I haven't liked this series very much, but this volume is pretty good, mostly because of Luke.
GOOD POINTS: - Jaina gets to act like a Jedi again, instead of a love-struck teenager of 30.
- Tenel Ka stands up to Jacen, even though she supposedly loves him.
- Ben Skywalker stops worshipping Jacen and gets pretty darn cool.
- Denning's descriptions of fighting are pretty good, since most action scenes are over-described for me and I get bored... his are vivid and concise enough to keep my attention.
BAD POINTS: - Alema Rar. Will someone put this thing out of OUR misery? It's like dragging a ball and chain around.
- Jacen is still an a--hole.
- Wookies arguing for months? Different, but ho-hum.
- Tahiri is still crying over Anakin Solo, many years after his death. Is she a Jedi or not? Accept it, and move on.
- The Jedi are on the run again, although at least they have a glimmer of being the good guys again.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Mara doesn't come back from the dead and tell Luke that it was Jacen that killed her, and he still doesn't know! She knows enough about the Force to intentionally leave her body behind, then pull a vanishing act at her own funeral, but she doesn't know enough of the Force to pop her blue head in on her husband and say "Hey!"????
BEST PART: Luke getting off his pacifistic butt and kicking Jacen's ass on board his own ship... and sabotaging the ship, too, all while saving Ben. Yes, I wish he'd killed Jacen, but I can understand why he didn't. Damn Jedi honor...
Will I buy the next volume? Probably not, but I might read it...
UKIAH, a blip on the map of US-101 as it winds its way through northern California. Famous for old hippies and wine grapes, crappy schools and organic pot.
So why am I here? Visiting family. Today I saw my brother, who doesn't live here either, and we gave his wife a quick tour of our old hometown. The poor girl was totally confused by the time we finished describing how City Hall used to be an elementary school, which is now occupying the old Junior High which is now occupying the old high school, although the best building was torn down.
SIL: "You both graduated from this high school?"
Bro: "Yes, when it was a high school."
SIL: "Well, what is it now?"
Me: "It's the Jr, High."
SIL: "But where is the high school?"
Bro: "I don't know."
Me: "Neither do I."
It's a blip on the map of my life, too. I was born here. And the hospital where I was born is now an office building, which is an improvement over 20 years ago when it was a mental health facility... and I can remember when the local community college was a cluster of portable buildings and trailers parked at the fairgrounds.
My elementary school hasn't moved, but it's doubled in size. The seldom-used street I used to walk home from Jr. High now has stoplights, turn lanes and traffic jams. The Foster Freeze is gone, as is The Big Orange, the A&W, the Frosty Shop. And the house we used to live in before 1964.
And, it was here I first saw Star Wars in 1977 while visiting for a weekend... Why? Because my sister said, "You HAVE to see this movie, I'll babysit." And so we went, (and life hasn't been the same since.) The theatre is still there, but it's now a 6-plex.
The only thing constant is the big "U" on top of a local mountain, the creeks are dry in the summertime, and they have the right kind of crickets... the ones that go "chirp-chirp" in the night instead of the irritating ones in Arizona that go "CHEEPCHEEPCHEEP" in a monotone...
What's the point of this blog? It really doesn't have one... except, you CAN go home again, just don't expect to find anything when you get there...
