LOTF: Revelation
I finished Revelation (the latest Legacy of the Force book) today, and I have absolutely NO ONE to chat with about it. Thus, under the cut, I post my thoughts on the book and how the series is going for me.
I knew before the book even began that the revelation I most wanted to see was Jaina accepting that she'd better just up and off Jacen sooner rather than later, because it's a thought that no one has really addressed. Luke backs off, and Leia does, too, and, as Jaina herself says, she's the only one who really is going to be able to do it. Traviss was finally allowed to write the phrase "kill Jacen" into a book, which made me all sorts of happy!depressed.
Taking Jaina to Fett was a stroke of genius. We don't see enough of her "training" though - it's more of a cultural experience for her. She doesn't learn how to deal with Jacen from Fett, she learns how the Mandalorians feel on the matter. And THEN her revelation isn't brought on by Fett at all (he's having happy-family-time with Sintas at Mirta's wedding party), but by GOTAB, who's ex-Jedi in and of himself (I'm passing on my annoyance that yet ANOTHER Jedi survived the Purge. Order 66 apparently only worked on a few planets). Gotab. I haven't decided how I feel on the matter yet. While I do feel the last, oh, fifty pages did transition us from the Fondor issue on all fronts and that the emotional development was desperately needed, it still remains that we have this big EXPLOSIVE battle that cuts the GA in two - Jacen versus Niathal, like we all knew it would be - and then a lot of "ho hum" no-action scenes.
Ben and Shevu playing CSI was a good touch, too. If you think about it, though, Ben had very little to do in Revelation, except have his own revelation: Jacen killed his mommy. Pain, anguish and toture. It was a very nice touch, though, to have him grow up EVEN FURTHER and operate like an investigator, rather than on the oh-so-predictable "Hello, my name is Ben Skywalker. You killed my mother. Prepare to die" course. Yay Ben.
I think my only issue with Jacen here is that I don't quite believe he would devulge his conscience like that quite so easily. A magazine writes mean things about you, so you call in your junior henchman (who happens to be spying on you) and admit you killed your aunt? Then again, I don't think we're necessarily supposed to understand his thought processes. Someday I want to write a bit about Jacen in the form of the Hamlet question, exploring if he is mad or if he isn't. I sure can't tell.
Tahiri has made my good evil-misguided character list. She shot Pellaeon! I LOVE Pellaeon, and yet it was fantastic to have her kill him. Brilliant.
And DAALA. Holy crap. MAJOR throwback to the KJA days that I'd rather forget. Gfresh. She was fun to have, though. Nice and multifaceted. Her and Fett make an interesting alliance - though I hope she kind of fades back into obscurity. She's better as a character we see here and there, kind of like Fett himself.
I think Han and Leia had two scenes each, and only one where they were together. It's a compliment to Traviss that I didn't notice it.
So ... Mr. Denning. My dear friend. You have quite the series to wrap up, don't'cha?
I knew before the book even began that the revelation I most wanted to see was Jaina accepting that she'd better just up and off Jacen sooner rather than later, because it's a thought that no one has really addressed. Luke backs off, and Leia does, too, and, as Jaina herself says, she's the only one who really is going to be able to do it. Traviss was finally allowed to write the phrase "kill Jacen" into a book, which made me all sorts of happy!depressed.
Taking Jaina to Fett was a stroke of genius. We don't see enough of her "training" though - it's more of a cultural experience for her. She doesn't learn how to deal with Jacen from Fett, she learns how the Mandalorians feel on the matter. And THEN her revelation isn't brought on by Fett at all (he's having happy-family-time with Sintas at Mirta's wedding party), but by GOTAB, who's ex-Jedi in and of himself (I'm passing on my annoyance that yet ANOTHER Jedi survived the Purge. Order 66 apparently only worked on a few planets). Gotab. I haven't decided how I feel on the matter yet. While I do feel the last, oh, fifty pages did transition us from the Fondor issue on all fronts and that the emotional development was desperately needed, it still remains that we have this big EXPLOSIVE battle that cuts the GA in two - Jacen versus Niathal, like we all knew it would be - and then a lot of "ho hum" no-action scenes.
Ben and Shevu playing CSI was a good touch, too. If you think about it, though, Ben had very little to do in Revelation, except have his own revelation: Jacen killed his mommy. Pain, anguish and toture. It was a very nice touch, though, to have him grow up EVEN FURTHER and operate like an investigator, rather than on the oh-so-predictable "Hello, my name is Ben Skywalker. You killed my mother. Prepare to die" course. Yay Ben.
I think my only issue with Jacen here is that I don't quite believe he would devulge his conscience like that quite so easily. A magazine writes mean things about you, so you call in your junior henchman (who happens to be spying on you) and admit you killed your aunt? Then again, I don't think we're necessarily supposed to understand his thought processes. Someday I want to write a bit about Jacen in the form of the Hamlet question, exploring if he is mad or if he isn't. I sure can't tell.
Tahiri has made my good evil-misguided character list. She shot Pellaeon! I LOVE Pellaeon, and yet it was fantastic to have her kill him. Brilliant.
And DAALA. Holy crap. MAJOR throwback to the KJA days that I'd rather forget. Gfresh. She was fun to have, though. Nice and multifaceted. Her and Fett make an interesting alliance - though I hope she kind of fades back into obscurity. She's better as a character we see here and there, kind of like Fett himself.
I think Han and Leia had two scenes each, and only one where they were together. It's a compliment to Traviss that I didn't notice it.
So ... Mr. Denning. My dear friend. You have quite the series to wrap up, don't'cha?