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Which new canon book or novel is good enough to read again?

Discussion in 'Star Wars: Books & Comics + Legends' started by Alaskan Nerfherder, Jan 6, 2017.

  1. PrincessLeiaCB3

    PrincessLeiaCB3 The Princess that was Promised
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    Whoa! Lot of talk about our favourite Princess.

    (Yeah, Your Worship, you're still on top of my list even when these days Ahsoka and Jyn are quite popular).

    @FN-3263827 you would definitely enjoy reading one bit of Ahsoka where the last Princess of Alderaan appears. I had a hard time holding the tears.

    Curiously, so far in the current canon, Princess Leia is the character we have more information from several timeframes: since we saw her in that beautiful balcony in the Alderaanian Palace in ROTS, till she says "May The Force Be With You" sending Rey to look for Luke.

    I have mentioned this before: there is a Legends book called "Tatooine's Ghost" which deals really good with Leia's reluctance to accept her Skywalker legacy. There is a quote of that book where Luke tells her: "Darth Vader isn't the one you need to make peace with. The Force is with you, and nothing you do can change that. (...) If you're not careful, your fear and anger will only make you into what you despise."

    It is a good read of a now-alternate reality where Leia comes to terms with her inheritance way sooner.
     
    #61 PrincessLeiaCB3, Feb 1, 2017
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  2. Protocol Droid

    Protocol Droid Rebel General

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    Can we add a poll to this thread?
     
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  3. Choose Light

    Choose Light Mando Maven and Brown Eyes Backer

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    Han says to Maz, "Leia doesn't want to see me," in such a tone that leads me to believe that she did indeed push him away, or that he feels so guilty that there's no way he can imagine that she will ever want to see him again. But we know that by TFA she didn't mind that much seeing him again. :) So whether that's time healing them, or Han's guilty conscience being proved false, it's hard to say. Maybe both.

    Was there something wrong with Ben that made his parents send him away? Do we know that for sure? I'm not disagreeing...just wondering if we are pushing it if we assume that. We know from the TFA novelization that Snoke was watching him from a very early age, and quite possibly had his nasty Toilet Monster ( a registered trademark of @FN-3263827) claws in him even then. We know that in TFA Leia jumps from Han's "There's too much Vader in him," straight to "That's why I wanted him to train with Luke." Did she want Ben to train with Luke because she feared he'd become like Vader, or because he already was acting like Vader? What does Leia mean in Bloodline when she says Han "calmed her down about Ben"? Calmed her down when she found out she was pregnant? Calmed her down when she found out he was FS? Calmed her down when he showed DS tendencies???

    This time rereading Bloodline gave me an eerie feeling about Ben simply by Leia's weird mentions of him. Not all of them are like this, but how about the one with Han wanting to mentor young pilots since he couldn't mentor Ben...because...? Because Ben has to go be a Jedi? Because Ben can't be left out in society? Because Ben just thinks his dad's job is dumb? I think it's the rather short, somewhat blank mentions of him like the one above that shake me the most. They remind me of how she thinks of Vader being her father--her thoughts only touch on it, then end, as if the thoughts are painful and she can't dwell on them.

    That's why some of little Ben's ancient macaroni art on her walls at her apartment would have comforted me a bit. :D It would reassure me that at one time he was a happy little boy, and she fondly remembers that.
     
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  4. PrincessLeiaCB3

    PrincessLeiaCB3 The Princess that was Promised
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    Hopefully we will find out more about that period of time between Aftermath: Empire's End and Bloodline after TLJ is released.

    There are so many things I want to know:

    I want to know where on Earth was Luke during the Aftermath novels timeframe. (And for this effect, I do want to know as well where on a GFFA he was between TESB and ROTJ). I have a feeling that they haven't shown that yet since in some way, they haven't disclosed what actually happens with the other Force-sensitives we know that are around - e.g. Ahsoka, Maul, Kanan and Ezra. We suspect Ahsoka is done in Malachor, but we do not know for sure. We suspect Maul will find his end in the Duel of the Fates 2.0 in Tatooine, but we don't know yet. What will happen with Kanan and Ezra? Could they be around by the time Death Star 2.0 is destroyed in Endor? We shall see.

    I want to know when Ben is sent to be trained by Luke. Why Leia is so detached from her - as far as we know - only son? Does that ring she wears with two stones mean something at all?

    I want to know too when she and Luke find out about their mother - since she is mentioned in Bloodline.

    As Palpatine et al would say: "a great many things (I want to know about)" LOL.
     
    #64 PrincessLeiaCB3, Feb 1, 2017
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  5. Choose Light

    Choose Light Mando Maven and Brown Eyes Backer

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    All great ideas!!! I had a sudden vision of a new SW TV show, "Where in the GFFA is Luke Skywalker?" (Anyone remember the old cartoon "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego"? OK, never mind. :p)
     
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  6. SkywalkerGirl

    SkywalkerGirl Force Sensitive

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    Bloodline
    Aftermath: Life Debt
    Catalyst

    To me are all must reads. And if you are a Princess Leia devotee "Shattered Empire: Part III" there are also a few other novels books I think deserve their due (Rey's Story, and Lost Stars especially) and a novel I look forward to is Aftermath:Empires End
     
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  7. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    she has certainly been the character we can focus more scrutiny on! hahaha
    i have the Asohka book ~ i will try to get around to reading it. i just need to make the commitment!

    agreed ~ seems like there's just a lot of hurt and as a result tentativeness. and yet it's so lovely now to watch Han look for her when the shuttle lands because you know he wants to see her and is glad when he does.

    right? this is becoming more nuanced than i had considered before. we've been working from a very fair assumption that something was wrong with Ben--enough that Leia knew about it and thought Luke could help. whether it actually manifested in anything Ben did, though, is up for grabs. maybe she merely sensed the Darkness around him and was taking preventative measures.

    these passages in Bloodline disturb me as well. but again, with objectivity now more firmly in place, i look at these moments as possibly: Ben was independent-minded and not the least bit interested in what his parents did; there was a disconnect between him and Han (for no more menacing reason than simply Ben had other interests). we know Ben was likewise not interested in Leia's politics (though we know he gets political later). it could all have simply been that he was most interested/focused on his FS, which no one but Luke could help him with, and about which Leia feared the Dark--especially if she sensed Snoke's influence at work.

    from Ben's pov, he might have taken this shunting in the most negative way: that he was defective, unwanted, and feared, when really his parents were just concerned but didn't see cause to intervene more intimately.

    we do get that one moment of her recollecting him coming in dirty and disheveled from out playing with his friends--which completely challenges a lot of head canon out there that he was a lonely isolated child. though he certainly is a lonely isolated adult.

    i think the timeline of sending Ben away will tell us a lot about what was going on there, which is why they haven't divulged it. it goes back to: if he was sent very late in adolescence, there's a good change he was already well on his way to being corrupted--as opposed to if he was sent as a young boy or teenager.
     
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  8. BB-Rey

    BB-Rey Guardian of the Zoetrope

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    You'll love Ahsoka, @FN-3263827. Though, admittedly I'm not too far along but have really enjoyed it. She's such a great character!

    Something I just thought of while reading each of your posts is the bit with Leia sending away Ben but, maybe she sent him to Luke to protect him from Snoke and at the same time so he could train Ben to become a Jedi? As we really don't have any idea rather the New Jedi Order was formed within the New Republic or not. Perhaps it was being brought back on Devaron until the government was reestablished with the perception the Old Jedi Order wanted control over the galaxy. Then eventually somehow Snoke tracked down Luke and Ben and brought him over to the Dark Side and took him away to be his pupil. Then he eventually returned with the Knights of Ren and destroyed everything Luke tried so hard to rebuild. Then Luke went missing...

    I also saw on the timeline it points to a five year gap between when Ben goes to train with Luke and Rey being left on Jakku...
     
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  9. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    thanks! i will definitely put it by my bedside this month.

    the sense we get from Bloodline is that Luke has kept his Force affairs far far away from the Senate and the New Republic. he doesn't seem to have any interest in the politic climate whatsoever and is doing his own thing independent of their scrutiny.

    if the timeline says that, it's wrong. because we don't know when Ben went to train.
    he was supposed to be with Luke 5 or 6 years before the events of TFA, but that's all we know.
    by then Rey was at least 13-14 years old and if her Forceback memory is accurate, she'd already been on Jakku for 8-9 years possibly.
     
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  10. BB-Rey

    BB-Rey Guardian of the Zoetrope

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    Great idea, then maybe I'll feel motivated to read too. Haha

    That's interesting and that could line up with not wanting to line up with the New Republic and galaxy at large until things are better under control and there's not as much division within the senate as well as a strong threshold of Jedi. Which makes sense in a lot of ways with what happened before.

    Hmm. That's probably true. It's interesting though, I just thought about it too that Leia mentions Snoke having watched over Ben from the beginning, wouldn't Luke know this too? Perhaps if their were a five year gap between Ben going to be with Luke then this gives Luke enough time to have a love interest to have a child to then hide her on Jakku while hiding her from Snoke. As surely he'd see her potential as possibly even greater than that of Ben with potentially having two Force Sensitive parents.

    At the same time, we just don't know. It's fun to speculate. Hopefully Empire's End will give a bit more insight and clues into these mysteries.
     
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  11. PrincessLeiaCB3

    PrincessLeiaCB3 The Princess that was Promised
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    Lol had to google the Carmen Sandiego stuff but I think the TV Show for Luke would be fun!

    Also a Princess Leia devotee should look at

    Princess Leia comic mini-series (though it had some issues, but overall it's OK)
    Han Solo comic mini-series
    A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel and the Farm Boy novelisation by Alexandra Bracken
    Star Wars Annual # 2
    The current Star Wars comics, especially the crossover with Darth Vader at Vrogas Vas
    Moving Target book
    Before The Awakening (the Poe Dameron section)
    Poe Dameron ongoing comic
    Star Wars Rebels Season 2

    and so on. I've heard there is a bit on "Heir to the Jedi" regarding Princess Leia, but I've had a hard time reading that one.

    The Backstories about Princess Leia is OK, but it is missing some ongoing details we have learned from the comics so far.

    Indeed!

    Just for my benefit, I hope in the future they write a junior novelisation on how Cassian become Fulcrum and interacted when younger with Ahsoka, Bail and of course the Princess. In some ways, he was quite devoted to the Rebellion as the Princess.

    Agree.

    There is a really good piece posted about it:

    http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2016/10/luke-skywalker-hero-who-ran-away/
     
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  12. Alaskan Nerfherder

    Alaskan Nerfherder Rebel Official

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    I have to say that I am surprised how much I like The Force Awakans novelization. I'm half way through and am very impressed. There is a lot of stuff not in the movie, plus a lot of characters as well!
    I can see myself reading this book again.
     
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  13. TheWhiplash

    TheWhiplash Rebel Commander

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    I have to notice that Sith Lords is good enough to read it again. A half of my collection is in Bulgarian and it is funny to get involved in SW Universe not in English :cool: . That book was the first one I`ve read (spent half a year to find New Dawn in local stores, 'cause I`m lazy enough to order them online and wait for weeks :mad:) and it would be great to read it again. It reminds me TCW movie because of plot integrity and action.
     
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  14. Fowz

    Fowz Clone

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    I'm on my first read through the novel universe and, although The Phantom Menace was pretty much a word-for-word description of the movie, I'm currently enjoying Attack of the Clones as more of a fleshed out feeling story in its own right.

    So to recap, that's a nay for TPM and a yay for AotC rereads. ;)
     
  15. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    I just started reading Tarkin, which is the first of the new EU books I've read. I started to read Aftermath back when it came out but I just really didn't like it from the get-go, I forget what it was exactly but I just didn't care for the writing style and put it away after a chapter or two. I'm enjoying Tarkin so far but it's not quite what I expected, as in there's quite a bit of PT imagery. Lots of talk about the Clone Wars, Geonisis, droid fighters, etc. Which makes sense as the book begins about 5 years after Ep. III but I'm just not really that big into the PT and Tarkin is a character I identify with the OT so much that it just seems weird having him mixed up with PT stuff. I was kind of the same way when I read Outbound Flight, which even though I've been a huge Thrawn fan since his trilogy first hit shelves I didn't get around to reading the prequel until a couple of years ago. I knew that it was about Thrawn and Outbound Flight, but I had no clue it was going to basically be a PT book complete with Anakin and Obi-Wan the Trade Federation... the works. It was kind of strange reading about Thrawn, who I associate with OT characters but in the post-Endor era, mixed up with all the PT business. But it was an enjoyable book, and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Thrawn book.

    I've only read one of the PT novelizations and it was TPM. It's been a long time (as in when the film was still in theaters) but as I recall it did have one interesting scene that wasn't in the movie, something about Anakin and an injured Tusken Raider or something, but I don't know if there was anything else noteworthy about it. The OT novelizations are kind of a strange read, I recently read them for the first time in decades after my brother bought me that snazzy Barnes and Noble black leather Vader volume that has the three novels in it. They were written by people who hadn't seen the film and only read a script, and for the first two novelizations these guys were obviously not privy to things like Vader being Luke's father, Leia being his brother, etc. As a result, as in a lot of the early EU like Splinter and the Marvel comics, there's dialogue that makes it sound like Anakin and Vader were two different people from ANY point of view, talk about romantic feelings and sexual tension between Luke/Leia, Yoda is blue and a lot of other things that would probably make somebody who is really anal about canon have a stroke. But as a fan those things are funny and interesting to read, plus they include some scenes which didn't make the film. So basically, it's not a word-for-word description of the movie, but you might wish it was. Or you might find it entertaining for that reason, who knows.
     
  16. ObsKenobs

    ObsKenobs Clone Trooper

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    All of Luceno's stuff is dense, but it's usually excellent. Both Tarkin and Catalyst were able to tell stories that felt distinctly Star Wars, while exploring different facets of the universe. I'd also say most of the comics are infinitely rereadable, even the mini-series.

    Edit: Actually, although it's B-canon, I'd still have to say my favorite book of the bunch is the Revenge of the Sith novelization. That may be weird to say, but I've never read a Star Wars book that loved the themes and characters of the saga more. It redeems the prequels for me by wonderfully crafting a more narratively coherent story that fills in the plot holes of the film.

    It brings pathos and emotional logic to Anakin's choice to turn to the dark side. We get to see just how Palpatine has maneuvered Anakin into a vulnerable place. Anakin's relationship with Obi-Wan has never been represented better. Instead of the "impatient master/impertinent apprentice" dynamic that's in the moves and Clone Wars, you get a mutual relationship of respect and warmth where the two do really feel like brothers.

    This was also the first book that took the time to develop Count Dooku's character in a meaningful way. His motive, intentions, and evil are clearly laid out. I doubt than anyone can read his passages in the book without gaining even more respect for the character.

    The political situation of Jedi is more fleshed out. The book takes time to illustrate just how much the war has maneuvered them past their mandate and the values they have violated to bring peace back to the galaxy. It really conveys an atmosphere of paranoia among the Jedi, which lends to the doubts Anakin has been feeling about the Order in the first place.

    It's just a cutting, emotional piece of work, and it really deserves a higher place on everyones bookshelf.
     
    #76 ObsKenobs, Mar 15, 2017
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  17. The Hero With No Fear

    The Hero With No Fear Resident Sand Hater

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    I'd recommend rereading the Aftermath trilogy, the TFA novelization, and any other sequel trilogy novel this fall, in preparation for TLJ. Speaking of which, does anybody recommend the TFA short stories?
     
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  18. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    if you're talking about the mostly younger-audience-geared stuff, some of them have been fun--maddeningly unrevealing, but when you can't get enough, they fill a need. same with the comics.
     
  19. The Hero With No Fear

    The Hero With No Fear Resident Sand Hater

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    Thanks! I'm more looking for good reads that have to do with the ST, rather than informative ones. I'm thinking of getting into the comics this summer. Would you recommend the Poe Dameron or Shattered Empire comics?
     
  20. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    i like the Poe Dameron comic. it goes a little off the rails, but it's fun. There was a Han Solo mini recently that was also good (pre ST though). a lot of people love Shattered Empire. i'm on the fence about it, so maybe someone else can recommend.
    the other stories i'm referring to are books like Before the Awakening and the Captain Ithano book which are just ST stories about some of the characters. they're entertaining (mostly written for young teenagers), but again, enjoyable if you just want some Star Wars and aren't picky about it.
     
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