Imaginary Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day my dear readers! I hope that whatever your relationship status you truly do have a wonderful day. Remember, there are many different kinds of love out there, so if you don't have a special romantic valentine to share your day with, there's no need to be all grumpy and anti-love. Declare yourself your valentine and treat yourself to a fantastic evening of your favorite things. Or make a good friend your valentine and go out and have a good time together.

I have to say I am lucky enough to have found the love of my life and we have a nice low-key celebration planned for the evening. We're going to dinner with our daughter at one of our favorite restaurants and just plan to enjoy one another's company. I am very much looking forward to it.

I read an interesting Valentine's Day-inspired article on GeekMom yesterday. Geek Mom Delphine asserts her belief in every reader's right to fall in love with the characters in the books we read. I really couldn't agree with her more. I think a character so well written you can fall in love with him (or her) is the sign that a writer is doing something very, very right.  After reading this post, I was inspired to come up with my own list of fictional valentines to share with you guys.

Harry Dresden
(The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher)

Harry is all kinds of awesome. He has his flaws, certainly, but he is a loyal friend and fiercely protective. He does what he believes is right and he always stands up to bullies, no matter the odds against him. He has a pretty solid sense of humor as well--freely joking about the time that one bad guy kidnapped him and tried to sell him on Ebay. Also, he's a wizard. And when he needed a way to stop necromancers, his weapon of choice was a reincarnated T-Rex. I mean, come on, how cool is that? Sadly though, it could never work out between us. My love of computers and gaming would not mix well with his effect on electronics I fear.

Araris Valarian
(Codex Alera by Jim Butcher)

Well, clearly JB is quite a talented writer. Araris is a very interesting character indeed to me, and he is a romantic, which wins him points. Araris was the most well-known swordsman in Alera, and singulare (body guard and friend) to the princeps Septimus before his death. When Septimus was killed in battle, leaving behind an unacknowledged wife and newborn son, Araris allowed himself to be disfigured with the coward's brand and presumed dead so that he could go into hiding with his friend's widow and son and keep them safe from the princeps' enemies. It's not his fault he fell in love with her, but he was a total gentleman about it, which makes their eventual romance all the more sweet.

Ostvel
(The Dragon Prince and The Dragon Star by Melanie Rawn)

Ostvel stuck me as an interesting character throughout the entire span of both of Rawn's trilogies. Not a Sunrunner, but living among them, and married to not one, but two, over the course of the narrative (his first wife died due to illness), he carried with him a perspective on the group that not many others in the series possessed. He was forever surrounded by people of power (Sunrunners and nobility), but he always remained a very straightforward and simple man, even when Rohan gave him is own princedom to run. The guy was just plain cool. If he was real, he would be the first friend I would turn to in any sort of crisis, no matter how big or small, and I would never hesitate to confide in him. Plus, he just seems like a pretty fun guy to hang out with.  

Bardan Jusik
(Star Wars Republic Commando by Karen Traviss)

Oh man, Bardan. I think I've told you before he's probably now my favorite Jedi of all time. Mostly because he had the guts to look at the Jedi Order and see it for what it was--neither good nor bad, just stagnant, and willing to let itself be used and compromise its morals because it thought doing so would serve the greater good. The man has a conscience, which, dagnabbit is just sexy. Also, he didn't stop being a user of the Force just because he walked away from the order, and he was constantly looking within himself to keep himself from being tempted by the dark side, while still allowing himself to have the kind of life that most Jedi deny themselves. It's hard not to love a man who is willing to give up the only way of life he's ever known for his family. Not for some half-baked romance, mind you, but for his actual family.

Lord John Grey
(The Outlander and Lord John Grey by Diana Gabaldan)

Okay, this maybe is a bit of a stretch, since he definitely plays for the other team. But John Grey is an absolutely fascinating character. He falls in love with a man who clearly prefers women, in a time when homosexuality is definitely something that needs to be kept hidden. Instead of pining about his unrequited love, he gets on with his life, while remaining a silent pillar of support for the man who has captured his heart. He is a true gentleman, in every sense of the word, and it's hard not to love him a little bit.

So there's my top five literary valentines for you. Delphine actually threw in one in her blog that was from a movie, Obi Wan Kenobi as portrayed by Ewan MacGregor in The Revenge of the Sith and I have to say I am totally in agreement with her on that. That particular role made me fall in love with MacGregor as an actor and with Obi Wan as a character. It is not easy to make a stuffed shirt like Obi Wan sexy, but MacGregor somehow managed to pull it off, and whatever lingering reticence I might have been having about being a Star Wars fangirl was completely quashed when I realized that while watching The Revenge of the Sith for the first time.

Other honorable mentions include:
Oz the werewolf from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (he is just cool in every sense of the word).
Charlie Weasley from Harry Potter (a British ginger who loves dragons? I mean, come on).
Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins (a cute, super sweet, slightly naive, prince in disguise with a wonderful sense of humor and all kinds of loyalty and courage to boot? Um, heck yeah.)

So, who are your imaginary valentines?

Creatively Keeping it Clean

One of the more difficult challenges of parenthood, in my opinion, is learning to change your bad habits when the kiddo arrives so that you don't inadvertently pass them on. For me the most challenging habit to break has been cursing. I have a horrible potty-mouth. (Sorry, Mom.)

This is not my mother's fault, I will point out. If I were going to shrink myself, I would likely conclude that this predilection sprung up as being the lesser of the teenage rebellions available to me. I was always a rather mild-mannered and well-behaved kid (and adult) for the most part. Sure, I had my indiscretions, went through my phases, but my acting out was always minor. Developing a colorful vocabulary of expletives and then putting it to good use was also a way for me to keep my image from being too squeaky clean without having to get into any real trouble. At this point, most of the "bad" words I drop don't even have any real vehemence behind them, they are just part of my vocabulary now. But knowing where they come from doesn't really help address the issue of getting rid of them.

And I do need to start getting rid of them. My daughter is not yet speaking English, but she is already an extremely talkative kid, and she has picked up the odd word here and there. I will sadly not be surprised at all if her first real sentence is something absolutely horrible. While that will certainly provide many funny stories much, much later on in her life, it's really not the goal.

But...there is a need for some expletives in anyone's language. I truly do believe that. For a while I have been thinking about how to weed out the words I really don't need my daughter repeating in politer company (or teaching other children with much less laid-back parents). I am really bad about the F-bomb, and the synonym for waste often sneaks in, as well as "damn" and "hell," though those last two are not in and of themselves bad words. My aim is to implement the tried and true method of substitution, and since phrases like "golly gosh darn it" just hold no weight in my mind, I have decided to turn to my love of all things geeky for help in finding some good replacements.

The Little Mermaid
Okay, I know this one might throw you for a loop, but it is the source of the word snarfblatt, which I have actually long used as a replacement for my bad language (I can occasionally filter myself). This one is pretty versatile, actually, and can be used to replace the F-bomb, damn, and hell. So I think I will be keeping that one around for sure.

Farscape
When astronaut John Crichton got  swept off through that wormhole, one of the first things that happened to him aboard Moya was that he had translator microbes implanted in his body so that he could understand all of the aliens he encountered. For some strange reason though, curse words did not translate (gee I wonder what the reason for that could have been), so we were treated to quite a lovely lexicon of alternative curses to pick from this series. My two favorite are frell (substitute for the F-bomb) and dren (substitute for the word that rhymes with "hit"). I have been using these occasionally for some time now, so it is just a matter of more consciously choosing them to replace their more mundane counterparts. I have tried to get behind Hezmana a time or two (it is their equivalent of hell), but it just doesn't quite roll of the tongue.

Red Dwarf
Ah, this lovely series gives us the word smeg, which is another good all-purpose swear. It comes in handy in pretty much any situation where you have plenty to say and none of it is nice and keeping it bottled in would just plain be hazardous to your health.

Battlestar Galactica
Of course, from one of my favorite space operas we get the ubiquitous frak. I doubt there's any question of what that one replaces. I actually use this one about equally with its Earth-bound counterpart these days, so maybe that means I am halfway to conversion? Though this one is so close to the actual term that I think it will need to be reserved for when I am really mad. Side note: Yes, I am going with the four-letter spelling. In the original version of the series, back in the eighties, the word also appeared and was spelled "frack." That's all well and good, but RDM officially changed it to "frak" for his series, and that is the one I watched, so that is how I spell it. In case you were wondering. (Yes I realize that was some excessive nerdery there, still, it needed to be said.)

Star Wars
Specifically the Republic Commando series. A big part of that series, as I mentioned before, was delving into Mandalorian culture, and that definitely included Mando swear words. I rather liked quite a few of them. My favorite is osik (can range in strength from "crap" to that other word that is worse but means the same thing only with more intensity). There is also shabuir, which is what you call someone you really don't like, and shebs, which refers to one's hind parts.

That's quite a collection to start with, I think. I have a few others that come from life rather than the realm of geeks, too. For example, back in college, I had a friend that used the term heezy instead of hell, and I quite like that, so I have used that one pretty much since then. Also, at some point in high school I thought I should clean up my language a bit. It didn't take, but I was using the term fruitbat in place of another word that starts with the same letter, and I'll be darned if that doesn't crop up every now and again as well. I have heard from a few sources the phrase Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? to replace What the F-bomb? and have also been incorporating that.

So really, it comes down to just getting better about actually thinking about what I say before I actually say it. Really, that's good advice for anyone. It has the added bonus that sometimes just pausing to think takes all of the heat of the moment and the desire to curse at all goes away (sometimes). Honestly, the words themselves are only of marginal importance, because it is the intent behind them that really matters. I know this. But it is nicer for the people around you if you don't walk around muttering obscenities where they can hear (or at least that they can understand).

There are those, I am sure, who feel that because it is the intent that matters, even the replacements are bad and I should strive to not want to have or express those feelings at all. I can only say to those people that their souls are much purer than mine. Either that, or they run into far fewer idiots on a regular basis than those I seem to come across.

Hopefully I can remove the "real" swear words from my vocabulary so that when my daughter does start picking up those phrases, at least she won't get them from me. Also, this way, if she does go around repeating what I say, hopefully the other authority figures won't catch on to what she is saying, or will be amused enough to let it slide.

Also, you know, there's the fact that I do plan to actually teach her about the function and appropriate use (or lack thereof) of such words, but still. Kids are kids, even the good ones. Just look at how I turned out...

Reading Recommendation: Star Wars Republic Commando: Triple Zero

While I did try to make the below review as spoiler-free as possible, please be aware that some spoilers may still have crept in while I wasn't looking.  

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In Republic Commando Hard Contact, author Karen Traviss introduced her readers to Omega Squad.  Niner, Darman, Fi, and Atin make up a squad of specialized clone commandos put together after each was left standing as the sole survivor of his original squad.  We were also introduced to a Jedi Padawan named Etain Tur-Makan, who worked with Omega Squad to remove a Separatist research facility from a planet called Qiilura. 

The follow up entry in the Republic Commando series, Triple Zero brings back Omega Squad and Etain, now a Jedi Knight, as well as introducing several more colorful characters into the mix.  Kal Skirata, a Mandalorian mercenary who trained Niner, Darman, and Fi quickly becomes one of the central members of this story.  Also along for the ride is Walon Vau, another Mandalorian mercenary, the one who trained Atin, in fact, as well as one of his commando squads, Delta, comprised of the clones Boss, Scorch, Fixer, and Sev.  Finishing up the primary team are Advance Recon Commando Ordo and Jedi Knight Bardan Jusik.  And those are just the most prominent players in this new story--which seems to be one determined to give readers a very strong taste of what life is like for all walks of clone life, as well as for the men who trained them and the Jedi who must now lead them.

Set on the planet Coruscant, Triple Zero plants our commando squads firmly out of their familiar combat element.  A Separatist terrorist cell has been striking at clone barracks in the heart of the Republic itself, and the Coruscant Security Force (CSF) has proven ineffective in shutting the cell down.  So the task falls to Kal Skirata, who assembles his team and begins to introduce them to the world of black ops.  What I love most about the mission part of the story is that Skirata seizes the advantage of needing a legitimate reason for clones to be running around on Coruscant and utilizes this to extend a much deserved R&R for many of the clone troopers.  These men are literally throwing their lives away for the GAR, and for a war that they have no personal stake in, but they don't get paid, they don't get leave, they don't get to go home to their families afterward.  

That truly is the heart of this story.  The mission is the framework, but the story Traviss is telling is about the injustice done to these men who are so willing to give everything for a people who don't even see them as men. And they are perfectly willing.  Sure, they were created for this specific purpose, but they are human men.  They have free will, but they were bred not to exercise it outside of battle.  If Hard Contact was about establishing that each and every clone is a unique human being, then Triple Zero is about some of those clones, at least, as well as some of the men who work with them, coming to realize the great injustice of the Clone Wars.  It is not what the Separatists are doing, but what the Republic itself is doing to its own soldiers.  Is it any wonder then, that in the end of things, Palpatine is so easily able to turn the clones against their Jedi masters to effect such a complete coup?  But that is getting ahead of ourselves. 

I mentioned, in my review of the last book, that while the relationship between Etain and Darman is left at a purely platonic stage, I felt that Traviss was leaving a lot of room for development.  I was not wrong.  A central element of Triple Zero is the realization of these two that they are much more than friends to each other.  The story reunites them after a separation of seven or eight months, and we are quickly shown that neither has stopped thinking of the other since Qiilura.  Even though pursuit of such a relationship goes against all of her Jedi training, and bucks regulations for Darman (Etain is, after all, his commanding officer), they both feel that their love is too precious to ignore, and so a relationship blossoms over the course of the mission. 

Etain is not the only Jedi questioning her training throughout this story.  Bardan Jusik, who we glimpse briefly in Hard Contact, is back with a much meatier role this time around.  His work with the clones, and the commandos in particular, has shown him a way of life very different from his own and he is clearly relishing it.  Another character at one point reflects that if Bardan had not been born Force-sensitive, he would have gladly served as a soldier.  And that is a very interesting concept that often gets overlooked in the general perception of Star Wars.  Jedi are not volunteers.  Force-sensitive children are conscripted for training as toddlers--taken from their families and taught to relinquish all familial bonds.  Emotional attachment of any sort is frowned upon. 

The Jedi Order is absolutely terrified that any Force-sensitive individual left unchecked will give in to the Dark Side.  So they simply don't give them the chance.  And watching Etain and Bardan struggle with realizing how much they are truly missing by being Jedi, and wondering just how correct the Order actually is, it is easy to believe how strong the pull of the Dark Side can be.  I found myself often both fearing and hoping for these Jedi.  I don't want them to stray to the Dark Side, but I do so want them to be able to live a life more than what they have.  It is an interesting conundrum, to be certain.  Traviss does a wonderful job in drawing a parallel between the clones and the Jedi.

I may or may not have mentioned in my last review that the books in the Republic Commando series are actually a tie-in for the Star Wars video game of the same name.  I haven't played the game yet (I'll be starting it this afternoon, actually), but in looking over the manual, I see that it is based around Delta Squad.  You play as their leader, Boss, and Scorch, Fixer, and Sev make up the rest of your squad.  So even though Delta Squad is only briefly mentioned in Hard Contact, they are actually established characters when they show up in Triple Zero. 

Delta Squad provides an interesting contrast to Omega Squad for two primary reasons.  For one thing, they were trained by Walon Vau, while most of Omega was trained by Kal Skirata (Atin is the exception, though he has fallen into the ways of his new squadmates by the time this novel takes place).  Both men are Mandalorian mercenaries, but it quickly becomes clear that each had a distinctly different idea of how to train his commando squads.  The second point of contrast between the two squads is the fact that Delta is of "original" manufacture.  That is to say that these four men have been together since birth.  They grew up together, went through their training together, and survived Geonosis together.  Comparing Omega to Delta I was at once both amazed at how well these men have been able to form a cohesive team, and saddened by the losses they went through with the deaths of their "birth" brothers. 

Not only do we get to see the differences in the training styles of Kal and Vau, we are also treated to seeing the differences between the men themselves, as both play an integral part in the mission on Coruscant.  Tension of all sorts is brewing underneath the surface of this group as they go about their mission--Kal versus Vau, Vau versus Atin, Delta versus Omega.  In some cases it is merely the competitive rivalry of young men trying to outdo one another, while in others it is long seated and potentially deadly grudges.  Yet through it all, the team manages to put their personal feelings aside in order to get the job done.  In a story about the discovery and then fulfillment of personal wants and desires, this is one of the few points where the need of the greater good always takes precedence.  It makes a very interesting statement about not only the clones but about the men who trained them as well.  I wonder if further novels will give us insight into any of the other clone trainers (aside from Jango Fett, of course).

In the mind of Kal Skirata (and clearly in Traviss' mind as well), the greatest injustice being done to the clones (and possibly to the Jedi) is the denial of family.  Especially since these clones have been produced from the stock of a Mandalorian--a culture that places a huge emphasis on the bond between a father and his sons.  Is it any wonder then that Kal quickly comes to see these children put into his care--for make no mistake, they are just children when he starts to train them--as his own sons?  He does his best to instill a strong sense of the values and culture of Mandalore in all of the commandos he trains, and he views every one of them as his own sons.  He even finds himself picking up "strays" that come across his path, such as Atin, or the trooper Corr, who they encounter and enlist during their mission.  Throughout the story, the reader is given hints that not only does Kal resent the injustice done to his "sons," but he intends to do something about it as well.  I have no doubt that these plans will play heavily in the next few novels. 

Overall, this was another excellent effort from Traviss.  She writes this universe so convincingly, the reader is swept right into all of the action.  Even with over a dozen "main" characters in the story, she manages to give each plenty of screen time and all of them are fabulously well developed.  I, for one, can't wait to find out what happens next.  I have dived into the third novel in the series, True Colors, and have complete faith I will enjoy it just as much as, if not more than, Triple Zero.

Reading Recommendation: Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact

**So, I spent most of the weekend trying to write this, and ended up completely scrapping what I had and rewriting it today.  In the process, I inadvertently made this a Monday-Friday blog rather than an every day one.  But I actually decided I like it that way, so, just, FYI, that's what we're going to go with from here on out.**

Please note the potential for spoilers in the following review.  

Okay, you've been warned.  Carry on.  

When the general population thinks about Star Wars, they tend to picture campy, light-hearted entertainment.  Star Wars is seen by most as fare that tends to look at good and evil in a very black and white way.  And, when it comes to the films and television series, this is mostly a fair assessment.  There is a definite pattern of skimming right over the grey areas of moral ambiguity that come inevitably with the telling of a story that, when it comes down to it, is one of war. I mean, it's right there in the title:  Star Wars, but somehow the war part seems to get overlooked.

In the original trilogy, of course, what is good and what is evil do seem to be rather obvious to even the most dedicated of fans.  The Empire's rule is one of oppression, and the rebels are fighting for nothing more or less than the freedom to choose to live a different way.  But with the new trilogy, specifically with Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, right and wrong are not so clear-cut.  And the most glaring example of this grey area is the clone army.  The animated movie and subsequent series The Clone Wars, portraying the time frame between Episodes II and III, by necessity gives the audience a very detailed look at the clone army.  But still, it is a cartoon, shown on a network designed for children, and as such, the look we get is not complete.  We see that the clones, for the most part, are happy and well adjusted, having no real questions about their lot in life (with one significant exception in the season two episode "The Deserter").  Some of their training is shown, but in a very positive light indeed, and no one seems to be questioning anymore how the clone army actually came into existence (a lingering mystery from Episode II). 

In the book series Star Wars Republic Commando, author Karen Traviss sets out to remedy this lack.  She takes a hard look at the lives of clones in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and in their interactions with each other, with their Kaminoan creators, with their military trainers, and with their Jedi commanders.   

The first book in the series, Hard Contact, tells two stories that intricately wrap up in each other to produce what is, in this writer's humble opinion, a quite spectacular read.  The first story is that of stumbling Jedi Padawan Etain Tur-Makan as she must learn to have faith in herself and her abilities as a Jedi.  The second story is that of Republic Commando squad Omega, newly formed and learning to work with each other as they are thrown head first into their first mission together.  This mission takes them to the planet of Qiilura with the objective of making contact with Etain and her master, who have been sent ahead to the planet on reconnaissance.  The Separatist forces have commissioned the creation of a virus meant to specifically target and incapacitate clones, and it is being developed on Qiilura.  Omega Squad's primary objective is to shut down development of this virus and capture the Separatist scientist in charge of the project.

The book opens with the clone Darman engaged in the battle on Geonosis that fans of the franchise will remember was the big close to Episode II.  Geonosis is the first battle of the Clone Wars--which means it is the first action any of the clones have seen outside of training.  Darman loses contact with his squad during the fighting and learns only after the battle is over that he is the only member of his team to survive their first engagement.  Three months later he is assigned to Omega Squad with the clones Niner, Fi, and Atin--each also the only survivor of his previous squad (or in Atin's case, squads).  

Right away Traviss shows the reader just how different the clones are to each other, while still seeming exactly alike to almost everyone else.  Darman, Niner, and Fi were, as it turns out, all trained on Kamino by the same sergeant (a Mandalorian named Kal Skirata), while Atin had a different sergeant.  The three trained by Skirata are instantly more at ease with each other, while Atin is very clearly the outsider, and takes most of the book to really fit in with the rest of his squad.  As the mission progresses, we learn that each man has different areas of expertise as a commando.  Niner is the leader of the group and is very skilled at diffusing tension between the men.  Fi is the joker and the boy scout of the group--always prepared, while Darman is all about the explosives and Atin seems happiest when playing with tech.  These differing areas of expertise spill over and are intertwined with their different personalities.  Traviss  But she also leaves plenty of room for the reader to see that "nurture" can only explain so much--some of these differences must very clearly be down to "nature," which is a very interesting concept when dealing with clones. 

When first we meet Etain, she is running for her life through a field of barq (the main agricultural export of Qiilura) from a native who is quite intent on raping and killing her.  That alone should tell the reader that this is not your typical "light" Star Wars anymore.  Etain's master has been captured and she is on her own on the planet with no resources for getting away with the intelligence that they managed to obtain about the research facility.  She believes that the Republic will send help eventually, but has no idea how she will hold out until then.  Because while she may be a Jedi Padawan, she feels that she is scarcely worthy of the title.  She has trouble keeping her emotions in check, and can only truly control the Force when she is calm, which is of little use to her on the run on Qiilura.  Before this mission she had already despaired that she would never become a Jedi Knight, but when we meet her, she is starting to accept the fact that she in all likelihood won't make it off Qiilura alive, never mind have to worry completing her training. 

Etain has been on Qiilura and out of contact for long enough that she is unaware of the Clone Wars, and indeed, of the clones themselves, until she meets Darman.  It is through Etain's eyes that Traviss shows the reader one of the most horrifying aspects of the clones.  Before she ever lays eyes on Darman, Etain senses the presence of a child, and not knowing about the clones, is quite baffled to find a grown man where she was expecting to find that child.  Separated from his squad during a crash landing on the planet, Darman has been working his way to a rendezvous point alone, and has displayed almost heart-breaking levels of awe and wonder at his surroundings.  Even after he explains about the war and the clones, Etain has a very hard time reconciling the child she can sense with the man she is talking to.  Because for all that he has been bred to be a warrior--to be a disposable killing machine--the actual experiences and trappings of life itself are utterly new to him.  The accelerated growth process of the clones means that the Republic is literally fighting its war with children.  Children very highly trained and very capable on the battlefield, but children nonetheless.  It is a sobering thought--especially when one considers that these children are being led into battle by the Jedi Order, which stands for a respect of all life above all else. 

For her part, Etain is horrified to learn that the creation of the clone army also means an immediate promotion of all Jedi to officers in the GAR.  As a Padawan, she is a Commander (Knights are Generals).  As I mentioned before, Etain barely has confidence in her abilities to get herself out of her current situation.  Finding out that she is now in charge of four commandos and their mission to destroy the research station and extract the head scientist on the project is almost the young Padawan's undoing.  She is shaken by the complete and utter faith Darman gives her simply because she is a Jedi.  But at the same time, it is this faith that allows her to go on, and to find within herself that which she has always been lacking.  As a Padawan, and one perceiving herself full of deficiencies, she has no problem admitting to the commandos that she doesn't know what she is doing and securing their promise that they will tell her when she makes mistakes so that she may learn from them. 

Darman's reverence for the Jedi is another fascinating element of the story.  It is made clear that the clones were raised with the understanding that the Jedi would be their commanders in this war, and makes sense that a clone would expect a Jedi to know what she is doing in any given situation.  But even the rest of his squad, when first meeting Etain, does not seem to share quite the same depth of belief in the Jedi that Darman possesses.  They respect her, certainly, but they see that she is not exactly commanding officer material yet.  It is just another example of how men brought up to be so similar have managed to turn out so differently.  When Etain first meets the rest of Omega Squad, after having spent some time alone with Darman, she is unsettled by their identical appearance, but that lasts hardly a moment before she senses them with the Force and can see just how truly different each man is. 

I said earlier that this book is two stories: Etain's journey to realizing that while she may not yet be Jedi Knight material, that day will come; and Omega Squad's coming together as a true team during the course of their first mission.  These stories are so intertwined as to seem one, and indeed, I do not think either could have reached its conclusion on its own.  Being handed command of Omega Squad and their mission, and getting to know these clones as individual people is exactly what Etain needed to find her confidence in herself.  Likewise, I do not believe Omega Squad could have bonded so thoroughly so quickly without Etain to bring them together--to help each of them see that they have all lost the same thing--their families (the brothers of their original squads, Etain's master)--and to realize that while those who are lost cannot be replaced, a new family can be forged. 

Indeed, an important side-effect of Etain's involvement during the bonding of Omega Squad is that she, too, becomes a part of their family.  She is, for better or worse, attached to these men now, and to Darman more than any of the others.  It is quite clear that their bond is a completely platonic one, but I am left wondering if it will not grow as the series progresses.  Setting aside the Jedi Order's rules against forming attachments, this bond is still going to lead to complications down the line.  For Etain, as an officer leading the clones, she has seen beyond the identical faces to the individual men behind them.  She cares about the men in her charge and must learn how to reconcile that with leading them in a war where it is very likely she will have to order one or more of them to their deaths someday.  On the part of the clones, these men have been trained to understand and accept the fact that they are essentially expendable.  They are a resource and, for the time being, an easily replaced one.  Forming attachments with those outside of their squad can give them pause before following those orders they know could be to their death, and that severely hinders their usefulness. 

All in all, Hard Contact sets the stage for an amazing adventure.  Even knowing, and perhaps because I know, the final outcome of the Clone Wars and the role the clones play in the destruction of the Jedi Order, I find that I can't wait to see how all of those unseen events between point A and point B play out.  I am absolutely compelled to read on.  If you are a Star Wars fan looking for something meatier than what we've been given on screen, then this is the perfect book for you.  If you are just looking for a well written good read that makes you pause and think, well, this is the perfect book for you, too.  

On a slightly related note,  here's some more Star Wars happiness from the internet.  Prose Before Hos 2 has drawn up some lovely World War II style propaganda posters for the Empire and the Rebel Alliance that you can check out here.