Thread:Sebolto/@comment-104549-20190317001341/@comment-1998339-20190317130852

No worries, I didn't find many errors at all. I've been enjoying the series since picking it back up. I read several of the earlier installments following last year's WAs, but I never got around to all of them as I had planned. Since reading Danse Macabre for this year's WAs, I've been going back through the series.

I'm sure I could rant for many paragraphs, but I'll just mention a few things I've enjoyed about the series as a whole. For one, I like how you seemed to intentionally shy away from the heavy use of Human characters. Despite the wide variety of non-Human species present in the EU, most authors&mdash;published & otherwise&mdash;focus almost exclusively on Humans & near-Humans, using non-Humans as little more than background extras to flesh out the setting. I enjoyed seeing members of species ranging from Quarren to Gossam appear in major roles in the series. I have a special place in my heart for the species so I particularly enjoyed the bit part one played in the prisoner scenes of Desperate Measures.

I also enjoyed the background politics at play in the series. The High Council's consideration of the interests of the Corellian faction in the selection of a Chancellor in particular reminded me of the series & the events leading up to the. The sheer influence the Core Worlds wielded in the politics of the Republic were very well represented in your most recent installments. The fact that Republic politics did not dominate the plot or contribute too heavily to the narrative made them feel natural & endemic to the setting, not forced as they did in the Prequel Trilogy. Politics generally need to be handled with care & delicacy lest they become a poorly concealed commentary on the real world or a drag on the pace & action of the plot. The fact that important political appointments were kept as background events happening off-camera made the world of the series feel fleshed out & lived in.

As far as criticisms & complaints are concerned, I certainly don't have much worth discussing apart from one issue. I'll admit that the humorous dialogue in Kai Latra's chapters of Desperate Measures rubbed me the wrong way. I felt that the humorous moments detracted from the otherwise intense nature of Alecto & Tiriens' shaky alliance & compromised the serious tone set by earlier descriptions of the Sith Lord's cruel dark-sided experiments. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the Gossam's cruel, sadistic experiments & his harmless, humorous personality was the point, but it just didn't work for me. The character was built up to be an imposing figure of great power & ability, but the levity of the scenes in which Kai Latra appears failed to deliver on my expectations as a reader & diminished the character's threat level.

I had expected more of a fight with much more at stake for Tirien & Alecto&mdash;instead, the Gossam mostly played the part of wisecracking glass cannon & allowed his minion to do the fighting. When he did duel Tirien, he did so after being baited into defending his pride. The sheer ease with which Tirien convinced him to use his lightsaber&mdash;thus ceding control of the engagement over to the Jedi&mdash;made him seem like a cartoon villain. Logically, being able to use the Force, he should have simply crushed Tirien's windpipe right there, not say "I'm bored anyway" & agree to abandon his tactical advantage so easily. Portraying him as a dangerously insane psychopath rather than a humorous mad scientist would have worked better I feel, particularly given that he is one of the main antagonists (if not the main antagonist) of the duology.

Overall, potentially unfair subjective criticisms aside, I've really enjoyed the series. I haven't been this invested in a fan fiction series since JM's Days of Dissidence. I'm looking forward to your upcoming installments. Oh, & you better bring back Kenza. She's my favorite & I love all her sight-related jokes. "Perceive you later" actually coaxed an audible guffaw out of me the first time I read it. (: