Star Wars: Shatterpoint (merged thread)

[El Chuxter]

Merged!

I've seen this at various Waldenbooks over the past two days, but I'm trying to get to one store that has enough good stuff for me to take advantage of their "buy four, get one free" special on all books. I've already planned on this one and the new Inside the Worlds of AOTC, but the small Waldenbooks have cruddy selections.

[El Chuxter]

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, it's been hard to put down. I'm about 3/4 of the way through (Mace just met up with Depa and got beaten senseless by the Korunn leader). It's a more dense read than most SW books, and definitely owes a debt to Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. Mace's journal entries are particularly enjoyable reading.

As I said, I'm not done yet, but I fear yet another Council member may need to be replaced for E3.

[[DSS]Pedr0]

I LIKE WHAT I HAVE READ ALSO...I AM AT THAT PoINT IN THE BOOK TOO....WERE MACE DEFENDS THE BUNKER NEAR THE VOLCANO

[Sidiously Darth]

First, I must say this has been one of the best SW novels that I've read. In a time of war, this story is full of death and destruction by man and nature.

Mace gives off a Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction) air. He loves to fight which is one of his weaknesses... something a Jedi should not be. Yet he is proud of his weakness b/c he helps him strive to be work harder on being a Jedi.

Depa's inability to deal with the ravages of war have caused her mental instability and to lose her way in the force. She's not evil but the darkside has tainted her thoughts and actions. Even Jedi Healers haven't discovered what is "wrong" with her.

Now with Depa being arrested and removed from the council, the 12 member group will be much different in Ep. III. Yaddle was killed in Jedi Quest #6. Eeth Koth & Coleman Trebor were killed on Geonosis. That's 1/3 of the council. New faces to come?

[dr_evazan22]

Reading thru it I found the first section a little slow, but the middle and third sections were good. It wasn't what I've come to know as a SW novel. Maybe after a second read...

One thing I did like about the book was the progression of Mace's feelings for what happened on Geo. First he thought he made a mistake, then the Force showed him that he was led on the correct path. There seemed liek there was a chance for a real peace, and healing, to begin between the warring factions. Not to turm political, but it brought the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to mind, and showed how both sides are right and wrong at the same time.

[El Chuxter]

Sidiously Darth, when you say Eeth was killed, are you basing that on the Locations book that came out recently from DK or something else? I question that book, as it says the Weequay Jedi died in the battle, when the Mace Windu comic clearly shows he didn't.

[Sidiously Darth]

Eeth being dead does come from the DK book you are thinking about. Sora Bulq was thought to have been killed on Geonosis until the revelations in the DH Mace Windu comic. I'm pretty sure they discuss that in the first couple of pages.

However, Eeth Koth's death has not been denied. Agen Kolar will return for Ep. III but Eeth Koth will not. So there's no reason to think that he's alive and I'm sure the Jedi Council will get some film time in the 3rd movie.

[Darth Jax]

so after sitting on my bookshelf for over a month, i finally cracked the cover. almost felt i was reading tom clancy and not a star wars novel. shatterpoint is told in a very different style than the typical star wars novel, not that its a bad thing. in fact i'd say its a good thing.

as mentioned earlier the book takes a bit to get rolling. by the second half it becomes hard to put down. and the ending and its dire connontations for the jedi and clone war are excellent. really shows the mess the republic is in, having jedi being the leader of their army.

the book does have some flaws. in explaining mace's ease with the force (coming from a race of native force users) just populates one more planet with force users. in my opinion for every other force user out there the jedi seem to go down a notch. when you can tap into the force without any effort or study reduces all the effort one must go through to become a jedi. luke's already run into enough native force users post ROTJ, do we really need planets of them in the days were force sensitives were sought out and trained as jedi. also didn't like the way that the force enabled mace and kar to become so much more than human, really more of a superhero from out of the pages of a comic book. i've always looked at the jedi as being more akin to batman, mortals with special talents and equipment than superman. but i'm basing that on yoda and luke's accomplishments from the original trilogy. certainly we never had a force user becoming a spacetrooper on-sceen. you could react a little faster, jump a little higher, move objects - but not fly or survive a planetary re-entry without a spaceship around you. and even qui-gon jinn couldn't survive being run through with a lightsaber.

[El Chuxter]

I finished this over the weekend (finally!). In the immortal words of the Eternal Padawan, "Meh." The book was good through the end, then petered out big time. Depa deserved better than she got.

Mace's little "prophecies" about all the Jedi being wiped out and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion were pretty neat touches.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

It gets harder and harder to read for enjoyment these days, with all the reading to grade I have to do. Hooray for summer! No beach, mountains, movies, or whirlwind romances ( ) for me; it's time to read! (Yes, Bel-Cam is a lonely Moderator... )
I am pleased to say that this is the best SW novel (except for the young reader ones) to come out in a long time. Like El Chuxter, I felt very connected to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which was the basis for F.F. Coppola's Apocalypse Now. It was dark and brooding, but not overly so. I felt that Mace's journals were stiff, but reporting by recording is always tough to pull off in books.
Kal Vastor is one of the most unique SW characters to be intro'd in awhile as well. Too bad he's in a remote location (won't say where) and probably won't be used again.
Interesting insights into Jedi thought processes. The reason for teaching Jedi skills at early ages? So other "natural" tendencies don't interfere with this training.
Again, Stover matches Mace Windu with Jules from Pulp Fiction in a great way. He's not over the top, but just right. I thought the "frag" term was meant to be similar to, well, you know, in our current slang. Stover used a line on the last page to relate directly to the following chapter title; great foreshadowing technique.
The fact that so many characters were "almost" dead was one of the negative points. If NJO can kill off almost anyone, why not here, too? I liked that having the ship in orbit was an ace up the sleeve that was dealt with in a logical fashion.

Overall grade? 8.4 / 10.