Karen Traviss... (Page 2 of 8)

I like what your saying, Manji!  I agree that his priorities could easily change.  I love her RC series as well

Well I have enjoyed the Commando novels and look forward to the latest one.

I did buy Bloodlines but I just couldn't get the motivation to read it - the blurb didn't help. I started and it didn't grab me. I guess the whole Fett/Solo element also annoyed me. How unoriginal. Anyway, I'm glad that some people enjoy it but I'm a fan of non prequel Boba. So this didn't really cut the mustard for me, so I chose not to read it. Anyone want my copy?

Mind you, it's a matter of personal taste for me when it comes to her writing style, I don't mean to demean any of her fans. ^_^  But I do hate Denning to the ends of the earth.

Mel, I understand where you might have been unmotivated. However, as a fellow Fett fan, Im of the opinion that Bloodlines was by far the best chance I've gotten to truly understand Boba Fett as a man and what truly motivates him. Trust me, I dont rely on the blurbs anyway, they never do the books justice. Try again. Who knows?

As for what Novall Talon said:

I whole-heartedly agree...

I dunno, I have to admit that it sort of annoys me how popular the Mandalorians are now...
Can't put my finger on it...

If you wanna see war-hungry mandos, then read the KOTOR graphic novels.  Modern Mandalorians had to change to survive in a Republic they couldn't destroy.  I mean lets face it, their leaders haven't always been the brightest bulbs, challenging sith lords to single combat, fighting wars on 2 fronts, etc. 

Mandos are people like you and me, who when the call comes down get in their armor and kick some butt.  Why is it so difficult for people to see Mando's like that?  If anything, that should make them MORE appealing.

Novall "Beskar'lovik" Talon

Oh, I agree that she's changed everything we ever thought about Mandos.  Lets not forget though that Fett (who has been tackled by many different authors) didn't actually live the life of a Mando'ade.  He didn't even want to be Mand'alor when he was asked to be so.  So technically, writing about Mandos and writing about Fett are two different things. 

Personally, I don't think anyone could have written Fett any worse then he was written in Tales of the Bounty Hunters where he has fear in his eyes when Dengar is choking him. 

I respect the fact that you don't like her writing, but I think if you go through and read all of the books about Fett, then read KT's work on the RC series and Bloodlines...your going to see that she isn't writing it in the one dimensional way that every other writer has written Fett.  If you've read one book about Fett, you've read them all.

Novall "Beskar'lovik" Talon

yes, thats got on my nerves more than once... but usauly you can tell what they mean by the current situation. So most of the time its not a problem for me.

Oya MANDA!!!  From a fellow warmonger!!!

They're like the Marines!  Breaking things and kicking *** is just what Mando's are supposed to do!

Now, it's true that not all Mandalorinans live that way in the hard times since their defeat by Reven.  But I don't consider those Mandalorians who have turned to farming and the simple life as Mando's; they've strayed from that path.  The real Mandalorians are the ones who still live the the old way like Boba and Jango did; aquiring Honor in the face of danger, in their case by capturing and killing the galaxy's most dangerous criminals.

No, YOU wait!

Jango NEVER considered himself a Mando'ade!?!  Where do you get that from!?!  He was the last leader of the Mandalorians before the Clone Wars!  You think he woke up some morning and said "To hell with Jaster and ALL he taught me about Honor and the Mandalorian ways.  I'm just watching my own *** from now on"?!?

Boba I can't be sure about, but I have a hard time believing that one, too.  As he was raised by Jango.  It's always been said of him that "He lives by his own code."  Can anybody prove that it's not a Mando based 'Code' that he's living by??

Not trying to slam you, V_M, but you came at me and a couple other's on this thread really hard with at least this one bit of 'evidence' that looks really untrue.  As for 'is farming hard,' hell yes it and the other labors that go with the kind of life that you're talking about is hard.  That doesn't mean Mando's live that way.  I've explained in other posts my feelings about the way they live, and the reasons why.  If Traviss has written otherwise, that's her thing.  I'll always see Mandalorians as warriors, and little else.

I've met, spoken to and got along well with Karen since first meeting her at Spaceport 1 early last year. I've found her books entertaining and more adult then the vast majority of Star Wars novels out there (and I've read almost all of them). You either like her books or don't, same as any other authors work. I recall people being upset that George explaining the mystery behind Boba, revealing that he was a clone of Jango instead of that mysterious faceless character with no known past that unbelievably stands his ground with Vader in Ep IV. That past, this will too.
If you don't like her books or the style of her writing (personally I'm pleased it isn't all about super powerful Jedi saving the day with their fancy torches and smug attitudes). As to Mando's and their being farmers, engineers and the like that Karen has described and the comments that has provoked from members here - remember that Vikings were farmers and fishermen until they went on a raid, then they were warriors, killers and all round general nastiness. Didn't make them any the less Vikings cause they lived a more "normal" life and neither does Mando's being farmers, metal workers, scientist etc, especially given that they always wear their armour and carry weapons at all times.
What Karen has done is broaden the readers view of Mandalorians and show that they aren't all mental (not physical) clones of Boba. In other words she's made Mandalorians seem more real. Now, Boba in the books is seventy-one years old and things from his past are coming back to haunt him and he's been forced to face up to his own mortality. He is however far from getting soft or being changed in inappropriate ways, what we are reading is a depth of character that we haven't seen before. No other writer has written of Boba as anything but a nasty killer who's out for his own ends, whilst this has fitted the various stories in many of them it has made the outcome predictable and boring and in the worst cases Boba appear very 2-dimensional (The Mandalorian Armor books are a prime example of this). Karen's books haven't re-written this but have expanded upon the Boba already established by adding new layers to him. He's now more human, but colder, more understandable but just as deadly. In many ways the addition of his motives and feelings make him come across as far more ruthless and nasty then ever before, as we now know just why he walked away from people or did the things he has done in other stories. I for one find it incredably interesting to read, not to mention fun. 
As to the books being canon, well of-course they are. You don't have to read them or like them but it doesn't change the fact they are official parts of Star Wars.

Her book wasnt bad I just wish she would have followed it up with another about him at least. She isnt amazing or anything and I do agree with it pissing me off when writers just decided to make things up about Boba, but I think it pisses me off more that there are so many conflicting stories about the Fetts.