Star Wars Books Thread

[The Wormhole]

Hopefully post episode IX the movies will be completely done with her

I thought the movies are already done with her? IIRC, Gwendoline Christie is not listed among the cast for Episode IX.

 

[kirk55555]

I thought the movies are already done with her? IIRC, Gwendoline Christie is not listed among the cast for Episode IX.

Oh, well I didn't see the cast list. I don't like the assume what could happen to a character where we don't see their body in a franchise like this. Hopefully we'll get something from the new canon that makes her more of an actual character sometime before the sun freezes over, then.

 

[WebLurker]

First, before getting into my responses to other posts, I want to say that I've started Phasma. I looked up a bit about it, and I'm really disappointed in all the comparisons to Mad Max, and how Phasma isn't even really a character in the book. Hopefully post episode IX the movies will be completely done with her and we can get an actual backstory and character for her. As for this book, Ill give it a chance, but I don't know if I'll get through it knowing what I now know about it.

I think the book gets better by the end. There actually is a reason why in the book we always see Phasma through the eyes of other characters, never from her perspective (like Sherlock Holmes or Grand Admiral Thrawn in other books). I think it's worth it, if nothing else for Captain Cardinal's story.

Eh, I don't really need anything more with the parents. They got the perfect amount of screen time in the movie. Anything more would be like reading a book focused on Luke's Uncle Own and Aunt Beru, a kind of pointless story about characters I find uninteresting.

I think James Lucino makes them all really interesting, but, then again, I usually love James Lucino's Star Wars stuff (except for those odd things that I cannot connect with for whatever reason).

I found the "blindly loyal to the point of being psychotic" Empire types in that book to be boring. I'm fine with really evil villains in Star Wars, but they have to have more to them then "the Empire is basically my religion". No Imperial should be that obsessively loyal to the Empire, to the point where they have no real character. Imperials don't have to waver in their loyalty or anything, but they need something else. I just really hated everyone in that book. I'd honestly call it the second worst canon book I tried but couldn't finish, after Lost Stars.

I strongly recommend that you give the book another chance; I read through the whole thing and I can assure you that the characters are not the cardboard cut outs they've come across to you as. In fact, IMHO, they're some of the most interesting antagonist characters we've gotten. I will concede that I don't know were you stopped reading and, at the end of the day, you've got to do you, but I think that it would be worth it to give it another shot.

That is the perfect way to describe what I think of Leia. She's a good character, but I don't need a lot of stories with her as the focus. As for the book, even outside of it being focused on Leia, honestly I tolerate Claudia Gray at the best of times. I'll at least try any general audience SW book she does, but I couldn't be paid to look at one of her YA books again.

It takes all types, doesn't it? Funny thing for me is that while I don't "need" the Leia books, I tend to find that I like them an awful lot when I do read them. Weird, huh?

I thought the movies are already done with her? IIRC, Gwendoline Christie is not listed among the cast for Episode IX.

That would make a lot of sense, given where TLJ left her. IMHO, while it was fun to see her again in TLJ, I think not having her in Episode 9 is a good call.

 

[kirk55555]

I think the book gets better by the end. There actually is a reason why in the book we always see Phasma through the eyes of other characters, never from her perspective (like Sherlock Holmes or Grand Admiral Thrawn in other books). I think it's worth it, if nothing else for Captain Cardinal's story.

I like the new Thrawn books, but him not being the focus is the weakest part (well, technically making half of Thrawn 2 a book about freaking Padme was the weakest part, but overall not focusing on Thrawn is the biggest recurring flaw with the new Thrawn books). As for generic red guy, I've read a lot of Star Wars stuff over the years, and he really isn't impressive. If I want to read about a generic SW thug but in red armor, I'd read the old Crimson Empire comics Actually, I think one of the new canon books has already had a more interesting red armored character, since I think a former Imperial Guard was in one of the books (Aftermath, maybe?).

I strongly recommend that you give the book another chance; I read through the whole thing and I can assure you that the characters are not the cardboard cut outs they've come across to you as. In fact, IMHO, they're some of the most interesting antagonist characters we've gotten. I will concede that I don't know were you stopped reading and, at the end of the day, you've got to do you, but I think that it would be worth it to give it another shot.

Eh, I don't think so. I HATED the book. Rarely have I seen such badly written Imperial characters, and when it comes to terrible New Canon SW books at least Lost Stars had the excuse of being a generic YA romance book to explain why it was so bad. Inferno Squad was supposedly a general audience SW book, but it reads like an author who has never seen any of the films was contracted to write it. I honestly can't believe it was written by the same woman who wrote Dark Disciple, to me Inferno Squad feels like a first novel from someone who doesn't like SW. So, yeah, unless someone wants to pay me a lot of money for my time, I won't be looking at that book again. I'd almost rather try to read Lost Stars again. Almost.

It takes all types, doesn't it? Funny thing for me is that while I don't "need" the Leia books, I tend to find that I like them an awful lot when I do read them. Weird, huh?

For me, I thought Bloodlines was just ok. Leia is great as a side character, or part of an ensemble cast, but I don't need solo (pun not intended) stories with her.

 

[WebLurker]

I like the new Thrawn books, but him not being the focus is the weakest part (well, technically making half of Thrawn 2 a book about freaking Padme was the weakest part, but overall not focusing on Thrawn is the biggest recurring flaw with the new Thrawn books).

Haven't read that second one yet, so I can't say anything about that. I will concede that the original novels were the ones I liked best with that character.

As for generic red guy, I've read a lot of Star Wars stuff over the years, and he really isn't impressive. If I want to read about a generic SW thug but in red armor, I'd read the old Crimson Empire comics

Never read those comics, but I will say that that "generic red guy" gets some really good character work in the Phasma novel. You do need to read through it to get it, of course.

Actually, I think one of the new canon books has already had a more interesting red armored character, since I think a former Imperial Guard was in one of the books (Aftermath, maybe?).

That's not ringing any bells. The Aftermath trilogy did have a former Imperial loyalty officer in the cast (and he was a very interesting character).

Eh, I don't think so. I HATED the book. Rarely have I seen such badly written Imperial characters, and when it comes to terrible New Canon SW books at least Lost Stars had the excuse of being a generic YA romance book to explain why it was so bad. Inferno Squad was supposedly a general audience SW book, but it reads like an author who has never seen any of the films was contracted to write it. I honestly can't believe it was written by the same woman who wrote Dark Disciple, to me Inferno Squad feels like a first novel from someone who doesn't like SW. So, yeah, unless someone wants to pay me a lot of money for my time, I won't be looking at that book again. I'd almost rather try to read Lost Stars again. Almost.

Your call, but you are loosing out big time and I can assure you that whatever you saw in the book's beginning is not how the story unfolds when you get to the end of it. (Heck, I'm kinda doubting that we're even talking about the same book here.)

For me, I thought Bloodlines was just ok. Leia is great as a side character, or part of an ensemble cast, but I don't need solo (pun not intended) stories with her.

Guess we don't have much in common in the case of this series?

 

[kirk55555]

Never read those comics, but I will say that that "generic red guy" gets some really good character work in the Phasma novel. You do need to read through it to get it, of course.

I'm at his introduction, but he doesn't have much. He doesn't like Phasma, and thats about it. Not exactly an interesting villain, although still 1000 times better then the boring Resistance spy he's interrogating.

That's not ringing any bells. The Aftermath trilogy did have a former Imperial loyalty officer in the cast (and he was a very interesting character).

You're right. I guess I mixed him up with being part of the Royal Guard somehow.

Your call, but you are loosing out big time and I can assure you that whatever you saw in the book's beginning is not how the story unfolds when you get to the end of it. (Heck, I'm kinda doubting that we're even talking about the same book here.)

I'm talking about the book where a female imperial pilot, daughter of a group of 1 dimensional imperial fanatics, survives the battle of Yavin and does evil stuff, all while everyone is acting so obsessive and nuts with the Empire worship that Palpatine would probably have told them to tone it down. That's just my opinion. But, its one i'm firm on. As it is, to me its easily the worst SW book that isn't a YA romance novel.

 

[WebLurker]

I'm at his introduction, but he doesn't have much. He doesn't like Phasma, and thats about it. Not exactly an interesting villain, although still 1000 times better then the boring Resistance spy he's interrogating.

Who said he was the villain?

In any event, the book does peel back layers on this guy. Not liking Phasma is just one element.

You're right. I guess I mixed him up with being part of the Royal Guard somehow.

Okay.

I'm talking about the book where a female imperial pilot, daughter of a group of 1 dimensional imperial fanatics, survives the battle of Yavin and does evil stuff, all while everyone is acting so obsessive and nuts with the Empire worship that Palpatine would probably have told them to tone it down.

That's not who the characters are. The book does have a slow start, but it picks up and subverts everything you ever thought going into it. In fact, if you don't like the idea of flat, Empire-worshiping villains, this is exactly the book for you. (Kinda funny, both this book and Lost Stars deal with the idea of shades of gray in the Empire, but you weren't fond of either of them, despite it apparently being that don't like things all black and white. There's some irony there.)

That's just my opinion. But, its one i'm firm on.

"You must do what you feel is right, of course."

As it is, to me its easily the worst SW book that isn't a YA romance novel.

Worse then Crystal Star, Plant of Twilight, and the Fate of the Jedi stuff?

 

[Ithekro]

Its hard to get worse than The Crystal Star.

 

[kirk55555]

Who said he was the villain?

In any event, the book does peel back layers on this guy. Not liking Phasma is just one element.

Well, I'm still going through it, slowly. The resistance spy is just starting the (first?) Phasma story. All we know about the guy in Red is that he's a bad guy, he hates Phasma, and he's incompetent when it comes to torture.

That's not who the characters are. The book does have a slow start, but it picks up and subverts everything you ever thought going into it. In fact, if you don't like the idea of flat, Empire-worshiping villains, this is exactly the book for you. (Kinda funny, both this book and Lost Stars deal with the idea of shades of gray in the Empire, but you weren't fond of either of them, despite it apparently being that don't like things all black and white. There's some irony there.)

I'm fine with bad guys with intense loyalty to the Empire, but the people still have to have character. Tarkin was loyal to the Empire, but he didn't worship Vader or Palpatine. The imperial pilot's Dad in that book would probably literally sacrifice (by that I mean a dagger and blood style sacrifice) his daughter if Palpatine so much as hinted he wanted him to do it, and the daughter would probably jump at the opportunity to be sacrificed. Its fine to have side characters like that, but you can't focus a story on such a one dimensional character. As for Lost Stars, it doesn't deal in anything except being the Star Wars version of Twilight minus the vampires and mixed with some Romeo & Juliet.

But anyway, I don't want to argue. People don't always like the same things. There are definitely SW books I like and even love that other people don't care for, which is fine.

Worse then Crystal Star, Plant of Twilight, and the Fate of the Jedi stuff?

I liked Fate of the Jedi well enough, it was certainly better then the Dark nest trilogy or the non-Karen Traviss books in the Legacy of the Force series. Planet of Twilight was fine, a middle of the road book, and The Crystal Star was decent from what I remember, although I haven't read it in years.

 

[JD]

As for Lost Stars, it doesn't deal in anything except being the Star Wars version of Twilight minus the vampires and mixed with some Romeo & Juliet.

If you can get past the icky-cooties romance elements of Lost Stars, there is a lot of great world building for what was going on before, during, and after the OT.

 

[Reverend]

Just got done reading 'Queen's Shadow' and it was very good. As someone who could never keep the various handmaiden's straight and is surprised every time I look it up and realise just how many outfits Portman wore in those movies (I swear, it's almost a new one for every scene for the most part!) it was nice to have it contextualised into a narrative so I now have a better grasp of it all.

My only negative is the lack of a central plot. While the backbone of it is absolutely Padme coming to grips with the transition from Queen to Senator, the narrative seems to flit hither and thither, never really settling on anything and the way the book ends, most of the subplots are left unresolved or dead ended. I guess part of that is unavoidable given that a lot of it is just foreshadowing other stories and relationships we've already seen play out in the movies and TCW, but still. I guess it would feel like a more natural flow if it lead straight into the opening of AotC, but it just stops dead about 5 years between TPM & AorC before jumping ahead to Padmé's funeral epilogue.

I guess the main take away is that it left me wanting more and I'd be all for a followup book based solely around Sabé post RotS. Indeed, I'll double down on what I said before about getting Keira Knightly back. I could easily see her having a role in a number of upcoming projects: The Cassian series, the supposed young Leia show, whatever they're doing (if anything) with Kenobi in exile and I'd even say the the young Han/Qi'ra stuff too if they plan on continuing that thread.

The book also left me wanting to learn more about the Naboo and their history. Most especially why such and idyllic, seemingly naive culture managed to get where they were. Given the implications of how their ancestors displaced the native Gungans and what is implied by them employing such borderline paranoid use of theatre and subterfuge in their security, from decoys, to weaponized jewellery. This to me speaks of a history that's a bit more blood soaked than they'd like to admit.

 

[kirk55555]

If you can get past the icky-cooties romance elements of Lost Stars, there is a lot of great world building for what was going on before, during, and after the OT.

Well, your "hilarious" condescension aside, while romance has no place as the focus of a Star Wars book, the fact that Lost Stars is a YA romance in the vein of Twilight is its biggest issue. It would just be a bad book if it was a romance written for people who aren't in middle or high school, being a YA romance makes it the worst SW book I've ever tried to read.

Also, no it doesn't do any world building. I glanced at summaries and the wookipedia, its as skippable as 90% of the new canon. Even the good New Canon books are pretty much pointless because the movie/TV division won't even let the books touch things they'll never actually address (they didn't even let Phasma be a book actually about and focused on Captain Phasma, even though they knew she would only be a small side character in the movies), much less the book made for people who just want the Star Wars version of Twilight. Wookiepedia tells everything brought up in that book, without having to read the worst official Star Wars novel ever produced.

At most you get a small bit about the Battle of Jakku, but you can read all about that event on Wookiepedia and get all the relevant information, all without reading the SW version of Twilight.

 

[JD]

The kind of stuff I'm talking about are little things that aren't going to be in Wookiepedia summaries, like people's attitudes towards The Empire or the Rebellion, or just how Imperials interact with each other, and other little things like the propaganda on the Imperial planets. I also thought the main characters' homeworld was pretty interesting, and it gave us a nice look at what was going on in the wider galaxy during the OT, and even gave us some bits and pieces of what the movie characters were up to between movies.
So I just finished Last Flight of the Harbinger, and I really enjoyed. I love the way Jason Aaron is handeling Leia and Han's relationship, the race to the bridge cracked me up.
Scar squad are really cool bad guys.
Between them, Sana, and Aphra the comics have really given us some great new characters.

Does Leia, Princess of Alderaan deal with Breha Organa much? I've been curious about her for a while. We've gotten tons of stuff about Bail over the years, but we've never really seen much of Breha other than her quick appearance at the end of Revenge of The Sith.

Just got done reading 'Queen's Shadow' and it was very good. As someone who could never keep the various handmaiden's straight and is surprised every time I look it up and realise just how many outfits Portman wore in those movies (I swear, it's almost a new one for every scene for the most part!) it was nice to have it contextualised into a narrative so I now have a better grasp of it all.

My only negative is the lack of a central plot. While the backbone of it is absolutely Padme coming to grips with the transition from Queen to Senator, the narrative seems to flit hither and thither, never really settling on anything and the way the book ends, most of the subplots are left unresolved or dead ended. I guess part of that is unavoidable given that a lot of it is just foreshadowing other stories and relationships we've already seen play out in the movies and TCW, but still. I guess it would feel like a more natural flow if it lead straight into the opening of AotC, but it just stops dead about 5 years between TPM & AorC before jumping ahead to Padmé's funeral epilogue.

I guess the main take away is that it left me wanting more and I'd be all for a followup book based solely around Sabé post RotS. Indeed, I'll double down on what I said before about getting Keira Knightly back. I could easily see her having a role in a number of upcoming projects: The Cassian series, the supposed young Leia show, whatever they're doing (if anything) with Kenobi in exile and I'd even say the the young Han/Qi'ra stuff too if they plan on continuing that thread.

The book also left me wanting to learn more about the Naboo and their history. Most especially why such and idyllic, seemingly naive culture managed to get where they were. Given the implications of how their ancestors displaced the native Gungans and what is implied by them employing such borderline paranoid use of theatre and subterfuge in their security, from decoys, to weaponized jewellery. This to me speaks of a history that's a bit more blood soaked than they'd like to admit.

I was shocked to find out that both Keira Knightly and Rose Byrne were in the Prequel Trilogy.

 

[JD]

Just got done reading 'Queen's Shadow' and it was very good. As someone who could never keep the various handmaiden's straight and is surprised every time I look it up and realise just how many outfits Portman wore in those movies (I swear, it's almost a new one for every scene for the most part!) it was nice to have it contextualised into a narrative so I now have a better grasp of it all.

My only negative is the lack of a central plot. While the backbone of it is absolutely Padme coming to grips with the transition from Queen to Senator, the narrative seems to flit hither and thither, never really settling on anything and the way the book ends, most of the subplots are left unresolved or dead ended. I guess part of that is unavoidable given that a lot of it is just foreshadowing other stories and relationships we've already seen play out in the movies and TCW, but still. I guess it would feel like a more natural flow if it lead straight into the opening of AotC, but it just stops dead about 5 years between TPM & AorC before jumping ahead to Padmé's funeral epilogue.

I guess the main take away is that it left me wanting more and I'd be all for a followup book based solely around Sabé post RotS. Indeed, I'll double down on what I said before about getting Keira Knightly back. I could easily see her having a role in a number of upcoming projects: The Cassian series, the supposed young Leia show, whatever they're doing (if anything) with Kenobi in exile and I'd even say the the young Han/Qi'ra stuff too if they plan on continuing that thread.

The book also left me wanting to learn more about the Naboo and their history. Most especially why such and idyllic, seemingly naive culture managed to get where they were. Given the implications of how their ancestors displaced the native Gungans and what is implied by them employing such borderline paranoid use of theatre and subterfuge in their security, from decoys, to weaponized jewellery. This to me speaks of a history that's a bit more blood soaked than they'd like to admit.

I was shocked to find out that both Keira Knightly and Rose Byrne were in the Prequel Trilogy.

 

[Reverend]

Does Leia, Princess of Alderaan deal with Breha Organa much? I've been curious about her for a while. We've gotten tons of stuff about Bail over the years, but we've never really seen much of Breha other than her quick appearance at the end of Revenge of The Sith.

Yeah, a fair bit IIRC, though it's from Leia's POV so it's not like you get any insights into what makes her tick. You do however get a little on her background and why she and Bail opted for adoption rather than conceiving.

 

[The Wormhole]

Lost Stars is a YA romance in the vein of Twilight is its biggest issue.

Yeah, Lost Stars is nothing like Twilight. At all.

I was shocked to find out that both Keira Knightly and Rose Byrne were in the Prequel Trilogy.

I was aware Keira Knightley was in TPM for a while. Probably since her popularity skyrocketed after Pirates of the Caribbean. It was only in recent years I learned Rose Byrne was in AOTC. In fact, it might have been back in 2015 when I was doing a rewatch just prior to TFA's release.

 

[kirk55555]

Yeah, Lost Stars is nothing like Twilight. At all.

Its a YA romance, they're all like Twilight , at least in how they're written. Obviously LS dropped the vampire stuff and is more of a Romeo & Juliet rip off, but its still garbage for people too young to know or care if the book or story is good. YA romance is easily the laziest cash cow genre of book at this point, even if its lost a bit of popularity after Twilight started to fade away.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I really liked Lost Stars because it showed the inner workings of the Empire.

I couldn’t finish Bloodlines because there were too many povs and I just found it boring.

 

[WebLurker]

Well, I'm still going through it, slowly. The resistance spy is just starting the (first?) Phasma story. All we know about the guy in Red is that he's a bad guy, he hates Phasma, and he's incompetent when it comes to torture.

Yeah?

I'm fine with bad guys with intense loyalty to the Empire, but the people still have to have character. Tarkin was loyal to the Empire, but he didn't worship Vader or Palpatine. The imperial pilot's Dad in that book would probably literally sacrifice (by that I mean a dagger and blood style sacrifice) his daughter if Palpatine so much as hinted he wanted him to do it, and the daughter would probably jump at the opportunity to be sacrificed.

Its fine to have side characters like that, but you can't focus a story on such a one dimensional character. As for Lost Stars, it doesn't deal in anything except being the Star Wars version of Twilight minus the vampires and mixed with some Romeo & Juliet.

Yeah, yeah, we get it, you don't like that book.

But anyway, I don't want to argue. People don't always like the same things. There are definitely SW books I like and even love that other people don't care for, which is fine.

Sure.

I liked Fate of the Jedi well enough, it was certainly better then the Dark nest trilogy or the non-Karen Traviss books in the Legacy of the Force series.

Never read Dark Nest, but I think Legacy was better then Fate.

Planet of Twilight was fine, a middle of the road book, and The Crystal Star was decent from what I remember, although I haven't read it in years.

Okay, didn't like either of them much myself, but that's me.

 

[kirk55555]

The pilot's Dad in Inferno Squad is so obsessed with the Empire that he makes Palpatine look like a Rebel in comparison. It would have been unintentionally funny if it wasn't extremely frustrating. It was like a bad parody to me. His daughter was no better, she was actually probably worse, but at the point where I dropped the book he was the focus so I remember his one dimensional villainy more.

Never read Dark Nest, but I think Legacy was better then Fate.

Give me a story with an interesting villain, and admittedly with some plot holes (they literally elected a war criminal anti-jedi imperial to lead the Galactic Alliance...) over the story about my most hated (at the time non-villain) SW character (Jacen Solo) becoming definitively a villain and then murdering my absolute favorite SW character ever, all for no reason (especially since Mara Jade is much more powerful then Jacen ever was, but I could go on forever about that). Outside of the Traviss books that connected to the Republic Commando books, Legacy is some of the worst of the Old EU in my opinion.