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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Star Wars Legends Project #217
Background: Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire was written by [a:William C. Dietz|78736|William C. Dietz|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550676046p2/78736.jpg] as the first of three tie-in novellas to the Dark Forces and Jedi Knight video games. It was published in February of 1997. Dietz wrote all three novellas in the series.
Soldier for the Empire takes place 1 year before the battle of Yavin. The main character is Kyle Katarn, along with Jan Ors and the Dark Jedi Jerec. There are appearances by Lando Calrissian and Thrawn. The novel takes place on various planets including Alderaan, Carida, and Sullust.
Summary: Kyle Katarn is already a decorated veteran by the time he graduates from the Imperial Military Academy. But he is troubled by the memory of a woman, a Rebel, whose life he spared for reasons he can't quite explain. After a personal tragedy for which he blames the Rebellion, he comes to regret his act of mercy. But there are larger forces, dark ones, at work. Will Kyle recognize the truth in time?
Review: Maybe it was because this was one of the first pockets of the Expanded Universe that I was aware of, but this feels like really early days for the EU, in a good way. It's short and straightforward, involves very few characters from any of the movies (and only in passing), and introduces and develops several compelling new faces who would go on to become beloved figures.
It's probably a little too simple, in the end. But I really appreciate how much time it spends just building characters and establishing their world. This isn't great, maybe, but I wish a lot more of the EU followed this model, and for that reason alone it's worth taking a look at. I have really fond memories of the games that this ties in with. It's weird, actually, how close the template of this story is to the template of Force Unleashed, except this isn't written like a deranged wish-fulfillment fanfic. Starkiller is basically the JJ Abrams version of Kyle Katarn. It's pretty clear which kind of storytelling is more successful.
B-
Background: Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire was written by [a:William C. Dietz|78736|William C. Dietz|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550676046p2/78736.jpg] as the first of three tie-in novellas to the Dark Forces and Jedi Knight video games. It was published in February of 1997. Dietz wrote all three novellas in the series.
Soldier for the Empire takes place 1 year before the battle of Yavin. The main character is Kyle Katarn, along with Jan Ors and the Dark Jedi Jerec. There are appearances by Lando Calrissian and Thrawn. The novel takes place on various planets including Alderaan, Carida, and Sullust.
Summary: Kyle Katarn is already a decorated veteran by the time he graduates from the Imperial Military Academy. But he is troubled by the memory of a woman, a Rebel, whose life he spared for reasons he can't quite explain. After a personal tragedy for which he blames the Rebellion, he comes to regret his act of mercy. But there are larger forces, dark ones, at work. Will Kyle recognize the truth in time?
Review: Maybe it was because this was one of the first pockets of the Expanded Universe that I was aware of, but this feels like really early days for the EU, in a good way. It's short and straightforward, involves very few characters from any of the movies (and only in passing), and introduces and develops several compelling new faces who would go on to become beloved figures.
It's probably a little too simple, in the end. But I really appreciate how much time it spends just building characters and establishing their world. This isn't great, maybe, but I wish a lot more of the EU followed this model, and for that reason alone it's worth taking a look at. I have really fond memories of the games that this ties in with. It's weird, actually, how close the template of this story is to the template of Force Unleashed, except this isn't written like a deranged wish-fulfillment fanfic. Starkiller is basically the JJ Abrams version of Kyle Katarn. It's pretty clear which kind of storytelling is more successful.
B-
This book only felt like a video game toward the end. Which I don't mind. It gives the last moments a different and interesting feel. It focuses on things that are inherent in video games, but not so common in story telling generally, and I like the feel it provided. The story itself was interesting enough, and the pictures were beautiful.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I haven't read many books that were adapted from videogames, or many graphic novels of this style (mostly text with occasional full-page images). I never actually played the game this story was based on, but of all the Star Wars stories I read, I think this one captured a lot of what appealed to my childhood self about the original film.
The pacing is weird, the climax of the story flies by in a quarter of a second, and the ending is completely inconclusive. The character interactions are enjoyable enough, but the rest...? Nah.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An easy read but intriguing!
It's hard to give proper credit for this title, since the original book was a graphic novel that should probably credit the artist, and the edition I "read" was the audio adaptation of the story, with a full cast and sound effects, which should probably credit the actors and adapters. The simple solution is to find the common element -- the writer -- and just stick with him. Just keep in mind that it's hard to identify who to credit when it comes to my thoughts.
The story is the first of three parts, intended to tell us more about Kyle Katarn, the Rebel agent who becomes a Jedi Knight over the course of the video games Dark Forces and Jedi Knight. This volume reveals Kyle's time spent in the Imperial Academy, training to be an officer against the Rebellion. We see why he joins, how he commands, and why he ultimately rejects the Empire for the Rebellion, as well as meeting other characters who will feature in the games.. Overall, it's an interesting arc, but it moves so quickly we don't get a real sense of emotion out of it all. Instead, it feels like we're being told how things happen instead of being shown.
Part of it, I think, is the limitation of the audio format. Since we can't see what's happening, we have to hear about things through dialogue, and a lot of it doesn't sound natural. Why, in the middle of a gunfight, would a character talk about what he sees if he's not relaying that information to somewhere else? Why would they mutter to themselves about what they're thinking when they're walking through a crowd of people who aren't sympathetic to him? It doesn't make much sense, but I'm not sure how else they could have done it without having a third-person narrator talk over the action.
Also, I had a realization during this drama, and that's the fact that writers should avoid using the phrase "As you know" in dialogue. It always follows a question ("Hey, you've read Moby Dick?"), followed by an affirmative response ("Oh, sure."), followed by "As you know" to fill in the point the author wants to make to the reader. When I see them, they're usually about something the writer wants to say to make his characters sound smart. Instead, they come across as condescending and less sympathetic. One of these moments appeared in the presentation.
Kyle is an interesting character, and this presentation is a good introduction to him, but I feel like I should have just read the book instead. I went with the audio because the books are out of print and expensive, but for other interested readers, I'd point you to your local library. I'm not sure that the graphic novel would present the story better, but it certainly can't be as clunky as this drama.
The story is the first of three parts, intended to tell us more about Kyle Katarn, the Rebel agent who becomes a Jedi Knight over the course of the video games Dark Forces and Jedi Knight. This volume reveals Kyle's time spent in the Imperial Academy, training to be an officer against the Rebellion. We see why he joins, how he commands, and why he ultimately rejects the Empire for the Rebellion, as well as meeting other characters who will feature in the games.. Overall, it's an interesting arc, but it moves so quickly we don't get a real sense of emotion out of it all. Instead, it feels like we're being told how things happen instead of being shown.
Part of it, I think, is the limitation of the audio format. Since we can't see what's happening, we have to hear about things through dialogue, and a lot of it doesn't sound natural. Why, in the middle of a gunfight, would a character talk about what he sees if he's not relaying that information to somewhere else? Why would they mutter to themselves about what they're thinking when they're walking through a crowd of people who aren't sympathetic to him? It doesn't make much sense, but I'm not sure how else they could have done it without having a third-person narrator talk over the action.
Also, I had a realization during this drama, and that's the fact that writers should avoid using the phrase "As you know" in dialogue. It always follows a question ("Hey, you've read Moby Dick?"), followed by an affirmative response ("Oh, sure."), followed by "As you know" to fill in the point the author wants to make to the reader. When I see them, they're usually about something the writer wants to say to make his characters sound smart. Instead, they come across as condescending and less sympathetic. One of these moments appeared in the presentation.
Kyle is an interesting character, and this presentation is a good introduction to him, but I feel like I should have just read the book instead. I went with the audio because the books are out of print and expensive, but for other interested readers, I'd point you to your local library. I'm not sure that the graphic novel would present the story better, but it certainly can't be as clunky as this drama.
Not perfect, but Dietz did a solid job stringing together an actual narrative from an almost story-less game, and Williams' art is good to great.