Thanks to homeownership tasks my reading time has dropped greatly in the past weeks so I didn't get through this book as quick as I would've liked. Having to do actual work at work has kept me from blogging as much as well (the nerve of work).

On to Shatterpoint - this book was one that I was greatly looking forward to finally reading after wanting to have more insight into the Jedi that is/was Mace Windu. His brief screen time in TPM & AotC plus his ultimate demise in RotS made me think of him as merely a Council member who sat in the Temple all day pondering the meanings of the Force. However, the Clone Wars animated series showed him to be a whirling dirvish of fury and power on the battlefield. My hopes from reading Shatterpoint was to find how those two seemingly polar opposite personas coexisted to form the man/myth/legend of Mace Windu.

I really enjoyed Matthew Stover's novel of RotS (after reading that had hoped more of what he had in writing could've been put into the movie to make it even better) and hoped I would be as entertained reading Shatterpoint. I do wish I had read the book a while back though so I could've talked to him about it at C3...but alas I only got to talk RotS

Anyways, when I began reading the first thing that set in with me about the book was that I didn't think I would like all the entries to the Private Journals of Mace Windu. Upon finishing the book I still don't like that aspect of it, but at least it was something I could deal with understanding that it was the best way to get Mace's feelings about the whole situation in writing for the reader to comprehend. Another reason I think it took me a little longer to read this book is that it seemed to start out real slow...at least for me. If there's too much 'setting of the scene' I tend to read slower along with the pace of the book; of course as I kept reading and more of the plot line unfolded I finished reading pretty quick.

I figured I would be most intrigued by the coverboy - Mace Windu - but instead I was most interested in what Kar Vastor was going to do next & I even moreso enjoyed the character development of Nick Rostu. Nick to me was the escence of this book. Matt Stover wrote that character near perfect for this book. Nick seemed like the basic everyday guy stuck in a war and having to deal with all the hardships and despair that follow. Kar Vastor seemed like a crazed warlord from modern day times more interested in killing and bringing fear into people's lives than necessarily doing what his best for him & his people.

Numerous times while reading I had notions that I was reading a story set in the jungles of Apocolypse Now. The imagery and feelings/thoughts given to each character was phenomenal. Even characters who were only in the book for a short time seemed to have been a part of Star Wars lore since day one - people like Chalk & Lorz Geptun who had minimal written about them but when they were part of the story the reader felt like they had read about them elsewhere & understood their place in the grand scheme of things.

*Spoiler Warning*



Overall I thought this was a great story but I did have 2 things that left me wishing for more. Number 1 was a less boring intro, though to set the scene with the reasons for Mace going after Depa (who I personally cared less about in this book compared to Nick's character). Number 2 is the ending with everyone surviving. Kar living made sense to me as Mace was the one who attacked him, so I could live with him stopping him just short of death. Depa though I thought should've died when she was shot by Nick, at least that's how it was written to me...but hooray for the joys of bacta. Nick also I thought was going to perish after his duel with the Akk Guard but again he survived to be left in a hospital with hopes of survival.

Based on the overall darkness of the book I would've been surprised none at all had there been more casualties. I won't complain though as there can only be so much darkness & death in a book...even one based around war.

My next reading endeavour (after finishing up the latest Insider) is Dark Rendezvous. I'm missing some books in my SW timeline so I can't read everything in order...but I'm hoping to fill in the gaps shortly