FOTJ: Outcast thoughts
On the whole, a much more enjoyable and satisfying read than anything else that's come out of the EU recently (barring Shadows of Mindor).
- Luke and Ben's relationship was a high point. Liked most of the dialogue, and it was nice to see the level of trust between them. (The helium singing? OMG, I laughed. That is exactly what my sixteen-year-old brother would do, given a similar opportunity).
- That said, Ben is still referring to Luke in his POV sections as 'Luke', not as the more plausible 'Dad'. I'm beginning to wonder if Del Ray have some kind of rule that the Big Three must be referred to by their names at all times, regardless of whether it makes sense for the character to do so, because if not the reader will forget they're reading Star Wars. Or something. Why else are authors continually ignoring a fairly basic rule of POV?
- I'm rather torn on Ben's characterisation. While I liked seeing him have the chance to act his age and be a little more carefree, it's somewhat jarring after all he went through in LOTF. I'm beginning to wonder if he falls back on that carefree thing as a front. Being a child soldier who's undergone intensive torture twice, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to have developed strong mechanisms along that line.
- His insistence on accompanying Luke? Was obviously because he didn't want to face being separated from his sole remaining parent for up to ten years. You'd think that would have occurred to Luke as a problem when he came up with the exile solution in the first place. *facepalm*
- Some good points raised by Daala about the problematic aspects of the Jedi answering to a power only they are privy to. I can't believe that Luke never brought up her past misjudgements, though, especially when she was pinpointing Kyp. My memory of the Jedi Academy books is little more than a blur, but didn't Kyp steal the Suncrusher from her in the first place? And wasn't she intending to use it on all manner of targets to revenge herself on the galaxy for Tarkin's death? Oh, and didn't she spend a fair bit of time in that series torturing Han, Kyp and Chewie? Hypocrisy fail, Daala, and fail to Luke for not calling her on it.
- Luke's bewilderment over the problems in a Jedi pre-emptively severing someone's arm and then wandering off was disappointing -- I would like to think that as someone who spent his first nineteen years completely unfamiliar with the Jedi and thus outside of their ideologies, he would retain the ability to see the problem in their being outside of the law -- but seems to be consistent with his characterisation to this point in the EU. Mara would once have been the first person in line to point out how this could go wrong, but that aspect of her characterisation was shaky even before she died.
- Luke and Ben were a bit blasé about walking in and overturning the Kel Dor underworld. None of the Kel Dor had ever challenged the Hidden One, given that they were living such a miserable existence? Even though we know that many of them questioned it?
- Sending Luke into exile is a fantastic way to address the problem of Luke's status and power and its dampening effect on the plot. LotF seriously suffered for not dealing with it directly, making the whole thing one big plot hole where Luke: (a) could and should have addressed Jacen's corruption before it reached crisis point, and (b) had the ability to defeat Jacen at any point throughout, but didn't. Taking Luke away allows the conflict to breathe, and heightens the threat it poses. It also allows the other Jedi the opportunity to do something productive, as all too often Luke was the only one who authors bothered to give screen time to. (The apparently useless Council of Masters will have to follow Kenth around now, and he wasn't even generally given a name, before, just lumped as 'another Master'. However will they cope? They should kind of mill around and bump randomly into walls and things, bleating for Luke. He only uses them to pull out chairs for him and for when he wants Saba to say inappropriate things, right?)
- Nice themes of identity and the ramifications of exile in this book: Valin Horn and Seff Hellin and the way the Force psychosis exhibits, the renaming ceremony of the underworld Kel Dor Sages, Allana's voice from the sky and the danger she feels in giving her name to it. The exile of the Kel Dor Sages to their 'death' state, versus Luke and Ben's quest. *pondering*
- There's a strong, subtle sense of uneasiness below the surface, despite how fast-paced and lighthearted the book initially seems. The situation could quite easily get very bad for the Jedi, quite quickly, and the characters don't seem to fully realise this.
- I'm slightly disappointed that Luke doesn't acknowledge that there is some justification to the accusation that he bears responsibility for Jacen's actions. I'd like to see something from him to show he's aware that he did screw things up there.
- Jaina and Jag were fun. I'm a little hesitant over the fact that Jaina doesn't seem to have been affected at all by the events of Invincible. I know she justified it to herself, but having to kill her own twin surely had some impact?
- Also, the way various characters think of Jacen seems off. Jaina's thought that attachment was what led Jacen to his path, similar to Vader, for instance. Bwuh? Jacen's issue was detachment, if anything, in that his personal ties had lost so much meaning that he had no compunction about killing his aunt, arresting his parents, or torturing his cousin, if they interfered with his principles.
- Oh, I have so many issues with Kessel. Everyone just looks with fond indulgence at the fact that Lando and Tendra run the Star Wars equivalent of a giant meth lab? How about using some of those bazillions of credits you're making to assist spice addicts and their families, Lando? Fund a few recovery clinics or something at least. Seriously. (And I know that melange spice has medical applications as well. I just can't get over the fact that no one is troubled by its widespread harmful illegal use.)
- The B plot with Kessel did not thrill me for this reason, and also for the fact that I was unconvinced about the need for Han and Leia to be there and to be the ones to investigate, and for the additional fact that it felt entirely pointless. I would have been perfectly okay with them evacuating and letting the stupid planet blow up. Kessel, I care not for thee. Sorry. The new civilisation in the caverns was briefly interesting, but when it became obvious it wasn't going to go anywhere, I stopped being interested. Perhaps it will be relevant further down the track?
- I also fear that the mistreatment of Han and Leia in recent books has left me slightly soured towards them, which I'm trying not to allow to affect my take on the characters. But seriously, you guys couldn't even find a scrap of hesitation before jumping on board the 'must kill Jacen at all costs' bandwagon? Their portrayal in Millennium Falcon did little to fix the damage, and although there was nothing to directly add to it here, there wasn't anything to really redeem them for me, either.
- The part with Allana and the voice from the sky I did like. Intriguing and foreboding, check. Allana's response was a nice character point for her, too. Incidentally, I wonder about how much damage this poor kid is going to have to handle as she gets older. Not only does she have to deal with Jacen being her father and come to terms with his actions, she also has to come to terms with being ripped away from the mother she loves and being forced to pretend that Han and Leia are her adoptive parents and that she's an orphan called Amelia. That's not really a great position in which to place a child, let alone a child who is a potentially powerful Force user and who is apparently receiving no formal training. (And you have to wonder how much Han and Leia had to do with that decision, seeing how opposed Han has admitted to being to Allana training as a Jedi).
- We couldn't stop for two seconds to touch on Mara, even when Luke and Ben were settling into the Jade Shadow? (By the way, whatever happened to that ship? How come it's only being mentioned again now?) Her absence is rather striking. I know it's been three years, but you don't stop missing someone because they've been gone a while.
- The Force psychosis is appropriately unsettling. There are some fascinating ideas to play with in terms of a possible link to Jacen, from whether he was affected in some related way to whether it's some kind of lingering influence FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, if they bothered to give him one. The use of Valin and Seff's POV was a good choice, because it drives home the creepiness. The thought of suddenly having all of your perceptions overthrown is a pretty frightening one.
- Some foreshadowing in Corran's burst of anger toward Nasty Guard? (And I did like the Sympathetic Guard who led Luke's arrest, too). Doesn't bode well for the events of the next book.
- The lines about Kenth being stuffy annoyed me, because I have an unreasoning fondness for his character. Very glad that he got a Crowning Moment of Awesome with the line about implants.
- Legacy foreshadowing in the Jag/Jaina stuff. I still don't like Legacy, but this wasn't too anvilicious, so I can deal with it. Just don't remind me of Cade "I am so gritty" Skywalker and I'll be fine. (Sorry, Legacy fans. I can't help it.)
And the excerpt from Omen:
- I'm sorry, but Dician sounds like a sneeze. And enough about the melodious voice, already.
- Sith ship! I have always liked its snarkiness. Could it be going after Ben?
- Not the smoothest save after being rejected by the Sith ship, Dician.
- Jysella! *flails* HORN FAMILY! You guys are like the new Solos. Not good. :(
- The level of detail on Jysella's buddies makes me think they could be playing a role in her capture. They seem a bit one-dimensional, though. Yes, I am vetting this more thoroughly because it's a new author. :p
- Cilghal doesn't approve of attachments? That makes sense, but I don't recall seeing it stated directly before. I approve of the fact she's being developed.
- Hard to judge from so little, but I'm not despairing yet. At least there are no Mandos.
... Apparently I had more to say on the book than I thought. *g*
- Luke and Ben's relationship was a high point. Liked most of the dialogue, and it was nice to see the level of trust between them. (The helium singing? OMG, I laughed. That is exactly what my sixteen-year-old brother would do, given a similar opportunity).
- That said, Ben is still referring to Luke in his POV sections as 'Luke', not as the more plausible 'Dad'. I'm beginning to wonder if Del Ray have some kind of rule that the Big Three must be referred to by their names at all times, regardless of whether it makes sense for the character to do so, because if not the reader will forget they're reading Star Wars. Or something. Why else are authors continually ignoring a fairly basic rule of POV?
- I'm rather torn on Ben's characterisation. While I liked seeing him have the chance to act his age and be a little more carefree, it's somewhat jarring after all he went through in LOTF. I'm beginning to wonder if he falls back on that carefree thing as a front. Being a child soldier who's undergone intensive torture twice, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to have developed strong mechanisms along that line.
- His insistence on accompanying Luke? Was obviously because he didn't want to face being separated from his sole remaining parent for up to ten years. You'd think that would have occurred to Luke as a problem when he came up with the exile solution in the first place. *facepalm*
- Some good points raised by Daala about the problematic aspects of the Jedi answering to a power only they are privy to. I can't believe that Luke never brought up her past misjudgements, though, especially when she was pinpointing Kyp. My memory of the Jedi Academy books is little more than a blur, but didn't Kyp steal the Suncrusher from her in the first place? And wasn't she intending to use it on all manner of targets to revenge herself on the galaxy for Tarkin's death? Oh, and didn't she spend a fair bit of time in that series torturing Han, Kyp and Chewie? Hypocrisy fail, Daala, and fail to Luke for not calling her on it.
- Luke's bewilderment over the problems in a Jedi pre-emptively severing someone's arm and then wandering off was disappointing -- I would like to think that as someone who spent his first nineteen years completely unfamiliar with the Jedi and thus outside of their ideologies, he would retain the ability to see the problem in their being outside of the law -- but seems to be consistent with his characterisation to this point in the EU. Mara would once have been the first person in line to point out how this could go wrong, but that aspect of her characterisation was shaky even before she died.
- Luke and Ben were a bit blasé about walking in and overturning the Kel Dor underworld. None of the Kel Dor had ever challenged the Hidden One, given that they were living such a miserable existence? Even though we know that many of them questioned it?
- Sending Luke into exile is a fantastic way to address the problem of Luke's status and power and its dampening effect on the plot. LotF seriously suffered for not dealing with it directly, making the whole thing one big plot hole where Luke: (a) could and should have addressed Jacen's corruption before it reached crisis point, and (b) had the ability to defeat Jacen at any point throughout, but didn't. Taking Luke away allows the conflict to breathe, and heightens the threat it poses. It also allows the other Jedi the opportunity to do something productive, as all too often Luke was the only one who authors bothered to give screen time to. (The apparently useless Council of Masters will have to follow Kenth around now, and he wasn't even generally given a name, before, just lumped as 'another Master'. However will they cope? They should kind of mill around and bump randomly into walls and things, bleating for Luke. He only uses them to pull out chairs for him and for when he wants Saba to say inappropriate things, right?)
- Nice themes of identity and the ramifications of exile in this book: Valin Horn and Seff Hellin and the way the Force psychosis exhibits, the renaming ceremony of the underworld Kel Dor Sages, Allana's voice from the sky and the danger she feels in giving her name to it. The exile of the Kel Dor Sages to their 'death' state, versus Luke and Ben's quest. *pondering*
- There's a strong, subtle sense of uneasiness below the surface, despite how fast-paced and lighthearted the book initially seems. The situation could quite easily get very bad for the Jedi, quite quickly, and the characters don't seem to fully realise this.
- I'm slightly disappointed that Luke doesn't acknowledge that there is some justification to the accusation that he bears responsibility for Jacen's actions. I'd like to see something from him to show he's aware that he did screw things up there.
- Jaina and Jag were fun. I'm a little hesitant over the fact that Jaina doesn't seem to have been affected at all by the events of Invincible. I know she justified it to herself, but having to kill her own twin surely had some impact?
- Also, the way various characters think of Jacen seems off. Jaina's thought that attachment was what led Jacen to his path, similar to Vader, for instance. Bwuh? Jacen's issue was detachment, if anything, in that his personal ties had lost so much meaning that he had no compunction about killing his aunt, arresting his parents, or torturing his cousin, if they interfered with his principles.
- Oh, I have so many issues with Kessel. Everyone just looks with fond indulgence at the fact that Lando and Tendra run the Star Wars equivalent of a giant meth lab? How about using some of those bazillions of credits you're making to assist spice addicts and their families, Lando? Fund a few recovery clinics or something at least. Seriously. (And I know that melange spice has medical applications as well. I just can't get over the fact that no one is troubled by its widespread harmful illegal use.)
- The B plot with Kessel did not thrill me for this reason, and also for the fact that I was unconvinced about the need for Han and Leia to be there and to be the ones to investigate, and for the additional fact that it felt entirely pointless. I would have been perfectly okay with them evacuating and letting the stupid planet blow up. Kessel, I care not for thee. Sorry. The new civilisation in the caverns was briefly interesting, but when it became obvious it wasn't going to go anywhere, I stopped being interested. Perhaps it will be relevant further down the track?
- I also fear that the mistreatment of Han and Leia in recent books has left me slightly soured towards them, which I'm trying not to allow to affect my take on the characters. But seriously, you guys couldn't even find a scrap of hesitation before jumping on board the 'must kill Jacen at all costs' bandwagon? Their portrayal in Millennium Falcon did little to fix the damage, and although there was nothing to directly add to it here, there wasn't anything to really redeem them for me, either.
- The part with Allana and the voice from the sky I did like. Intriguing and foreboding, check. Allana's response was a nice character point for her, too. Incidentally, I wonder about how much damage this poor kid is going to have to handle as she gets older. Not only does she have to deal with Jacen being her father and come to terms with his actions, she also has to come to terms with being ripped away from the mother she loves and being forced to pretend that Han and Leia are her adoptive parents and that she's an orphan called Amelia. That's not really a great position in which to place a child, let alone a child who is a potentially powerful Force user and who is apparently receiving no formal training. (And you have to wonder how much Han and Leia had to do with that decision, seeing how opposed Han has admitted to being to Allana training as a Jedi).
- We couldn't stop for two seconds to touch on Mara, even when Luke and Ben were settling into the Jade Shadow? (By the way, whatever happened to that ship? How come it's only being mentioned again now?) Her absence is rather striking. I know it's been three years, but you don't stop missing someone because they've been gone a while.
- The Force psychosis is appropriately unsettling. There are some fascinating ideas to play with in terms of a possible link to Jacen, from whether he was affected in some related way to whether it's some kind of lingering influence FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, if they bothered to give him one. The use of Valin and Seff's POV was a good choice, because it drives home the creepiness. The thought of suddenly having all of your perceptions overthrown is a pretty frightening one.
- Some foreshadowing in Corran's burst of anger toward Nasty Guard? (And I did like the Sympathetic Guard who led Luke's arrest, too). Doesn't bode well for the events of the next book.
- The lines about Kenth being stuffy annoyed me, because I have an unreasoning fondness for his character. Very glad that he got a Crowning Moment of Awesome with the line about implants.
- Legacy foreshadowing in the Jag/Jaina stuff. I still don't like Legacy, but this wasn't too anvilicious, so I can deal with it. Just don't remind me of Cade "I am so gritty" Skywalker and I'll be fine. (Sorry, Legacy fans. I can't help it.)
And the excerpt from Omen:
- I'm sorry, but Dician sounds like a sneeze. And enough about the melodious voice, already.
- Sith ship! I have always liked its snarkiness. Could it be going after Ben?
- Not the smoothest save after being rejected by the Sith ship, Dician.
- Jysella! *flails* HORN FAMILY! You guys are like the new Solos. Not good. :(
- The level of detail on Jysella's buddies makes me think they could be playing a role in her capture. They seem a bit one-dimensional, though. Yes, I am vetting this more thoroughly because it's a new author. :p
- Cilghal doesn't approve of attachments? That makes sense, but I don't recall seeing it stated directly before. I approve of the fact she's being developed.
- Hard to judge from so little, but I'm not despairing yet. At least there are no Mandos.
... Apparently I had more to say on the book than I thought. *g*