Invincible SPOILERS - for those that are interested

[FuncoWilkerbean]

I had to reread the ending several times

[Old Plympto]

That said, Luceno hasn't disappointed me, and he's been bringing Brian Daley's Han Solo back into the EU whenever he writes him. Something every other author has failed to do. I'm going to grab the Falcon book.

Funny you should mention this. The author of the Robotech novelizations and Black Hole Travel Agency series (of which I've only read the first novel) Jack McKinney is actually both Brian Daley and James Luceno collaborating and publishing as a single author. I'm guessing Luceno still has quite a bit of the late Daley's style and sensibilities in order to give you this impression of his writing of Han Solo.

[Havok]

That said, Luceno hasn't disappointed me, and he's been bringing Brian Daley's Han Solo back into the EU whenever he writes him. Something every other author has failed to do. I'm going to grab the Falcon book.

Funny you should mention this. The author of the Robotech novelizations and Black Hole Travel Agency series (of which I've only read the first novel) Jack McKinney is actually both Brian Daley and James Luceno collaborating and publishing as a single author. I'm guessing Luceno still has quite a bit of the late Daley's style and sensibilities in order to give you this impression of his writing of Han Solo.

Uhhh... This confuses me... Can you explain?

[Old Plympto]

Uhhh... This confuses me... Can you explain?

Brian Daley + James Luceno = Jack McKinney
[citation needed]

Although it's Wiki, the link above should be enough to explain what I mean.

[Havok]

Uhhh... This confuses me... Can you explain?

Brian Daley + James Luceno = Jack McKinney
[citation needed]

Although it's Wiki, the link above should be enough to explain what I mean.

Gotchya. Thanks.

[Ender]

You know, it occurs to me, that if you need to bring back an old and underused character to be the new leader of the Galactic Alliance... well why not Lando?

I'm serious, the guy has gotten extremely little face time since the license shifted, and even before that he basically got the short end of the stick. He is a General in the armed forces with the destruction of the DS II to his name. A self-made man, he has extensive experience in both economics and politics running a multitude of business ventures and administering colonies. He is quite adept at dealing with other parties both from positions of strength and weakness. The guy would have been perfect for the role.

Instead we get a genocidal psychopath mary sue.

[Havok]

You know, it occurs to me, that if you need to bring back an old and underused character to be the new leader of the Galactic Alliance... well why not Lando?

I'm serious, the guy has gotten extremely little face time since the license shifted, and even before that he basically got the short end of the stick. He is a General in the armed forces with the destruction of the DS II to his name. A self-made man, he has extensive experience in both economics and politics running a multitude of business ventures and administering colonies. He is quite adept at dealing with other parties both from positions of strength and weakness. The guy would have been perfect for the role.

Instead we get a genocidal psychopath mary sue.

That and he aspirations to be a respected and good man, as we saw him taking over Bespin and running it well, when he could have just sold it. I really like this idea. Good call Ender.

[JME2]

Well, it's a week after the release and I still refuse to buy it. Indeed, I'm already preparing a pile of books from my collection to be donated or sold and the previous 8 LOTF novels are at the top of the pile.

[Connor MacLeod]

Lando vs Daala, it sounds alot like Obama vs Hillary in some ways.

[Ender]

Lando vs Daala, it sounds alot like Obama vs Hillary in some ways.

Hey, they are the ones making the Blair, Bush, and Iraq references.

[Darth Hoth]

Lando vs Daala, it sounds alot like Obama vs Hillary in some ways.

Except that Lando is the good guy...

Seriously, that was a cool idea. Something to include in the SWfic, if that ever goes off?

[darthscott]

Not likely, considering that would upset the status quo of "Grrrr, Empire bad, Emperor bad, democracy good," too much (even though hack writers keep portraying the New Republic's democratic government as weak and indecisive, leading to civil war after civil war, anarchy, and other nastiness that'll make people think, "You know, the Empire wasn't so bad under Palpatine").

Couldn't agree more. These democratic governments in Star Wars are super boring. I just can't stand the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic or the Galactic Alliance.

I want to see the Empire in power or an alliance/union system like the Old Republic where individual planets retain their sovereignty, and had their own militaries and such. I can only hope to see more monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, and other forms of non-democratic rule in the Star Wars universe, especially at the planetary level. They are just far more interesting and I think is an important element of any good sci-fi/fantasy story.

[Thanas]

So what? The entire imperial leadership forgot that it was Daala's betrayal and attack on Imperial forces that compromised Pellaeon's flank and resulted in the loss of the SSD Reaper and all of Imperial territory except for eight sucky sectors?

Well, at least Fell is in charge...someone competent for a change. Any dibs on how long Daala will last before Fell moves against her?

[Maxentius]

Er, if Jagged Fel is head of the Moff Council, and Daala is CoS of the GA, why would he move against her? The Legacy comics kind of make it seem like the Galactic Alliance and the Fel Empire were at peace until the Treaty of Anaxes was invoked under Roan Fel.

Continuity aside, though, I hope she dies in a horrific and gruesome manner that leaves her lingering on the edge of total disability, in blinding pain for months or even years before she finally croaks. Just to piss off Traviss.

[Slacker]

Sooooooooooo glad I said goodbye to Star Wars EU after TUF. I sort of felt it was a good palate cleansing way to end the series.

[Tiriol]

So what? The entire imperial leadership forgot that it was Daala's betrayal and attack on Imperial forces that compromised Pellaeon's flank and resulted in the loss of the SSD Reaper and all of Imperial territory except for eight sucky sectors?

The same leadership also forgot how Grand Moff Tarkin's pet admiral gained control of the Imperial Remnant before handing it over to Pellaeon (and how apparently she also treated Imperial Moffs in previous book). And apparently the galaxy at large has forgotten how Daala during the Darksaber Crisis delibarately set an Imperial task force to destroy sites based purely on their cultural and historical value, not because they would be strategically or tactically important (and her underlings also destroyed a diplomatic convoy and specifically targeted non-Humans). Also, apparently, Daala's initial reign of mad and impotent terror after leaving the Maw Installation has been forgotten - the butchering of the Dantooine settlement, the attack on Mon Calamari and the planned Coruscant Holocaust.

Truly, we live in strange times when Daala is seen as universally acceptable choice for the Galactic Alliance. I do believe that masochism and historical revisionism must be high on their favorite hobby list.

[acesand8s]

Finished reading the book last night and seeing as this is apparently our review thread...

Overall, I think I would have to rate it 4/5, though I think that's being impacted by the complete crap that was the rest of the series. Had the LOTF series been good enough for me to spend money on (as opposed to borrowing the books from friends/libraries), Invincible would have probably rated a 2/5.

What I liked:

* First and foremost: the Mandos remember they're not gods. In a scene that stands in striking contrast to anything in the atrocity known as Revelation, Jacen utterly obliterates a group of 4 Mandos (including Fett's precious grand daughter) without breaking a sweat while Jaina is sniping at him.

* Jacen remembers he's a Sith Lord. IOW, Jacen no longer acts like a petulant child and leaves the reader with the impression that he actually is a threat.

* Jaina remembers she's a Jedi. Jaina stops her Mando wonderlust. She actually, gasp, defends the Jedi against Fett's aspersions and shows that non-Mandos have the ability to think for themselves.

* Luke Skywalker remembers he's...well...Luke Skywalker. Luke displays his pantry of neat Jedi tricks. One particular high note is when he uses the Mandos as cannon fodder to protect his Jedi force. He tricks Fett into assisting him in attacking the Imperials. During the battle, he manages to use the Mandos super-duper new fighters as mine sweepers, getting them to escort him through a mine field. The Mandos are kind enough to absorb the mines while he uses his Jedi skills to dodge them all. It was a very nice FU from all the Jedi to KT.

Thus, it's rather clear why the book gets a low rating on its own. The big things I really enjoyed about the book were merely characters acting as they should.


What I didn't like:

* The galaxy forgets Daala is a wannabe mass-murderer (wannabe because she was incompetent enough to get foiled at every turn). Daala, the women who wanted to unleash the Sun Crusher on the New Republic and slam a Star Destroyer into Coruscant, is now GA CoS. Right...

* Niathal (Jacen's former co-CoS) forgot that she was invited to the party. Remember Niathal, who was the focus of most of Revelation, who broke away from Jacen and set up a competing government? Yeah...Denning forgets to mention her except in passing (her fleet is hit pretty hard in battle). Minor details like whether or not she survived the war is left up to the read to decide.

* Zekk forgot to die in an obvious fashion. Zekk is shot down during the book, but not recovered. That of course means: everyone thinks he's died, but he's sure to reappear in later novels to everyone's surprise. Because that plot line has never been touched before in a Star Wars novel.

[General Soontir Fel]

Finished it this morning. Compared to Revelation, it was stunningly good. That's says more about Revelation than about Invincible.

The Good: Characterization of the Jedi characters: Jacen, Jaina, Luke, Ben, and Tahiri. Others' characterizations (minus Daala) were decent, but nothing to write home about, but these five made the book.

I actually liked the Fett virus--especially since, as was pointed out above, it's bound to kill KT's clone-Jedi love child.

Jag as head of the Moff council--the seeds of the Fel Empire in Legacy comics.

Daala as CoS I could accept--the galaxy changes and Daala sided against Jacen in Revelation. It would have been better if she didn't show up at all, of course, much less become KT's mouthpiece. But that acceptance speech in the end was over the top.

Oh, and how Jaina overheard that conversation between Fett and Daala? Priceless.

The Bad: Mandos. In the previous LOTF books, Allston and Denning ignored everything Traviss wrote about them. I guess she integrated them so tightly that it was too difficult.

Allana surviving. Not in an of itself--I actually like it. But I can see the novels set in fifteen years, when Allana learns about her father, accuses Han and Leia of lying... i.e. Luke 2.0. Who wants to bet against me that it won't happen?

Zekk vanishing. Like it was said, he may show up later. Even if not, it seemed to be a blatant method to kill the potential for Jaina/Zekk. I'm not a shipper, I couldn't care less who Jaina actually ends up with--but I loathe killing off characters for the sake of ships. And this was neither the time nor the place to do this--it could have been done at the end of Dark Nest with much more sense. I actually thought it wouldn't happen when it seemed like Zekk started getting involved with one of Tenel Ka's cousins--and then Denning pulled his vanishing act, and didn't even exploit the angst there. Sigh...

In the same vein, the Jaina/Jag shipping. Sorry. I know it has to happen for Legacy comics, but it isn't working.

Denning mentioning Saba Sebatyne at every opportunity. It isn't quite as bad as Traviss is with Fett, but it's a lot worse than other authors' favored characters--Allston with Wedge, Stackpole with Corran, or Zahn with Mara. For the most part, she's just there, along with other Jedi Masters, and Denning simply reminds us that she exists. We know.

The Ugly: Daala's acceptance speech. Daala as a necessary evil is acceptable. Daala as an advocate of justice isn't.

Lack of continuity with the previous novel--Cha Niathal's absense, lack of information on Lando's child being the most glaring.

Those jokes at the start of each chapter have no place there. What were they thinking. Like Traviss's attempts to rip of Frank Herbert, they make no sense, and have no connection whatsoever to the actual chapter. (Granted, I think the same is true of actual quotes used by Frank Herbert).

Final word: If I had to shortly describe LOTF, it would be a promising beginning, a for the most part decent end, and a poorly executed, discontinuous middle full of pointless digressions about Mandos, commentary on current events such as the Iraq war, character stupidity, and one of the three authors' use of the novels to promote her idiotic vision of the Star Wars universe. Overall rating for the series on a ten-point scale is 4.5. This is lower than the average of each book's individual rating, since the discontinuity between the three authors' work is one of the biggest drawbacks.

As for the Millenium Falcon novel--sigh. I thought of four better fanfiction ideas during a fifteen-minute bus ride. The whole thing reinforced my feeling of wisdom in treating everything after TUF as in-universe fiction.