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BobaKareu wrote:

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We've got a separate thread for the first two Clone Wars books, so we might as well give No Prisoners, written by Karen Traviss, it's own thread since it was released today. Will it's focus on Ahsoka, Rex, Pellaeon and Callista make this one a widely-regarded gem like Miller's Wild Space? Will the subject matter stumble into the same pitfalls that rub some readers of Traviss the wrong way?

I guess we'll find out as impressions slowly start to trickle in!


From my end, I can tell you that the book is a scant 257 pages. Then again, it's a larger paperback, which would translate into a bigger regular-sized paperback. I don't have Wild Space in front of me, but I seem to recall underestimating the length of Wild Space, so I'm trying to learn from past mistakes. I've only dipped into the prologue, which is a cute Pellaeon POV. Standard Traviss, with a POV prologue, but it's cute. Not heavy, just fluff really. An introduction, of sorts, to Pellaeon. I don't recall him appearing this early in the timeline so far, so it's probably a good thing for her to include. I've got to admit, I didn't really care for Traviss's portrayal of Pellaeon in Revalation, and he still comes across rather dull in the prologue. Bits of a likeable character does break out, though, so hopefully it'll be expanded on in the actual book.

So enough of a tease, I'll throw my full impressions up by this weekend.

For those wondering about the size, Traviss has mentioned that it's one of her shorter books, but it's still around the 80K mark that the CW novelization was at.

So it's still in the range of what's considered "standard" length for a novel.

I do have to admit that I find the format exceptionally lacking and I hope they do decide to redo the whole series in a new format when the five books are out.

It'll be interesting to see how people react to Agent Devis, and whether anyone notices a certain character aspect that I almost missed on my first read-through.

ETA: I was rather surprised at how many times I cracked a smile or even laughed with this book. Traviss isn't exactly one who does jokes in her books, beyond the sardonic, but things like the "Weequey screwdriver" and the clones having the talk about the difference between...ahhh...attachment, "love" and a spot of "romance" on the side was rather funny. I liked the construction crew chief, and most of his lines/attitude; "I won't ask for a Union card"

Surprising number of jokes when I look back at it.

browwiw wrote:

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Now, you know I'm not one of 'those people', patch, but is it me or does Karen seem kind of racist (as much as you can be of a fictional race) against Weequay? They end up being the targets of a lot of abuse. Or is that Karen representing the galaxy's racial assumptions about Weequay? I'm so meta my head hurts.

It's In-universe based on a RL joke. Because of how the Weequay communicate they were assumed by many to be unintelligent. They were also builders of a lot of melee weapons like force pikes and the like. The joke is more because they usually fight with melee weapons than that they're unintelligent. They were a brutal culture that had trouble communicating even among their own tribes but were known as builders of fine melee weapons, so you have the joke of the "Weequay Screwdriver".

In the UK the joke is a "Birmingham screwdriver" to denote a hammer. If you'd ever met a Brummie you'd know why

The flip side of the joke is that Birmingham is actually known for their engineering sector, so the joke is a double-edged sword.

A Brummie would most likely use the phrase with a touch of pride. The flip side of the "Weequay Screwdriver" is that they're excellent engineers and makers of fine force pikes and other weapons

I suppose the joke could even be fitted up for Wookies as well, or any race thought to be a touch brutish by the IU inhabitants.

Does that make sense?

The regionalism of the UK is fascinating. Use Urban Dictionary to look up Portsmouth and you'll get an idea of the type of brutal jokes and regionalism that influence such things. I never really thought about it having spent three summers over in the UK/Europe working in pubs and such to make due and backpack, but I suppose it sounds a bit more strident to an American's ears than an Englishman's.

petersearing wrote:

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my dad found a few when he used to work on navy ships like sending a new person down to the store department for the red and green oil for the port and starboard lights and also a long weight (wait)

Hahahahaha....

Professions like that tend to have their own subculture of jokes. There are plenty of hospital jokes and pranks that wouldn't make sense unless you knew the fields, and my dad was both former Army and a firefighter, so he had loads of odd jokes and sayings.

I read the Daily Mash a lot (the UK's answer to the Onion) and it's strange even to me sometimes how utterly brutal their comedy is when compared to American comedy. For all the talk about "British reserve", their political programs tend to be both more civilized and yet more utterly devestating than ours. Watching Jeremy Paxman tear someone apart is a lot different than watching Katie Couric let someone mess up softballs.

corax wrote:

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I don't think Katie Couric is a fair example Patch. Now Tim Russert in his glory days, which was always, or John Stewart as of late those are fair examples. Katie Couric has always tossed softball questions, it's part of the reason why she was so successful with movie stars on the Today Show, she does a great job of stroking egos.

I was actually (badly) making the point that Katie Couric pretty much sat there and let the VP pick mangle herself on national TV even on the most softball of questions (Paxman would NOT have been content to simply ask; "What do you like to read?"). You're absolutely right in that Tim Russert is a fine example of a good journalist who asked tough questions, although in a polite way, and Karen and I have long wondered why John Stewart, a comedian, is actually not only one of our best newspersons, but also one of our best interviewers, as his interview with Jim Cramer more than showed. If I had to pick some great American interviewers then there's obviously Charlie Rose and others that I could have compared Paxman to, but the point was that UK journalism tends to be a LOT more brutal than US, and just the way people talk to one another is just...it's really hard to describe to an American. One of the social forums I've long been part of that was created as the old Warren Ellis Forum broke up is made up of Americans and Brits and loads of other nationalities; and one thing that becomes very clear is that the Americans tend to have to learn very quickly that a thick skin is required when shooting the breeze with UK peeps. I spent my honeymoon at a drink-up thrown by about fourty of my London friends, most of them from that forum, and they're some of the most giving and generous people around, but to an American I think some of the discussions even between friends would look rather vicious, when instead it's just how they are.