Star Wars: Legacy of the Force opinions

[ATimson]

.I wish LucasBooks would get away from these stupid mega-series and go back to smaller scale stories like back in the Bantam era, but we're getting yet another nine book series.

Like Bantam's 30-book Rise of the New Republic was any different in its structure than the NJO--there just wasn't a uniting logo.

 

[Skywalker]

Never heard anyone refer to the Bantam era as Rise of the New Republic. Either way, it was very different in structure than the NJO. The NJO was always intended to be one long, unified story. The Bantam books were never so unified in their plots; certainly, the overarching storyline was the growth of the New Republic and the long defeat of the Empire, but in many books that was barely touched on, if it was at all.

 

[Trent Roman]

And it was hardly linear; books kept coming out at different points in the timeline, jumping ahead, jumping back, filling in space, etc. And there was no overall editorial direction on the Bantam books like there were for the NJO maxi-series, and presumably (?) for LOTF and the upcoming books.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[-Brett-]

^Are you referring to the all hardcover series due out soon? THAT bothers me more than it's length. I hate buying hardcovers (expenses, you know). Although I agree with you, the series should be shorter. NJO for example was about three times longer than it should have been.

Hadn't heard about this one.

No way am I buying nine hardcovers. Especially not after the disappointing LOTF. I guess that's why major bookstores have those cushy chairs all over the place. It's like software piracy. Except legal. And with books.

 

[JD]

Wow, I didn't realize the new series (Fate of the Jedi) was going to be all hardcover either. I had assumed they would be doing the hardcover, 3 paperbacks, hardcover pattern they did for LOTF.

 

[Broccoli]

I don't really buy tie-in books anymore. They are getting too expensive (and I usually only read it once). Instead, I check them out of the library. That's the way I did it for Legacy and that's how I intend to do it for Fate (if I decide to read that series).

 

[RandyS]

Wow, I didn't realize the new series (Fate of the Jedi) was going to be all hardcover either. I had assumed they would be doing the hardcover, 3 paperbacks, hardcover pattern they did for LOTF.

Speaking strictly for myself, I hope they are all reprinted in paperback. I don't remember the exact source anymore--most likely Starwars.com--but the press release I read seemed ro imply they wouldn't be.

Don't take my word as gospel though, I could very easily be wrong. And it seems kind of silly that they wouldn't be reprinted. They lose money by not doing so.

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah it's ridiculous that all nine are going to be hardbacks. I'm either going to have to wait/hope the library gets them, or buy them immediately read them and sell them off to make most of my money back. Yeesh.

 

[DarKush]

Wow, I didn't realize the new series (Fate of the Jedi) was going to be all hardcover either. I had assumed they would be doing the hardcover, 3 paperbacks, hardcover pattern they did for LOTF.

Speaking strictly for myself, I hope they are all reprinted in paperback. I don't remember the exact source anymore--most likely Starwars.com--but the press release I read seemed ro imply they wouldn't be.

Don't take my word as gospel though, I could very easily be wrong. And it seems kind of silly that they wouldn't be reprinted. They lose money by not doing so.

More than likely they will reprint them as paperbacks. I think most of the SW hardcovers have been reprinted as paperbacks. I think it's insane that they are making FOTJ all hardback, esp. after LOTF left a lot of fans disappointed. If anything, all nine FOTJ should be paperback to encourage skeptical fans to give the new series a shot.

I'll probably wait till it comes to the library. The library system here usually buys the SW hardbacks, but not the softcovers, so I might be in luck.

 

[DanTheGrey]

The series was...okayish. There were some good points, though even Traviss was even starting to get on my nerves a bit and she's one of my favourite SW writers at the moment. I did get a good appreciation for Ben through the series though, and Mara was portrayed well.

I'd give the whole series about a 6.5/10 with the books ranging from about a 4 to an 8 on an individual basis. Don't expect brilliance really and there were times where things were just too muddled.

As for the follow-up series I'm a little disappointed on the HC thing, but that's what a good deal at Amazon or the local bookstore is for. And IIRC every SW hardcover has been put into paperback, you just might be waiting 12 - 16 months after the initial release. The release schedule on theforce.net is a handy guide for tracking the paperback releases.

And Millenium Falcon does require you to have read the LotF series.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ The depiction of Ben was definitely the strongest point of the series. (Though none of the other characters could claim to be well-depicted.)

 

[RandyS]

And Millenium Falcon does require you to have read the LotF series.

Really? I didn't know this. Of course, that's another hardcover that I'm waiting on the paperback for.

 

[DanTheGrey]

And Millenium Falcon does require you to have read the LotF series.

Really? I didn't know this. Of course, that's another hardcover that I'm waiting on the paperback for.

That's part of the reason I mentioned it, it picks up a few months after the end of that series and is maybe a generous 7/10 read IMO.

I just didn't want anyone rushing into it and basically having the LotF series spoiled within the first 50 pages

 

[grabmygoblin]

I stopped reading the Star Wars novels about 5 years ago, just after the book where they find the living planet was published. I happened to read the Wookieepedia entry on Legacy of the Force and was pretty horrified... worse, the entries on Star Wars: Legacy, which reveal that everything falls completely apart within 100 years.

...as much as I like some of those authors, I think I'll just leave off with the turn of the Yuz'han Vong war.

 

[DarKush]

^ The depiction of Ben was definitely the strongest point of the series. (Though none of the other characters could claim to be well-depicted.)

I agree. I think Ben really came into his own in this series. I also liked Lumiya's depiction, Mara's was okay, and Jacen's up to Book Six. Everyone else was so-so to less than so-so.

 

[Loupjo]

I liked the premises of the series. Some of the books were well written. I liked Exile and Sacifrice specifically. The conclusion was a huge dissapointment. I also felt the books were poorly edited in the sense that sub plots from one of the authors would not be continued by the others. This left the books as less then a series and more as stand alone novels and I believe the premise suffered considerably. It seemed that there was very minimal coordination between the authors.
However despite this it's a fine read if you're just looking for some light diversion. For me these books fall into the library or read them at the bookstore category. Worth the read but not worth to buy.

 

[CYOTI]

Rise of the New Republic[/I] was any different in its structure than the NJO--there just wasn't a uniting logo.

The Bantam books weren't interconnected and interrelated on the scale of NJO and most of the books were standalone episodic stories except for the novel trilogies and even in some instances you could safely ignore them too.

 

[Trippy]

I haven't read the last one yet, but I would agree that Exile and Sacrifice are the best so far.

 

[DarKush]

I liked the premises of the series. Some of the books were well written. I liked Exile and Sacifrice specifically. The conclusion was a huge dissapointment. I also felt the books were poorly edited in the sense that sub plots from one of the authors would not be continued by the others. This left the books as less then a series and more as stand alone novels and I believe the premise suffered considerably. It seemed that there was very minimal coordination between the authors.
However despite this it's a fine read if you're just looking for some light diversion. For me these books fall into the library or read them at the bookstore category. Worth the read but not worth to buy.

The Del Ray people say there was coordination, but to me it was like they were jumping around with the subplots. Each of the three authors had subplots, but since they didn't write their books in succession, the subplots got largely put on hold until they were up at bat again. Ultimately I think that hurt most of the subplots.

I don't think LOTF really needed to be a 9-book series. Perhaps a five or six book series. I mean, it only took place over the course of a year, or a little bit over a year. Did that justify 9 books?

 

[Stevil2001]

I stopped reading the Star Wars novels about 5 years ago, just after the book where they find the living planet was published. I happened to read the Wookieepedia entry on Legacy of the Force and was pretty horrified... worse, the entries on Star Wars: Legacy, which reveal that everything falls completely apart within 100 years.

Legacy is actually pretty good, because the authors understand things like character and plot movement.