There was meant to be a review today but life decided that the last thing it wanted to see on the blog today was a review... Thanks for that life! Have a look for that review tomorrow instead.
In the meantime, I was mooching around the reading pile and came across this cover for ‘Deceived’, the latest book in the ‘Star Wars: Old Republic’. Check it out,
On seeing this cover my first thought was, ‘hang on... Darth Vader wasn’t around for that era of the Old Republic’ (because I’m a little sad like that and have these moments sometimes). I’m right of course, this book is set thousands of years before Anakin Skywalker was even a glint in his Mum’s eye... and that’s what’s left me feeling a little sad about the whole thing.
Sith Lords are vastly powerful and evil beings; surely there is more scope for drawing a Sith Lord than making him a 'Darth Vader knock off'? Apparently not going by the picture here. I mean, do the designers think that fans won't recognise a Sith Lord unless he looks like Darth Vader? Or is the whole franchise starting to stagnate and run out of fresh ideas?
Either way, I'm left feeling a little sad looking at this cover. I remember when Star Wars was all fresh and exciting and it doesn't feel like that anymore :o(
Having said all of this, I'll probably end up picking the book up anyway... because it's Star Wars and I'm always hoping for something good here. Anyone else read 'Deceived'?
6 comments:
I don't know about you, but I always took the red lightsaber as indication that a character was a Sith. Kind of a trademark, yeah?
Scifi Book Report did a great job (I thought) of talking about how Malgus can be seen as a prototype for Vader, and that with the Sith tradition and history that's recently been built up (and upon) it makes some sense to see these types of armor look similar (even thousands of years apart - which Knight Errant does a great job of explaining due to their being a long "dark ages" period in the Star Wars universe where things stagnated). Anyway, that whole article can be found here: http://starwarsbookreport.com/?p=1038#more-1038
For my own take on Deceived you can read the full review here (though beware, I was more spoiler heavy than I often am in my reviewing with this one) - but in general I thought it was a very good Star Wars book, and one that's easily approachable for fans of Star Wars but who don't keep up with every book.
http://sqt-fantasy-sci-fi-girl.blogspot.com/2011/03/book-review-deceived-by-paul-kemp.html
I've never read any Star Wars books. Without doing any research I just assumed they were like knock-off trash but Jim's comments make them sound a bit interesting with a more rich world than I expected. Is there a good place to start, like a specific book or series that would be compelling for a serious adult SFF reader?
Is it just me or does that head bring up images of dread Cthulu arisen from his rest in R'lyeh?
@Anonymous - since you asked about places to begin reading Star Wars for a serious adult SFF reader, I can give you a few suggestions. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn is widely regarded as the best Star Wars novel, and needs no other knowledge than having seen the first (original) three films. It's the first book in a trilogy featuring the characters from those movies, and the whole series is great. Moving beyond that, I'd highly recommend Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - again, it's the first of a trilogy of books about Darth Bane (the first Sith to start the "rule of two" they follow until the movies) - but each is a complete stand alone novel, and an exploration of the dark side not really seen in many other Star Wars books. You can't really go wrong with Karen Traviss' Republic Commando: Hard Contact, which features the clone troopers from the prequels in a very realistic scifi war story settting. The Old Republic novels and Knight Errant are also good stand alone books that don't require you to be well versed and have read every book in order to enjoy them. I hope this helps, I'd love to hear if you wind up reading any of those suggestions.
S.M.D - It's not so much the red saber as it is how the character is dressed up...
Jim - Thanks for pointing that out, I'm not sure if you've changed my mind (yet) but you've certainly cast a different light on things :o)
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