SOCL

I know, but I thought a history lesson that sounded like a tirade might amuse everyone. I have been in conference, Psych, and so deem thee, PsychoLordInfiltrator, Sovereign ProtAKtor. In addition to your duties as upholder of all things boring, explanatory, annoying, and korrect, you are primarily charged with the protection of the Grand Imperator. I considered putting you under the command of your Grand AKmiral, but have decided that you should instead be directly beneath the Grand Imperator himself. Oh, what's that? Me? Yes...yes it is.

Granted, but then I'd take it from you. I wish I had a flying car.

So, SOCL, think your Star Wars lore is getting up there? Alright, Psych, I believe you have made your point. Besides which, BEAK was given to me because of my odd knowledge of strange and rather random Star Wars history. It initially had nothing to do with correct grammar or even spelling. It only evolved into that after I tore apart the post of one user, dude22 (not the famous dude21 of AT-AT lore), who insisted on being rather rude to everyone. At one point he corrected someone's spelling, after which I came in yielding a red-hot scimitar and destroyed his own grammar and spelling in that very post he'd corrected the other fellow. Needless to say, he was quite taken by this counterattack and was never seen on the forums again. Damn it, people, I just work here! Psych, I'll make sure you get a title soon enough, but it's always been Scathane who has named new BEAKers. He named both I and Mitth what we are today, so I'm rather unsure how to proceed...

Granted, but then people would accuse you of bribing a certain moderator... hint, hint Man, I wish I had some pizza.

Hey, let me be the first to say I was named Grand Imperator of the BEAK Imperium. I didn't ask for it, even if I have come to embrace it like a bad habit. Yes, Tofu, I know exactly what you mean about that particular incident. One day I'll get around to rereading my favorite Star Wars novel, Solo Command among them. I recently completed The Final Prophecy. Quite refreshing after the mess of a trilogy that Force Heretic was. I gave it 4 stars out of 5, but my reviews tend to be overly happy simply because I'm pleased with finishing the novel. I'm sure if someone asks me in a month or so what I thought, all my reviews will drop--and if they don't, then it was one damn good novel! Now I enter The Unifying Force. I never thought the day would come when I would at least be at the end of the New Jedi Order. When I originally set out on my quest to read all of the post-Return of the Jedi novels, I never imagined completing the Bantam novels, much less the NJO, which at the time seemed endless (especially since it hadn't yet been completed)! Now I sit on the threshold, ready and excited to complete this series and very soon be caught up with the releases! There will be much celebration after this novel...but not too much so as to give me time to read the Dark Nest trilogy.

Granted, but then we'd probably crash into each other. I wish I had an iPhone.

Granted, but being a Canadian, you might translate it all into French and then confuse the rest of us. I wish it wasn't so bloody hot.

Granted, but that would mean too much security to even go driving. I wish I could close this thread.

Playing it old school this summer: TIE Fighter.

Oh, Jesus, BS... No wonders the Barbarians successfully invaded the Roman Empire. The Romans would have run from that!

Very nice, Defender! Mitth, I have the perfect pic for you.

I sense a coup-in-the-making, AKmiral... If our founder Scathane were here, he'd know what to do. Preferably, I'd like to be some sort of Commando/Special Forces operator, doesn't really matter which side. I would say I want to be a Mandalorian Supercommando, but that might be a bit...um, overly-used.

I knew I'd pulled it on someone, I'd merely forgotten who. Sorry, mate, just having some fun. It's been a rough week--hell, it's been a rough month and two days. Be careful, though, Psycho--you may be on your way to an impromptu, and perhaps unwanted drafting into the BEAK services... And I promise, I won't do that again.

It should be they're. Have fun hitting thyself over thine head with thy book, SOCL. (Sorry, but really, a mistake by the BEAKmaster?) Sorry, mate, but it appears I was right all along.

Just finished Force Heretic III. It made me rethink my score for the first novel, bringing it down to 2 out of 5 stars. But the third one wasn't so bad, though I would call it about average at 3 out of 5 stars. Ah, just two novels to go, and I happen to like both authors.

Sorry, AKmiral, but it's correct the way I have it. That's the original way Scathane and Trejiuvanat laid down...so many years ago...

Imperial to the last. And yet, I like to rebel against things. I'm game either way.

Welcome to the forums, JediLaz! Make yourself comfortable.

Well, he wasn't going around, blatantly saying, "Give this to me, or you're dead!", rather it was the way he said things. In most of the first part of the book, even talking to the Chiss, he constantly said things like, "We need this, and it would be unfortunate if we didn't receive it" or "You don't want us to get angry, do you?" Just stuff like that. I would retrieve the novel, find exact quotes, and post them, but I have vowed to never open that novel again unless I have to.

Sure, but I'm only 100 pages into the second one and I must say, Williams & Dix have no concept of the characters. I would have to squint with the Sun at my back and the volume all the way up to even be able to tell that this is the same Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Mara Jade, and Han Solo of previous works. They have no concept of characterization, especially since everyone, except perhaps Nom Anor and Tahiri, behave the exact same way! Seriously, they all act like teenagers, willingly threatening everyone to get what the want. Maybe I'd expect this from Han Solo and even Mara Jade, but Luke Skywalker? Leia? Just bad writing. I'm just happy that I only have this and the next one, and then I can move on to a better author. UPDATE: I wasn't bothered so much by this, but then, I take it you haven't read the Young Jedi Knights books. You want blaster bolts? Those have more "blaster bolts!" than anyone can stomach. Even Jahled... Just kidding. Here's my review of Force Heretic I: Refugee. I tried to make it as SPOILER free as possible by not talking about specific story details. Oh, and I gave it a 1 out of 5... Fresh off the heals of the first in the series, Williams & Dix once more demonstrate that their understanding of the Star Wars universe, much less it's literature, is terribly lacking. In the second novel of the Force Heretic trilogy (of the New Jedi Order series), Williams & Dix seem to employ the Saturday morning cartoon premise of a new villain every week. In the last novel our heroes were off uniting with the Empire and fighting off the Yevetha and Fia threat, in hopes of uniting the Galaxy against the Yuuzhan Vong. In this entry, we have the return of the annoying Ssi-ruuvi Imperium from the novel 'The Truce at Bakura' and the entry of the Chiss, seemingly in an attempt to have them ally with the Galactic Alliance. Aside from Nom Anor's attempts to undermine the Yuuzhan Vong by casting himself as a Prophet a rising religious movement which venerates the Jedi, this novel might as well be from the Bantam era of books for all the good it goes to the New Jedi Order's plot. Not even the presence of Soontir Fel and the Chiss of old-school lore are enough to save this novel from itself. It seems that somewhere between the bad characterization of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Mara Jade, Leia Organa, and the Solo twins and their humanization of the Chiss, they seemed to have forgotten that there's a BLOODY WAR ON! In fact, the Yuuzhan Vong, much less the war, are given only passing acknowledgments despite the urgency of the matter in previous novels. The Galaxy hangs on the edge of utter disaster and our heroes are off fighting stereotypical bad-guys and generally acting like whiny teenagers who use threats instead of diplomacy to get what they wish--even Luke Skywalker. Indeed, I can't even be sure I even recognize these characters! I am hard-pressed to say that the Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, peaceful servant of the Force is even present in this novel, except for perhaps the fellow who happens to have his name. Aside from that, these characters behave utterly the same, no difference in them, aside from Tahiri and Nom Anor, who receive hardly any spotlight (relative). The adventures are so bad, the situations so cheesy, and the villains so stereotypical, this novel reads like a long "Young Adult" chapter-book in the kids' section of one's local bookstore. Even for a Star Wars fan, this novel holds nothing but irrelevant tramping about the Galaxy, as irrelevant as a colony Aztec space-ninjas!! (And if you get THAT allusion, you earn a prize!) I would go so far as to say that this novel should be AVOIDED! It holds no relevance to the overall plot and at the end, we are only a step (Zonama Sekot) further along in the story of the NJO than we were when we started this novel. Just read the Epilogue--you'll save yourself a lot of time, and it will make just as much sense. The only pleasure (and yet, still dread) one has when this one is complete is that there only (or still) remains on more novel in the trilogy...

Is that your way of saying you're here/back, LaForge?

Finished Force Heretic I: Remnant today. I wrote a review for my Facebook account, giving a 3 out of 5 stars. It would have been lower if not for the general coolness of the Battle of Borosk in the latter portion of the second section. In general, though, whoever wrote the military interaction bits (be it Williams or Dix), they were horribly stereotypical and horribly cheesy. It was like watching a bad war movie...like Green Berets. Here's what I wrote up as a review on Facebook (SPOILERS follow): Sean Williams and Shane Dix deliver in the first of the Force Heretic trilogy of novels in the overall series of the New Jedi Order. In it, we find the old heroes and new ones battling the galactic enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong, but when the Yuuzhan Vong prove too much for them, they will have to search elsewhere for allies, sometimes in the most unlikely places. In truth, this novel was likely one of the worst ones in the entire series. It serves merely to wrap up lose ends from the Bantam era of novels, bringing in the Yevetha and Fia of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, as well as the nagging presence of the reclusive Imperial Remnant, the latest mutation of the Galactic Empire. It is sad to say that despite some very interesting action sequences and much potential, Williams & Dix let the reader down by simply taking you a pulp-style adventure where many things happen, but the actual series plot goes nowhere. Indeed, the Imperial Remnant's entrance to the war on the side of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances is an important point in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong and some of the 'misadventures' of Nom Anor provide some interesting advance, the journey Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their daughter are taking to "fix" communication throughout the Galaxy is, in truth, silly and pointless. This novel's only redeeming grace lies in the latter portion of the second chapter (there are only three with an epilogue) with the battles between the Empire and Vong over Borosk, but even that is overshadowed by the antics of this new breed of Jedi. Complete with silly bickering between Imperial leaders (as though that stereotype hasn't been overused!), the novel ends with the two parties off to another rip-roaring adventure. For the average reader, this novel should be avoided, save that second chapter. For the Star Wars fan trying to read all of the NJO, go ahead and suffer, but then put it away and don't bother with it again.

Welcome to the forums, RenegadeMax!

I guess it's all up to personal preference. I very much enjoyed Traitor and the two Hand of Thrawn novels because they focused so heavily on the psychological/thinking aspect of each individual character. Then again, I enjoy a good action read like Republic Commando: Hard Contact as much as the next guy, and then everyone loves Stackpole and I simply can't stand him. Continuity errors? I didn't detect anything in Destiny's Way, but then, it seems the NJO novels, as one goes further, seem to get less and less well edited, with many internovel errors, including simple mechanical errors (spelling and grammar!). Still, the fleet movements and that final battle over Ebaq 9 I found phenomenal! Williams seems to have a pretty good grasp of general military structure and organization. It's the same reason Ylesia was pretty decent; I especially enjoyed the bit with ground forces in convoy trying to navigate through hostilities in Peace City. But that's just personal preference, I suppose.

Welcome, RotorHead, to our tiny corner of the Internet/Galaxy! You wouldn't happen to be a chopper pilot, would you?