REVIEW: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Fate of the Jedi: Ascension by Christie Golden loses the ability to keep readers by glorifying domestic abuse.

Around the halfway point in the book, Ben Skywalker forces his way into Vestara Khai’s room aboard the Jade Shadow. When she won’t reveal what she is doing, he takes her wrists forcefully. Vestara fights back and Ben strikes her cheek with a Force-slap. They continue to struggle until Ben restrains her with her sheets. He then reads the letters she had written. Ben feels shameful for reading her letters, but not for striking or restraining Vestara. A few minutes later, the two cuddle in bed and kiss. Vestara references the latter part of the evening towards the end of the book-with no mention of Ben’s violent behavior. The message? Domestic violence is okay. It will end in romance.

It’s not off base to think that Vestara is used to this type of behavior. Her father refers to her mother as a “good Sith wife” and acts condescending to her. She acts like someone who may have experience in that type of situation. Vestara simply gives up and allows Ben to do as he wishes.

The scene feels surreal. The concept that Ben Skywalker could strike a woman is downright insane. Expanded Universe fans know that Ben did not grow up in an abusive household. It’s beyond out of character. Luke and Mara’s son would never dream of doing such an act.

Character issues are the minor problem. The fact remains that domestic abuse is part of Star Wars with NO CONSEQUENCES. At no point should domestic abuse be seen as a good thing. It’s bad enough that women are continuously shoved down in the Expanded Universe. Adding a scene of positive abuse alienates the female audience even more.

I expect more from Del Rely and Lucas Books. That they allowed this horrible sequence to be published is disturbing and inexcusable.

Star Wars is ultimately the story of good versus evil. Heroes do not beat their spouses. They do not shove the people they care for down in a fit of rage. That is the activity for a horrible villain. Showing a future hero- the son of Luke Skywalker, no less- hurt the woman that he claims to care about in anger hurts the character, the brand and the book.

Ascension is plagued with side plots that would have been interesting if written properly. For example, the showdown between Imperial Head of State Jagged Fel and Former Chief of State Natasi Daala brings in an element that any fan of Fel will love. The stilted dialogue and glossed over space battle detract from what could have been a fantastic sequence. This is just one of the many sequences Golden doesn’t describe. She changes or adds in details with little or no explanation to fit the situation.

The book lacks a feeling of “doom” or “worry.” Abeloth is still dull. The little bit of characterization we seen makes her appear pathetic and petty. The Lost Tribe of the Sith are just unbelievable. Beings that escape isolation after thousands of years do not understand the galaxy enough to pose a threat. Their archaic lifestyle is highlighted at the beginning of the book with ceremony and masquerade. Reading these events was like watching a group of believers greet aliens for the first time or the Ewoks fawning over C-3PO.

The editing in Ascension is better than it was in Allies. Golden does use far too many clauses and repeats information a little too much. Her constant use of food becomes distracting. How many times must she discuss food in one book? Her understanding of the characters in the Star Wars universe often falls flat, especially regarding dialogue. Too many lines sound like they belong in the mouths of other people. When adding to the Star Wars universe, it’d vital to have an understanding of at least the voice of a character.

It’s clear that Vestara and the Lost Tribe of the Sith are her favorites, as they are all more developed and more intelligent than the other characters. Vestara, for example, continuously outsmarts Luke. A girl of her age could not logically take down Luke Skywalker.

Golden also uses far too many movie tie-ins. The constant references seem more like a way to say, “Yes, I do know Star Wars” than to provide amusement like Allston’s references did in Conviction.

Readers wanting a fun, interesting, worthy story in the Star Wars universe should stay away from Ascension. Its contents have forever marred the beloved fandom with an ugly, harmful moment of glorified domestic abuse.

And quite frankly, that’s enough of a reason not to buy the book.

Captain America: Too Perfect to be Interesting

Tonight I met another member of “The Avengers.” At first, I was charmed by Steve Rogers, the man who wanted to serve his country but wasn’t physically able. Too soon, though, Rogers became the man with no faults. He ran the fastest. He could swim like a dolphin. His reflexes never failed. His aim was never off. Women wanted him. He sweat liquid gold (okay not really, but you get my point).

He was boring. In the beginning, his friend Bucky mentioned that Rogers had something to prove, but it was never mentioned again. The audience could infer that he wanted to live up to his father, who died of mustard gas or that he wanted to prove that a scrawny kid from Brooklyn could defend America. This message wasn’t clear, though.

Rogers physical weaknesses weren’t enough to give him any real faults. (SPOILER) Even when Bucky died, it wasn’t a weakness on Roger’s part. It’s not like there was anything he could do. That’s not a weakness; it’s an unpleasant fact of life- and war. (END OF SPOILER)

It was too easy for Captain America to beat his enemies. Of course, he is going to win, but it’d be nice to see him break a sweat. He took some punches, but they didn’t make a real difference. At least Iron Man and Thor have faults. Their faults are part of why they are interesting characters. Even a fear of heights would have given Captain America a little depth.

The problem with a perfect superhero is that nothing is a challenge. When he can easily beat any foe, the audience has no reason to worry. There’s no suspense. Why would I watch a movie if I know that all it will take is a couple punches and the hero wins? Even if I know the hero will survive, the fights needs be difficult. I want to see a hero have to use all of his wits. I want to see a hero fight to overcome some weakness or personal flaw in order to beat the villain. That is interesting storytelling. Watching the perfect person kick the enemy a few times and declare victory is boring. It adds nothing to the character.

The movie was tolerable. The villain, Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, wasn’t fleshed out enough. It was clear that he was nuts, but there was no real information about the tesseract he uncovered. I admit, I found it amusing that Red Skull resembled a Yuuzhan Vong without tattoos or implants. The best parts were the war bond rallies and seeing so much of Howard Stark.

The entire movie felt like a quick briefing of who Captain America is. The end is rushed, and leaves out some information. (Spoiler: Like exactly how he survived the crash.)

Captain America is essentially what the army made him: the perfect tool of patriotism and physical ability. Unfortunately, no personality was injected into his veins.

Paul S. Kemp's "Deceived" places readers in mind's eye of a Sith

Within the first 35 pages of Paul S. Kemp’s “Star Wars The Old Republic Deceived,” Darth Malgus reveals to readers the reason why there will always be Sith in the galaxy. Malgus needs to kill and reveals that he would kill allies if necessary. His bloodlust appears in several parts of the books, like when he mentions the need for constant war. Following Malgus through “Deceived” is like watching footage of a video game. He’s slightly overpowered, and determined to finish his mission.

In addition to the Sith, Kemp introduces a down-on-his-luck smuggler, Zeerid Korr, and a conflicted Jedi Knight, Aryn Leneer. Zeerid isn’t as rough and dangerous as other smugglers seen in the Star Wars universe. Zeerid’s need for credits is honorable, making him the most sympathetic character in the book. This difference provides a refreshing feel to smugglers as a group. Readers wanting to see a powerful or traditional Jedi will be disappointed. While Aryn goes through realistic human emotions, her decisions lack the control and dedication associated with the Jedi.

The smuggler, trooper and Imperial agent classes are referenced, making the book a strong tie-in for “Star Wars The Old Republic.”

The books plot flows well and is easy to follow. Kemp describes all of the encounters in a way that fans of lightsaber fights and aerial dogfights will enjoy.

“Deceived” is ultimately a book for the Sith. Malgus’s overpowered actions make some parts of the book seem surreal and over the top. Fortunately, the excellent characters balance out these flaws, making “Deceived” a worthy addition to the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

When "World of Warcraft" helps a marriage

Playing “World of Warcraft” helps my marriage.

A couple of times a year I see an article around the internet discussing how a husband’s gaming addiction resulted in divorce. Friends talk about how their significant other spends more time on their Playstation than with them. I knew one man, one of the most considerate people I knew, who ranted for 20 minutes about how his girlfriend wouldn’t get a job. She sat around and played MMORPGs all day and night. Yes, video game addictions exist, but not everyone who plays has a problem.

My husband and I play “World of Warcraft” together. It’s actually saved us money. Paying $14.99 a piece to play each month is cheaper than going out when we need something to do. We still go out, but not as much. It gives us something to do together. We don’t play every day, but several times a week. We tend to play PVP more than run raids or dungeons.

I wouldn’t call us “hardcore gamers,” even though we play a MMORPG several times a week. We don’t follow WoW news. We don’t know everything about the game even though we’ve played it off and on for several years. As we play, we pick up details of the lore, but neither one of us can tell you the whole story.

I suppose we fall under the “casual gamer” umbrella.

Could I become a hardcore gamer? Sure, but I don’t want to. Video game lore tends to exaggerate circumstances a little too much for me. I prefer to keep a touch of realism to the fandoms I follow closely.

At some point, BioWare will release “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” My husband has followed this game for years. And while I fully expect him to become a “hardcore gamer,” I won’t. As much as I love Star Wars, my passion lies in the post-ROTJ era. He wants to try all of the classes. We plan to roll two characters to run around together. My vote is on Chiss Imperial Agent. Anyone who knows where my passion lies in the Star Wars Expanded Universe can guess why.

More couples are playing MMORPGs together. It’s a hobby, that when managed correctly, can bring two people closer together. Those hours spent running battlegrounds or raids are an effective bonding activity. It takes some work to find a class balance between the two of you. For example, I know of a couple who ran as a healer and tank for years. When someone would criticize the tanking or healing, the other would jump to defend, regardless if the offending party was right or wrong. Often the group would break up and that was it. We tend to stick to DPS classes.

A stigma comes out when some players find out that a woman is controlling the character. I’ve been asked if my husband helps me play, or if I play because of him. The thought that I actually enjoy the game seems foreign to some players. Some players assume the reason I’m not a hardcore gamer is because I am a woman. I am not a hardcore game because I don’t want to be. It has nothing to do with what sex I am. I’d rather spend hours reading about the war with the Yuuzhan Vong or Corran Horn’s training with the Rogue Squadron than the details behind Deathwing the Destroyer’s return.

It's all about choice. I play the game because I enjoy it and it provides my husband and I with a fun hobby. It's better than sitting in silence in front of the television watching sitcom reruns. I can't tell you the story behind the Lunar Festival or Jaina Proudmore, but I know how to be that “F****** mage” people rant about the battleground and that’s enough for me.

Forceclap? Invisibility? Not in my books!

Imagine if Obi-Wan Kenobi slipped into stealth mode during his fight with Darth Maul in “The Phantom Menace.” He creeps up behind the Sith Apprentice and takes him down with a “finishing movie,” ending one of the best lightsaber fights in the franchise. Fast forward to “Empire Strikes Back.” Luke Skywalker turns invisible during his duel with Darth Vader. He appears suddenly and stuns him, stopping Vader from attacking right away. Horrible right?

Yet, we see character’s turning invisible in “Star Wars: The Old Republic” and it works.

Now, this type of action is fine in a video game. That being said, I hope that it never finds its way into a book or movie. Imagine if Jaina had gone invisible, decapitated her brother and that was it. Many readers would throw down “Invincible” in annoyance at such a cheap final confrontation.

The events of the Star Wars video games are a part of canon. However, only some of what is in the video games works in canon.

In a MMORPG, it’s necessary to even out the classes somewhat for fair play. A smugglers needs to possess an ability to render a Jedi Consular helpless. Without considering those, the game loses subscribers. Video games allow players to complete impossible feats. These feats cannot find their way into canon, though, or the franchise will fail.

Drew Karpyshyn said in his May 18 blog entry, “To put it bluntly, Revan in the book will not be the uber-powered death machine you controlled at the end of the video game. You might have min-maxed your character to smack Darth Malak down in seconds without breaking a sweat, but in a book that battle would have been a brutal, hard fought affair spread over multiple pages. In a video game it’s fun to kill hundreds of Sith Masters, but in a book that would just be boring. It would suck out any drama or conflict or tension, and as an author I have no interest in writing that.”

He can’t make it any clearer. As fun as it is to watch your DPS fly up as dozens of enemies fall to your feet, that’s not literature. It’s a game. If Luke Skywalker defeated the Lost Tribe of the Sith by annihilating them in one fell swoop in the Fate of the Jedi books, it’d be a travesty.

I’ve spoken before about the importance of suspense in storytelling. A battle in which two opponents have to work to survive is more gripping than throwing a thermal detonator. Are there times for that in books and movies? Yes. We all remember the infamous scene in “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Indy shoots the man in the market rather than engage in a lengthy fight. The scene worked there, but that man was not the main villain.

Some of the best encounters in movies and books occur when the hero is beaten down or her weakness exploited. She finds the opponents weakness and uses it. Obi-Wan Kenobi took advantage of Darth Maul’s smug behavior and overconfidence to defeat him to defeat him.

While I’m not arguing the decision to consider the overall story in “Star Wars: The Old Republic” canon, I don’t want to read about Jedi stunning an enemy with a Force Leap. Keep that to the game.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

In Defense of the New Jedi Order

The New Jedi Order is my favorite set of Star Wars books. Is it perfect? No. Is each book in the series great? No, but as an overall series, it delivers.

Many fans do not like the series, which is fine. You have the right to dislike whatever you want. In no way am I bashing those who don’t like the series.

I’ve asked many people why they don’t like the series out of curiosity. Unfortunately, due to the internet’s high troll population, most conversations fall flat. Some people answered though, and their answers weren’t that surprising.

One of the biggest complaints about NJO is how much darker it is, usually linked with character death. The fact that the series is darker is one of the most appealing parts of it to me. Many of the books published previously seem a little too predictable. When a reader knows that the main cast and their closest friends will make it out of the situation alive every time, there’s no sense of suspense. Some type of suspense keeps readers turning pages. Was anyone worried that Thracken Sal Solo would actually harm Jacen, Jaina and Anakin in the Corellian Trilogy? We knew Han would escape Nil Spaar during the Black Fleet Crisis. There’s nothing wrong with having safe characters in most franchises. It doesn’t work in Star Wars, however. The universe is just too big for a large, untouchable cast. I’m not saying that the authors need to off characters left and right; that’s a mistake. Pointlessly killing a major character doesn’t do a story any good. Only when a character’s death fits the story and the character should authors do it.

Killing Chewbacca and Anakin worked for the series. Chewbacca’s let us know that characters close to the main cast were no longer untouchable and gave the series a specific tone. Anakin’s broke the idea that everyone was safe. Killing of a young, direct descendent of the main three threw the idea in the trash compactor. However, killing a character isn’t the only action that makes a series darker. Hopelessness, mass destruction and impossible odds add to this. Many characters hit rock bottom, something many are familiar with at some point in our lives. Sometimes that’s what it takes the situation to improve.

Character angst appeared more in NJO. Doubts, fears and other negative emotions ran rampant. It made the books feel more real. There’s no way to make a Star Wars book seem 100 percent realistic and I don’t want that to happen. Han Solo needs to have a ridiculous accurate for his age. Booster Terrik needs to be the old man running a Las Vegas-esque Star Destroyer. Without these types of characteristics, Star Wars loses itself. The advantage of bringing in the character angst is that readers understand the characters better. We become emotionally involved in more people. During “Traitor” by Mathew Stover, fans became locked into Jacen’s mindset through his breaking on Yuuzhan’tar. Had I not seen into his mind, felt his grief and pain, I wouldn’t have been as moved by his actions at the end of “The Unifying Force” by James Luceno.

The other major complaint I’ve seen regards the Yuuzhan Vong. I find them fascinating. They are religious fanatics. Anyone who’s tried to reason with a fanatic knows how difficult one is to deal with. The Vong weren’t defeatable like past enemies. New weapons, strategies and ideas were brought in. This type of villain added something different to Star Wars. Only so many superweapons can find their way into the books. Organic ships pose a new type of challenge to fighter pilots, for example. With such daunting odds, every successful encounter felt that much sweeter. Fighting a Sith and warlord every other book is boring and tedious. We need variety.

Is a long, dark series something that Del Rey should pump out regularly? Absolutely not. Fans need the light-hearted, movie-esque plots. Books with a large amount of “untouchables” aren’t unenjoyable. Throwing in a story arc that breaks the pattern is necessary, however, to keep the series unpredictable and interesting. The variety of fun, semi-series and dark story arcs makes the overall franchise appealing to more fans. Those who enjoy darker tales have something to read, as do those that like the fun, Big Three dynamic.

Another way NJO delivers is in the character cast. Michael Stackpole, for example, pushed Corran Horn forward in “Dark Tide II: Ruin.” Readers hadn’t seen Horn prominently for a while. Tahiri Veila, a fan favorite from the Junior Jedi Knight series, turned into a deep, well developed character. We also gained characters like Jagged Fel, who’s since his first line over comm waves at Ithor become an integral part of Jaina’s life. Many of the authors dedicated more page time Wedge, Jaina, Jacen, Han, Mara and many others to character development. “Dark Journey” by Elaine Cunningham showed us the darker side of grief and brought fans closer to Jaina. After “Conquest” by Greg Keyes, Anakin became an even larger hero for many. By focusing on so many characters, something possible in such a long series, fans grew closer to more beings. These deepened our emotional bond with the franchise.

After rereading NJO, I felt more connected to the entire Star Wars universe. I felt like I understood the characters better, which in turn made parts of Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi more logical. I find rereading a book more enjoyable the than first go-around. When you reread, you notice little details missed before. You aren’t running to the finish. You notice the strengths and the flaws.

No book is perfect. A story that seems perfect to one person is horrible to another. While we should expect a quality product, it’s okay not to like every detail of a book or series. As fans, we need to respect people’s viewpoints.

Therefore, its okay with me that you don’t like NJO, just don’t bash me (and others) for liking it.

Star Wars eBooks Coming June 28

On June 28, fans of the older Star Wars novels will finally have the opportunity to purchase the Random House books for their ereaders. This news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. George Lucas has spent his career staying on top of the new technological trends. With more and more consumers purchasing ebooks, the logical move for Lucas is to permit digital sales.

With how many titles that are available in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, ebooks provide the perfect solution to those looking for particular titles. Many bookstores do not carry every single title. Starting June 28, fans can download that copy of “Solo Command” no bookstore in the area carries.

The availability of these titles will also aid those new to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Soon, fans won’t have to wait for their Amazon orders to arrive to enjoy the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Mara Jade, Darth Reven and other beloved characters.