SW Luke Skywalker & Shadows of Mindor

[Mr Light]

I just finished the latest Star Wars hardcover novel with the unfortunate name (though in the context of the book it makes more sense), which was by the author of the excellent Shatterpoint.

I'd say it was very good, but it wasn't quite a four star classic.

GOOD: The entire novel was one protracted action sequence. It was one single battle taking up the entire length. Pretty cool. Also, the danger and threat was palpable and pervaded the entire book. So for a post-ROTJ book, the threat to our heroes was serious. It was also great to have a super duper Darksider as the villain, and his various tricks were pretty cool. It was also a nice surprise to bring back Nick and Vastor from Shatterpoint, I really didn't see that coming. As could be expected from a Stover Star Wars book, there was an excellent portrayal of moral ambiguity in war and especially in the Jedi and the Force. I also appreciated talking about mass media in the SW world, about the public persona of Luke the hero and how he resents it. Nice touch.

BAD: This novel was supposed to be the big "Luke as a General" book, but he's in command of his fleet for all of 10 pages before he gets separated from them and then its the usual Jedi stuff. This was a big disappointment, but not enough to bring down the book on the whole. I was also disappointed that after re-introducing the invincibly evil Vastor, Luke doesn't actually FIGHT him at all.

 

[ATimson]

BAD: This novel was supposed to be the big "Luke as a General" book, but he's in command of his fleet for all of 10 pages before he gets separated from them and then its the usual Jedi stuff.

It wasn't supposed to be a big "Luke as a General" book; rather, it's the big "Luke gives up the military" book. Slight difference.

 

[Stevil2001]

My ILL of this came in yesterday, but I haven't made it to the library yet to pick it up. I'm really looking forward to it, though.

 

[Mr Light]

I was just disappointed we didn't see more of him in a command role. It was the thing I was looking forward the most, because Luke being a military general giving commands and ordering people to their deaths is just totally out of synch with his normal portrayal. I would have liked to have seen more of that.

 

[indianatrekker26]

This comment is loosely related to this book. I'm just glad to see some stand alone star wars novels out lately. Between this one, death star, and millenium falcon, i can pick up one star wars book and enjoy it, without having to dive into a 9 or 10 book long series. It's been refreshing.

 

[ATimson]

For the last four years, about half of the books released have been standalones or old-fashioned trilogies. (Well, and one quadrilogy--but that's just imitating Stackpole. ) You've been able to stay out of those long series for a while.

 

[Corran Horn]

BAD: This novel was supposed to be the big "Luke as a General" book, but he's in command of his fleet for all of 10 pages before he gets separated from them and then its the usual Jedi stuff.

It wasn't supposed to be a big "Luke as a General" book; rather, it's the big "Luke gives up the military" book. Slight difference.

Yeah, Luke was the General in charge in "The Truce at Bakura" IIRC.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

^Where he almost immediately lost contact with his forces and fell back on the lone Jedi fucking people up with the Force routine.

Not to mention...generals don't command fleets. Admirals do. Lando and Han were generals because they flew starfighters, and like the Air Force, pilots in the Star Wars "star forces" can rise to the rank of general.

In ROTJ, Lando commanded the fleet's star fighter wings, while Han flew the insertion shuttle and led the commando raid. Admiral Ackbar commanded the fleet itself.

Then again, in the prequels, the Jedi were all automatically generals and commanded whatever the hell they wanted, so maybe the EU mixing and matching ranks randomly actually makes sense in-universe. Whatever.

Mindor was decent for about 1/3-1/2 way through, then it dove right into the bullshit philosophical agenda Stover's always dragging into his books. Sorry, Matt, while your books might be well-written technically, your personal theories on how the Force "really works" are neither interesting, nor better than what George came up with in the movies - even with the midichlorians.

Please stop trying to reveal the secret truth of Star Wars and just write a good story. You really soured what could have been one of the best recent EU stories.

 

[Jono]

^ Which is exactly what Luke Skywalker did. He was a pilot that reached the rank of general. The EU has set a precedent that generals can be in command of fleets with the likes of Solo, Calrissian and Antilles all keeping the rank of general and not converting to admiral.

Personally I like that Stover brings in other views of the Force and I find that they are interesting.

What I liked about this was that everyone felt like they were contributing to the story, even the droids. Most of the time C-3PO is just around to say "We're doomed!", get threatened with been shut down and to act indignant but here he actually did something and contributed.

This was another excellent novel by Stover that I've thoroughly enjoyed. The only minor exception was "Traitor", but that has a lot to do with the fact I have never liked Jacen. Some people are bored with the "Big Three" but I'm not and I hope we get to see more of these types of adventures in the future.

Now I'm about to embark on The Fate of the Jedi series to see what that is like.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Wow, almost a year to the day thread resurrection.

Nice.

For a minute there I forgot what year it was and couldn't for the life of me remember making this post. I thought I was losing my mind.

I'll stick with my criticisms, though. Even though I ended on a "whatever it's Star Wars EU" note with the ranks, I'm still irritated that EU authors make shit up that contradicts the films just because they can, ie the rank thing and the philospohical thing.

Eh. Fuck it. Whatever.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I was actually recommended this novel by the poster, Thrawn....

I have read the Episode III novel as well as the Shatterpoint novel (both by Matthew Stover), and I haven't been disappointed...

 

[Valin]

While I've enjoyed the Stover's non-SW books that I've read, I haven't been a big fan of his SW. Except for his novelization of "Revenge of he Sith." I thought he did a great job with that one, and his insight into the characters improved the story immensely.

"Shatterpoint" was pretty good for what it was: the SWs version of Heart of Darkness, but I didn't find it to be one of my favorite prequel novels.
"Traitor" was ok. And "Mindor" I found to be forgettable.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

Ah, I knew Shatterpoint's story was familiar...

What prequel novel is your favorite? If you don't mind me asking....

 

[milo bloom]

This comment is loosely related to this book. I'm just glad to see some stand alone star wars novels out lately. Between this one, death star, and millenium falcon, i can pick up one star wars book and enjoy it, without having to dive into a 9 or 10 book long series. It's been refreshing.

Funny, these are the last three SW novels I've read.

Finished Mindor a few days ago and wondered if anyone else enjoyed it. I thought it felt like a return to the tone set in some of the old Marvel comics back in the 70s/80s where they didn't hesitate to tell some far out stories.

Didn't know that Nick character was a return, did seem like there was some story there I wasn't privy to but didn't think much about it.

 

[Mr Light]

Nick was in Shatterpoint, a Clone Wars Mace Windu story by the same author. It's also extremely excellent and deals the moral ambiguity of the Jedi.

 

[Stevil2001]

Holy cow, this thread is old. I was amazed to scroll up and discover I never said what I always say when this book comes up: The Shadows of Mindor is excellent. One of my top 5 Star Wars novels to be sure. Here is what I wrote when I read it the first time:

Not only is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor the best Star Wars novel of 2008, it's probably one of the best ever published. 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.

And then the second:

Last time I read it, I thought that The Shadows of Mindor was one of the best Star Wars books ever published; now I know it to be true. This book has everything a Star Wars fan should want: tense battles, cool Force powers, witty banter, Lando Calrissian. All the heroes of the classic trilogy are here, down to Wedge, and they all get together and do their thing with no infighting or despair or whatnot; they're just heroes in the most idealistic sense of the word. Seriously, this book is just a delight to read from start to finish, and if you only ever read one Star Wars novel, this one ought to be it.

That said, if you read many Star Wars novels... and comics... and sourcebooks... and technical guides, The Shadows of Mindor is a different sort of achievement. The whole book is built out of a passing reference in The Courtship of Princess Leia to Han and Leia having a picnic on Mindor surrounded by dead stormtroopers, and over the years, various Expanded Universe releases added tiny tidbits to the Battle of Mindor. What makes The Shadows of Mindor impressive is that you can read it and not know this: the continuity, despite its sheer bulk, still exists to serve the story and not the other way around. Every little reference is accounted for in some way. After suffering through Darth Plagueis, I actually kinda needed a reminder that continuity can indeed be a force for good.

 

[Set Harth]

Actually, the reference in COPL was to "Mindar", but Stover lampshades the change.

 

[Hound of UIster]

It's a good SW book. One of the few I have read.

 

[Set Harth]

Mindor was decent for about 1/3-1/2 way through, then it dove right into the bullshit philosophical agenda Stover's always dragging into his books. Sorry, Matt, while your books might be well-written technically, your personal theories on how the Force "really works" are neither interesting, nor better than what George came up with in the movies - even with the midichlorians.

^ This. A thousand times this.