Fate of the Jedi 9: Apocalypse by Troy Denning

I'll edit the title later, but I have a fairly important question that I would like opinions on.

Okay, so...Star By Star was one of the best Star Wars books ever. Troy Denning is a very good author. But as proven, he cannot close out a series.

1. He ruined the end of what positive shreds might have possibly been left of Dark Nest. Of course Dark Nest was terrible, but what little may have been salvaged...was not. He ruined the end of that series. Although it was already ruined before it began. I need to stress that.

2. He absolutely, completely, and irrevocably destroyed the end of the Legacy of the Force series. I did not like that series, not as a whole. Bits of it were excellent, and bits of it were horrible. Overall, though, I just didn't like it. But the whole time, I was holding on to the hope that the end would make it all better. Denning was going to give us something absolutely amazing, and we were all going to feel better. This was going to be the battle of Jacen vs. Jaina, this was going to be the resolving of the war, this was going to be so much! And then...he ruined it. Crushed it. Burned it. It was horrible!

So...I have come to the conclusion that Troy Denning cannot tie up a series. So...what do you think? Unfortunately, we are left with him as the concluding author once more. Why Del Rey does this, I really don't know. I remember quite the fan uproar when Invincible was released. So...they're giving him another chance. Should I? Apparently I'll have to. But should I? Should I be crossing my fingers for something amazing? Because I think, once again, this series is going to need an amazing ending to finish it off. It has a lot of potential, but it needs an excellent last novel.

As an example, The Unifying Force is proof of how to end a series. That. Was. Awesome!

So...here's hoping. Neutral

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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Ugh, I hadn't done the math and realized Denning would be ending the series. Now I'm extremely nervous. Memories of Invincible bouncing in my head and all. That book had so much promise and was completely botched. It was way to focused on Jaina to the exclusion of all other plots. The Masters appeared only to utter some words of wisdom and say that killing Jacen was their "last resort" after "all attempts to reach him had failed". Wait, what? When did anyone every attempt to reach Jacen? As I recall, they all pretty much went from denial to "let's kill him" with no stops in between. And then there was the big fight itself. It was fine, I suppose, but Jaina didn't use any of the cool skills like shatterpoint that she'd learned. Made all that training seem pointless. Then, of course, the ending was rushed in a pitiful way. All that info packed into like three paragraphs. So, yeah, I still haven't gotten over all this. But, I'm will to hope for the best. *sigh*
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All things die, Anakin Skywalker, even stars burn out.

So this is how liberty dies....with thunderous applause.

Those without swords can still die upon them

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Master Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 745 Location: Denver

I don't envy him trying to wrap 9 books with a sizable gap in the middle of the series.

I thought legacy ended OK - its was the whole end state of the GA being brushed over that disappointed me most, but I agree after 9 books it should have been better.

I agree with your concerns but there's still a lot left to the series so I cannot begin to think about what Denning will need to wrap up, there's:

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

I think if Denning can stick to ending on two or three of the those issues, and the rest addressed in the previous books we will get a decent ending. I think if there are still a lot of loose ends like with legacy then we will be disappointed.

Master Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 4434 Location: Korriban

Denning's like Obama. He's got decent intentions and some ok skill but he's controlled by those up top. I hope they give him creative control of the final book in the series and that they actually end it. But we know they're going for a more 'edgy' take on things, and I don't know if they'll pull this off. This has been better than LotF so far but honestly the death of Abeloth kinda messed me up. They had set up this monster that was powerful enough to scare the Celestials and they just kinda...i don't even know...
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Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

To me this is what was wrong with Invincible.
1. It didn't feel like a 'last book'. I'd like to close the last book,give a sigh and reminisce, but with Invincible I just didn't feel that.
2. I would have preferred more closure. I can see why Denning chose to make it Jaina/ Caedus centered, but after a nine book series there were some things I would've really liked to see (i.e. the Confederation and some characters should have been there- or at least there more).
3. Denning's personal war on Karen Traviss and the Mandos. I respect your opinions, but puh-leaze leave the politics out of the books. Rolling Eyes

So I'm not thrilled by this, but I'd be willing to give him a second chance.
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Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Padawan Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 97 Location: CANADA

I just hope Troy Denning's final FOTJ hardcover will have a climatic aramgeddon/apoclyptic space battle between the Galactic Alliance/Jedi/Mandalorians and the Sith and Aboleth.

Invincible had some good space battles but not a climatic space battle like in the Thrawn Trilogy,Star by Star,The Unifying Force,Betrayal or even ROTJ. Here's hoping for FOTJ IX.

Maybe the last FOTJ novel should be called Armageddon or Apocolypse.

Very Happy

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I'VE BEEN FROM ONE SIDE OF THIS GALAXY TO THE OTHER!

I'm perfectly willing to give Denning another shot at closing a series, but if FOTJ ends on a bad note, then I'd say someone else should do the next one. In fact I'd like to see a different set of authors tackle the next series if they want to continue this round-robin author thing, regardless of how FOTJ ends.
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Master Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 599

LotF and FotJ are both based on Denning's ideas, his series so to say. So they let him decide how they end, perhaps because he has "known" it from the moment he was able to sold the ideas for DR. His series, his ending.

I think Denning has several big problems: He writes, for whatever reason, short books nowadays; he leaves, perhaps wants to leave, things open or ambiguous; in Invincible, it can be now seen, he was already planning the ground for FotJ and perhaps wanted to wrap things, those things he wanted to touch, up to bring forth the basic beginning situation in FotJ, all in a short novel.

Now, perhaps FotJ will be more important to him, making him write a bigger novel, perhaps there is no new series decided with DR and ground to be prepared when he writes FotJ 9, perhaps he sees DN, LotF and FotJ as one story which he ties up only in FotJ 9.

But, I dont really care anymore about what Denning does with FotJ 9, And I díd like TG, TJK and UQ very much.

That's an interesting idea. Denning could've been in a hurry to get through Invincible to get to Fate of the Jedi. That happens to me when I'm reading some times and I don't enjoy the book near as much as I should.
_________________

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Hmmm, that's a plausible explanation, but still no excuse.
_________________
All things die, Anakin Skywalker, even stars burn out.

So this is how liberty dies....with thunderous applause.

Those without swords can still die upon them

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Padawan Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 97 Location: CANADA

Whatever happens in Troy Denning's final FOTJ Hardback I hope there will be a teaser at the end for the first post-FOTJ book perhaps by James Luceno? Like Millennium Falcon was a teaser at the end of Invincible.

Very Happy

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I'VE BEEN FROM ONE SIDE OF THIS GALAXY TO THE OTHER!

Master Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 599

I think it has been claimed that Luceno got a bit sour because of how MF was handled. Not being able to do final revisions etc.

Would he be keen to return now?

You know it's weird, the first time I read Star By Star I thought it was a good book, but when I reread it, I didn't like all that much.
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So FotJ #9 has a name: Apocalypse. Speculate! Very Happy

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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Epics Jedi vs Sith vs Celestial brawl? Has to be something epic with a title like Apocalypse. It's likely the Sith Tribe will get wiped out and Abeloth will die for good, so some sort of epic fight with that result.
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