From Mithril (part 1):
I'm on page 155 now...but let me run this by you guys and see if you think I'm over reacting:

Mara is fighting this deadly illness. It comes and goes in waves, attacking different parts of her each time, and Leia is there when one attack hits her. After it is over Mara is not only physically shaken from fighting it off but crying. Leia asks why and she says "It attacked my womb." And then it goes on to say Leia realizes Mara means she thinks she may never be able to have the kids she and Luke want to have... now all of this is fine and understandable. The thing that got me was this:

"Leia surely understood the woman's concerns, though, given the disease's attack on the very core of her womanhood."

WHAT??!! Is that how we're to be defined now? Is a male's penis the thing that makes him a man?? This offends me so much I can't even begin to describe it! I was so totally annoyed with it I came close to throwing the book across the room as I did with "Visions of the Future", except I was in a public place at the time so I couldn't.

I suppose I should be happy that I got all the way to page 79 before I got angry - that's farther than I thought I would. Luke and Mara are all touchy feeley - I understand if you have a very ill person you care for you might touch them more often than you might otherwise, but we get handfuls of hugs, kisses on the forehead, Leia physically supporting her.... its too much already. And where's the affection between Mara and Luke? It's so feeble its practically not there - I don't want them slobbering all over each other like teenagers but really, show us SOMETHING. We don't get any meaningful conversation between Luke or Mara yet either, it's all light banter or chit chat about the mission they're on. Jaina gets a lot more affection from Mara than Luke does... and there's something very very wrong with that. The author also goes really far out of his way to convince us that Leia is cool with Mara being so close to her daugher - she thinks over and over how lucky Jaina is to have Mara around, how great she thinks their friendship is, yadda yadda yadda. Okay, we get it, stop clubbing us over the head with it already! And btw - I'm not convinced. If she was so okay with it it wouldn't keep coming up over and over again... someone's in denial here.....

What I'm enjoying the most so far are the conversations between Luke and Jacen, and Jacen and Anakin. They talk about the nature of the Force and the Jedi's roll in the NR, all really interesting because they all have made good points even as they disagree. I've been saying all along Luke needs to reign in those Jedi! The bad guys are interesting too, I like the biotech weapons they use. But so far I'm halfway done and it doesn't seem to be too wonderful a book... unless it really kicks in later on I'm on my way to a 'thumbs down' review. ...

Later From Mithril (part 1): Rant No. 2

Okay, so I'm done with the book. Do you want to know what annoys me the most? It's the way Mara is dealing with her illness. I mean really, if you were gravely ill and had a loved one who was worried for you, would *you* shut them out? Did it ever occur to her that Luke might need to be included in her efforts to fight this sickness? Did she ever consider that he might feel unneeded, useless, helpless? A marriage is a partnership and she is still acting as if she is alone. Considering that they are supposed to have a Force bond, this is even harder to understand. To put it simply, I don't feel the love.

How can she even *consider* leaving him to go search for a cure when she knows his history? It's way too similar to the way Callista left him, and she must know how much that devastated him. And the fact that Luke is taking it all in stride, is even making excuses for her, just disgusts me. The author clearly wants us to believe that Mara is being strong when she refuses to acknowledge her illness, but I think it is merely weak and horribly selfish.

To allow Mara up in a spaceship during a battle is very dangerous for everyone involved - what if she faints again at a critical point in time? She very nearly caused the death of herself, Jaina, and Danni this time around. What about the next time? She finds it necessary to go along as if nothing has changed but I cannot believe that the people around her are allowing her to do this. Her ego is so huge that she is willing to put others at risk simply to convince herself that nothing is wrong. Selfish, selfish, selfish.

Although the author said over and over again how much Luke loved her, how much she loved him, and how close they were, I never got that impression from what they said or did. There was more affection shown between her and Jaina than between her and Luke. Actions speak louder than words - show us something that will make us believe that they have a deep, loving relationship. Until then, it is all empty phrases.

Also, I never got the feeling that any of them truly mourned Chewbacca. Once again, the author said they were grieving but that feeling never came across to me. I suppose I understand how we cannot show someone like Han Solo crying like a baby, but the empty words used to convey his grief left me feeling incredibly cheated. One of the most beloved characters in the Star Wars universe has just died and I feel like none of his friends really cares. The idea of a main character dying is okay with me. Actually, without sounding too unfeeling, I think it's about time. What Han said at the end the book was right: for so long nothing could happen to any of the main characters that it got to a point where we felt we knew that no matter what the dire circumstances none of the main characters were ever in any serious danger. Now that assumption is gone, and I think that is for the best. Now we can feel true urgency when one of them is in trouble, because if they're willing to kill off Chewie, who knows who might be next?

His death itself was handled well - I appreciated the way Han accused his son of abandoning his friend because I feel that would be a very realistic reaction. And I also realize that in the midst of a real war there's very little time to grieve, but this is a novel we are talking about. The author can take the time to show us the characters thoughts and convince us that this loss is a heavy burden to bear.

Overall, I suppose the book is okay for the beginning of a long, intricate series. As with the Phantom Menace, it may prove to be a great introduction but as a stand-alone is disappointing. Only knowing that this storyline is going to be played out over a number of books makes me feel in the least way satisfied. I can only hope that these problems will be rectified in the future novels. Since I really like Michael Stackpole as an author, I look forward to reading his book and have great hopes that he can bring some excitement to things.

Once again the discussions about the nature of the Force and the relationship of the kids (not such kids anymore, hmm?) was the most enjoyable part of the books. I wanna see the dissention in the Jedi ranks, I wanna see the internal forces tearing them apart. Show Luke rebuilding the Council, show him trying to wrangle those ornery recaltrient Jedi in. Let me see Luke show them why he's a Master and they're just Knights. Whip them into shape, Luke! Then go out and give those Vong dudes the what for! I'll be right here cheering you on!

Until then, I humbly remain.... Mithril.
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