David: Rancor Spotting

Since our website is rancorslovetoread.com, it stands to reason that we would have some interest in rancors. Everyone remembers the huge rancor that Luke dealt with in Jabba’s palace, but as I have read my way through the Expanded Universe for the past couple of years I couldn’t help but notice that rancors turn up in the books every once in a while, often in unexpected places. I have decided to keep track of these with a Rancor Spotting each time I see a reference to one. Unfortunately I am beginning my Rancor Spottings after we are already more than two years down the road in the Expanded Universe books, so I have already missed several. If you know of any good ones, send me a comment and I’ll make sure your spotting gets published in our blog.

Here is a Rancor Spotting from the book I am currently reading.

“Fun?" Skids shook his head. "Fun like having a rancor sit on your lap is fun.” - Skids, a weapons tech on a K-wing bomber in the Fifth Battle Group

Book 1 of The Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm by Michael P. Kube-McDowell - page 13

David: What Ever Happened to Luke Skywalker?

Remember when we first met Luke Skywalker, the young farm boy on the desert planet of Tatooine – untrained, inexperienced, naive, restless, but still a great pilot, eager to learn, and anxious to explore the universe and see other worlds? Remember how he went on to blow up the Death Star, resist the Emperor, and help to establish the Republic as a functioning governing body? He was a genuine hero. Where is he now? What has happened to the Luke we first knew?

Anyone who has been following our blog knows that Andrew and I are reading all of the Star Wars novels in a particular order and writing reviews of each book. This is a process that will take several years to complete, but it is great fun. However, I have become more and more bewildered lately by Luke Skywalker’s state of mind and his inability or unwillingness to help out when things go badly for his friends in the Republic.

Currently I am about halfway through Michael Kube-McDowell’s book The Black Fleet Crisis I: Before the Storm, and once again Luke is having problems. He abandons Han, Leia, and their kids to spend all of his time in a hermit-like existence communing with the Force or something like that. He apparently doesn’t eat, doesn’t really need clothing, sees no one, and is completely out of contact with the rest of civilization. He gets a surprise visit from a mysterious woman and agrees to go with her to try to learn something about his mother. Just like that. Sure, I’ll go. What else do I have to do? But first let me tell my sister Leia what I am planning to do. I was pleased to see that this visit to Leia did not go well. She was not understanding and could not grasp the importance of why Luke needed to go off searching for ghosts while she was busy in Coruscant being married to Han Solo, trying to raise three kids with Force powers, and, oh yeah, serving as Chief of State for the Republic. No, I don’t need any help, Luke. It’s just your niece and nephews we’re talking about here. Anybody should be able to teach them about the Force. We don’t need the top Force guy anywhere around to help us. You go ahead.

My opinion of Leia soared with that outburst. I think she has become the real hero figure in the Star Wars Universe. She runs the government, raises her kids, and still has time to physically help with various battles that come along. Luke, on the other hand, is so conscious of the dark side that he is almost paralyzed. He has to analyze everything. He is reluctant to fight, and he always seems to be in situations where his powers are severely restricted. Plus he whines a lot. Of course, he whined about going into town to look at some power converters or something in the first film, but now he is older and wiser or should be. Stop all the whining.

I want the old Luke Skywalker back. I want to see him decisive, skilled in the Force, and not afraid to use it to kick some tail all around the Universe. Maybe he is coming back in future books. I hope so.

David's Review of No Prisoners

4/5 Rancors - The previous Star Wars books by Karen Traviss have been extremely good, and No Prisoners also reaches her high standard. Her special area of interest in her books is the clone troopers that the Republic uses to fight the Separatists. This book continues that pattern. Captain Rex is back, and he is sent on a routine three-day shakedown mission along with Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka. Anakin hopes to use the time to spend a couple of days with Padme. The mission turns out to not be routine when they are sent off to rescue Hallena Devis, a Republic undercover agent who is caught up in the middle of a Separatist invasion.

Things become even more complicated when a band of Jedis led by Master Djinnn Altis joins forces with them. Master Altis' followers do not think that attachment between Jedis causes any problems or necessarily leads to the dark side. Ahsoka has big problems working with them because their beliefs are so different and because the entire situation challenges some of her core beliefs. Anakin, of course, is very anxious to talk privately with Master Altis and learn more about his philosophy regarding attachments. A further complication is that the ship they are on is commanded by Captain Gil Pellaeon. He and Agent Devis are lovers, so he worries that any actions he takes may be construed to have been influenced by his relationship with Devis. We also are able to meet Callista and see her function as a real Jedi instead of as a spirit and as the new person she becomes when she and Luke Skywalker fall in love in the Callista Trilogy.

I have enjoyed all of the Star Wars books written by Karen Traviss. I was disappointed to read on her blog recently that she will no longer writing any books for the Expanded Universe. The Clone Wars stories are heading in a different direction from the path taken in her previous books. She will be missed.

David's Review of The Crystal Star

1/5 Rancors - Reading The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre led me to wonder how selective the publishing companies were back in the nineties when it came to selecting authors' works to be issued as official Star Wars novels. This book is simply not up to par. I found it to be a complete mishmash, and I had to force myself to wade through it. First of all, I just do not want to read a book where three-year-old and five-year-old kids have been ripped away from their parents and are in serious trouble. Then the plot of the book wanders all over the place, confusingly strange aliens with Godlike traits play a major role, and the small children lead a miraculous escape from the clutches of the book's evil genius. Too much of the book is just impossible to accept. Obviously, being a Star Wars fan means a person has to suspend belief in reality as we currently understand it. However, Ms McIntyre goes way too far.

Key plot points - Han and Leia's twins Jania and Jacen along with their younger brother Anakin are kidnapped. Chewie is seriously injured. Han and Luke have gone off on a guys' vacation trip. Leia makes an effort to follow the kidnappers' trail and stumbles onto a group of disabled refugee ships. We also have the charismatic alien Waru and a powerful Imperial officer who wants to restore the Empire. All of this might seem to bode well for a good tale, but it never comes together.

This is also another book in a stream of books that present Luke as a weak, confused character. The popular plot twist fifteen years ago seems to have been for Luke to lose his grasp of the Force. I cannot wait to read once again about Luke's being a powerful Jedi and dealing with bad guys in an effective manner without whining.

I will give the author credit for making me laugh out loud once. She briefly has an alien described as a hairy being approach Han and beg for money. "Has it got a coin in its pocketses for me?" Then a few lines later the same hairy being says "They're mine. Mine!" I took this as a tribute to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. That was good, but not enough. The Crystal Star falls way short.

Andrew's Review of The Black Fleet Crisis I: Before the Storm

4/5 Rancors - Michael P. Kube-McDowell's novel Before the Storm kicks off the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy and is set some twelve years after Return of the Jedi. The New Republic has continued to struggle through the growing pains of a fledgling government, led by head of state Princess Leia Organa Solo. The galaxy has experienced a time of relative peace since the predations of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Daala several years prior. Han Solo is adapting to life as a spouse at home looking after the three Solo children, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. Luke Skywalker is continuing to seek out new Jedi and improve himself and others in a quest to rebuild the Jedi legacy and decipher his true self.

Into this tranquil time come the Yevetha, a highly xenophobic alien race led by the cunning Nil Spaar. Spaar comes to Coruscant for an ostensible peace mission, but as events develop his agenda becomes murkier and his motives more mysterious. I enjoyed Mr. McDowell's carefully paced development of Spaar and his people: he allows insights into the Yevethan mindset to unfold at a pace roughly parallel to Leia herself learning more about them, helping sink the reader deeper into the story. The Yevetha come across as a credible threat to the galaxy's peace, and by leaving their full plans unstated, the reader is left with heightened anticipation for what is to come in the next two novels in the trilogy.

While the Yevetha and their possible ties to the group of Imperial capital ships known as the Black Fleet are the central focus of the tale, there are two other important storylines given close to equal weight. The first and better of these follows Lando Calrissian, C-3PO, R2-D2, and the quasi-obscure cyborg Lobot (first seen on Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back). New Republic Intelligence asks for Lando's help on a mission to recover the Teljkon vagabond, a legendary space vessel of unknown origin, design, and contents that has recently been located. Lando's sparring with the task force leader Colonel Pakkpekatt is good fun, as is watching his team develop an approach for boarding the vagabond and learning its secrets. The vagabond itself makes for a compelling mystery and the interactions between Lando, Lobot, and the droids are humorous.

The third storyline is the weakest and deals with Luke's quest to learn more about his mother. He is approached by Akanah, an orphaned child from a group of Force users known as the Fallanassi. Akanah claims Luke's mother was a Fallanassi, and that they can work together to track down Akanah's missing people and learn more about Luke's past. It's not fair to the novels published in the 1990s to judge them too harshly for not connecting with the still-to-come prequel trilogy, but I must say this plot feels very disjointed from what we now know about the broader saga and Luke's mother Padme. Also, there's simply not as much interest in the interactions between these two characters as there is in the rest of the novel. However, it is book one of a trilogy, so perhaps things will develop better as the story moves forward.

One place Mr. Kube-McDowell really shines is in his depiction of alien races and cultural mores. His aliens truly behave in non-human ways, from the motivations of the Yevetha to the odd cultural clashes amongst the Senators on Coruscant. He does a great job with making the fantastical seem quite real. He also delves more deeply and deftly into political maneuvering than the typical Star Wars novel: the time he spends fleshing out the decisions behind the government's actions and the clandestine discussions happening behind Leia's back is well-spent.

Before the Storm is a promising start to the Black Fleet Crisis. I'll reserve final judgment on the Luke storyline for now, and I very much look forward to reading further about the Yevetha and Lando's adventures with the vagabond.

Andrew's Review of The Crystal Star

1/5 Rancors - Vonda McIntyre has garnered many accolades over the course of her writing career, including the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. As such, I can only assume that Ms. McIntyre may have deliberately chosen to write The Crystal Star using simple language and short paragraphs, perhaps targeting a perceived audience of younger children. This book talks down to its reader, most painfully in the very long chapters dealing with the adventures of the Solo children. Names are continuously restated in place of pronouns, as if the reader might not have the attention span to remember which characters are present in a scene. Granted, the storyline does ultimately center around child characters to a large extent, but it feels underserved by being presented as if seen through the eyes of a child.

The events of The Crystal Star revolve around an intriguing area of space in which a white dwarf star is orbiting a black hole and slowly being drawn in by the immense spatial forces at work. Parked near this black hole is Crseih Station, an unpleasant radiation-baked locale used by both the Empire and smuggling groups throughout the decades. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo receive a strange message in an ancient language from Crseih warning of unspecified ominous doings at the station. They set off to investigate, while Princess Leia, currently Head of State of the New Republic, participates in a separate diplomatic mission with the three Solo children in tow. The children are kidnapped and taken aboard a giant worldship owned by Hethrir, a manipulative and cruel Firrerreo (and ex-Procurator of Justice for the Empire) with evil plans for the dozens of Force-sensitive kids he has stolen.

As I mentioned earlier, the Hethrir/children chapters feel interminable and occur too frequently throughout the story. There is a spark of interest in reading about Jacen and Jaina's attempts to escape, but mostly this storyline just plods along, using very basic dialogue and concepts in an effort to present the story as seen by the children. It's a fine line to walk, trying to write a child's POV without coming across as childish, but here it doesn't work and it certainly seems incongruent with most of the other Star Wars Expanded Universe. Also, Hethrir's Empire Reborn idea does not have the grandeur or credibility to seem threatening: he's just not enough of a powerful presence to engender any worry in the reader.

Paling next to Hethrir's shortcomings as an adversary is the central villain of the book: Waru. Waru is a multi-dimensional slab of quivering meat covered in gold scales. He wishes to consume Force-sensitive children so he can gain enough power to return to his own dimension. Hethrir is helping feed him so he can gain additional power and insight in return. Waru is silly, there's no two ways about it. In an attempt to make him threatening, Ms. McIntyre pulls one of the favored tricks of the Bantam era of Star Wars novels: she makes Luke weak and stupid. I've noticed over several of these books a consistent theme in depicting a laughably weak Luke, presumably in hopes of bolstering the new book-based characters or plots in comparison. The idea that Luke would be screaming at Han about perceived infidelity, generally acting irrationally, and is finally seduced by the promises of a giant gold meat-altar? Ick.

The Crystal Star is not a book I can recommend, except to the most avid Star Wars EU enthusiast.

David's Review of X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar

5/5 Rancors - Starfighters of Adumar by Aaron Allston is great fun to read. It is the conclusion to the nine-book X-wing series. We have some of our favorite X-wing pilots, an interesting story, and great action scenes. Our heroes are led by Wedge Antilles and include pilots Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, and Hobbie Klivian along with Iella Wessiri from New Republic Intelligence. The pilots have been put into a difficult position. Wedge has been selected to lead a diplomatic mission to the planet of Adumar and the others are part of the team. None of them are true diplomats, but the pilots' presence has been requested by the citizens of Adumar because of their admiration for legendary pilots.

Adumar is a neutral planet that has decided to pick between the New Republic and the Empire. The decision apparently will be based primarily on the military skills exhibited by the two opposing teams of pilots. The outcome is important because of a missile manufacturing plant located on Adumar. However, things become complicated very quickly. The code of honor on Adumar is very different from that of the New Republic pilots, and the respect for the sanctity of life among the Adumaris is not high. Throw in a rogue New Republic intelligence agent and the situation becomes slightly chaotic for a while.

I particularly enjoyed a section of the book in which Wedge basically decides what to do with the rest of his life. He has no family and no particular prospects of gaining one. The military has been his whole life, but it can’t go on forever. He has to weigh the pros and cons of a decision on which he basically has to stake his entire military career. Following his thought process as his works through this decision is extremely interesting. Such introspection is usually hard to find in Star Wars characters. I also got a great kick out of the interplay and the camaraderie among the four X-wing pilots. Their senses of humor and obvious respect for each other make for an entertaining book.

David's Review of Planet of Twilight

1/5 Rancors - I continue to have trouble with Ms Hambly's books. I did not like Children of the Jedi, the first book in the Callista Trilogy, and I think Planet of Twilight is also poorly written. On the other hand, Kevin J. Anderson's Darksaber, the second book in the series, was great fun to read.

In this current book, we find that Princess Leia has been taken captive by a mysterious warlord. Han and Chewie mount an effort to rescue her. Luke is still off on a quest to find Callista, his true love, and convince her to join with him. A virus that could end the universe has been released by strange and basically disgusting life forms. R2 and Threepio are stranded without help and are left to their own devices to make their way back to safety. A lot is happening but it does not tie together well and makes for a confusing plot. The author seems to delight in introducing new characters, new species, and new places, but in doing so she fails to devote enough effort to the Star Wars characters that we all know so well.

The book would benefit from a good editing job. Ms Hambly apparently feels that if one adjective will work, then three or four will work even better. I kept hoping that she would move on with the story and possibly explain the plot better. Just as an example, read the description of Leia's surroundings as she first comes out of a drugged state and looks around to see where she is.

"Weak, strangely colored sunlight lay in mosaics of glassy brightness across the cinder-colored permacrete walls of the house that loomed over them, glinted on the treeless lunacy of the heaped stone ridges, columns, pinnacles, and buttresses that dwarfed the house on three sides and framed, on the fourth, eternities of flashing gravel, as if the sea had sunk away long ago and left its foam solidified into salt and glass." One sentence. Arrgh!

I greatly look forward to moving on to subsequent books in the Expanded Universe.