Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

[Princess 35]

Yeah, all the corny holodramas made me giggle

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

anyone else find this book hystarically funny? not just the Rogues, but just the way some of the narration was written had me rolling.

[Chickenman 9]

It had its moments, though they were lightyears away from Allstonian hilarity.

But I know what you're saying, his sentence structure had that kind of unorthodxy to it that's vaguely reminiscent of Hitchhiker's Guide. Vaguely.

[Mara 29]

Sort of... But I also had the feeling that at moments, he was trying too hard to be funny.

[Princess 35]

Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are dead. The Empire has been toppled by the triumphant Rebel Alliance, and the New Republic is ascendant. But the struggle against the dark side and the Sith order is not over. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and their faithful comrades have had little time to savor victory before being called on to defend the newly liberated galaxy.

Powerful remnants of the vanquished Empire, hungry for retaliation, are still at large, committing acts of piracy, terrorism, and wholesale slaughter against the worlds of the fledgling Republic. The most deadly of these, a ruthless legion of black-armored stormtroopers, do the brutal bidding of the newly risen warlord Shadowspawn. Striking from a strategically advantageous base at the planet Mindor, they are waging campaigns of plunder and destruction, demolishing order and security across the galaxy—and breeding fears of an Imperial resurgence. And another reign of darkness beneath the boot-heel of Sith despotism is something General Luke Skywalker cannot and will not risk.

Mobilizing the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron—along with the trusty Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo—Luke, Han, and Leia set out to take the battle to the enemy at the site of its stronghold, and neutralize the threat before it's too late. But their imminent onslaught against Mindor will be playing directly into the hands of their cunning new adversary. Lord Shadowspawn is no freshly anointed Sith Chieftain, but in fact a vicious former Imperial Intelligence officer—and Prophet of the Dark Side. The Emperor's death has paved the way for Shadowspawn's return from exile in the Outer Rim; and mastery of ancient Sith knowledge and modern technology has given him the capability to mount the ultimate power play for galaxy-wide dominion. Dark prophecy has foretold that only one obstacle stands in his way, and he is ready—even eager—for the confrontation.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Now I've gotta find my copy.

[Princess 35]

Yeah, I have some library books to read and then I'll start this one

[Mara 29]

There was another thread started on this book a year or two ago... FYI. :p

Edited August 2, 2011 by Mara

[Drake 53]

And that one was a merger of two threads as well.

I attempted to merge this with that one but GB isn't having any of that. Unless someone beats me to it, I'll try to figure it out at home later.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

I dunno what your problem was, cuz it worked fine for me. :p

[Drake 53]

I was getting an error. Thanks for doing it. Did you merge topics or move the posts from one to the other?

[Princess 35]

Weird, I looked through this entire forum and missed that thread.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

I was getting an error. Thanks for doing it. Did you merge topics or move the posts from one to the other?

I merged the topics.

[Drake 53]

*scratches head* Yeah, that's weird.

[Princess 35]

Indeed.

I used to be so behind... I had starting at the beginning chronologically... when the NJO was half over already, lol. But I caught up.

And I think the title of the book is horrible too, lol. Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Sounds like a kiddie book.

I don't think it was intended to sound like a kiddie book, since when Luke was talking to Han about all those cheesy holodramas, he mentioned them making on called Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.

So far, I'm liking this book better the second time around

[Princess 35]

My first thought on this was that the depiction of Shadowspawn on the back cover reminded me of a Samurai warrior.

The way that Stover wrote the prologue really draws you in and makes you think. Is Luke Skywalker really his father's son? Did he participate in an act of genocide? Is he turning to the Dark Side? You have to read more to find out.

Even though Aaron Allston writes the Rogue's like nobody's business, I thought that Stover did a good job, especially the interactions between Hobbie and Janson, including the part when Janson shoots Hobbie down accidently, that's exactly Hobbie's luck. I also liked when Wedge was telling Lando that Hobbie needed another new hand and Lando asked how many that brought the total up to now.

On page 32, I found a canon issue. Even though this book was written long before the Republic Commando series, the stormtrooper Klick is commenting to himself that he was proud to be one of the original Fett clones, which would make him around 50 years of true age since he was cloned 25 years ago. Shouldn't things be a little rusty for him? Moving slower than a youngun like Luke even though they are approximately the same age.

I couldn't help but think of WWII and concentration camps in the Election Center scenes when they are having the selection and the references to the Great Man Palpatine. Same with the Propaganda films.

In the beginning of chapter 5, I loved the acronym MESFAC (Masters of Every Single Flippin' Aspect of Combat) because it perfectly describes the Mandalorians.

When Luke lands the bridge of the Mon Cal cruiser onto Mindor, it totally reminded me of when Anakin landed the bridge of Count Dooku's ship in the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. Good parallelism there with 2 of the best pilots.

I liked Han's description of Rogue Squadron as "demented thrill monkeys" because it describes them perfectly.

Korriban is going to play a bigger role in things than we think that it does.

When Blackhole has Luke captive, on page 139, could he be any more of a stereotypical villain by telling Luke all of his plans?

I noticed that for much of the general populace, they still think of Jedi as their beloved generals from the Clone Wars who led troops into battle and Luke is having trouble accepting that as who he is.

I liked seeing Artoo's thoughts. I'd like to see a book from his and Threepio's point of views.