Thread:Sakaros/@comment-29301-20180903145046/@comment-29301-20190725161954

Okay, I broke and read it after a week and a half. First impressions.

Though it doesn't feel anywhere near as long as The Liberator, it's definitely got a slower pace than Sins of the Father. And I have no idea why that surprised me in the slightest, but for some reason it did. But it worked itself out, and I'm thankful that it's neither fast-paced nor just a breather episode.

As you well know, it's like candy for me whenever you give the characters occasion to talk space-wizard philosophy. My favorite parts were where the topics of Jedi teachings and religion intersect. It was kind of eerie to read Tirien's first explanation on the matter - that Jedi can follow their own distinct religious traditions, but generally keep it to themselves - because that's practically a paraphrase of my own brainstorming notes on the matter.

I had a lot of hopes for Zaella as the Token Evil Teammate, and I was glad to see this story deliver on that. Aside from her comedic and sometimes cringe-inducing (for the other characters and for me) commentary on the goings-on, she seems to shake things up in a way one would expect, based on what we saw of her in the last story; I hadn't anticipated how her emerging friendship with Narasi would be both a help and a hindrance for the latter's development, but it works.

The end of the three renegade Jedi is rather sufficiently tragic. I was relieved that at least one of them survived, even if it was the most pitiful (Jirdo) instead of the most interesting (Maia). When Jirdo defected, I was kind of afraid he was just gonna be dead weight and get himself wretchedly killed (it was the most obvious thing to have happen to him); now I'm hoping he'll show up again once or twice. Given that Bras was the one to go furthest off the deep end, I'm inclined to believe Jirdo's guess that he was actually a runaway Sith rather than a Jedi, but the fact that this isn't ever made certain somehow helps with the eeriness of the whole thing.

On the same topic... maybe this is a criticism and maybe I just missed it. Maia's story is supposed to be that her Big Damn Destiny is not what she (and her mentor) led herself to believe, and yet she still fulfills it in a way - right? I saw in one of the BtS things that her arc takes inspiration from Andor Vex - which, needless to say, I can appreciate - but after having read the story (admittedly just once), I'm having trouble seeing how that worked out. When did Maia do anything at all, even unwittingly, to actually help destroy the Sith threat? Was it literally just that her being there eventually drew Tirien and company to Guudria? The particularly grisly manner of her death makes this bother me more than it otherwise would; [and I don't like using TVTropes as a shorthand crutch for explaining what I mean, but] it kind of feels like Shooting the Shaggy Dog, as far as Maia's concerned. Andor Vex had an ignominius death, but at least he didn't get raped.

Uh, what else. Dark side ghosts and shit, first-class, I liked that a lot. I have plans to write some such things of my own, at some point... And I'm glad the main characters are finally starting to catch up with what's happened since the cliffhanger with Mali and Aldayr. That's about all I've got right now. I liked it. If there's anything else you want my take on, just say so.

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On a completely unrelated note, a month or two ago I read  for the second time. I believe I have mentioned it to you before, and I feel bound to recommend it again. It's a standalone novel, apparently Lebbon's only Star Wars book, but I really would rank it up there with the best of the old EU (I'm slightly amazed this book even exists, considering how late it was written before Disney's Franchisicide got rolling). Amongst many other things, I think it manages to capitalize - in a way few other books ever did - on Star Wars 's almost miraculously successful balance of the scifi-used-universe-grit aesthetic with the epic-mystical-wizard-quest aesthetic. So... yeah.

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Still working on Torchbearer; this past week was mostly just a hiccup in productivity, and I may yet finish it by the end of August. I'm actually in the last chapter of the Big Damn Battle, but there's a little ways to go after that, and in any case I'm pretty sure it's going to hit a hundred thousand words by the time I'm done. Fingers crossed.