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.

Dark Tide I: Onslaught

  This is the first book of two. This is just a continuation of Vector Prime by another author as I am guessing most of The New Jedi Order series will be. This one is written by Michael A. Stackpole author of I, Jedi. Stackpole has this knack of picking scenes in which he stops and describes in great detail that I don't understand why! This happened a lot in I, Jedi and I noticed it in this one as well but it was better then I, Jedi.
  For some reason they changed up the style of artwork on the cover. Very impressionistic.

  Not much I can say without giving much away from here... fair warning.




Battle of Dantooine

Spoiler Notes;

After killing Chewy in the last book, they did their trick. I really thought they were going to kill another one off in this one with Corran Horn! I was pretty convinced they had by the end of that chapter.

Jacen dropped quite a bombshell on Luke. I did not see that coming either, an interesting twist though it's pretty obvious he will continue on as a Jedi, partially after he up and runs out on his uncle after thinking he had a vision.

  How Anakin got the Alien on Dantooine to understand the bargain to bring them firewood is beyond me cause I read that scene over and over again and I could not figure out what he was telling him! And speaking of that tribe, what happened to them? Anakin sent them away but did they make it? Did the Vong find them? They were dropped from the story after that... maybe they will show up later.

“I placed quite a burden on Anakin, didn't I, by giving him that name." –Leia Organa Solo

  Anakin was given his name against Han's wishes for a Han Jr. in the graphic novel series Dark Empire which is the first Expanded Universe book I got my hands on. I have wondered since why Leia named him Anakin! Other then in Dark Empire does she do anything that shows she truly embraces who her father was or forgives him in anyway. Tatooine Ghost is as close as she gets to seeing her father as anything close to being human. And now at last it is questioned why Leia named Anakin after his grandfather! I'm surprised it took this long! I wish there had been a book where it gave the reaction of everyone when they found out about the Skywalker twins and who Darth Vader were! Cause you know, that would have been interesting. In the Truce of Bakura Leia is struggling with the fact that Vader was her father and at that point in time only Luke and Han knew.
  So her reasoning is that she is trying to redeem her father's name... I guess that's a fair explanation but I think it would have been better had they brought this up way before now! You hate your father but you name your child after him... well, I'm glad someone finally tried to give a good reason for this at least.


  Great, I don't have the next book! So... until I can fix that little problem I think I'll backtrack again by reading Slinter of the Mind's Eye I found a copy of not long ago with Survivor's Quest.
 

Vision of the Future



Talon Karrde (portrayed by Zahn, right)

Mara Jade (portrayed by Shannon McRandle)
Corran Horn (portrayed by Michael Stackpole).

Vision of the Future
As I thought! Spector of the Past was just a preamble for Visions of the Future! Wow! Timothy Zahn is pretty good! It's been quite a while since I've read one that got me that enthralled!
 
 There are a lot of characters! If you have never read any of the expanded universe books you might not want to attempt this set as your first, but if you want to know which ones are worth the read go for one written by Zahn!
This was a long one, 520 pages (my Hardback copy). According to Wookieepedia it is the longest Star Wars novel (694 pages) and in Germany it was split into two books. I had some trouble remembering who was who and where at times but most of the time I figured it out after reading a little into the chapter. (that's when character charts would be nice and handy!) It all intertwines in clever ways. Like I said in my review of Specter, Zahn has a way of being able to surprise me with twists I don't expect! He is also the creator of several of the major expanded universe characters so it just seems right for him to write life changes to these characters and get the personalities right while doing it! His characters are likeable and he's good at keeping a story going leaving you wanting more. He left room for more books to be written, he doesn't write himself into a corner.


The Planet Nirauan

So the story gets so complicated that I'm not even going to attempt much of a review. So I'll just skip to my discussion that will include spoilers... so fair warning! ;-)

• Han and Leia - This really isn't a huge book for them. Leia is no longer acting president of the New Republic. I thought she just ran out of terms or something but then you find she just stepped down temporarily... hu? I got a little lost there as to why that was but, it was. And since when does leia agree to go on little vacations when they are on the brink of Civil War? That kind of bugged me cause it seemed out of character...

• Corran - AH! I didn't know there were anymore books about this guy set after I, Jedi! I liked the way he was protrayed in this book and good to see him again even though I, Jedi was not my favorite.
•  Shada - Meet Shada! Yeah, Shada from a group of pirates I have never heard of... This story seem to come out of no where... but it worked. Made keeping up with the story a little harder though.
• Karrde, Ghent, and Bel Iblis .... I got so confused as to where these people were and what missions they were on! There were so many characters to keep up with!
• Pellaeon - I knew there was something I liked about this guy in the first Thrawn Trilogy!
• Flim - Ok, this was one character that was easy to remember his name. Just think of Flim Flam Man and you've got it made!
• Luke and Mara - Oh yes, you knew I would save them for last! Thank you Zahn, well done. There is nothing more humorous then purposing to a girl right before you are about to drown to death! It was funny... but in a Star Wars humor! But beside the amusing aspect of the whole romance I loved how a REAL connection strengthened between them. Love truly is more then just a feeling, but a connection of minds and emotion and a bond of two people. I'm glad Zahn went that route and made that point very clear.

 Ok, yeah while most girls had a thing for Han... Luke was more my type. One of the few times a male was my FAVORITE character in a movie and not the princess. Mara suites him well, so I wish him well ;-) I didn't like the other girls he was paired with in the past, he made the right choice... I mean, I was not an option since... wait... haha, I guess I can be a silly girl at times... sorry, I have a soft spot for Jedi!

 This novel even inspired me to create my own fan art. I got a new computer with a touch screen where I can draw on it. Check back later to see it... (Update, TaDa....

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