My opinion of Kevin J Anderson

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-08-08 12:12am

No, this is not going to be an all-out flamefest, just an honest evaluation. And I put it here because most of his stories that I've read are SW.

I think KJA is a largely hit-or-miss writer: I either like his stories quite a bit, or I hate them with a passion. Interestingly enough, the longer his stories get, the more likely I am to hate them. I like his short stories (hey, I got my original username from one of them) but I hate his novels (Darksaber, anyone?).

I believe KJA, when writing novels, attempts to walk a tightrope between adhering to established rules and blazing new territory. Unfortunately, he usually fails.

Case in point: Shadow of the Xel'Naga (his Starcraft novel). The novel slavishly adheres to gameplay rules (to the point of being rip-your-hair-out ridiculous) yet at the same time, manages to royally fuck with continuity AND appears to have no ultimate point anyway.

Darksaber doesn't work the same way. In this case, KJA pretty well ignored the rules of the SW universe and attempted to write things his own way (the fact that a salvo from a SSD apparently can't wipe out an unshielded rock building makes this abundantly clear).

I think KJA works best when the character is of his own making, and the story is short and to the point. Take his story about IG-88: I love it. I love every bit of it. And I have few complaints about the way the SW universe is handled in it.

Just my 2 cents.

Yuri Prime · Post by **Yuri Prime** » 2003-08-08 12:19am

He helped write the Dune prequals right? I really didn't like those.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2003-08-08 12:30am

Darksaber:

"Daala, you are such a pain"

Can you really envision Han Solo saying that?

justifier · Post by **justifier** » 2003-08-08 01:07am

Lord Poe wrote:Darksaber:

"Daala, you are such a pain"

Can you really envision Han Solo saying that?

It makes him sound gay(no offense)

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2003-08-08 01:15am

I think KJA works best when the character is of his own making, and the story is short and to the point. Take his story about IG-88: I love it. I love every bit of it. And I have few complaints about the way the SW universe is handled in it.

I liked it, too, because of the absurdity of a robot conquering the galaxy.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2003-08-08 01:29am

Or the sentience bit, dispite the fact that all the droids are in fact sentient, or C3P0 wouldn't have been able to bitch that much.
KJA only real problem is that, like steven perry, he can't decide if he is writing a childrens novel, or a smut book. He will have laughably childish plot points, and then try to raise sexual tension between two characters. Its this simple absurdity that made me stop reading EU for a year.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-08-08 07:37am

Lord Poe wrote:Darksaber:

"Daala, you are such a pain"

Can you really envision Han Solo saying that?

Yeah, if he was giggling and filing his nails whilst wearing a ballerina dress.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-08-08 07:38am

His Divine Shadow wrote:
Lord Poe wrote:Darksaber:

"Daala, you are such a pain"

Can you really envision Han Solo saying that?
Yeah, if he was giggling and filing his nails whilst wearing a ballerina dress.

Dont give him any ideas.....

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-08-08 08:07am

Mr. Anderson's writing style is ill-suited for a novelist. Some of his short stories are entertaining (if absurd: Lord Vader offering to remove his helmet is more than a bit incredible), and, whatever else might be said of them, his Young Jedi Knights books actually were enjoyable, if one did not expect too much from them. Occasionally, there is even a good point: The Diversity Alliance, for example, brought up the issue of bigotry and reactionary bigotry.

His best work, as far as Star Wars is concerned -- his contributions to Dune can be described as devoid of value -- is the Tales of the Jedi series of comic books. The medium was very well-suited to his very visual style of storytelling, and, as crass as it sounds, minimised the need for him to write. Ulic Qel-Droma, the tragic hero whose pride -- hybris, even -- leads him to fulfill Nietzsche's admonition, was an excellent addition to the Star Wars mythos, as a type of Anakin Skywalker.

While some of the details of the ancient Sith are curious, one must remember that much of it was created with input from Mr. Lucas himself (in one issue Mr. Anderson writes that he understands that some people disliked the idea of the Sith being a race subjugated by dark Jedi, but that he was only working with what Mr. Lucas gave him). And one must admit, Exar Kun was a worthy villain -- and his double-bladed lightsabre is certainly memorable, is it not?

One of Mr. Anderson's chief problems was lack of imagination in details. His novels constantly featured the same planets, the same locales, and often the same places seen in the films -- painfully obvious in Darksaber, with trips to Tatooine, Hoth VI, Dagobah, and Yavin IV; if old locales from the films were not visited, then unnecessary connections were created to characters from them: Admiral Daala being an excellent case in point. Characters repeated phrases from the films ("Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope"), and behaved irrationally (Ambassador Furgan's plot to kidnap Anakin Solo, for example).

Still and all, Mr. Anderson is not the most obnoxious author to have written in Star Wars. There have been other terrible ideas, other tedious novels, other badly-written characters, and other ridiculous stories. By no means does Kevin J. Anderson have a monopoly on poor quality.

Publius

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2003-08-08 10:09am

No, but somehow he got permission to write the most.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2003-08-08 01:55pm

FTeik wrote:No, but somehow he got permission to write the most.

And claim credit for being the Chancellor of the SWU. Well, I guess Valocorum had to have someone thrown into the rancor pit in order for him to ascend to the Chancellor post.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-08-08 04:22pm

It's not that fact that he writes so badly. I can deal with hacks. It's his determination to fuck with so many different universes. Other bad EU writters had the courtesy to only fuck with one universe i'm a fan of.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2003-08-08 05:18pm

Barbera Hambley and Vonda N. McIntire wrote some decent ST-novels.

I really expected more from both, when i got their SW-novels.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-08-08 05:55pm

PainRack wrote:
FTeik wrote:No, but somehow he got permission to write the most.
And claim credit for being the Chancellor of the SWU. Well, I guess Valocorum had to have someone thrown into the rancor pit in order for him to ascend to the Chancellor post.

What?