I finished The Force Unleashed last night. The book that is.

In my last post, I commented that without canon characters, I just didn't care about Coruscant Nights. Conceivably, the Force Unleashed to could wind up having the same problem.

Compounding the lack of canon was the feeling that I was reading a video game. Well, I guess I was reading a video game. Way back when, when we first heard about the Force Unleashed, many compared it to Shadows of the Empire, the 'movie without the movie' idea. For Shadows, the book was clearly the primary vehicle for telling the story. For Force Unleashed, the video game is the primary vehicle, and I think the book suffers a little because of it.

Reading the book, I was distracted, disinterested and hoping for a spark. Then Bail Organa wanders in.

Oh yeah, watch out for spoilers.

The last 1/3 to 1/4 of the book made me realize that sometimes canon isn't just about characters, sometimes it is about events and organizations. To see the birth of the Rebellion, the origins of the Rebellion's icon, to be taken to the slave wookiees building the Death Star, all these things that have been hinted at in other places, was worth the trip.

I'm going to go half and half on the milk scale, and not heavy cream for 3 reasons.
1) I would have liked to have seen more locales, rather than recycling well established movie locales (Bespin) or different missions to the same place (Raxus Prime, Felucia). That really added to the 'felt like I was reading a video game' feeling.
2) More Maris Brood. I'm guessing she plays a larger role in the game, given how much lead up she had before the release, compared to how little she was in the book.
3) Once the apprentice has accepted that he was Galen, told Juno his name was Galen, I would have liked to see the narrative change from 'The apprentice ran...' to 'Galen ran...' So many other pieces pointed to a whole-hearted transformation (calling himself a Jedi for one), it would have been nice for the narrative style to do the same.

Maybe sometime soon I can play the game and see what I've missed. Dad got Mom a wii for Christmas, maybe I should get the game for her.