Dark Tide II: Ruin

  Part two, Dark Tide: Ruin following Dark Tide: Onslaught by Michael A. Stackpole. He is also the author of I Jedi. Really not sure how I feel about this author...  does things I like, dose things I don't... and he has to have some form of first person speaking even when written in third... I came across one reviewer of this book who really disliked this (I lost his blog but I'll add it if I run across it) but I can't say I dislike it, more like I think it's just a little awkward to the flow since most other authors don't do.
  According to Wookieepedia this was first planed as a trilogy but the last two where combined. Good move, I don't see how you could get two books out of this and not drag it out too long. (I, Jedi might had been better split up though!)
  I remarked on the style of painting on Dark Tide; Onslaught. This one too has an impressionistic style. According to Wookieepedia the cover shows a ship that was planed to be in book two but apparently didn't make the final cut... yeah... after finishing the book I still was confused with the cover... now I know it wasn't just me... They kept talking about the planet that very few were allowed to actual set foot on... my best guess was that thing in the picture was where they lived... but still, that still didn't seem right! Why they chose to put a cover picture of something that isn't even in the book.... just, why?!

____Spoiler Alert________

   Some where I missed where Wedge Antilles broke up with Qwi Xux who first showed up in Jedi Academy Trilogy. I had been wondering what had happened to the two. It must have been covered in a X-wing novel, which I haven't read any of the X-wing books.


  First Chewbacca and now another loved character is lost... Well, this character is fairly new. He showed up I believe in Spector of the Past (correct me if I'm wrong on that) Elegos A'Kla of Caamas was a very interesting character. If I remember correctly, it was said even the Jedi looked up to this race's wisdom. It just feels a little too soon to kill him off. Have to say he went in a very memorable and disturbing way though. It gave us an insight on this Yuuzhan Vong and their twisted since of honor.

"These bones here, I present to you so you may know the proper way to venerate fallen Yuuzhan Vong warriors." -Shedao Shai
 
  And yet, Elegos A'Kla did seem to die without meaning and his killer dies to make room for a worst enemy to take over. And Corran finds himself walking on the line of the darkside.

Chewbacca, in Memoriam

Since I got my new laptop I have been playing around with the drawing program and for the last couple of books I have drawn a picture of a image that the book put in my mind that struck me the most. Of course Vector Prime was of Chewy's last moments on Sernpidal. I think it was like the next day I did this piece.


 It's a bit more impressionistic then other fan art I've seen but this moment just seemed simple yet powerful with more silhouette then details.
  But now with mine out of the way here are some other's artwork of what call "Chewbacca's Last Stand"

"I saw him, don't you get it? I saw him standing there as the moon hit Sernpidal. The air just combusted. He was standing there, roaring, screaming. The light turned him black. Just a silhouette. Then it ate into him. I saw his bones. They turned black, too, then white, so white I couldn't watch. Then nothing. My best friend, my only true friend, and I let him die. How am I supposed to live with that? How do I get that out of my head? Tell me." - Han Solo



Last pose of defiance by mikkichell on deviantART
The Death of Chewbacca by gaermish on deviantART

I don't know who the artists are that did the following...

 

In Loving Memory by obigirl on deviantART

And last a more bazaar picture...

Moon Falls on Chewie by MarcusWilliams on deviantART

Survivor's Quest

  This one kept me up reading longer then I should have for quite a few nights. :-) It was nice that the whole story revolved around Luke and Mara. (Being they are two of my favorite characters) It was much like Tatooine Ghost where Han and Leia were the center of the story and by what I read from Wookieepedia that it was meant to be like a counter book. One about one couple and the other, the other. While Tatooine Ghost was good of course it's hard to be put up against Timothy Zahn.

  I tired to buy this book off E-bay a little over a year ago and could not get my hands on it. Being a Zahn and a newer book, 2004, you either have a hard time getting one or be wiling to pay more for it then you would for others. As I've stated before I have decided to buy only Hardbacks if one was available. I was into Visions of the Future when I realized I did not have the next book on my list. AH! E-BAY TIME! I was not looking forward to that thought.

  Then I got lucky! On a trip to a flee market I came across a book seller that had Survivor's Quest and Splinter of the Minds Eye (another I was looking for)!!!! YES!!! What are the odds? Really, what are the odds?!

  Being written after the Prequels they could incorporate parts of the Prequels. For instance Mara and Luke run into Clone Wars Battle Droids among other things.
The one thing you realize is this is not THAT far in years from the Clone Wars and the fall of the Jedi but all this time Luke has been running around trying to find out whatever he can about them and greatly in question was were the Jedi allowed to marry... duh, anyone old enough to be his father would be able to tell him the Jedi didn't marry! (Yeah, I know, it's not like Star Wars is real, haha, really I'm saying this with a little bit of amusement cause it's the biggest flaw that I have come across. There is just no way to fix that flaw!)

   This book starts off about 3 years after Visions but the story picks right up where the other stopped. Luke and Mara are again called to the unknown regions. There they find out a ship belonging to the Old Republic and the people who once called Thrawn their own wishes for them to come and let them return it.
As always it took me a little while to get who was who straight. The following will have some spoilers so.... that's your warning ;-)
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  Ok, I sorta saw the discovery of survivors coming. I know there is also a prequel to this book to explain some stuff but what I didn't understand was they had an area to keep possible Jedi and another for proven ones... While they did come across the not sure children they never said if any real Jedi were being kept in the other area?!

 

Then there was Evlyn. So many seemed to already know she had the power but she was never placed in the watch area... why? If the Jedi were so feared why was she left alone this long? And poor Evlyn, I found no illustrations of her online :-/ The image of her in the hall leading the groups to the turbolifts was a strong one and I chose it for my fan art of this book. I hope I run into her in a book again! At first I didn't like her cause she came across sort of stuck up to me (not sure why but she did) but the longer she was around the the more I liked her.


  I gotta love Luke and Mara's wake up call.
"I Love You"

  Using dead bodies as puppets... um... disturbing... kind of clever.... but disturbing...

  OK, The whole deal with Luke wanting himself and Mara to take on the Vagaari on their own was ridiculous!... Just saying. It was kind of like... well, Luke did you do that just to get you light saber back? I mean... he had a hard time getting away from these Vagaari and that was partly with the help of Evlyn. By now he knows these Vagaari love bombs... they get there and discover bombs. He thought this was a sure deal? And MARA WENT ALONG WITH IT?! Ok, it was ridiculous.... but hey, makes for good reading none the less ;-) And Luke got his light saber back!
 

   Now we enter the New Jedi Era

Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker's Romance (Art by Fans)

  Ok, maybe there is a little of a romantic in me.... I've a very practical intellectual girl but yeah, I think there is a little bit of a romantic in me.... Ok, I was curious and took an online quiz :-) Really these online quizzes are better then they use to be. Lately they have been coming up with fairly accurate results! I took it HERE and this is the results...

 I use to do fan art many, many, MANY years ago and most of it was Disney related and before I even knew what the internet was and even knew that it was called "Fan Art". Reading The Hand of Thrawn sparked my romantic side and inspired me to created a piece of fan art from it on my new touch screen computer. There are some great moments in the two books but some reason I chose the moment before Luke purposed. I'm not the best artist around but it's fun trying (Don't you dare quote Yoda here!)

Mara and Luke - Visions of the Future - Star Wars by AmandaKayHowell on deviantART

I just created an account on DeviantART and it's fun to look through other people's fan art. I hope they don't mind if I share them here...

 This is a great collage with a quote from Spector of the Past...



Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker by sailorelo on deviantART

  Another memorable moment from Spector of the Past with Mara and Luke. Luke has just escaped and landed in a trance unconscious onboard a ship where Mara was waiting for him and in the process he lands right on top of her braking his fall. I found two fan art pieces depicting the moment... The first is when Mara wakes Luke with the keyword "Welcome aboard"


"Welcome Aboard" by Beckrum on deviantART

The second captures a moment later when Mara remarks... "So. You want to get off me, or were you just getting comfortable?"

Getting comfortable? by LordAkiyama on deviantART<

 Now we jump to Vision of the Future. Mara is shot in the shoulder and to attempt to heal it he puts her into a healing trance. When she is out he is realizing to his dismay that he loves her. Before getting on with the healing he suddenly reaches down and gives her a quick kiss.


A Stolen Kiss by AG88 on deviantART

Next is from Vision of the Future. Luke has already purposed and they realized they are not going to drown, they finally kiss.... "Together forever"


FalconFan - LukeMara Kiss by Lipstress on deviantART/a>

Ok, now engaged here are Luke and Mara's engagement Holos! Haha, cute idea even though I'm not a huge fan of engagement picture... (my non-sappy side coming through)


Skywalker Engagement Coloring by call-me-lydia on deviantART