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A review by neilrcoulter
Force Collector by Kevin Shinick
3.0
The important thing about Force Collector: it brings the kleex from the Droids cartoon into the new canon (p. 20).
There’s a lot that I liked about this book. In particular, the relationship between Karr and Maize is good—friendly and adventurous, and only romantic in a very innocent, wholesome way. Their friendship has a very classic sensibility, like Han/Leia/Luke in the original film.
I also like the idea that Force sensitivity doesn’t automatically mean the person should train to become a Jedi. It’s a good way to broaden the scope of what’s going on with the Force, without tearing down anything that’s already established. The danger of one aspect of this book, however, is that Disney is introducing a lot of characters into the canon who were Jedi but decided to leave the order. When that happens too often, it weakens the absolute commitment to the order that’s presented in the prequel trilogy. In those movies, we see little indication that someone can be allowed to leave the order; we only see Dooku, who seems to have left in anger and then became a Sith lord.
The other danger in Force Collector is the number of convenient coincidences, and the lack of serious threat to the heroes. A lot of things happen really easily. It basically works within this story, for the level it’s at, but I would have appreciated more detail and more potential for real conflict. The resolution to the vision that troubles Karr, for example, was unsatisfying. If you introduce something like that, especially when it pushes the narrative forward in significant ways, you have to deal with it.
The suggestion at the end, that is kind of fun. I don’t know that I want this thread to be developed any further, or that I need to catch up with Karr and Maize in other books. But the idea is clever.
There’s a lot that I liked about this book. In particular, the relationship between Karr and Maize is good—friendly and adventurous, and only romantic in a very innocent, wholesome way. Their friendship has a very classic sensibility, like Han/Leia/Luke in the original film.
I also like the idea that Force sensitivity doesn’t automatically mean the person should train to become a Jedi. It’s a good way to broaden the scope of what’s going on with the Force, without tearing down anything that’s already established. The danger of one aspect of this book, however, is that Disney is introducing a lot of characters into the canon who were Jedi but decided to leave the order. When that happens too often, it weakens the absolute commitment to the order that’s presented in the prequel trilogy. In those movies, we see little indication that someone can be allowed to leave the order; we only see Dooku, who seems to have left in anger and then became a Sith lord.
The other danger in Force Collector is the number of convenient coincidences, and the lack of serious threat to the heroes. A lot of things happen really easily. It basically works within this story, for the level it’s at, but I would have appreciated more detail and more potential for real conflict. The resolution to the vision that troubles Karr, for example, was unsatisfying. If you introduce something like that, especially when it pushes the narrative forward in significant ways, you have to deal with it.
The suggestion at the end, that