Legacy of the Force: Invincible [Spoilers]

[Winters 0]

I thought the series as a whole was okay but the whole LOL TIME TO KILL OFF ANOTHER SOLO BOY was pretty lame. D: They could've done so much with a Force-stripped Jacen and stuff.

So there's other Solo boys to kill off? :)

[Drake 53]

Well...there were only two. :p

[Tenel Ka 0]

Now it's time to go after Han. They've done away with the honorary Solo, Chewie. Then the two sons. So it's Han's turn.

EDIT: And I can't forget they offed Thrackan too, LOL~ Wow, they must really have it out for guys with the last name Solo.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Tenel Ka

[Winters 0]

Now it's time to go after Han. They've done away with the honorary Solo, Chewie. Then the two sons. So it's Han's turn.

EDIT: And I can't forget they offed Thrackan too, LOL~ Wow, they must really have it out for guys with the last name Solo.

They should be alone... but they're always married or something...

[Princess 35]

Yeah, I cried for this book. But you know, there's still a lot of missing pieces out there

[Mara 29]

Well, you do know what "Solo" means, right?

My long-winded thoughts...woo.

Some generalities about the novel:

For one, it was just way too short, and it seemed like everything was rushed. I was expecting more from the conclusion of this series.

Also... I thought all those stupid jokes at the beginning of chapters was completely unnecessary. It took the tone of the book, which I had thought should be a LITTLE serious, down ten levels. Almost made a joke of the whole thing, in my opinion.

Another thing... this novel was completely different than the rest. I mean, in the way events were portrayed. The previous ones focused on all the characters, all sides of the war almost equally. Invincible, however, was almost completely one-sided with Jaina at the forefront. Not that I like Jacen or anything, but excluding his side of the story just helped with the predictability of this novel.

Yes, it's predictable. With all the jokes and the way the novel started out... someone would have to be completely out of it to NOT know that Sithy boy was gonna bite it. It was just almost like a series finale of a TV show, or just a finale when a character is killed off, where old events are shown and characters are all sad and remorseful... everyone "says good-bye," blah, blah, blah.

So yeah, despite my own personal hopes... I knew it was coming.

As for Jacen being redeemed--I don't think it would have been at all possible. He was too far gone, even Jaina saw it, though regretted it later because of Alanna/Tenel Ka.

But something I have come to think of... is that how Vader sacrificed himself to save his son from the Emperor, perhaps Jacen was sacrificing himself to Jaina to save Alanna... I dunno.. farfetched, perhaps. I mean, he was basically offering himself to Jaina to be killed. He didn't care if he lived, as long as his daughter survived.

I have no qualms about his death.

The events:

Ding, ding, the Sith boy is DEAD!!--

I feel a bit differently now having finished it, but I could help still thinking at the beginning that Jaina still wasn't ready to take him on. She said so herself many times.

But she still gets it done. Eventually. She even had to fight him once and cut off his arm before realizing that she wouldn't be ready until she completely let go of her brother and realized he was gone.

Even so... being ready, I still think Jaina defeated him too easily. Yes, he was distracted. Yes, he was half-maimed. But so was Jaina.

A slight deviation, with the first fight. I thought it was awesome how Luke was helping Jaina and making Jacen so frustrated. It was actually funny. Jacen was getting so freaking paranoid, hahahaha.... Which in the end, helped Jaina. Like Luke wanted it to be.

Even before it all started.. the discussion with the Masters...

I don't know, but I didn't buy Luke's reasoning that he couldn't go after Jacen because he was already "tainted" with the dark side. COME ON. He's LUKE FREAKING SKYWALKER. I think he can handle a little Sithboy. But, oh, well. Twin vs. twin is just so much more...dramatic. I guess. And.. I suppose Luke needs to learn to delegate.. sometime.

They even had to tell us a second time, as if the first time wasn't enough... Denning was trying to beat it into us so much that I almost thought Luke was deceiving us... and would actually use his distraction of Jaina to distract Jacen that Luke was coming, to really confuse Jacen. That's just how my mind works.

Luke--

Going on from the last point... With all that happens in this involving Luke, it makes me wonder.. what else is he hiding? What other powers? I mean... how powerful is he? Yeah, he's LUKE, so it's obvious he has more surprises...

It's just awesome. I mean, he knows shatterpoint. (And here, I agree... nothing much was done with this later). And obviously he was projecting himself so realistically in the first fight between Jacen and Jaina that Sithyboy thought he was more than just a vision.

Plus, there was all his other visions, his future visions... What exactly has he seen? Besides the part where he thinks he'll become Emperor of the galaxy if he defeats Jacen. Because it seemed to me like he's seen more... hmm...

And then he would go into those little.. "sleep" meditations... What is he doing? I don't think that is just when he was helping out Jaina, was it? Seems like it was a different time in the story.

Crazy theory: Perhaps it involves Mara. Yes, I know I have been saying this for a while, and it's more of a wish than anything, but I think it would have been cool if she was indirectly helping Luke help Jaina and the others.

Luke is just plain awesome... Seems there is nothing he doesn't know or can do. <3

Ben/Tahiri--

Just Ben... I think he's really coming into his own now... obviously. Letting himself get captured in order to save Jaina and Leia. Going back to be interrogated by Jacen, even though the possibility of dying was there. He's a mini Luke. *tear* I hope we get a lot more of Ben in subsequent novels.

The interrogation--umm... creepy! Seriously.

Anyway... at the end... I think Tahiri got off too easily. Yeah, she was brought to justice and all, and I know Ben was trying to do the moral thing, but...oh well. Hopefully the others will give her harsher treatment.

Zekk--

I have to honestly say... I don't care that he disappeared. I know, scandalous. I'm sure he'll show up sometime, randomly, when the plot devices call for it.

Plus... although she cares for him obviously, it seems Jaina is finally over him. YES.

Theory: Maybe Zekk left on purpose, knowing that Jaina could never be with him? Maybe he's not lost.

Alanna--

All right... something I have to say and others might not like it. Okay. I kind of thought she should have died. I mean... Jacen was gone and almost all trace of him was being wiped away, so I thought it would be rather poetic for Alanna to be gone as well. Kind of a necessary thing.

That said... I find it rather odd that in order to keep her SAFE, Tenel Ka sends her off to be with Han and Leia. 'Cause we all know those two stay out of trouble and live boring lives and have more security than Hapes. Right.

It'll be interesting to see how she grows up though, and whether they ever tell her about her father.

End events--

I almost laughed when I read that Boba couldn't return to Mandalore. Hahahahaha... so poetic and hilarious. He deserves it. Though, this might mean he'll be causing more trouble. Sigh.

Chief of State DAALA? WHAT THE HELL. Seriously.

And though it's weird and surprising.... Jag as Grand Admiral/President of the Remnant is kind of cool. I can just see him shoving that in the Ascendency's face and laughing.

Plus, how could Jaina resist THAT? Dude, I'd take that.

But we were missing the Jaina/Jag moment at the end.... I really wanted one. But, no, it was all oopsy, Alanna is still alive, haha. Why couldn't we have a couple more pages with Jag and Jaina? It's not as if the book was too long or something.

At least, to me, it seems that Jaina has made her decision... why else would she be glad that it was Jag who found her after she killed her brother and not Zekk?

Invincible--

So who is really invincible? Is it Jaina? I don't think so...

Luke? Maybe.. it would make sense.

The light side of the Force? Another possibility.

The Galactic Alliance? Well, it did survive the war and unite almost all the galaxy together (I don't think Daala's plan is going to be completely failsafe, though. The Chiss probably won't be happy, plus there's always spoilers. War will come back eventually), but I don't think it's the GA either.

The series as a whole... while some of it was enjoyable, I didn't find it to be a prime example of what EU authors could do. A lot of it was contrived to me, just a means to the end. What that end is, is hard to say. Maybe they needed a reason to unite everyone. Or a reason to kill Jacen. Or a reason to show more about Luke. I dunno.

Legacy of the Force gets 3/5 stars.

[Drake 53]

A couple things with your rant...

First off, Luke was going into his meditations to throw off Jacen. He mentioned it a few times about how he needed to skew Jacen's visions of the future. That was what he was doing. I think, a couple times, he was also helping Jaina. Lending her his strength and whatnot, like in the first fight.

Second, Luke being tainted by the dark side. It's completely feasible. I mean, he killed Lumiya out of vengeance and maybe he still hadn't completely gotten over Mara's death enough to kill Jacen without vengeance? He's not infallible. If he was an all-around perfect person, he would be boring.

Third, Tenel Ka knew Han and Leia were good with their kids (well, maybe just with girls, lol) and knew how to keep them safe in their own way. Also, it was to enroll Allana in the Jedi Academy without raising a big stink about the Hapan heir attending.

Fourth, they made Jag head of the Remnant for the sole reason that it's a Fel who rules a hundred and so years later in the Legacy comics. Also, that Fel is Force sensitive...which could hint to more Jaina/Jag.

Finally...I felt that having the Remnant prevent Boba from returning to Mandalore was pointless. It's like Denning was just sticking it to Fett because he could be a dick. I don't really see how it's poetic justice or hilarious or ironic. Fett was finally changing and doing some damn good work for his people. It was just stupid and put a real damper on the end of the book. I wonder what Karen thought about that...

Oh yeah, Rogue wants me to defend Zekk for her so.... Uhh...I just hope he doesn't come back like Raynar did. :p

Edited May 31, 2008 by Drake

[Mara 29]

It wasn't really a rant.

- I know Luke was helping out Jaina. I just had thought that once or twice nothing else was going on when he went to "sleep." Maybe he was just looking into the future.

- Yeah, maybe... But they probably just wanted a reason to make it more dramatic, twin vs. twin.

And I realize Luke's not perfect. But if he can do all the other stuff he's been doing lately... it just seemed... like Luke was just using it as a cop out.

- I didn't say they weren't good with kids; I'm just questioning how much more safe it would be. And it just seems a ploy to make them feel better after losing two kids, for them to get another one to "replace" them.

- No comment--I haven't read those comics, so I can't really say anything beside what I already said.

- I dunno... maybe it was a little mean, or maybe they need Boba off Mandalore to cause more trouble in subsequent books. *shrug*

Haha. Well, I doubt anything is happening to Zekk, but it's hard to tell what may have happened if he just disappeared or ran away because we didn't get much out of him. 'Cept that before they went in, he was staring off into space. Maybe he was already thinking of leaving; though, how he would know that Jaina already had skipped over him... I don't know.

It's not that I hate Zekk, it's that it wouldn't matter to me if he was gone awhile.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Mara

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

I'm just questioning how much more safe it would be.

this coming from the English major. :p

[Drake 53]

No, that works too. 'Safer' would be the commonly used word but 'more safe' isn't incorrect.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

not according to my grammar Nazi sophomore English teacher. and her word is LAW! :p

[Ender 8]

I finished the entire book in a night... and I wasn't terribly impressed.

[Mara 29]

I'm just questioning how much more safe it would be.

this coming from the English major.

Informal English is perfectly acceptable. :p

[Winters 0]

Umm... forgive me Rogue, but I think that Zekk needed to go so that way Jag and Jania would just end up together because Zekk was just butting in WAY too much... considering I've been in Jag's position (trying to win a girl over and a depressing emo boy keeps on butting his head in and making this impossible for me) I feel for Jag, plus, Jag is awesome in the way that Wedge is awesome.

[Andy 60]

I've been in Jag's position (trying to win a girl over and a depressing emo boy keeps on butting his head in and making this impossible for me)

I love the way you put that. hehe

[Mara 29]

I wouldn't say that Zekk is emo, per se... :p