The Dreamer & the Dreamt

THE STAR WARS PREQUEL TRILOGY: A TRAGEDY

I love you Warlord Era for depicting how chaotic and divided the galaxy would be after the fall of lone uniting figurehead of a galaxy-spanning empire

I love you Grand Admiral Thrawn for being a threatening and competent villain with absolutely no Force sensitivity or superweapons who uses Rebel tactics against the New Republic

I love you Dark Empire for the unhinged bullshit of bringing Palpatine back (and actually explaining how!) and revealing his secret planet full of superweapons and unethical mad science that serves as a final refutation of the Imperial superweapon fetish - exemplified by the first Eclispe dreadnaught getting eaten by Sheev's own Force Storm, and the second being crashed into the Galaxy Gun

I love you Yuuzhan Vong for the genocidal Tyranid Klingons you are and this line from Han Solo: "What the Empire would have done was build a super-colossal Yuuzhan Vong-killing battle machine. They would have called it the Nova Colossus or the Galaxy Destructor or the Nostril of Palpatine or something equally grandiose. They would have spent billions of credits, employed thousands of contractors and subcontractors, and equipped it with the latest in death-dealing technology. And you know what would have happened? It wouldn't have worked. They'd forget to bolt down a metal plate over an access hatch leading to the main reactors, or some other mistake, and a hotshot enemy pilot would drop a bomb down there and blow the whole thing up. Now that's what the Empire would have done."

I love you Kyle Katarn, I love you Jaden Korr (a Kel Dor with a green and orange pair of sabers in my world), I love you Revan, I love Boba Fett becoming Mandalore, I love Jedi Leia, I love the Rebels stealing the X-Wing from Imperial development, I love Borsk Fey'lya and all the other New Republic opportunists and careerists who feel more salient as commentary every day, I love Rogue Squadron, I love Tyber Zahn, I love Maarek Stele and Mara Jade and Gilad Pellaeon, I love the crappy century-old ships like the Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser that everyone still uses because they're there and combat effective and the galaxy hasn't seen peace in decades anyway.

I love the Sun Crusher and the World Devastators, the Z-95 Headhunter and the YVH-1 Battle Droid, I love the Victory Star Destroyer and the Alliance Assault Frigate, I love the New Republic capturing and acquiring Imperial Star Destroyers and even an Executor dreadnought, I love the Eclipse and the Viscount and the E-Wing and the Defender starfighter and the Alpha Starwing Gunboat and the Missile Boat and the TIE Defender.

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Original Trilogy Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Grievous | Qymaen jai Sheelal & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Grievous | Qymaen jai Sheelal/Ronderu lij Kummar Characters: General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bail Organa, Original Rebel Alliance Character(s), Sugi (Star Wars), Embo (Star Wars), Huyang (Star Wars), Bossk (Star Wars), Ronderu lij Kummar Additional Tags: Action/Adventure, Redemption, Order 66, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Slow Burn, No Sex, Dantooine Summary:

First of all, I really do love Stover's writing. I like how distinct each character feels in his works, though this is only the second work of his that i've read. The other being the ROTS novelization. I think specifically, his way of writing lent itself to the overall feel of the book. But enough of my thoughts on the author, now onto my thoughts on the plot.

It's kind of insane, though. SO MANY crazy things happen in the book!! The setup and reveal that the book is at least in part an in-universe holodrama is so interesting!! I do think largely what happened is true, given what we read reflected the truth of what Luke wanted in the revisions. And Cronal is also an incredibly interesting character with his view of The Dark. I liked a lot of the supporting cast in the novel as well! Fenn and Lando's dialogue is very nice and their dynamic is sooo good I wish we got to see more them together now!! Also Nick and Aeona are so sweet, and everything with Han and Leia is, too!

I really like how it tackles Luke's doubts and worries but also love how he pushes past them and finds the light. in everything. I'm especially fond of the black hole and star metaphors used in relation to him, the other characters, and Cronal. I also think the Troopers under cronal's command are interesting too, like Klick, and the pawns.

Also the meltmassif crystals were so freaky. There's definitely some body horror in here for those who like that sort of thing. It made my skin crawl a bit sometimes. The melters are also so interesting, first introduced as something unknown and scary and then explained and painted in a much more sympathetic light... augh, love it.

That's kinda what I feel like when I go way back in search results on TheForce.net forums and encounter glimpses of giant AUs that were probably hundreds of thousands of words before the truncation, written at a time when people actually had to deal with new information being given in the books of NJO through LotF.