REVAN - February 2014 Holocronies Book Club

[Jeff Diamond, Grand Moff]

While the Mods are trying to figure stuff out, let's read about another villainous character: Darth Revan.

Some of you may know a little about this character, but keep any spoilers to yourself! At least for a few more days...

[Stefan]

Villainous character? I thought the whole deal about Revan was about redemption.

I would be nice if they wrote a book about his fall to the dark side (with Malek).

I wonder how people like this book that have not played any of the games since the whole reason for this book is to bridge the gap between KOTOR and TOR games.

[Jim]

My answer to the above question. Not sure if it really a spoiler but I marked it anyway just to be sure.

(view spoiler)[ I read this book awhile back having never played the KOTOR game. While the book was interesting, I don't think it stood up very well as a stand alone. I found myself having to go through the reader's compendium later to figure out what had happened in the "official" version of KOTOR to understand how things got to where they were at the start of Revan. (hide spoiler)]

[Thomas]

I read Revan when it came out, so it's too soon for me to re-read it. I do remember really liking the book, but I can see where there would be issues with the book if the reader had not played the KOTOR games.

[Jonny]

I really enjoyed Revan. I read it fairly quick, as opposed to Darth Plagieus (sp?) which took me forever to read through.

I haven't played KOTOR 1 & 2 yet. I filled in the blanks with a combination of Wookieepedia and my Star Wars Encyclopaedia set.

[Stefan]

I actually read the book before I played the first KOTOR game. The problem with this character is that for the game he was supposed to be a total blank so that the players could determine how he looked, behaved and which abilities he had.

In this book he pretty seems to be defined on his past actions and does not really have characteristics that set him apart. And as someone on youtube stated (I think it was Jensaarai) for a book called "Revan" it does not really have enough Revan in it. The story around lord Scourge was much more interesting.

[Mark]

I read (or listened to) all these books in order from Revan to Annihilation, and I have not played the games, though I just got the ipad version.

I think a lot of my problems with the books is the fact that I am missing info provided in the games. The books did not seem coherently connected to one another and seemed like stand alone books in which I was constantly wishing I had more information. I still enjoyed them but they don't read like a "series" which is what I was expecting.

After playing the game through I may go back an re-read them though.

[Deeptanshu]

I really liked this book, it was well written and gave me closure on the whole Revan saga and since I had him pick the light side in the game it did not bother me unlike those who may have chosen other options.

[Travis]

Revan is a good book until you see the ending.

[Kirk]

I agree with Mark - I found myself kind of confused at various points, although it may also be because I listened to the audiobook. Some books are definitely harder to follow on audio than they are when reading. I think I need a plot summary...

[Brianna]

Anything for March?

[D]

I'm relatively new to the group, so I apologize if these have been covered, but is anyone interested in either reading the Coruscant Nights trilogy or the Darth Bane trilogy in March?

[Mark]

I've read through the Darth Bane trilogy already, very good, but don't know much about Coruscant Nights, so I'd be open to that...

[Stefan]

I have read the Darth Bane trilogy as well and concur with Mark that it is very good. Definitely a must read for any Star Wars EU fan.

I want to read Coruscant Nights but I always hesitate to pick up books from that era since they always try to shoehorn some cameo from one of the characters from the movies into those books. And those stories can't have any big effect on any of the other stories that are already set during that time (both movies and books).

[D]

I'm reading/listening to the Darth Bane trilogy now (haven't read a lot in that era - am really enjoying the story thus far).

How about the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss? I've been poking around there and I'm interested.

[Thomas]

I have already read the Coruscant Nights and Darth bane books. I really liked them all.

[Brianna]

I have read all of the Coruscant Night and Darth Bane books and agree that they were enjoyable. Karen Traviss' Republic Commando books are my favorite in the Expanded Universe, so I would recommend them as the next read to anyone who hasn't had the chance to pick them up yet.

[Stefan]

So can we pick on title so we still have some time left in March to do some reading?

So the options would be(judging by the last few comments):

Path of Destruction (Darth Bane #1)
Jedi Twilight (Coruscant Nights #1)
Hard Contact (Republic Commando #1)


Link to Poll:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

[Mark]

I vote for Hard Contact, got pretty good reviews from GR users, now to find it on audiobook....

[D]

I hear you, Mark. Unfortunately, if it's audiobook availability we want (I, too like to read and listen to books), we're not going to find either of the Coruscant Nights or Republic Commando series on Audible. Even if we could, audio versions of SW titles prior to 2008 were all abridged - from what I understand - and both of those series were published prior to 2008. Side note: this is really is unfortunate as there are a LOT of titles from the EU on audiobook that are not unabridged.

If the group wants, I'm also happy to do the Darth Bane series (I voted for Hard Contact). I'm almost through Path of Destruction and the story AND narration are both excellent!

[Mark]

That's a shame, I am primarily an audiobook man, three kids all under 6 and an hour plus commute each way makes for excellent audiobooking! I have into the void on audio, since I've done path of destruction I'll make that my alt-pick this month, almost done with Mistborn-the final empire anyways so it should work out

[Stefan]

So the majority of votes seem to be for Hard Contact.