I remember seeing something on here about the books by this author but I don't remember exactly what.

What's the opinion? Good writer? Hack who shouldn't be allowed to touch Star Wars? Somewhere in between?

I recently read 1.5 of her novels. I don't think I'll work that up to 2. I got fed up with every Jedi being broken (emotionally or otherwise) and the clones being compassionate ubermensch that were tragically denied their full lifespans. Too much mopey pity party. Novels called "Republic Commandoes" really need to focus a bit more on commando ops and less on the soap opera of clones pining for children (and one knocking up a Jedi). Oh, and the Mando-splaing of how bad everyone else was got very old very fast.

I read one or two of her commando novels, and they were both awful. Look at how terrible the Jedi are! To prove that I will randomly pick EU elements to highlight or ignore as befits my argument-disguised-as-novel. Also, Mandalorians are better at everything. In fact, a clone will teach proper swordfighting to a Jedi Padawan. That totally makes sense!

I personally enjoyed her books. Karen Travis is a bit of a polarizing subject with Expanded Universe fans. You either like her or hate her.

The first two books weren't bad, and the one character in the second book that rampantly bad-mouthed the Jedi could be construed as just his very biased opinion.

Sadly, by the third book she was full hog on the "Mandalorians are the true heroes of the setting!" power trip that she's largely ridiculed for. After all, you know it's bad when the other writers on a series that they've all been assigned to work on go out of their way to ignore anything her parts of the series, especially when she indulged in her Boba Fettish.

I can appreciate what she tried to do in regards to fleshing out the Mandalorian culture, even going so far as to develop a dialect for them; don't believe she got to the point of a full-blown language as opposed to Klingon or Sindarin. Sadly, she bought too much into her own press about how great the Mandalorians were, and that ruined what could have been a very good series, with Order 66 being the absolute nadir of the Republic Commando books. Although the Imperial Commando book (pretty much the last one she worked on before her falling out with Lucasfilm) was actually an improvement; then again she didn't really have anywhere to go but up after the previous book in the series.

All I’ve read of hers are her entries in the Legacy of the Force series. They felt completely disconnected from the rest of the series, and employed many of the cliches about her work in Star Wars that I’d been wary of. As a result, I don’t really plan on reading any more of her books, even if I’ve got some sitting on the bookshelf already. (Yeah, I’ve bought plenty of books - Star Wars and otherwise - on the basis of maybe reading them if they seem interesting and I find ‘em cheap.)

I think the first Mandalorian book was Hard Contact, which was okay. The rest were trash. I guess it depends on whether you have a fan-crush on Mandalorians at the expense of everything else...if so, you'll probably love it. If you view them as just another (interesting) faction in the SW universe, then her stuff is over the top to the point of boring.

1 hour ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Order 66 being the absolute nadir of the Republic Commando books.

Order 66 is the book I quit reading halfway through. It's absolute garbage. Who knew DM and I could agree on something?

Hm. I bought the first Republic Commando book today, before I posted this topic, because as I said, I remember seeing her name mentioned but couldn't remember the context.

Guess I'll just have to read it (or as far as I can make it, if I can't finish it because it's so bad) and see what I think.

I should have posted this before I left but I didn't realize I was going to end up at B&N. I also didn't realize I was going to spend ANOTHER $200 on Star Wars books today. But hey, what can you do? I now have plenty of comics/trade paperbacks/whatever you want to call them, and a few novels. The other day I got Rise of the Empire, which is apparently two novels and three short stories. So that alone will keep me busy for a while (I don't read nearly as much as I used to, since War Thunder exists, as well as mods for the Fallout games and Empire at War...no more Zann Consortium! YAY!!!).

Are there any other authors whose work I should just pass up? I liked a few of the other things Zahn has written in the past but I remember some of you talking about the Thrawn series with somewhat less than stellar opinions.

Funny timing as my facebook reminded me about a comment I made back in 2011. Essentially I was thrilled to hear that Traviss said that she loved to write about the smug jackholes from the godawful Gears of War-franchise since it was convenient to sink a lot of my hatred into one place.

7 years on, I hope I've matured enough to not hate a writer for being bad at her job, but that doesn't make her writing even a little bit better.

Legacy of the Force does indeed seem to be her worst stuff. She has Jaina Solo look for someone to train her to fight her own brother who has gone over to the dark side and she finds the most experienced Jedi fighter in the galaxy.... Boba Fett.

Regardless that the Fett family's track record against Jedi (or blind smugglers for that matter) isn't all that great.

Boba Fett, in his 60s or 70s, then proceeds to beat the tar out of Jaina Solo, and then ranting that you cant use the force to predict his moves because he's just that that damned fast or he hadn't decided until he struck or something like that, completely disregarding that Jedi don't really use mind reading to predict their opponents but you know actually predicting the future . So, if even if BF had no intention to strike until he actually struck, that would still be perfectly possible to predict using the force. But anyway, she can't for plot reasons, and derived of her Jedi senses in the face of superior mandalorian skillz she gets mercilessly slapped around by just about anyone who's ever tagged an 'oa onto a word. Stupid Jedi are too reliant on Jedi powers to fight properly.

Because it's not like Jaina had just finished up fighting in a brutal war against an enemy who was literally invisible to the force and thus messing royally with said jedi powers and reflexes.

But did she do well fighting the Vong? Well, yeah, kind of. Well enough that her enemies essentially proclaimed her a deity of their own pantheon.

But yeah, she clearly needed some pointers of fighting from a guy who was beaten by blind man. All she had going for her was exceptional talent, a decade and a half of experience in brutal warfare (starting out when she was 16), Jedi training and powers and engaging a bunch of lightsaber wielding darksiders.

Clearly, when needing to face down her own brother (a lightsaber wielding darksider), it's obvious that she needed the insight that can only by gained by being beaten by a blind man.

So no, I'm not particularly fond of Traviss' writing, even disregarding the mandalorian invincible starfighters built from lightsaber proof metal.

28 minutes ago, the mercenary said:

Are there any other authors whose work I should just pass up? I liked a few of the other things Zahn has written in the past but I remember some of you talking about the Thrawn series with somewhat less than stellar opinions.

Read anything written by Aaron Allston. The rest can pretty much be skipped, but Zahn is pretty ok. Stackpole is pretty terrible as a novelist (he's better as a comic author) but it's still better than about 75% of the Legends stuff.

41 minutes ago, the mercenary said:

Hm. I bought the first Republic Commando book today, before I posted this topic, because as I said, I remember seeing her name mentioned but couldn't remember the context.

Guess I'll just have to read it (or as far as I can make it, if I can't finish it because it's so bad) and see what I think.

I should have posted this before I left but I didn't realize I was going to end up at B&N. I also didn't realize I was going to spend ANOTHER $200 on Star Wars books today. But hey, what can you do? I now have plenty of comics/trade paperbacks/whatever you want to call them, and a few novels. The other day I got Rise of the Empire, which is apparently two novels and three short stories. So that alone will keep me busy for a while (I don't read nearly as much as I used to, since War Thunder exists, as well as mods for the Fallout games and Empire at War...no more Zann Consortium! YAY!!!).

Are there any other authors whose work I should just pass up? I liked a few of the other things Zahn has written in the past but I remember some of you talking about the Thrawn series with somewhat less than stellar opinions.

8 minutes ago, penpenpen said:

Read anything written by Aaron Allston. The rest can pretty much be skipped, but Zahn is pretty ok. Stackpole is pretty terrible as a novelist (he's better as a comic author) but it's still better than about 75% of the Legends stuff.

Now, I'm of a completely different option. I like Aaron Allston's work. In fact, there really isn't any SW author whose books I thought were bad.

New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force, and Fate of the Jedi are all excellent. The Bantam Spectra New Republic era is pretty terrible aside from the Zahn stuff and Rogue Squadron.

10 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Now, I'm of a completely different option. I like Aaron Allston's work. In fact, there really isn't any SW author whose books I thought were bad.

Did you skip Planet of Twilight ?

I wish I had.

Or, at least, the 1/4 of it that I got through before putting the book down.

5 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

Did you skip Planet of Twilight ?

I wish I had.

Or, at least, the 1/4 of it that I got through before putting the book down.

Nope. I enjoyed that book too.

I personally like her works. Tbh I've never met the hatred against her before this forum.

As for the topic, you should see for yourself, some might like it, and a lot seems to hate it, but only you can tell if You enjoy it

I won't read her books because of what I have heard about the content but mainly because she stated that the IP is Science Fiction to her and she writes for it that way. I feel that is just arrogant and erroneous.

Haven't read her stuff, but all the complaints above are consistent with everything I've heard that convinced me not to read her stuff.

Oh, and she calls fans who criticized her work or disliked her vision of Star Wars "Talifans." Let that sink in.

11 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

In fact, there really isn't any SW author whose books I thought were bad.

Well, there's a danger sign...

First of all all of the Star Wars books are not top shelf literature and most are written as, or might as well be, Young Adult books so keep that in mind when setting expectations. Of the new authors I've liked Claudia Grey ( Lost Stars & Bloodline ), Christie Golden's Dark Disciple was fun, John Jackson Miller's A New Dawn and Kanobi were good, Tim Lebbon's Into the Void (Dawn of the Jedi) was also worth a read. I couldn't get through Chuck Wendig's Aftermath , the writing style just hurt my brain. I also was disappointed with the new Timothy Zahn Thrawn book, not so much because of the writing, it's no Shakespeare but it's not the ADHD of Wendig, but just not a huge fan of Thrawn's newer depiction as a military Mary Sue, YMMV.

Oh, also E. K. Johnston's Ashoka was good.

I liked Karin Traviss' books. I liked almost all the EU novels. I also like a lot of bad but entertaining literature. You have been warned.

6 hours ago, FuriousGreg said:

I couldn't get through Chuck Wendig's Aftermath , the writing style just hurt my brain. 

Agree with everything else in your post. I did enjoy the Wendig trilogy, I thought the character arcs were great, but I can see how his style is not for everyone.

Yeah, the style that Chuck Wendig used for the Aftermath series took a little getting used to for me to fully wrap my head around. Though to be honest, I mostly enjoyed those books for the world-building chapters that explored the state of the galaxy in the wake of the Battle of Endor.

Given that I'm not one of her bigger fans, the Ahsoka book turned out to be surprisingly good. A New Dawn is an excellent read as well, though Kenobi didn't really grab me.

I love Star Wars, but don't love most of the Star Wars books.

I think some of it is that it's hard to capture the energy of the movies in a 400-600 page book, so the stories wind up bogging down with complication. I know many folks love the Thrawn Trilogy. To me, it feels like Lord of the Rings in Space. It's not bad fiction, but it's not good Star Wars.

Probably top of my list is the Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron books, the Lando Calrissian trilogy, and the original Han Solo trilogy (I think I've read Han Solo and the Lost Legacy more than any other book through my life). Also, a lot of the YA stuff - which is not surprising, given why I don't dig most of the books.

Having said all that, I can appreciate on some level most of the Star Wars books. Many of them may be mediocre, but they may offer something good - maybe this one has a good portrayal of Luke, or that one really catches the vibe between Han and Chewie, or maybe another one has really good chase sequences.

Then there's Karen Traviss. Her first book was pretty good. Her second was readable. By the third, it because apparent to me that these books were being written by someone who not only didn't understand or appreciate Star Wars, but someone who seemed to actively hate Star Wars. I don't need to waste money on trash like that. If I want to see mediocre fanfic filled with bile, I can get plenty for free on the internet.

On 9/23/2018 at 8:52 PM, the mercenary said:

Hm. I bought the first Republic Commando book today, before I posted this topic, because as I said, I remember seeing her name mentioned but couldn't remember the context.

Guess I'll just have to read it (or as far as I can make it, if I can't finish it because it's so bad) and see what I think.

I should have posted this before I left but I didn't realize I was going to end up at B&N. I also didn't realize I was going to spend ANOTHER $200 on Star Wars books today. But hey, what can you do? I now have plenty of comics/trade paperbacks/whatever you want to call them, and a few novels. The other day I got Rise of the Empire, which is apparently two novels and three short stories. So that alone will keep me busy for a while (I don't read nearly as much as I used to, since War Thunder exists, as well as mods for the Fallout games and Empire at War...no more Zann Consortium! YAY!!!).

Are there any other authors whose work I should just pass up? I liked a few of the other things Zahn has written in the past but I remember some of you talking about the Thrawn series with somewhat less than stellar opinions.

Read it and make up your own mind. There are two camps, but I think on this one you need to make a judgement call. I (mostly) like the Republic Commandos novels for the fleshing out of modern Mandalorian culture in the galaxy, and the Rebels tv show draws heavily on this. On the other hand, there are issues with the female Jedi character who is highly mono-dimensional.

Her Legacy of the Force books are not good, and I say this as a fan of Karen Traviss.

Ahsoka was very good, probably better than Lost Stars IMO, which became a little too bland for me at times, what with needing both the main characters to be at all the critical points from the OT movies. The writer of Ahsoka managed to keep her character consistent and create a believable maturing for her.