[Star Wars] Shatterpoint novel by Stover

[Eosin the Red]

So, I have been cut off from the net at work.

Doing what every poor little bear of little brain does in such situations, I entertained my mind in the old fashioned way – reading.

I just finished Shatterpoint a Star Wars novel by Matt Stover – a personal favorite of mine. I like SW but generally won’t read books unless Zhan is writing them and now Stover.

Has anyone else read the novel? It was quite a bit different than I expected but it addressed some topics in a directly disturbing way. Any else read it and have opinions?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

So, I have been cut off from the net at work.

Doing what every poor little bear of little brain does in such situations, I entertained my mind in the old fashioned way – reading.

I just finished Shatterpoint a Star Wars novel by Matt Stover – a personal favorite of mine. I like SW but generally won’t read books unless Zhan is writing them and now Stover.

Has anyone else read the novel? It was quite a bit different than I expected but it addressed some topics in a directly disturbing way. Any else read it and have opinions?

Don´t know the book, but tell me more, so I can decide if I will get it (once it is available here...)

 

[Welverin]

I liked it as I recall, was a while ago so I don't remember it so well.

 

[Kaledor]

It was quite a bit different than I expected but it addressed some topics in a directly disturbing way...

Now that's an intriguing comment. Though I love Star Wars, I haven't read many of the books... that one sentence is enough to get me reading a few more!!

Sooo, what do you mean by directly disturbing (or will it ruin it for me)?

 

[Taelorn76]

that same sentence just sold me on buying the book as well.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Eosion the Red = Matt Stover, y'think? Publicity stunt? Ingenious!

Not exactly 100% on-topic, but anyone got a link to plot summaries of the NJO books?
It's Comic Book reader in me that's calling for me to know all the continuity in detail
even if I have no interest in reading the actual books.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Being circumspect so that I don’t ruin a great novel for folks. The book looks at the Rise of the Empire Jedi and gives unflinching examples of why they are so ill prepared for war. This is not the strategic “go take this planet” kind of war, nor is it a keeping of the peace, this is the nasty gritty kind of war where people wipe out villages and where Mace Windu is forced to think about actions like dropping a bomb on a city killing 50,000 but saving a million who would have died in a protracted conflict. How does killing 50,000 people many of them women and children mesh with the Jedi code? Is it more right to let millions of people die in prolonged conflict which will produce poverty and disease killing the very same children who were spared?

These are some darn hard questions for the Jedi of the Rise of the Empire and I think it was very well portrayed.

As a side bonus, Mace of the book has all the coolness of Samuel L. Jackson --- EXAMPLE
Mace says “I am a prophet.”
Thug retorts: “So what do you see in the future.”
Mace smiles “You bleeding.”

Obviously much better written but you get the point – while that was the most blatant SLJ line, it was really one of the least kool things about Mace in the book.

Finally, the book is said to be inspired by an Apocalypse Now / Heart of Darkness type of feel and man, does it deliver. It also does so while not being graphically full of gore and shock value writing (money shot stuff). What you read is rated PG but what you see if you look behind the curtain is rated NC 17 BUT only if you care to ponder the horrors of war.

Through Mace’s personal data recorder (journal) book intimates the reader with staleness of the RotE Jedi mentality and how deeply flawed it has become. The Jedi Master who is on par with Yoda does not know he is on a journey to rediscover what it means to be a Jedi – he does not even know that he has lost his way but this book is about that unexpected and tragic journey.