Thread:Sakaros/@comment-29301-20180903145046/@comment-29301-20200119185027

So I read it. I have mixed feelings about this one.

I mean, I liked it. It's a nice, well-assembled, unexciting piece about a couple of characters. All the world-building stuff about the Corellian Jedi was fun to get into (especially since there aren't fifty of them in the same room at any one time).

Strange though it may sound, the most "bittersweet" thing about this story for me was Sil Kadych's ghostly presence, particularly the fact that he's basically permanently out of action. Unless you've got something planned for him in the future, I would dare say that you misstepped by taking him out of things when you did (unlike with Slejux).

It's a strange coincidence that Part 1 has so much to do with Force Healing, because I've lately been considering writing to ask you what your take on that power is, and how you think it's best portrayed in terms of its requirements and its limits. I assumed you had a better idea than what we see in The Rise of Skywalker... On another note, though, I have to say that it bugged me a little how Tem-Fol-Rytil doesn't bring any Jedi healers with him; wouldn't it be worth a try to hand things over to a specialist? I suppose one could infer that a "Jedi healer" just means someone with a knack for it, rather than one with superior capabilities - indeed, this seems to be implied in the paragraph where Tem-Fol-Rytil and Arodion make their attempt - but I think a little bit more in the dialogue or narration could have made this clearer.

I mentioned mixed feelings. This is sort of because, though I'm generally disposed to side with the centralized Jedi orthodoxy, and even with the sentiments expressed by Tem-Fol-Rytil/Kadych in Part 4 (reading Plato's Republic seems to be turning me into something of an elitist), I was able to have some measure of sympathy for all the characters.

Mainly, though, it's this: there's not really anything wrong with the story in itself, or with its little character arcs. It's just that it doesn't really feel like it belongs in this series. Nobody from the main cast, heroic or villainous, nor anyone from the B-Cast (of which I don't consider Tem-Fol-Rytil to be a member) make any appearances or play any role at all. Similarly, from the perspective of the series itself, none of the actual events which occur struck me as so important that they needed to be shown at all. So it was a good read, but in that way it seemed out of place.

If there's anything else you want my thoughts on, I'll be here all week.