Books

[JediHunter]

I read Lord of the Flies in grade school and it thoroughly disturbed me...

In grade school?! wow... that book wouldve warped me for all time had i read it in grade school... wow... of course... i think i saw the movie adaptation of it when i was sort of young... maybe thats why im twisted?

[Darth_Rob]

I started reading Kevin Smith's book "Silent Bob Speaks Out" today. Its pretty good and very funny, if you're a fan of his work.

[Jahled]

An old school friend of mine showed me a signed, first edition of the Lord of the Rings on his father's bookshelf, I once touched..

That is so amazing. Any chances of getting some pics?

 

Alas, when I said old school friend, he really was just that, though I did bump into him about five years when I was out and about. If I get the chance I might sneak into the Zoological Society's deepest strong room, and take some pics of some of the books we've got. The oldest book is from 1550.

[SOCL]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

[DarthTofu]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

 

Ugh. I didn't care for Balance Point, though unfortunately it has a semi-paramount point in it that winds up defining the end of the series, so you have to read it anyway. Oh, that and what happens at the very end. Otherwise I'd say it's pretty much a waste to read- a lot like Dark Journey was... But then again, that's just my opinion.

 

So far Tempest hasn't sucked quite as bad as it could (No more "Blaster bolts!" cursing, thank the Force!) though Dennings does seem to pick a favorite swear word or two for the Star Wars universe and then stick with it.

 

That and some corny dialogue has deffinately made it the weakest in the series so far in my opinion, though I must admit that he does do a good job with character relations among the "good guys."

 

... He's just terrible with the "bad guys," such as (Spoiler on a main character in the LotF series you might not have known about if you haven't read any of the books in the series) Lumiya (Okay, you're good, now)

[SOCL]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

 

Ugh. I didn't care for Balance Point, though unfortunately it has a semi-paramount point in it that winds up defining the end of the series, so you have to read it anyway.

With all due respect, Tofu, what the hell are you talking about? It's a stand-alone novel...

[Krytos]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

 

Ugh. I didn't care for Balance Point, though unfortunately it has a semi-paramount point in it that winds up defining the end of the series, so you have to read it anyway.

With all due respect, Tofu, what the hell are you talking about? It's a stand-alone novel...

 

He's referring to the NJO series and the Yuuzhan Vong war. I've got it, read it. It's not too bad of a book, even though I've heard otherwise. Can't say it was a favourite of mine.

[Evaders99]

Didn't care for Balance Point either. It didn't deserve its status as an NJO hardback. Did it really have a semi-paramount point? I don't even remember any happenings that were important besides Nom Anor mucking around...

 

You know... Lumiya is about as much a spoiler for Legacy as the Yuuzhan Vong are for NJO. You just know its coming

[SOCL]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

 

Ugh. I didn't care for Balance Point, though unfortunately it has a semi-paramount point in it that winds up defining the end of the series, so you have to read it anyway.

With all due respect, Tofu, what the hell are you talking about? It's a stand-alone novel...

 

He's referring to the NJO series and the Yuuzhan Vong war. I've got it, read it. It's not too bad of a book, even though I've heard otherwise. Can't say it was a favourite of mine.

Sure, but Tofu's saying it winds up the series, yet it doesn't. It's a standalone. The Unifying Force, many novels later, winds up the series.

[DarthTofu]

I said it winds up defining the end of the series- not that it is. I'm referring to (Spoiler) The vision Jason has of the future, with the galaxy tipping toward darkness. (/Spoiler)

[Jahled]

Jahled, pictures!!!

 

 

I just started the NJO's Balance Point. Pretty decent so far. I'm trying to read as many as possible before next Saturday when I disappear for Fort Knox.

 

All the pictures came out blurred and crap.

 

BTW dude you avatar is now about 700kb!!!

 

Our we cleansing the internet of bandwidth these days?

 

Edit:

 

http://www.jahled.co.uk/jedihunter_optimized.gif

 

http://www.jahled.co.uk/soclanimatedaf4_optimized.gif

 

And host em your self fellas, they vannish from what i'm paying for within days..

[Eagle]

Oh, my fault if the side is loading too slow because of all these avatars. Sorry.

 

But they shouldn´t vanish. They are from my gallery on imageshack. I´ve thought about making JHs avatar a bit smaller. So who has to go? Your choice. Bart? Homer? Marge??

[Jahled]

I'll optimize yours when I get back from the shop; be nice and easy, no 80 frames like SOCL's..

[Jahled]

http://www.jahled.co.uk/eagle_optimized.gif

 

24kb, and host it yourself

[SOCL]

Everyone, welcome Jahled "Picture & Techno-Savvy-er" Surname on board as SWR's latest moderator! He will be helping Evaders and I around the shop these days, especially when even the moderators get out of line...

[Eagle]

Thank you very much, Jahled.

 

I´ve just mentioned that elsewhere, but why not again. Congrats for being the new mod here. That was a good choice of the SWR-Team!

[SOCL]

I just finished Balance Point. In general, not a fantastic novel, but I wouldn't call it nearly the worse in the saga. Kathy Tyers didn't redeem herself for the yawner of The Truce at Bakura--which is likely why she no longer writes Star Wars--but it was certainly an improvement over her other works. I personally gave it a 3 out of 5: about average, but then, I actually liked the Black Fleet Crisis and didn't find The Crystal Star to be that bad, so...

 

I also just read the ebook Recovery by Troy Denning, which takes place immediately after Balance Point, but nothing marvelous there. Some interesting characters and a neat scene which sheds some light on the chaotic functions of the New Republic government, which has changed in nature from American-style Congressional to Parliament to something between. The NJO seems be working (or have worked, since it's over...) pretty well at wrapping up loose ends from the Bantam Books era of novels and solidifying the nature of government and society. Indeed, the very fact that the Solo children are no longer just kids, but have matured into Jedi is very telling of how far Star Wars novels have come from the sporadic and inconsistent story lines post-Return of the Jedi/pre-Vision of the Future. Indeed, Star Wars novels in general have come a long way; rather than spending years with Solo children as infants, we now have Ben Skywalker born in the NJO and a matured Jedi in Legacy of the Force. Quite the change from stunting his growth in novel after novel, children's book after book where he continues to be a child.

 

Ah, whatever.

 

On to Greg Keyes' Edge of Victory I: Conquest.

[DarthTofu]

Heehee- that one is one of my favorites. Greg Keyes is a good author in my opinion. As I've made clear to the point of making it hurt people, I don't care for Troy Dennings.

 

Let's see, who else wrote? James Lucendo is pretty good, though I thought he sort of dragged with The Unifying Force. Aaron Allston writes some great stuff with the Enemy Lines duology. Elaine Cummingham's Dark Journey is ultimately pointless and accomplishes nothing...

 

As Def will back me up on, Traitor by Matthew Stover is amazing (The man could turn Pat Robertson into an atheist and Richard Dawkins into a Scientologist if he felt like it). Destiny's Way is so-so, which is a bit of a downer since it winds up being such an important book in the series. Shane Dix and Sean Williams are pretty good with their Force Heretic trilogy, and then it's back to Keyes and Lucendo to finish things up.

 

All-in-all it's a very good series, a very strong opening for Del Ray as they come into the Star Wars Universe. Legacy of the Force is even better, with so many differant shades of gray presented, and Edit: Karen Traviss (doh!) and Aaron Allston doing spectacular, and Troy Dennings sucking far less than usual so far.

Edited June 10, 2007 by DarthTofu

[Evaders99]

You have the wrong female author for Legacy.. it's Karen Traviss

[SOCL]

Evaders...BEAKing?

 

Oh, and Tofu, it's James Luceno.

 

 

Well, don't ruin my expectations, Tofu! I have zero expectations, which is to say, they are all being met or surpassed! I'm very much looking forward to getting to Legacy, but then again, my plan in 2001 was to go from The Truce at Barkura to Vision of the Future within a few years in order to start the NJO. Needless to say, it wasn't until May (2007) that I completed that goal. Even so, I've managed to finish off nine books in two weeks. If I can keep up that momentum before classes start again in the fall (and accounting for my brief no-books period at Fort Knox...well, no Star Wars books: no need to give the drill instructors a reason to taunt you), I should finish with the NJO sometime in early August. Then I can read Dark Nest...to then read Legacy...to then read whatever's next... It's a vicious cycle.

[Evaders99]

Man I kinda wish I could do that with Star Wars novels.. read them all straight through. Sadly I have no will to read them all again, esp after I know what will happen. I just reread my favorites.. and pick out the new SW book as it comes out.

 

It usually means a couple months wait (or more)... so I read many other series besides SW.

 

I did reread all the Clone Wars novels in-order, really because there is no bad book among them. A variety of stories and authors, but they still all seemed to find their way into the section worth rereading

[SOCL]

Man I kinda wish I could do that with Star Wars novels.. read them all straight through. Sadly I have no will to read them all again, esp after I know what will happen. I just reread my favorites.. and pick out the new SW book as it comes out.

 

It usually means a couple months wait (or more)... so I read many other series besides SW.

Well, basically, that was my intention back when I started in 2001: to read all of them so I would remain current with the latest novels. That way I could go on and read other things while waiting. As it is, the only series I can do that with is Harry Turtledove's "Southern Victory" series, and that's only eleven books! I'm currently waiting for the eleventh, to be released in July. (I've been waiting a year!!) It's actually something of a headache whenever I think of how many books I still have in order to "catch up", and the way new novels are being released... Let's just say, I cringe. Luckily, the way they're coordinating story lines now, it takes a few years to transition from one major series to the next, that is, from release to release (The Unifying Force in 2003 and Betrayal in 2006). Sure, the Dark Nest trilogy came in between, but three books for three intervening years is nothing.

 

I'll get there...some day.

 

 

UPDATE (11 June 2007): Just started Edge of Victory II: Rebirth.

[Darth_Rob]

I just got finished reading one of the chapters in Kevin Smith's book where he praises Ben Afflick, and then goes on to praise him even more for doing the Daredevil movie, which I almost hated as much as The Hulk. I like Smith and all, but I just dont like his Afflick obsession.

[Evaders99]

You have to consider that 2005 was when Revenge of the Sith was released. So a lot of the focus was on the Clone Wars. I expect they needed a rest after NJO and CW to get a bearing on where to go next with the novels.

[SOCL]

You have to consider that 2005 was when Revenge of the Sith was released. So a lot of the focus was on the Clone Wars. I expect they needed a rest after NJO and CW to get a bearing on where to go next with the novels.

I agree completely, but it seems 2008 will bring a revisit of the Clone Wars with the inherent marketing campaign that will surround the new 3-D Clone Wars series, not to mention the run-up to the live-action series. I seem to believe that following the ninth Legacy novel, the shift will turn towards the Coruscant Nights series while they plan where to go next. With the Legacy era comics in place, though, mapping out the further future (130 ABY!), they at least have something of an outline for where they're headed. Then again, we may not see them progress the novels further and let the comics take over... Okay, I don't really believe that.

 

I just finished Edge of Victory II: Rebirth by Greg Keyes and must say, that has been one of the best novels in the series (NJO) thus far! I believe it and the first Agents of Chaos novel were both very good! Now it's on to Troy Denning's ominous Star by Star...