SPOILER PHASMA NOVEL

After the first mention of Rae Sloane I thought she was alive, but the second mention: "Brendol has been preparing for a big meeting with Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and the other leaders of the First Order - well, the first set of leaders." made me think that Rae Sloane is dead. But maybe that's my interpretation.

I agree on the timeline, it's a little bit weird. Also strange because you should think the LFL Story Group would check that kind of things.

 

That's a interesting way you could take it. Especially the 1930 Germany reference. Sloane fought Gallius Rax for the power for "her" Empire/First Order, and giving away "the keys" to Snoke, for me doesn't seem like a thing she would do, especially after she had to fight so hard to get to the power. But that's pure speculation off course. Rae Sloane is one of my favorite characters in the Canon novels and I really hope to get to see/read her story in the FO!

 

Howdy fellas... so I'm readin' the last couple posts an' the mention of Grand Admiral Sloane comes up an' it set me to wonderin'...last we know of her, as yunz said, was she went into the Unknown Regions at the end of Empire's End...so I went to Wookipedia and the last section on her mentions Hux's meeting. It Also says that this took place Ten Years Before the FO attack on Tuuanall (sp?) village. I take that as she is still there, alive and well an' that we still do not know all... er, obviously.

Just tryin' to be a help is all.

 

a lot sort of rides on when Brendol was killed, but i think it's a house of cards narratively.
if Phasma waited 10 years to kill him that makes no sense. if he's been dead for 10 years that makes so sense.

either way, the events are hard to reconcile or make sense of. : o p

 

i have those same questions. this feels so completely out of sync with the previous books or what we've been told about the FO and Phasma.
hard to reconcile it all. and i really feel strongly this was a story Dawson just conveniently converted into Star Wars because it's clearly not built with Star Wars aesthetics in mind. chickens, bathrooms, nuclear powerplant meltdowns. neh.

Certain Point of View will be interesting maybe especially because we will be invited to question the legitimacy of the narratives. : D

 

First Audiobook experience for me since the first Darth Bane book many years ago... I have to say, I'm not sure I would have stuck with it had I been reading it.

For fans of the character I can see how this might have been kick-ass... but, sadly, to me this was a retrospective explanation of why she appeared to be such a pushover in TFA, and as such was done simply to apologise to her fans. To be fair, it does do that quite effectively, the reader is pummelled with stories that prove she is a self-serving bad-ass, so I think it does totally achieve that objective.

As with 'Tarkin' (which I only just recently finished) the narrative of the story has to be constructed in such a way that you had to care enough about the title character to read on, even though that character might not have been someone you actually cared about. 'Tarkin' achieved this by giving the character some nobility, and an inherited talent for being ruthless - the reader followed how that played out. 'Phasma' was similar in many respects, we got to understand how she was hardened to the core in the first acts of the book - it explains her character in a way that makes us understand, and perhaps empathize. Where 'Tarkin' then takes us on a Hunt with the character that helps us appreciate Tarkins skills - and makes sense of what we learned of him, Phasma takes a different route.... it just repeatedly reminds us that she is basically a stone-cold-b**** by showing us her hand in everyone's death.

I firmly believe the story was told from Vi's perspective for the most part because otherwise the reader would have become too disconnected from Phasma's own character about mid-way through the journey across the wasteland to want to read on.

So does the book achieve anything else, other than apologising to TFA fans for its underuse of Capt. Phasma? Well, yes, she is clearly as formidable a warrior as any in canon --- who lack force powers... the real test will be what they now do with her in TLJ... if she is not a major force to be reckoned with, then (for me at least) it will show that the Phasma novel was nothing more than the apology I mentioned before... if she is a bonafide ass-whoopin' First Order agent of the first ass-kickin' degree, then I'm happy to accept that the novel was as an interesting character exposition as Tarkin was.

Premise aside...hmmmm, no... I hate post-apocalyptic stories. They are desolate, painful, tedious and often as drawn out as such an existence might be - why does anyone enjoy that?

...

... It might sound like I'm ragging on it a lot... I'm not really, for what it is, "Phasma's early years" is interesting, and Cardinal's brief existential crisis towards the end is also interesting, I could just have done without the journey across the wasteland being as drawn out - we've seen Mad Max 2, and 3, we know.. life after an unexplained nuclear holocaust is bad.

Sympathy for the lead character dies off throughout the book, and hope for the character of Cardinal builds throughout.... I want to see Phasma get eff'd up, and somewhere in canon I want to see Cardinal rise again --- maybe a 'Hot Callus' thing!!

If I had to pick one moment I loved - when Siv closed the door at the Constar Reactor base... the story didn't dwell on the sound, the crashing, it just explained later that it was orbital bombardment from the Finalizer.... I think I liked that small reveal because that was the readers hope. She escaped --- after such a harrowing and drawn out existence, she was spared by seconds and went on to see her child grow, in a long, lonely, drawn out existence...

I gave it a 6 out of 10. I don't like post-apocalyptic stories, I think the book was an apology, not a necessity, and- for the audiobook at least - the change between male and female voices was jarring. I don't know what else January LeVoy has done, I'm sure she is okay, I just didn't like some of the male character voices she tried to portray.... doubtless this is an issue more often for people who do the Audiobooks.

I will read the comics.

 

I'm starting phasma in the next day or 2. I've really been looking forward to this one

 

Is this book worth checking out?

 

i don't think there are any really interesting reveals here and it's been (to me) one of the weakest of the new EU books.
you're probably better off reading the comic book, where you'll get much of the same sense of her character and personality (and some of the same background).
if you do get it, borrow it from a library. : D

 

I agree, it's one the weakest new canon books

 

Thanks!

 

I just got to the part when they're scavenging at the mining corp as they leave and phasma finds the helmet, and it sounds mandalorian. The part about it being painted with bright colors brings one thing to mind...sabine. I guess in their environment, brightly colored doesn't have to be that bright, but did anyone else suspect a hint to sabine' s ultimate fate?

 

....nope....

 

I really liked this book, it wasn't the best but I thought it was paced wonderfully and getting to see more of Brendol was cool. It also helped sell the idea that Phasma would look out for herself first (and thus give up the Starkiller Base defenses so easily).

I saw some people discussing the timeline, the main story with Cardinal has to take place within 6 years of TFA since the Resistance is a full functioning organization. So ten years before that would put the bulk of Phasma/Brendol's story at 18-24 years ABY. Brendol presumably died shortly after Phasma forged her armor (One year after joining the FO, 9 years before the Cardinal plot)based on her thoughts in that chapter. I don't think Sloane is alive by the time TFA takes place based on the way the dialogue about her was said.

The droids at those stations said it has been something like 150 years since the makers had left so that helmet would belong to someone who died many, many years before Sabine was ever even semen.

 

I have not yet read the book about the tall shiny stormtrooper woman. Is it a good book? Or not?

 

I liked it enough, definitely gives her some much needed development. Cardinal is also an interesting new character.

 

I'm currently reading the comic adaptation, I wonder how much of a difference it is from the novel.