But then I see Vader as a tragic character who's been betrayed by everyone, and I can't help thinking of the Jedi as self-serving unelected elitist spoon-benders making whoopee on Republic taxpayers' credits. It's an iconoclastic journo world-view. Believe me, Order 66 was long overdue. I have a couple of Jedi that I don't want to shoot on sight, but they're my own creations, so I could make them a little humbler and more aware of the consequences they create for others.
Two other as-yet-unmentioned points of utter retardation stick out here.
First, she refers to the Jedi as spoonbenders. AFAICT, that's a reference to real-like hucksters who fake having psychic powers to sucker the gullible into trusting them, usually in tandem with arguments that these powers were granted by God or gives them some other insight into the future. Unless I missed something in the movies and books, the Jedi actually have these abilities. That doesn't mean they should automatically be regarded as trustworthy, but comparing them with the likes of Uri Geller is just fucking ridiculous. Maybe Traviss thought that all those "Making of Star Wars" specials were in-universe and Jedi only defeat their enemies with the trickery of that mysterious government agency ILM.
Second, she later complains about these self-serving, elitist, arrogant characters being hard to write. I'm not sure how you can argue that the guys who put their powers at the beck and call of elected officials and placed themselves in danger's way for the good of the people for 25 millennia are selfish assholes, but I guess that's why I'm not a professional writer. Anyway, I'll stipulate to the arrogant and elitist charges to some extent, but Jesus, protagonists who suffer this sort of hubris yet are sympathetic are staples of literature going back to goddamn Ancient Greece. It's especially understandable in the context of members of an order that have been successfully defending an entire galaxy for 25,000 years and are guided in part by an ability to see the fucking future. How hard can it be to grasp that frame of mind, especially when there are so many real-life and fictional examples to draw inspiration from if your muse is wanting?
I don't have any huge ax to grind on this issue. I actually liked the first Republic Commando book, Hard Contact, a great deal; it captured the feel of the soldiers very well (in particular reminding me of various SAS accounts and biographies). Even the second (Triple Zero) wasn't bad, though the Mando'a fanboyism was already becoming apparent. The latter was why I skipped any following books -- it didn't take Jedi precognition to see that the Mandalorian worship was going to drown out the previous high points of the writing to the point of becoming inadvertent parody, particularly when the author conflates making up funny new words with creating a unique, fully realized culture. So reading these reviews of the latest Travissty wasn't a fucking shock, but it's disappointing all the same.
-- Joe Momma
It's okay to kiss a nun; just don't get into the habit.
