Worst EU Author

[Batman]

If memory serves it is explicitly stated in the novels that simply participating a Death Star battle gains you the right to have the DS patch on your fighter.

And KJA. On account of not having read any of her stuff I can't comment on Traviss' qualities as an author. While reports certainly indicate the EU would have been better off without her I will not pass judgement on work I never read.

And while The Crystal Star WAS bad like nobody's business, it's effect on the rest of the EU was-well there wasn't any, actually. Whereas KJA's stuff poisoned the EU from the word go.

[Anguirus]

Too bad Stackpole decided to overshadow Wedge with his own Gary Stu.

Um...I don't follow. Wedge is as important a character in the X-wing books as Corran. And in I, Jedi Corran, while undercover, and despite heavy use of the Force, is outflown and nearly obliterated by Tycho Celchu, who is like Wedge's sidekick.

Honestly, I rather like Stackpole's characters AND plotlines. It is his craftsmanship that sucks. The ends of his chapters are always, ALWAYS some huge and dramatic pronouncement from a character that sounds absolutely ridiculous. And I agree that many of his secondary characters are so poorly developed they might as well be absent. Still, I give him props for some clever plotlines (particularly Wedge's Gamble and Isard's Revenge) and highly effective moments (the death of Elegos in one of the early books of the NJO).

[consequences]

As long as you ignore the fact that he doesn't develop certain pilots at all for four books and then offs them. Seriously, there's exactly one Rogue with more than a couple sentences of story and interaction that he killed who didn't get brought back from the dead(and she gets replaced by her sister who then promptly recieves no screen time), and that holds true through Isaard's Revenge as well.

What about the wolfman? He didn't even get a line of dialogue in any of the books.

All in all, Stackpole isn't bad, but he's responsible for the "I'm Wedge Antilles, I can do ANYTHING!!!" trend. And the "we're Imperials, mwahahaha, mustache twirl" trend.

IIRC, he was speculated to have a death sentence on his head in the first book. Other than that, Shiel the Shistavenen got basically nothing until he got killed in book four. And I don't think Gavin even devoted a line to thinking 'Damn, my wingman of so long got killed, that sucks, I wish he would have talked once in a while so I could have got to know him better'.

He also has Wedge memory wipe a droid with a healthy fear of dying rather than disabling its speaker, and have a civilian murdering piece of terrorist shit on speed-dial.

[CmdrWilkens]

Stackpole, however, does suffer from the "OMG Back from the DEAD" syndromn. You literally need multiple hands to count the number of characters who are pronounced dead only to re-appear either a chapter or a book later. Christ he killed Isard and then brough her back 4 books later. Still he was willing to off one or two characters (though minor) and did a generally fine job of playing up the Wedge vs Salm angle over Tycho which alone puts him leauges above KJA. That said any Gary Stu who out Jedi's Luke and outflys most of Rouge Squadron is just wankery in action and deserves to be mocked.

[Anguirus]

I'll never understand why anyone thinks Horn proved conclusively superior to Luke. They had a sparring contest/argument that Horn "won." However, Luke could crush him with his little finger...he just chooses not to do so. He is also about as telekinetic as I am, and he was just plain idiotic at several points in "I, Jedi" (i.e. forgetting that Exar Kun could manipulate matter).

[Crazedwraith]

I'll never understand why anyone thinks Horn proved conclusively superior to Luke. They had a sparring contest/argument that Horn "won." However, Luke could crush him with his little finger...he just chooses not to do so. He is also about as telekinetic as I am, and he was just plain idiotic at several points in "I, Jedi" (i.e. forgetting that Exar Kun could manipulate matter).

QFT. Its very clear in Stackpole's books that Corran's a flawed character, arrogant and presumptuous and when all is said a done a mediocre Jedi, he gets his ass kicked at the end of every Stackpole book where he is a Jedi for example.

And for people who whine that he's and awesome pilot as well as being a Jedi? Well duh! name me one Jedi who isn't at least a passable fighter pilot. Even Obi-Wan Kenobi, who hates flying, is said to be awesome. Flighter abillities come almost part and parcel with Jedi reflexes.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I'll never understand why anyone thinks Horn proved conclusively superior to Luke. They had a sparring contest/argument that Horn "won." However, Luke could crush him with his little finger...he just chooses not to do so. He is also about as telekinetic as I am, and he was just plain idiotic at several points in "I, Jedi" (i.e. forgetting that Exar Kun could manipulate matter).

QFT. Its very clear in Stackpole's books that Corran's a flawed character, arrogant and presumptuous and when all is said a done a mediocre Jedi, he gets his ass kicked at the end of every Stackpole book where he is a Jedi for example.

Best example being the penultimate chapter of "I,Jedi" where Corran's grand "final stand" against the Jenasarrii assasains is him holding Luke's cloak and gawping like a guppy fish :LOL:.

And for people who whine that he's and awesome pilot as well as being a Jedi? Well duh! name me one Jedi who isn't at least a passable fighter pilot. Even Obi-Wan Kenobi, who hates flying, is said to be awesome. Flighter abillities come almost part and parcel with Jedi reflexes.

As does Precognition. Reflexes, and the time and (Armoured) luxury to use Precognition well (as well as mind reading, though that can back-fire as Tycho showed) make even the most mediocre Jedi pilots opponents to be feared, what with their being superhuman and in an excellent position to use it.

[RogueIce]

I'll never understand why anyone thinks Horn proved conclusively superior to Luke. They had a sparring contest/argument that Horn "won." However, Luke could crush him with his little finger...he just chooses not to do so. He is also about as telekinetic as I am, and he was just plain idiotic at several points in "I, Jedi" (i.e. forgetting that Exar Kun could manipulate matter).

QFT. Its very clear in Stackpole's books that Corran's a flawed character, arrogant and presumptuous and when all is said a done a mediocre Jedi, he gets his ass kicked at the end of every Stackpole book where he is a Jedi for example.

Best example being the penultimate chapter of "I,Jedi" where Corran's grand "final stand" against the Jenasarrii assasains is him holding Luke's cloak and gawping like a guppy fish :LOL:.

And, as I recall from his little duel with Luke, the only reason he was doing even half as well as he was was because Luke wasn't really into it. Once he started paying attention it was all over (and Luke showed he could put a stop to Corran any time he wanted to with his TK).

[Peptuck]

The only thing Corran really has going for him is that energy redirection Force power of his. It makes him pretty damn powerful when he can "plug into" a sufficiently powerful energy source, but otherwise he's a jobber-tier Jedi.

[Anguirus]

^ And even though that's his specialty, he's not as good at it as Vader. Granted, few should be as good at anything as Vader, but the point is that Horn was never written to be top-tier, even in his alleged specialty.

[Ford Prefect]

Horn was also never really the best pilot in Rogue Squadron. He was good, but as I recall, Wedge prooves he's the man when he takes out Corran fairly effortlessly in the first book during the sims, and even after having years to build up his skills and Jedi abilities, he's still shitting in his pants when he ends up in Tycho's box o' death. He is most certainly an author insert, but he certainly isn't one who is actually better than everybody else.

[NecronLord]

Is I, Jedi worth reading?

[Crazedwraith]

Is I, Jedi worth reading?

Depends it seemed pretty good when I read it. Granted that was about eight years ago now...

[Anguirus]

^ Yes. The book drags a bit when it rehashes the Jedi Academy Trilogy (but manages to retroactively make it more entertaining than Anderson did) but really picks up when it gets to Corran Horn combining his investigative and Jedi skills to go off on his own and find his wife.

(I just can't STAND the way the chapters end! ARRRGH! It's like it's cutting to a commercial break!)

[Androsphinx]

As noted above, I, Jedi does have the benefit of telling the story of the Jedi Academy much better than Anderson managed

[Darth Yoshi]

And like him or not, IIRC at least Horn recognizes how fucked up it is that Kyp Durron essentially gets off with a slap on the wrist for Carida, and calls Luke out on it.

[Davey]

I've often wondered if the writers themselves are lousy hacks, or are just trying to gear their stuff to the lowest common denominator for maximum selling potential and profit.

Given that how many stores and libraries carry their books, I'm not sure what to believe.

[Mad]

Its very clear in Stackpole's books that Corran's a flawed character, arrogant and presumptuous and when all is said a done a mediocre Jedi, he gets his ass kicked at the end of every Stackpole book where he is a Jedi for example.

Like when he nearly died (and would have if it wasn't for others in the area) because he was overconfident in attempting to use his Jedi abilities while untrained in The Bacta War?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Wait, if he's really not quite so bad as the hype would make you believe, isn't Corran Horn just one of those things in the EU that gets bashed because people who haven't actually checked out the actual media think it's bad? Kind of like Empire at War: Forces of Corruption (story-wise) and the Legacy comics.

[Kuja]

And like him or not, IIRC at least Horn recognizes how fucked up it is that Kyp Durron essentially gets off with a slap on the wrist for Carida, and calls Luke out on it.

YES

[Guardsman Bass]

Is I, Jedi worth reading?

Yes. First off, it gives a much better depiction of the Jedi Academy events in KJA's Jedi Academy series. Second, while people like to claim that Corran is a Gary Stu (and I think he probably is part authorial insert), he's far from perfect, as mentioned above. Luke basically bitchslaps him once he gets serious in a testing duel they are having with TK (I think Corran describes it as like running straight into a solid wall), and Corran nearly gets manhandled by a group of force-users since he can't use TK.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Wait, if he's really not quite so bad as the hype would make you believe, isn't Corran Horn just one of those things in the EU that gets bashed because people who haven't actually checked out the actual media think it's bad? Kind of like Empire at War: Forces of Corruption (story-wise) and the Legacy comics.

EaW: FoC actually does have a retarded story, because it completely leaves out that KDY has it's own defense fleet in addition to the one the Empire stationed there and should be able to repulse a pirate fleet with ease. Counter to that, Legacy gets a bad name from sharing a similair name to a set of novels that Karen Traviss co-authored, people assuming that the Imperial Knights are Quinlon Vos-style Jedi's rather than just not giving a shit about dark or light side, and then there's the whole Krayt being Hett thing, which isn't nearly as bad when you actually think it through.

[Battlehymn Republic]

The quality of the plot of the game is debatable, but what I was referring to was how much it affects the universe. When properly analyzed, the game's new faction doesn't destroy canon as everyone was saying it would.

[Darth Fanboy]

and then there's the whole Krayt being Hett thing, which isn't nearly as bad when you actually think it through.

Yes, because a 150 year old bad idea for a character really brings it all together doesn't it? I should have put more of the comic writers in the poll just for that atrocity.

[Ritterin Sophia]

and then there's the whole Krayt being Hett thing, which isn't nearly as bad when you actually think it through.

Yes, because a 150 year old bad idea for a character really brings it all together doesn't it? I should have put more of the comic writers in the poll just for that atrocity.

What about him is a bad idea for a character?