I feel like I'm pretty alone in this opinion, but I don't really care for Timothy Zahn or his writing style; in fact, I don't really like Michael Stackpole and his writing style either. I really hate the character of Corran Horn.
Am I alone in thinking this way?
Thank you for your well-reasoned and interesting opinion.
Go find the sci-fi/fantasy general.
EU thread?
Who is the best Star Wars author and why is it Matthew Stover?
Agreed.
It's actually a pretty common opinion. The thrawn trilogy was the best of the star wars novels, but that in no way means they were good.
>The thrawn trilogy was the best of the star wars novels
I like him sometimes, but his Revenge of The Sith novelization is ridiculously over-dramatic, and is not better than the movie in any way other than patching up a few problems with Lucas's script (Yoda quitting the Palpatine fight, several much smaller but still annoying quibbles.)
I can agree with this. They aren't the best Star Wars novels. Fairly good, but overrated.
>Who is the best author and why is it Matthew Stover?
The Republic Commando books are unmatched.
It doesn't count as "overrated" if intelligent people have consistently called it hot pigshit for the past quarter of a century
what are lits thoughts on the bane trilogy
wtf I hate Star Wars now
I liked it. Simple but fun
can you go into detail regarding Yoda quitting the Palpatine fight because that always has kind of bothered me
The novel just shows Yoda's thoughts as to why he leaves. It's too long too explain.
Also the novel version of the second half of the fight is slightly tweaked to make his defeat a tad clearer.
Is Traitor the greatest book in the history of Star Wars? Name a better Star Wars book.
Try The Icarus Hunt. It's pulp candy I've read like 4 times. At least two other anons like it as much as I do.
If you don't like it you don't like Zahn.
Aftermath
Real Star Wars only. No Nu Star Wars
Troy Denning can go fuck himself
Literally the worst sci-fi book I read or attempted to read in the past year.
It's not possible to be too over-dramatic in this context, Lucas' script's main problem is the failure to successfully play on the tension in the story and choosing to focus on fan service and do$h instead of telling a compelling story with interesting characters. The book at least delves into characters' psychology to an extent that the film never manages to do. This matters because the psychological motivations behind Anakin's fall to the dark side and his relationship with Padme and his mother are important for both what Lucas wants to do with this story (tell the story of the creation of Darth Vader and the Empire out of Anakin and the Republic) and for the sake of making us care about the drama.
Some stuff might be overblown but that's SF. It's fucking Star Wars. It's not supposed to be perfect, just iconic and occasionally entertaining.
I don't think you're alone, but they're Star Wars novels. Not that they can't be good books, but Star Wars is a film intended to be loved by kids. It's loved by adults as well, but it's for kids. The books are mostly for teens.
That being said, I quite enjoy Zahn's stuff as well constructed mass market lit. I think some writers have achieved more (mostly Aaron Allston in the X-Wing novels), but I would agree that Stackpole churned out a pretty weak, if enjoyable, product.
Stover is massively overrated. Traitor is obnoxiously pretentious, Shatterpoint is almost a parody of hardboiled action, and while Revenge of the Sith may be better than the movie, it also changes way too much from the movie to really enhance the movie itself.
That being said, I do love the whole dark vs. light poetic sections.
Oh, and Mindor is just a huge mess of a hodgepodge. Constant reversals make the stakes feel completely arbitrary.
First two are really solid. Third and fourth get too bogged down with "Bush lied clones died" analogies. And she's so self-righteous. However, her detail and characterization were really powerful.
I think Allston did what she was trying to do much better. But she was still good.
Karpyshan is the worst of tie-in authors. All his villains are boring sociopaths, all his heros are sticks of wood. I wish he'd stuck to game writing - his dialogue was fine.
Well, Traitor and Aftermath both use stylistic tics to hide the fact that they have crummy plots and dumb philosophizing. At least Stover has real thoughts to add to his purple prose.
Oh, man. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I still cannot forgive him for Dark Nest. Let alone Legacy and how it screwed up the EU enough that there were less than 20,000 of us when it was thrown in the trash. AND then the new canon just copied his worst plans.
I'm not even sure he's a nice guy
Why not? I don't do a lot of EU author drama, but I don't think he's been mean to fans or anything?
Who fucking cares what he does to fans? I don't know anything about him or his personal life, I only know his EU books. I am in no fucking position to make a character judgment here. I just think the EU would be better off without him.
Zahn's characters are what made that trilogy. Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Garm Bel Iblis, the Noghri.
Some cool planets as well. Nkklon, Kashyyk, Bimmisaari, Myrkyr...
You don't have to love him, but there is no question he's better than most EU authors.
Completely agree that he made the EU an objectively worse place.
I agree - though I also think he did a good job of taking the film characters to places that were fun and consistent with their characters from the films.
>It's not possible to be too over-dramatic in this context,
Matt pls.
I've never read a book that burns one out on drama so quickly.
Anakin saying "I hate you" has MUCH more impact in the film, precisely because Lucas has Anakin trying to remain stoic in the face of his pain for most of the film.
Take the scene where Anakin tells Windu about Palpatine being a Sith.
The book piles on the emotional distress in Anakin's mind, while the movie shows us him trying to remain a good Jedi (aka not being an emotional wreck) even after hearing this shocking truth.
They both work in the scene, but Lucas is playing the long game while Stover is playing the instant gratification game.
I've only read Tatooine Ghost, but I thought it was great in its best moments.
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I much prefer the Corellian trilogy
those were bland as fuck IRRC
All SW books I've read so far were terribly written. Even the 'acclaimed' ones like the shit by Luceno.
The Thrawn novels are pretty fucking bad and I never got the boner people have for Zahn's characters, especially Thrawn. That dude is a walking cliche to me.
Luceno is a good writer though. You can't refute that.
Cool things Zahn introduced to the SW EU:
Interdictor Cruisers
cloaked ships synching lasers through a planetary shield
cloaked asteroid blockade
the "covert shroud" (Luke's X-wing inside a shuttle)
Force-negating creatures
a Jedi coordinating multiple space battles
the concept of "slave circuits" (Katana fleet)
mole-miners
an in-depth look at a smuggler's alliance
the Emperor's Hand
THRAWN
It was great in the good parts, but it was really dumb in the bad ones. It evens out to okay.
Those were, I think, the first I read. Made a huge impression on me.
Luceno is bland bland bland, and his books devolve into encyclopedia articles by the ends.
In what way is he bland when compared to other SW authors?
His prose is better than almost all the others.
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