I am an addict. I admit it. I have to read the Star Wars Stuff, even though it is horrible, even though it's a bunch of loose plot strings that I don't care about (ooo, stalemates between Daala and the Jedi! Political posturing in the media! Slavery - what a hot bed issue! And don't forget, courtroom drama to save a minor character whose only redeeming quality is that she had a crush on a decent character who died 8 years ago in real time, 15 or so in book time! Exhilarating! Oh, wait, pages upon pages of Jedi and Sith saying, "you are going to trick me" "no, you are going to trick me" "No, you are going to try to trick me" "but you are going to trick me" - that will be great).
But I have to read - I'm faithful, I'm a believer. And so I picked up Vortex today.
It's not enough to make me stop. I'm stubborn. Denning too shall pass.
But, let me demonstrate very simply and briefly why Denning just doesn't get Star Wars, why the things that he touches are off.
On page 6 Jaina says, "They're SITH - all that matters to them is power...."
At the boom of the page, Jaina then says, "Luke Skywalker is STILL the powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan."
...
Do you see? Did you catch it? Isn't it glaring? Ever since "Star by Star" came out, Troy Denning and his power-hungry view has dominated the EU. Starting with Star by Star, there have been 31 novels written advancing the time line. Denning has written 10 of them - almost a third. And the driving force behind them have been power-power and MORE POWER.
:sigh:
Denning ought to know why this is off - he says it right there. But everything is about power, control - nothing but trying to assert power and control. Where is the fighting against evil? Oh, wait, we have to have POWER before we can fight evil.
And the acquisition of power just isn't all that compelling. Well, unless you are writing about Darth Bane - but that's a book, maybe a trilogy. Not 10 books... not setting the tone for 2 9-book series.
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