Revan Part 1

[colls]

Welcome to our first of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Revan (Star Wars: The Old Republic #1) by Drew Karpyshyn
Chapters 1-8

Revan

1. What are your thoughts on this version of Mandalorian history?

2. How does the Sith Empire here (in the distant past) compare with Palpatine's Empire from the movies?

3. How are you liking it so far?




FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off-topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part I of the book.

Comments

[colls]

KOTOR is a game I've actually played! (I don't think I finished it? I can't recall)
So Bastila and Canderous and the droids, etc - were all characters I recognized. It's interesting seeing them in a different context.

The Mandalorian War referenced in this book is 4,000 years before the events of the Galactic Empire/Rebellion. So the tradition of the Mandalore Mask is something that could've been the seed for what Death Watch is doing with the whole don't-remove-helmet thing. Maybe?
In any case, it's interesting.

I am finding the political intrigue and paranoia of Scourge fun to read.

[brokenmnemonic]

One of the things I noticed is that Revan's Mandalorian friend whose name escapes me seems to be ok with removing his mask - I've seen a lot of speculation that the Watch in the Mandalorian are descended from a Clone Wars-era Mandalorian faction, but I'm wondering if that faction perhaps hijacked an earlier faction, in the way that some modern political groups (particularly on the right) tend to try and incorporate iconography and practises from earlier patriotic groups in an attempt to gain the appearance of more legitimacy.

[colls]

Canderous doesn't wear Beskar in the KOTOR game, so no helmet.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/e/e3/CanderousOrdoInTheLowerCity.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20071205200717

I gather he does later on in his story (second game maybe? IDK), but I gather this book is placed before that. Or maybe this book explains how and when he starts wearing armor - not sure. I didn't go too deep in wookiepedia because I didn't want to be spoiled for this book. ;)

In any case, considering this was like 4000 years ago - I'm sure Mandalorian traditions shifted and melded a bit.

[brokenmnemonic]

1. I've not played Knights of the Old Republic, but I've read all the comics, and the Mandalorians seem to go through several different iterations in the timeline. I like that at this point in time, they aren't a homogenous group. I've checked against the comics timeline I've been following, and it looks like the KOTOR game happens just after the end date of the Knights of the Old Republic Comic. I don't get the feeling the Mandalorians have been riding giant flying beasts for a while now?

2. This Sith Empire feels a lot like the previous Sith Empire, only with more humans in it. The scheming, politicking, and assassinations definitely fit, although I haven't seen any sign yet of the force-manipulating jewellery that the earlier Sith seemed to be a big fan of. I'm a bit surprised that the Sith Empire has managed to avoid being detected by the Republic though. I think a difference between Palpatine's Empire and this new Sith Empire is that Palpatine concentrated power in his hands, and made sure that he had no-one who could compete with him. In contrast, the Sith Empire has a number of powerful dark Force users who compete against each other while plotting to eventually become the Emperor. Darth Bane's philosophy of there ever only being two Sith was a big change, I think.

3. I was a bit surprised that Revan was married, although I appreciated the mention of why. The alternating chapters make the book feel a little to me as if we're seeing a computer game where you've got the choice of playing the dark character or the light character, heading towards a confrontation. Both of them are puzzle-solving, but with different sidegames...