Issue #118

December 29th, 2008

_{NOTE: if you’ve read my reviews before you may know that I practice what I call embedded spoilers. These are basically spoilers you don’t know are spoilers until after you may have gone and read the novel in question (I’m sure there a literary-ass term for it, but ES is copyrighted by Tomio if not). I may be the greatest practioneer of the craft, but here – though not a review at all, but instead a very general and brief initial reaction- I am blatant with spoilers and by no means should you be playing Jan-ken-pon now if you plan to read Luke Skywalker and The Shadows of Mindor, and want to have any chance of enjoyment. Stover himself says spoilers give him a rash – below is a fatal dose of laced Death Sticks (which let me tell you, is a lot of dutchmasters). If you do read on and ruin your future reading experience . . .}

*waves hand*

. . . I am not the Jap you are looking for.

In my recent interview with Matthew Stover we talked a little bit about Luke Skywalker and The Shadows of Mindor, his latest contribution to the Star Wars EU that was released this month by Del Rey.

If nothing else, my read of the novel further reinforces the idea that I can enjoy a novel because of how it is written, in terms of style and choice of call backs or forwards (which I would file under sensibility) even if I didn’t really care for the actual plot of the novel.

For those who don’t know, the novel takes place after RotJ and is essentially about a battle against an Imperial Remnant led by Shadowspawn, a former Hand of the Emperor, and Dark side user, who was also a former member of the Prophets of the Dark Side and as the first title would lead you to believe, a ranking member of Imperial Intelligence.

The good guys proceed to go to kick his door in.

The good is easy. It’s cast. Not only does it feature the titular character and the other big II in Han and Leia, but also we get the band back all playing prominent roles. Artoo, C3PO, Big Chewie, and LANDO! Lately it’s felt like* Lando is used as a bit of a momentary nod and cameo, and I just love seeing Lando playing a central role in a novel again; showing his status as a guy that led the attack on the second Death Star and went deep cover in Jabba’s Palace (which excluding the fact that it was successful, was one of the worst escape plans ever implemented, much less executed!). Instead of just visiting Lando at his opulent home, or dropping by his pimped out luxury whip, Lando is in the mix in The Shadows of Mindor! From my interview, Stover said this about the novel:

“Luke Skywalker & the Shadows of Mindor deals with Luke’s painful transition from soldier to full-time Jedi. It offers an explanation of why he leaves the military behind forever, and what shapes him into the character we will later see in Dark Empire and Tim Zahn’s Thrawn novels. For who Luke is to me, you’ll have to read the book; that’s what it’s all about, after all.”

What we tend to see post-Zahn (especially much later) is a solemn Luke, one that gives an aura of conservatism and slow to action. We know that isn’t very true here as the Luke we see here is the still unsure Luke. Luke is not only later a Master, he is perhaps the most powerful Jedi to ever live; fulfilling his father’s potential. In Shadows of Mindor we still have a Luke that calls out to Ben or Yoda for guidance. While there is a tendency to view the Anakin/Vader character somewhat romantically in terms of ability and prowess; it seem clear to me that Luke would whip that ass like Ben with high ground if it came down to it. Anakin is potential personified and Luke is absolute actuality.* Anakin should and might just give you a beat down, Luke is simply going to do it.

I can’t however say that the story, in terms of the plot itself, was really of interest to me. I found myself rather uninterested in the antagonist in general, his application of Sith alchemy, and yet another way of viewing the Force. Note, that I don’t have a problem with thousands or millions of perspectives of the Force, as that makes perfect sense in a setting that populated by so many life forms. It’s just that as an EU reader I get this almost too often now and it’s not something of particular interest to me. Since there is a lot of dialogue from both Shadowspawn about it, and from Luke’s exploration and interaction of it, you had what amounted to me finding myself skimming a lot of material (not to mention that I just read 9 novels of Legacy that was all about Jacen, Lumiya, Luke and perspectives of the Force). To be brief, Shadowspawn serves not the Dark Side, but Dark itself. He rationalizes the relative ease of Palpatine’s rise to the Emperor’s service of the Dark for destruction (of the Jedi Order, the Republic etc), and attributed his fall to when he forsook destruction and merely wanted to build and maintain his own power, his own order.

This wasn’t the only skim factor for me in the novel.

As a general rule, or just a characteristic of my own reading preferences, I tend to think prolonged space battles belong on a screen and should always be limited if on the page. I think Stover is the absolute best in the business at relaying action in fiction; making it feel immediate, visceral, and figuratively and literally punching the reader in the soul via a jab to gut. That said, as soon as any writer starts writing about gravity wells, ships battling, and dodging debris, my mind just shuts off and walks out of the room searching for a strong beverage, much like it does when a chase scene appears in a movie***. There is an accepted and lovable goofiness associated with Star Wars that exists (that Lucas tried very hard to kill with the whole midichlorian aspect) and that allows for authors to never have to put on the hard science fiction hat on – even for a moment – and it is this very idea allows fans of fantasy think they like Science Fiction because they read Star Wars. The reason why I may be reading Star Wars at that moment is because I don’t feel like reading even a page of Greg Egan, or even from a more relatable space opera like by Peter F. Hamilton or Alistair Reynolds at that time (or otherwise I would – and I love those authors).

When you couple these two elements, I found myself drifting through a lot of The Shadows of Mindor. Stover, however, when on point, is the best Star Wars writer alive. He plays with the idea of media and entertainment and how as they were used by Palpatine, it of course is an element in post-Imperial rule; spreading and reenacting the accolades of the galaxy’s Stars. Skywalkers, Solo’s and all of the core Rebellion heads would of course be objects of public interest, something that Card played with as a possibility with Ender, but this even on an incredibly larger scale. He also with one line defines Luke and what separated him from the more recent Jedi:

“You are not afraid of the Dark”

If you think about the prequels, it really is about a bunch of scared, old, complacent bastards in denial making my boys Ben and Anakin work crazy overtime, while their very reality is being taken from them.

The title of one of the vids circulating is Luke Skywalker and the Jedi’s Revenge (which details Luke’s actions at the battle of Endor), a nice play on what was to be the original title for Return of the Jedi, Revenge of the Jedi. Like how Lucas dismissed that title, Luke continually has to react to those who know of the holovid where he is much more central the Hero. Return of the Jedi, for me at least, never had anything to do with Luke; at least fully. It was the redemption of Anakin – the return of the Jedi – that killed the Emperor. Stover even calls back to it when Luke thinks back to Vader’s (at the time he had different intentions) offer on Bespin in Empire Strikes Back – their destiny to overthrow the Emperor together (which they essentially did). What Luke doesn’t gather is that’s what he really is, a Hero, the light – which he later would embody. Even Lando, ever the gambler, ever prideful, looks upon Luke as a bonafide, larger than life, straight out of storybook, hero. Luke himself ponders that’s he’s already done what he was told to do, he fulfilled his quest and finds not a traditional ending at all – and this is that springboard into the ‘new Luke’ Stover promises we will see later. While being a great send off, it is not without thoughts both celebratory and remorse, having to saying goodbye to our old Luke. The Luke standing amidst a binary sunset; the last pause that would send generations into an adventurous love affair with galaxies far away.

There are also phrases like this one said by Luke:

“. . .she is not my type. Too abrasive. And I don’t like Redheads.”

. . . that are just irresistible and Stover knows it! The girl Luke is referring to is the girlfriend of one Nick Rostu (readers of Stover’s Shatterpoint will remember – and there are other goodies from that novel as well) but exists as a beautiful contradiction lying in wait.

In the end though, it is the beginning that brings a smile. Not quiet as mired in bureaucracy that we will see later when the Republic is more entrenched as the principle power; we see that when one of their own is in trouble, the rebel streak overrides official protocol. There are exceptions; for heroes, and more importantly, old friends.

Stover reintroduces us to old friends, as they were closer to when we first loved them, and for that we forgive and forget some of the bad times.

_{*This of course is completely subjective to what novels you read and when you read them.
** I like Video games to, but I draw the line somewhere. No Exile, no Nihilus.
*** Speaking of chase scene, I just watched Mummy III and that damn carriage in the city scene felt like it took a damn hour!}

_{Jan-ken-pon is the time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column of Jay Tomio, owner of 1/3 of everything you see currently on screen and the editor of Heliotrope. He always has the high ground. Some call him the Bodhisattva.}