Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Tales from the New Republic (Star Wars (Random House Paperback))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are like me when a new Star Wars book appears you buy it. There have been other "Tales From, Tales Of" all of which are better than this particular group of stories. The other collections dealt with characters that were either known to the Star Wars Fan, or could be placed in context once the story had begun. I believe this was very well done with "Tales From Jabba's Palace". Even if a specific character went barely noticed or even unnoticed, the events allowed you to re-experience familiar events from characters that were present at an event, although they played no known role in it from the point of view of the moviegoer. Previous short story collections gave you the ability to listen in through a variety of characters. And if you were not looking through another's eyes at a familiar event, the story was still tied to familiar places, known characters, and time frames. I read all of these books as they generally are quite good, and fill in bits of History that were never shown in the movies. After the book is read, the movie can again be viewed and there are a whole new group of characters you "know" from a story in their life. There is a teaser at the top of the cover that speaks of a short novel by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole. However you only have to get to "The Foreword and Acknowledgements" to learn these stories, with the Zahn/Stackpole exception, were put together after, and primarily from contributions to "the now-defunct Official Star Wars Adventure Journal". To be fair, some stories are taken from the role-playing games, so those stories may appeal to the Role Playing Gamer. Yes there are some references to places and people that are familiar, but they are generally a few words that clue the reader as to when a particular story is happening, and in some stories, remind the reader where he/she is supposed to be. The exception to this is the short novel produced by the two mentioned Star Wars Authors. If you like to read about Star Wars and need a book to hold you over to the next full-length book, buy this with modest expectations. Actually most fans, will find something they like but will not come away thrilled. The Collection can be enjoyed, just moderate your expectations and do not let 2 familiar names guide you as to the quality of this particular collection.

The "Tales" series has always been a good standby to Star Wars readers, either for those who are waiting for the latest hardcover entry to come out, or want a glimpse at what goes on at the other end of the cantina while Han shot Greedo. KJA's 1st three volumes were good, but Tales from the empire was met with mixed reviews. Tales from the new republic is no different. While I personally enjoyed the majority of the stories in Tales from the empire, the same can not be said for this edition. Simply put, the stories are not that easy to get into this time around. The alien names are getting stranger, and the more complex they are to pronounce, the less I want to get into a story with them involved. The Mara Jade and Boba Fett stories were good, but not great. Furthermore, they are all taken from various periods in Star Wars chrnology, and not just the new republic era. While I have great respect for the works of Zahn and Stackpole, I also found it rather difficult to read their 4-part mini-novel. Overall, this is another hit/miss novel, with several good stories and some mediocre ones. But, still another good way to spend an hour lost in the fantasy sci-fi world of Star Wars

This was truly a great collection of Star Wars short fiction. Each story is totally different, and yet forms a whole, of life in the Star Wars Galaxy.

Interlude at Darkknell: By Tim Zahn and Mike Stackpole, this one delivers. It is the big draw to the whole book, and lives up to that. We get to learn more about Hal Horn and Gen. Bel Iblis, against the background of some major galactic events. Good characters and some great tying together of loose threads. (similer to the Zahn/Stackpole in Tales from the Empire)

Jade Soliaire: Zahn really has some fun with this one, showing the infamous Mara Jade in action. While there are some tie ins with other stories in the universe (Hand of Thrawn especially), it stands alone by and large. Well written, and a fast read.

Gathering Shadows: Kathy Burdette does a great job with this one, showing the very real effects of tourture and imprisonment, with a healthy dose of doubt and disillousionment thrown in. Kind of heavey reading, but very emotional and well done.

Hutt and Seek/ Simple Tricks: Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl, two non-fiction writer SW nuts, pull it off. These two stories feature Fenig Nabon and her partner in crime Ghitsa Dogder, as they swindel denizens of the Galaxy. These two stories are pure fun, but offer an interesting look into the galaxy. Simple tricks has some great scenes with Kyp revealing the depth of his anguish for destroying Carida. Well done ladies.

The Longest Fall/Uhl Eharl Khoehng: Patricia A Jackson is a Dark Jedi Nut. Both of these stories feature Dark Jedi she created. While I am sick of Dark Jedi popping up whenever you kick a rock these days, these are good stories. While the Longest Fall is not really my cup of tea, it is a bit obvious, Uhl Eharl Khoehng is a great story. It comes back to the Dark Jedi and family featured in her story from Tales from the Empier. The Emotion and writing is GOOD in this one.

No Disitegrations, Please:

Paul Danner scores with this story, featuring the only movie character in the ENTIRE book, Boba Fett. It follows Fett as he battles an Imperial garrison for a bounty. Nice to really see Fett in major action.

The other stories are- Conflict of Interest, a nice one about the morality of the individuals and their respective govornments, Day of the Sepulchral Night, an interesting exposition on Weequays, and The Last Hand, a really nice story about a great gambler with a big heart, who (gasp!) is not Lando. I would be remiss if I did not commend Paul Youl for his wonderful cover, one of his best. (I still prefer the Bacta War cover) This book is 5/5, even better than its companion.

Tales of the New Republic is to my mind the very best of the "Tales" compilations. The stories in this book all fall in the "New Republic" era. The characters include a favorite from the movies (Boba Fett), many of the most fascinating characters from previous novels, (Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, Garm Bel Iblis), and some very interesting new additions.

_Tales_ will immediately interest readers familiar with Zahn's work and the X wing books; the contributions by Tim Zahn and Mike Stackpole are up to their usual standard. But the stories here are also accessible to readers new to Star Wars books, and some of the best work here is by writers new to the Star Wars universe.

I especially enjoy this short story format, which lets me read about a wide variety of characters and situations. I want more Tales!

Tales from the New Republic is a collection of entertaining short stories. The first one Interlude at Draknell is about Hal Horn,Garm Bel Iblis and Yasanne Issard all trying to track down the this thief who has stolen plans about the death star. Overall Good story with great chrachters. The second story Jade solitire is a good tale of Mara Jade in action. Gathering shadows is a story about two tortured Prisoners trying to live. Very dark and depressing but the story is first rate and the chrarchters are ones you can route for. Hutt and seek is about two con women delivring slave girls to the hutts it is quite funny. The worst fall a tale about a man being strangled by a dark jedi.Did not see the point of this story. Conflict of interest probaly the best story of the bunch where it portrays both sides of a conflict and you understand all the charachters and sympathise with them.And makes the reader wonder today when we get involved in forieghn disputes and conflicts weather it is any off our business. No Disinmtigrations please Plot is not brilliant or intriging but it is enjayble and fun anyway because its about Bobba Fett taking on a Imperial Garrisson for a bounty. Day of the sepulchral night is probaly the worst tale and was to be honest boring. Uhl eharl khoehng great tale but sad and dark as well but the only gripe have with this is that it makes the conflict between DARTH VADER THE Emperor and Luke skywalker and there strengths and powers E.G the Emperors lightning bolts SMALL belittled and tame. The last Hand an enjayble tale about a gambler and his friend who are trying to get a lightsaber. The last story features Kyp Durron (never liked that chrachter but this story actually makes him semi likable) and the two con women. Again its enjayble. And any way did not Yoda say to luke that he was the last Jedi.

Combining a collection of never-printed short stories from the now-vaporized Star Wars Adventure Journal with a new novella between Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, Tales of the New Republic scores. While most readers will probably give Zahn and Stackpole's novella as their favorite story, I would have to go with "No Disintegrations, Please" by Paul Danner. It is just a great little action piece starring Boba Fett, and with his moves, the whole slapstick-"death" scene in Return of the Jedi just looks the more ridiculous. Oh well, Lucas had no idea the character would create a mythos all its own. Anyway, all in all, this is a great time-killer and an easy introduction into the Star Wars world (although some references might be lost to new readers).

While this book is not as diverse as Tales of the Empire, and it perhaps better organized and focuses on a less concentrated time period. (ranging from the Old Republic to the middle of the Jedi Academy Trilogy (about seven years after Return of the Jedi)) The stories are intelligent and well written, and some of them even heartbreaking. I wouldn't however, recommend this to someone who has had little experience with the Expanded Universe, because they would be totally lost. Anway, the stories are:

Interlude at Darknell(four parts) Yet another collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole! AN interesting story about a younger Bel Iblis and Corran's dad as well.

Jade Solitare: My favorite in the book. How Mara aquired her beloved ship, the Jade's Fire.

Gathering Shadows: A severely wounded man and woman sit in a cell and share their delirious miseries.

Hutt and Seek: The hilarious duo of Fen and Ghitsa mess with Shada D'ukal and her mistryl pals, not a good idea...

The Longest Fall: A chilling acount of an Imperial officer getting force-choked to death by Darth Vader.

Conflict of Interest: A young Rebel spy tries to desipher who is friend and who is foe.

No Disintigrations, Please: A fascinating Boba Fett story.

Day of the Sepulchral Night: A pair of greedy weequays get what they deserve.

Uhl Ehearl Khohng: A bizarre story that I'm guessing takes place at the end of the Old Republic. Warning: reads like a romance novel.

The Last Hand: A young man desperately wants a lightsaber and will go to any lengths to buy one.

Simple Tricks: Another story about Fen and Ghitsa and taking place some years later, during the Jedi Academy Trilogy. I never like Kyp Durron at all, but this story gave me somewhat of a different view of him.

Suffice to say, this is good book recommendable to anyone with a clear understanding of Star Wars.

Having read all of the "Tales from..." books, I can clearly say that this is the worst.

Unlike the others (except Empire), each story is not he backstory of someone you've seen or may be interested about. That was the real beauty behind the other ones, but I expected this one to be still interesting at least (like Empire was), but it was disappointing.

The stories weren't bad, really, but few of them had any characters that I could like, get to know, or even distinguish from the other characters. Some of the stories seemed to blend together a bit, not a good thing in a collection of separate stories. These stories just didn't keep me reading. This book actually broke my streak of books I'd read. I'd been reading a lot of Star Wars novels, then started on this one. I put it down in the middle of a story, and didn't bring myself back for months. I finally forced myself to finish it off, and now I'm back on track reading tons of books.

Some stories were definiately better than others. Jade Solitaire was pretty good, and Interlude at Darknell was cool, because I'm a fan of both the Horn family and Ysanne Isard.

Uhl Ehearl Khoehng, though, was AWFUL. Bizarre is not the word to use, even though it was. The story was bad and confusing, the writing sucked, and it kind of ignored nearly all of everything in Star Wars. If you do pick up this book, I urge you to skip over this story, because it was terrible.

Don't get me wrong- I liked most of the tales in this book. However, I thought that "The Longest Fall" was just too weird for words. I think it was just written to bring about realization of the nastiness of dark Jedi.

Still, many stories were masterful additions to the anthology. I particularly enjoyed the Boba Fett and Bel Iblis stories because of the alternative views and great details they presented. I thought the addition of Hal Horn and Ysanne Isard to the story about Iblis was a particularly good touch.

All in all, I gave this book four stars because most of the stories were good, but others(my earlier example and the tale about the two dark Jedi in mind)were just outright unusual and disappointingly strange.

"Tales from the New Republic" is the latest in a series of short-story anthologies featuring original and little-seen pieces from both "name" authors and otherwise. These books offer fans an opportunity to see what goes on in the *rest* of the galaxy and meet entirely new characters, and they also introduce readers to lesser-known authors, bringing much-needed fresh talent to the franchise. "New Republic" is no exception. Perennial fan favourites Timothy Zahn ("Jade Solitaire") and Michael A. Stackpole are present here, along with previous anthology author Patricia Jackson, and they do not disappoint. And the newcomers, including Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl ("Simple Tricks"/"Hutt and Seek"), uphold the high standards of their peers. Overall, the collaboration creates a wonderful web of stories which shed some light on the more neglected corners of the literary Galaxy, from the secretive Hutt crime syndicates to the elusive adventures of Mara Jade. The marvellous diversity of offerings ensures that even the most discerning reader will find something -- or, most likely, several somethings -- to suit her taste. A terrific read, and I can hardly wait for the next one!