SPOILER Dark Disciple

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the fact that the book was able to accomplish things that they would not have been able to get away with on the show itself. I have always been puzzled by the way people seem to view anything outside of film or television as lesser forms of media. The fact is, different forms of media have different strengths and this novel capitalized on the strength of written word to really get inside the head of the characters and thus show even greater depth to their actions. For me anyway, this novel moved me in a deeper way than the story might have had it been handled on TCW all audiences friendly format. That's not to say that I think these episodes would have been weak if they had aired as planned, but they definitely would have been held back somewhat.

I am also glad they chose to end the story properly the way it was planned in the original scripts, the fact is we were not going to get any more episodes of TCW, so we should be happy that they still saw fit to give this story a proper conclusion.

I also have to agree on the author nailing the CW feel, I also heard the CW version of Anakin's voice while reading it. Frankly, that's one of the best things to have come out of TCW, whenever I read Anakin's dialogue in anything else, I simply substitute the CW voice actors voice naturally now, too bad Hayden Christiansen didn't have a less whiny sounding voice in the films.

 

I just finished reading this book and i loved it!

This book has very good plot and characters are great and it continue TCW well.
Christie Golden wrote Quinlan Vos and Ventress well and i love these little informations about their lives before Clone Wars. And Count Dooku was also well written and horrifying in some time.
That ending was sad but great, and I think that Ventress death was well written and it awake emotions.

Ps. I dont get it why someone complain about Ventress dies in book, books are awesome just like movies!

 

No, they are NOT.
relevant @5:49:

 

Okay, everybody have their own opinions, but i think that books are awesome`s and I know that many more think like that.
I think we should stop that argument now, some people like`s books, someone`s likes movies and lucky ones like both`s.

 

Name me one book that remained canon after 4/24/14.

None.

Now tell me how many movies and TV shows were removed from the canon on 4/24/14..

CW&Droids. All movies retained.

Like you, I used to enjoy reading the books.. because it was all we really had. I don't care how well written the book is you do NOT kill off a major character in a book. This was Vector Prime's epic fail and it was black eye on the whole EU.

 

I don't care if major characters die in books or movies, after all it's all Star Wars and i will enjoy both movies and books!

And Disney removed everything EU because they didn`t want to look those things when they do new stuff, so that they can have open hands and do what ever they wanna to do, but story group was made because they want that new books and comics can come out and now these new books are officially canon and it is very good thing.

And without books we would have so much less Star Wars stuff to enjoy and that wouldn`t be good thing at all!

 

I think you put to much importance on canon, while I like things to be canon as well, the quality of the story should also be considered as well. It did sadden me a bit that the EU was wiped, but I still don't regret reading all of the great stories that I read while the EU was still active, based upon your screen name I would wager that you still have some fondness for old EU stories as well.

Also, a key difference that PaKo already mentioned is that the Lucas Story Group is now monitoring all canon going forward. Previously, George Lucas and Lucasfilm would approve all kinds of EU material, some of it George himself even liked a great deal, but he never felt bound by it when telling his own stories(a stance I can't really blame him for, he did create Star Wars after all). Now with the Story Group, we have a concerted effort to maintain a single unified canon between all different kinds of media(maybe a little to concerted though, do mobile games like Star Wars Commander really need to be canon?).

I do understand your sentiment about Ventress dying in the book, but I don't really agree. The fact is, this story wasn't going to get told any other way after TCW was cancelled. With the book, at least the story still gets told in a way that the creators wanted. An interesting video to view if you haven't already is the Clone Wars Legacy video that Starwars.com produced.

So while it is disappointing that TCW was cancelled before its time, we should focus on the positives, namely that these stories are still getting told. In some cases there are additional positives to this as well. In Dark Disciple for instance, the novel format allows further character development and insight that we wouldn't have gotten in other forms of media. While I would have liked to have seen this story in TCW, I would venture to say that it wouldn't have had quite the same emotional impact on TCW as it did in the book, especially since the book wasn't constrained by some of the limitations that a show aimed primarily at younger audiences would have.

 

If they really wanted to open their hands and do whatever they wanna do, the first things they should have nuked are these:


Now I ain't saying get rid of TCW along with them. I would absolutely keep TCW. But if you get rid of these movies you're gonna have a lot more flexibility to the overall canon. But they didn't do that. Why? Because it's not about opening their hands.

It's because books don't hold a candle to movies. These crappy films are bulletproof in a way that no quality star wars book will ever enjoy,

The decision to kill Chewbacca off in Vector Prime had LFL's blessing. It was still a stupid decision; just like this one. Transferring this story to a book format should have given Filoni and Kennedy pause as to the original outcome. You want to do it on TV.. ok, we'll test the waters. But now we're doing it in a book that nobody outside of hardcore clone wars fans is going to read.
Seriously, think about it. Maul is left essentially still usable after Son of Dathomir(or so I've been told). Same mentality should have been applied to Ventress when the format changed.
And frankly right now the SBG is so focused on the OT era that I doubt they are even aware that Ventress just got killed off in this book.
As for the cannon I'm simply pointing out the reality I see when I walk into my local used book store. The fate of most star wars books is on display: use'em and lose'em. It's a little hard to find Zahn's books, naturally, but just about everything else is there. Nobody wants to read these books again like they watch the movies again and again.
And how do I know that? Because I also walk into my local used movie store. You would think with all the hate for the SE's that the store clerk would be sweeping 2004 dvd copies into the dust bin with the rest of the floor dirt when they intermittently fall off the shelves.. But it's quite the opposite. It's actually fairly difficult to locate any used copy of any Star Wars film. I had to hit about 5 shops before I could procure a used dvd copy of Revenge of the Sith.. and even that copy was just the full-screen version.(Yeah, I know you can find them on ebay; you can get anything short of guns&ammo on ebay)

 

And thus we get to the big problem here: The 'Lucas' mentality.

I don't know what to do with Boba Fett.. Let's kill him off.
I don't know what to do with Darth Maul.. Let's kill him off.
I don't know what to do with Jango Fett.. Let's kill him off.
I don't know what to do with Count Dooku.. Let's kill him off.
Wait! I still needed a mustache twirling villian!? Crap.. Get me a cricket with emphysema!

 

While I still really love Dark Disciple and its conclusion, I can't disagree on you point regarding George Lucas' tendency to unnecessarily kill of characters way to early.

 

I won’t write a review of “Dark Disciple”, since this post is preceded by others that already adequately express how I felt about the storyline and what I came away with (well written, best of the new canon thus far, PG-13 take, etc.)


That said, what I found interesting was Ventress’s take on the Force, and what ramifications it will have on future Star Wars storylines --- in the comics, novels, and movie universe. Think about it: Disney, et. al. are crafting a new universe, and they’re strategically feeding us tidbits about the new cannon.The writers don't just have free reign --- they discuss storyboards and have development discussions throughout the writing and editorial process.


The theme I picked up on in this book is that the Dark Side isn’t necessarily “evil”, it’s just another aspect of the Force (very Yin/Yang). It is possible to use it, but should be wielded carefully --- or else it’ll consume you. Ventress, from what I gathered, learned that balance.


Mind you, this isn’t the “Jedi way” --- the Dark Side is explicitly not to be used --- but this new “walking the fine line between dark and light” could provide a context for the new universe to have Force users, with light sabers, that aren’t Jedi OR Sith.


I’m also tying this into a possible future story arch for Ashoka, as I’ve heard that she’s “Neutral” (and wielding white sabers).


Anyway, just some thoughts.

 

Funny you mention this. I just finished the RotS novelization and I read Anakin and Obi Wan in their CW voices, too. It was pretty great, actually.

 

I finally got around to reading this book. Overall I thought it was good. I was disappointed at the ending because I wanted Vos and Ventress to survive and go live on some remote planet. But that's not the writers fault, and I guess it wasn't possible to fit that in with the rest of canon.

Also it was a bit stupid how Dooku was about 90% dead and Obi-Wan and Anakin were standing over him, and somehow he still got away. But I guess it shows that many Jedi's must have been getting frustrated and explains why Anakin was willing to kill Dooku in ROTS and why Mace Windu wanted to just kill Palpatine without a trail.

The idea of a balance between dark and light was one of the things I liked about the book. Besides Ventress, the only other character I can think of that might have achieved some sort of balance before he died is Darth Vader. And in both cases they caused a lot of destruction before they achieved balance. The Jedi Order may be a necessary evil in the Star Wars galaxy. Normal people have to learn do deal with their anger and fear, and may loose control sometimes, but normally don't do much damage. But a force sensitive person needs to be part of the repressive Jedi Order, because if they are ever overwhelmed by their fear and anger, they'll turn into murdering psychopaths who want to rule the galaxy.

 

At first I wasn't planning on buying this book not having watched most of The Clone Wars episodes. After thinking about it I did go to Netflix and watched all of the Ventress stories and decided to give the book a try. And I am glad I did. This is one of the top 2 or 3 books in the new canon so far. Yes it did copy the Anakin/Padme I turned to the dark side for you but other than that I was pleased with the story except the way Ventress was killed off. She did sacrifice herself for the one she loved but I think for who she is they should have done it in a different way or they could of had her survive and the both of them could've gone off like they talked about. I'd give this one an A -.

 

Hey guys new to the site. I've been coming here for a while to read people's opinions and speculation and such for TFA. ok ok on to dah book

I really enjoyed this book and thought that it fit well with TCW series. Loved Ventress's character like many others and was very sad to see her die. The only problem I had with this book was knowing eventually what had to happen before I even started reading it (the same issue the prequels faced). This book would have made a great anthology film and taken away some of the negativity towards the prequels. Seeing Hayden Christiensen and Ewan McGregor in a supporting role would have been pretty sweet for my eyes. The romance between Ventress and Vos seems very reminiscent of the interactions between Han and Leia. I do think that people would have freaked seeing Ventress's yellow lightsaber in a movie but ya that isn't going to happen for now anyway. Seeing Boba Feet in his late teens doing work (keeping the mask on the whole time) would have made a lot of grown men cry tears of joy. I hope to see Filoni given free range to at least co-write and direct an anthology film in the future because I really like his vision in TCW but more specifically in Rebels. He has created some of my favorite SW characters (Cad Bane, Asajj Ventress, Ashoka Tano, Sabine Wren).

I have been trying to fill my head with as much star wars info that I can waiting for this movie to come out, so, you will probably see me talk in the book forums and a little in the Rebels forums. Up to this point I have only read Tarkin and Dark Disciple.

 

Welcome to The Cantina and Star Wars News Network! Check out Lost Stars and Lords of the Sith for sure, the other books are all great, pretty good for Aftermath, but these two are some of the best. I love Tarkin, but it was replaced by Dark Disciple, and then Lost Stars