Somebody please explain to me why Troy Denning is still writing Star Wars...
I haven't read any FOTJ since about the second book -- mainly because I got busy and was losing interest anyway -- but wow, reading this review of Vortex reminds me just how much I loathe Troy Denning's contributions to the series and makes me so thankful I'm not wasting my money on this bile-filled rubbish anymore.
Let's check the highlights:
But first we have to have Talon and her father beat her so that the Skywalkers will take sympathy on her and let her tag along with them as they steal the Sith ship to track down Abeloth on their own.
Awesome, so already we've got female characters being victimised by parental figures.
Leia, Han, Lando and Jaina then approach a Senator (in a scene that makes me wonder if Denning realizes that Leia used to be Chief of State) to ask him to start putting in place some laws to help the Jedi - at which point this senator suggests Jaina use her feminine wiles on Jag, to encourage him to distract Daala, because otherwise she’s going to notice right away how the Senate is looking to put in place laws to help the Jedi.
Annnd I don't even know what this feminine wiles stuff is, but it's absolutely classic Denning. He loves to cram the female characters into tight clothing and have them degrade themselves, because it's awesome. And complete disregard for Leia's history, experience and wisdom - check.
Meanwhile Luke, Ben and Vestara have tracked down Abeloth to the planet Pydyr, which Kueller used as his base during The New Rebellion and apparently the followers of the White Current have made a sanctuary there now. Luke meets up with Akanah, who tells him they are allowing Abeloth to live among them. It’s a neat scene between the two of them because of all the double talk; but when we find out later that Abeloth had actually taken over Akanah’s body, I’m left scratching my head again about how Luke is constantly being fooled by the creature and why it is that Abeloth seems to have it in for his ex-girlfriends. Next thing we know she’ll be raising dead wives to inhabit. Anyway, the Sith arrive, Taalon seems to be becoming something akin to Abeloth because of his emergence in the pool - so now they want to help Luke kill the creature (but first Taalon wants to ask her what’s happening to him).
.... I don't even know what this is. Abeloth likes getting its flirt on with Luke, apparently. But don't think that's as bad as it gets, because there's more.
Luke and his Sith allies stage a surprise attack on Abeloth, learning that the creature is now inside Akanah. Which Luke suspected, but somehow Abeloth is also still inhabiting Callista’s body as well (which doesn’t make a lot of sense, since the creature was last in Dyon’s body). Luke ultimately has to kill Akanah in a really, really brutal battle - neck crushing, groin kicking, knee breaking - limb loss is fairly high in this novel. After this battle he’s exhausted - only to have Callista’s Abeloth posessed body walk in. She alludes to the fact that Luke still hasn’t made some connection to how it is he and/or the Jedi who are responsible for all this (does she mean her posession of his ex-girlfriends or does she mean her ultimate goal - which we’re still not sure of, or does she mean her original capture? - I’m not sure, and no answers are given in Vortex). Just as it was with Callista in Allies; it seems that Abeloth knew all Akanah’s memories and inhabited her actual body - and now she (Akanah) appears dead at the end of Vortex.
There's just so much wrong with this scenario I don't even know where to begin. What the hell is going on with this Abeloth plotline? Even if there is a reason this thing is specifically targetting Luke's ex-lovers, there's just so much that's off here. And that's not even getting into Akanah being victimised and then killed in horrific fashion by Luke.
Lesson: don't be a female character in a Troy Denning book. And don't date Luke Skywalker, ever. I think they must all be dead, now, right?
(I actually really liked Akanah for her ability to challenge Luke's poorly thought-out principles in the Black Fleet Crisis and the few times she's appeared since. So this particularly irks me. The poor woman was just minding her own business, dammit.)
Can we please have someone OTHER than Denning do some books for a while, post-FOTJ? I'm pretty much used to the general mediocrity, but I'd rather not be repulsed if it's all the same to you, Delray. KTHXBYE.
Let's check the highlights:
But first we have to have Talon and her father beat her so that the Skywalkers will take sympathy on her and let her tag along with them as they steal the Sith ship to track down Abeloth on their own.
Awesome, so already we've got female characters being victimised by parental figures.
Leia, Han, Lando and Jaina then approach a Senator (in a scene that makes me wonder if Denning realizes that Leia used to be Chief of State) to ask him to start putting in place some laws to help the Jedi - at which point this senator suggests Jaina use her feminine wiles on Jag, to encourage him to distract Daala, because otherwise she’s going to notice right away how the Senate is looking to put in place laws to help the Jedi.
Annnd I don't even know what this feminine wiles stuff is, but it's absolutely classic Denning. He loves to cram the female characters into tight clothing and have them degrade themselves, because it's awesome. And complete disregard for Leia's history, experience and wisdom - check.
Meanwhile Luke, Ben and Vestara have tracked down Abeloth to the planet Pydyr, which Kueller used as his base during The New Rebellion and apparently the followers of the White Current have made a sanctuary there now. Luke meets up with Akanah, who tells him they are allowing Abeloth to live among them. It’s a neat scene between the two of them because of all the double talk; but when we find out later that Abeloth had actually taken over Akanah’s body, I’m left scratching my head again about how Luke is constantly being fooled by the creature and why it is that Abeloth seems to have it in for his ex-girlfriends. Next thing we know she’ll be raising dead wives to inhabit. Anyway, the Sith arrive, Taalon seems to be becoming something akin to Abeloth because of his emergence in the pool - so now they want to help Luke kill the creature (but first Taalon wants to ask her what’s happening to him).
.... I don't even know what this is. Abeloth likes getting its flirt on with Luke, apparently. But don't think that's as bad as it gets, because there's more.
Luke and his Sith allies stage a surprise attack on Abeloth, learning that the creature is now inside Akanah. Which Luke suspected, but somehow Abeloth is also still inhabiting Callista’s body as well (which doesn’t make a lot of sense, since the creature was last in Dyon’s body). Luke ultimately has to kill Akanah in a really, really brutal battle - neck crushing, groin kicking, knee breaking - limb loss is fairly high in this novel. After this battle he’s exhausted - only to have Callista’s Abeloth posessed body walk in. She alludes to the fact that Luke still hasn’t made some connection to how it is he and/or the Jedi who are responsible for all this (does she mean her posession of his ex-girlfriends or does she mean her ultimate goal - which we’re still not sure of, or does she mean her original capture? - I’m not sure, and no answers are given in Vortex). Just as it was with Callista in Allies; it seems that Abeloth knew all Akanah’s memories and inhabited her actual body - and now she (Akanah) appears dead at the end of Vortex.
There's just so much wrong with this scenario I don't even know where to begin. What the hell is going on with this Abeloth plotline? Even if there is a reason this thing is specifically targetting Luke's ex-lovers, there's just so much that's off here. And that's not even getting into Akanah being victimised and then killed in horrific fashion by Luke.
Lesson: don't be a female character in a Troy Denning book. And don't date Luke Skywalker, ever. I think they must all be dead, now, right?
(I actually really liked Akanah for her ability to challenge Luke's poorly thought-out principles in the Black Fleet Crisis and the few times she's appeared since. So this particularly irks me. The poor woman was just minding her own business, dammit.)
Can we please have someone OTHER than Denning do some books for a while, post-FOTJ? I'm pretty much used to the general mediocrity, but I'd rather not be repulsed if it's all the same to you, Delray. KTHXBYE.