complicity". It's the difference between being the drunk driver who ran over some pensioner, and being the sober person who was riding in the back seat. The former is responsible, the latter is complicit.
Thus anyone who was serving on the Death Star was complicit in genocide, whether they knew it or not.
Finished Aftermath. Mostly meh. I feel like I might have liked it more if it were the same basic story but written in a more traditional style. I'm not just talking about Wendig's strange decision to write in the present tense, but other things that bothered me, too.
Things like splitting up a normal sentence into two by ending the first half with a question mark? Really get on my nerves.
Or other things like:
Taking what should be a paragraph.
And splitting it up into small, separate lines.
Just like this.
Even though it doesn't make any sense.
It was weird how Wedge seemed primed to be the feature character at the beginning, then for some reason the focus shifted over to Norra Wexley and her son Temmin (aka Snap, Greg Grunberg's character from TFA) and their surrounding cast, none of whom were particularly interesting or memorable. I did like seeing Rae Sloane in such a prominent role, but that's only because I'd already read all the short stories and novels set before this that she featured in and liked her there; I believe she actually appeared in Aftermath first.
I get what Wendig was trying to go for with all the interludes, showing how various parts of the galaxy reacted to the death of the Emperor and the rise of the New Republic, but aside from the Coruscant interlude at the beginning and the Jakku interlude at the end, I really think all they managed to do was take me out of the story and screw with the pacing. The interlude with Han and Chewie seemed especially pointless to this narrative and probably should have been left off to be included in Life Debt.
I dunno. This book feels like a failure by the editorial staff as much as a failure on Wendig's part. I don't understand how anyone at Lucas Books could have read this and said "Yep, looks good, print it!"
Supposedly Life Debt is a little better, and since that's next up on my list, I suppose I'll find out shortly. But I can't say I'm particularly enthusiastic.
Things like splitting up a normal sentence into two by ending the first half with a question mark? Really get on my nerves.
Or other things like:
Taking what should be a paragraph.
And splitting it up into small, separate lines.
Just like this.
Even though it doesn't make any sense.
It was weird how Wedge seemed primed to be the feature character at the beginning, then for some reason the focus shifted over to Norra Wexley and her son Temmin (aka Snap, Greg Grunberg's character from TFA) and their surrounding cast, none of whom were particularly interesting or memorable. I did like seeing Rae Sloane in such a prominent role, but that's only because I'd already read all the short stories and novels set before this that she featured in and liked her there; I believe she actually appeared in Aftermath first.
I get what Wendig was trying to go for with all the interludes, showing how various parts of the galaxy reacted to the death of the Emperor and the rise of the New Republic, but aside from the Coruscant interlude at the beginning and the Jakku interlude at the end, I really think all they managed to do was take me out of the story and screw with the pacing. The interlude with Han and Chewie seemed especially pointless to this narrative and probably should have been left off to be included in Life Debt.
I dunno. This book feels like a failure by the editorial staff as much as a failure on Wendig's part. I don't understand how anyone at Lucas Books could have read this and said "Yep, looks good, print it!"
Supposedly Life Debt is a little better, and since that's next up on my list, I suppose I'll find out shortly. But I can't say I'm particularly enthusiastic.
I got Before the Awakening cheap, some thoughts
Overall these are fairly short stories, but Greg Rucka is a good writer and he did a good job with them (outside of Rey's story, which wasn't bad but wasn't very good, it was just kind of there).
Finn's story was pretty good. I never really got the feeling that he was a top tier soldier in the movie, but thinking back there really isn't anything to contradict what this story says about his skills. Getting a bit of insight into how First Order troopers live/get trained is interesting, as is getting a bit more with Phasma. I like how Finn has a bit of a history with her, specifically right around the time he defects.
Rey's story was weak. The characterization of Rey was fine, but the story itself wasn't that interesting. I don't have really anything else to say about it.
Poe's story was pretty good. We get a bit about how the Republic reacts to the First Order (I'd be annoyed at how meek they are, but they certainly get punished for their inaction toward the FO during TFA), and we see Poe get recruited into the Resistance. A little thing, but as a SW ship nerd I liked the references to both Lancer class frigates and Z-95 Headhunters. Now I'm curious to know what happened to his wingmates from this story, but I don't think they'll be brought up again.
Rey's story was weak. The characterization of Rey was fine, but the story itself wasn't that interesting. I don't have really anything else to say about it.
Poe's story was pretty good. We get a bit about how the Republic reacts to the First Order (I'd be annoyed at how meek they are, but they certainly get punished for their inaction toward the FO during TFA), and we see Poe get recruited into the Resistance. A little thing, but as a SW ship nerd I liked the references to both Lancer class frigates and Z-95 Headhunters. Now I'm curious to know what happened to his wingmates from this story, but I don't think they'll be brought up again.
Overall these are fairly short stories, but Greg Rucka is a good writer and he did a good job with them (outside of Rey's story, which wasn't bad but wasn't very good, it was just kind of there).
On the other hand, it does make it quicker and easier to read a page. Which is probably one of the more positive things Aftermath and Life Debt have going for them.
A New Dawn is actually Sloane's first appearance.
Yeah, I remembered that on the ride home from work tonight while I was reading Life Debt.
I'm assuming none of the Lost Stars characters have popped up anywhere else yet?
I'm down to 90 something pages and I think I'm going to miss these characters if this is the last I ever get to see them. Even if they don't all make it to the end, there are still plenty of gaps to fit in appearances in story set during the OT.
The relationship between Ciena and Thane has become the main driving force of the story now, but I don't mind these kinds of relationships as long as they are well done, and theirs is.
I'm down to 90 something pages and I think I'm going to miss these characters if this is the last I ever get to see them. Even if they don't all make it to the end, there are still plenty of gaps to fit in appearances in story set during the OT.
The relationship between Ciena and Thane has become the main driving force of the story now, but I don't mind these kinds of relationships as long as they are well done, and theirs is.
Was it the hardcover or the paperback version? Ironically enough, in regards to favorite stories:
The Rey story was my favorite. Granted, she was my favorite character from the movie, but I liked how it was more character driven than plot-driven and made Jakku feel like a distinct place. I guess it clicked with me. 
To each their own, though. Did like the others a lot, too.
To each their own, though. Did like the others a lot, too.Not yet.
I understand that Claudia Gray and LucasFilm are interested in some kind of sequel, but it might be awhile before one can be made (assuming that the idea isn't scrapped).
Yeah, I'm a little over 100 pages into it now and I'm already enjoying it a lot more than its predecessor. The present tense narrative still grates, but I haven't noticed as many of the other issues I mentioned in my post about Aftermath, and Life Debt so far feels much less 'stream of consciousness' than much of Aftermath did.
I think the biggest advance is its a pre-existing team of known characters rather than a dozen people with weird names you don't know anything about all having their own little separate stories that eventually converge. I remember the first time I read Aftermath I couldn't keep track of which weird name was which weird character... Of course it didn't help that days would pas between my readings.
Was it the hardcover or the paperback version? Ironically enough, in regards to favorite stories:
The Rey story was my favorite. Granted, she was my favorite character from the movie, but I liked how it was more character driven than plot-driven and made Jakku feel like a distinct place. I guess it clicked with me.
It was the hardcover version.
To me it just didn't go anywhere. We didn't learn anything new about Rey as a character (I don't mean her backstory, I didn't expect to learn more about that), and then end of the story was obvious fairly quickly. It just felt like a waste of time to me.
I got it yesterday just to know backstory before I see the movie..........should be finished in another hour or so. Some nice details......
I'm a little disappointed in the word on Catalyst so far, but I guess we shouldn't have expected it to feature anything truly consequential, since it's just there to cross-promote Rogue One and fill in some of the details of more important information we'll no doubt learn in the movie.
It may just be a coincidence and I'm reading too much into it, but I think it's interesting that the last two books to be published have taken time to expand the lore regarding kyber crystals. Is this just to lead into Rogue One, or are they also laying some groundwork for Episode VIII as well?
Presumably at some point Rey would need to build her own saber; can't be using Anakin's old hand-me-down forever after all. So perhaps part of the next movie may feature her going into a crystal cave and forging a bond with her own kyber?
Presumably at some point Rey would need to build her own saber; can't be using Anakin's old hand-me-down forever after all. So perhaps part of the next movie may feature her going into a crystal cave and forging a bond with her own kyber?
Similar threads
