Mike's Reviews > Star Wars: Slave Ship
Star Wars: Slave Ship (The Bounty Hunter Wars, #2)
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This is the second book in the Star Wars "Bounty Hunter Wars" series. And while it did engross me and I did read it in less than 24 hours, it's not exactly an example of fine writing. Yes, the characters are somewhat compelling. Yet Jeter didn't invent many of them, he just gives them things to do. Sometimes.
One thing that the author does constantly is have his characters ruminate. And ponder. And recall. And have all sorts of passive internal monologues. What's worse than that is that he routinely does so in the middle of interminable dialogue exchanges that move the plot forward as slowly as a glacier. He will have a character pose a question to someone, then one or the other of them will go off on an internal monolgue (sometimes for two or more pages) before an answer occurs. And by then, it's hard to care what the question was.
Aside from the internal monologues being his favorite way to give insight into his characters (instead of having them...you know...interact with each other), Jeter likes long meetings where every plot point is discussed at length. He must think his readers are somewhat dim. Then again, maybe he knows how bored they might be from reading endless internal monologues and feels the need to hammer home the plot points over and over and over again.
If I had to say, I'd guess that at least half of this book could have been scrapped by a good editor and the story would be pretty much the same.
My main objection comes from the last third of the novel, where the story takes a long, boring, somewhat pointless detour into the machinations of Kuat of Kuat, who might be the villain (but it's not clear at this point if he really is or not). He certainly has something to hide and wants Boba Fett dead. But so does a lot of the Star Wars galaxy. Why the author felt it was necessary to involve Kuat in a long, drawn out diplomatic (and violent) power struggle with his own people just to provide one small kernel of important data (the identity of the mystery woman traveling with Boba Fett) is a mystery to me. Again, a good editor needed to get to work on that section.
My other concerns are largely the same as the ones I had about the first book in this series "The Mandalorian Armor," the characterizations don't quite match up with what other authors and the Star Wars films would have us believe about these characters. The bounty hunters come off as vicious, dim-witted bumblers for the most part. It's not hard to see why Boba Fett is the best. But it also makes a reader wonder why the rest of them even bother trying to compete.
While Boba Fett is convincing as an unstoppable bounty hunting force, his personality is inconsistent. Some scenes with him are great, others are not. He talks too much for a taciturn bounty hunter. At least we don't get into his head, which would ruin the suspense for some of the stunts he pulls.
"Slave Ship" (by the way, the title has no relevance to the action of the book) is not a great work of fiction at all, but it did hold my interest (despite the long boring stretches) enough for me to finish it and proceed to the third and final book in the series.
One thing that the author does constantly is have his characters ruminate. And ponder. And recall. And have all sorts of passive internal monologues. What's worse than that is that he routinely does so in the middle of interminable dialogue exchanges that move the plot forward as slowly as a glacier. He will have a character pose a question to someone, then one or the other of them will go off on an internal monolgue (sometimes for two or more pages) before an answer occurs. And by then, it's hard to care what the question was.
Aside from the internal monologues being his favorite way to give insight into his characters (instead of having them...you know...interact with each other), Jeter likes long meetings where every plot point is discussed at length. He must think his readers are somewhat dim. Then again, maybe he knows how bored they might be from reading endless internal monologues and feels the need to hammer home the plot points over and over and over again.
If I had to say, I'd guess that at least half of this book could have been scrapped by a good editor and the story would be pretty much the same.
My main objection comes from the last third of the novel, where the story takes a long, boring, somewhat pointless detour into the machinations of Kuat of Kuat, who might be the villain (but it's not clear at this point if he really is or not). He certainly has something to hide and wants Boba Fett dead. But so does a lot of the Star Wars galaxy. Why the author felt it was necessary to involve Kuat in a long, drawn out diplomatic (and violent) power struggle with his own people just to provide one small kernel of important data (the identity of the mystery woman traveling with Boba Fett) is a mystery to me. Again, a good editor needed to get to work on that section.
My other concerns are largely the same as the ones I had about the first book in this series "The Mandalorian Armor," the characterizations don't quite match up with what other authors and the Star Wars films would have us believe about these characters. The bounty hunters come off as vicious, dim-witted bumblers for the most part. It's not hard to see why Boba Fett is the best. But it also makes a reader wonder why the rest of them even bother trying to compete.
While Boba Fett is convincing as an unstoppable bounty hunting force, his personality is inconsistent. Some scenes with him are great, others are not. He talks too much for a taciturn bounty hunter. At least we don't get into his head, which would ruin the suspense for some of the stunts he pulls.
"Slave Ship" (by the way, the title has no relevance to the action of the book) is not a great work of fiction at all, but it did hold my interest (despite the long boring stretches) enough for me to finish it and proceed to the third and final book in the series.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
August 7, 2009
– Shelved
August 7, 2009
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Finished Reading