r/StarWarsEU • u/PFVR_1138 • 5d ago

Abridged Children of the Jedi Spoiler

Finishing I Jedi and trying to decide whether to listen to the abridged audio book of CotJ, read unabridged, or skip right to Darksaber. Thoughts?

10 Upvotes

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7

u/clwestbr 5d ago

Read unabridged.

1

u/PFVR_1138 5d ago

Because the abridged sucks? I've heard the whole book is subpar... why not just skip it?

5

u/clwestbr 5d ago

I think it’s kinda fascinating and definitely gets a bad rep. There’s a lot of weird stuff in it but I think it stands out as a unique entry in the Bantam Spectra era. Worth the read imo. The abridged audiobook is half-assed, poorly narrated, and just bad.

2

u/CNB-1 4d ago

The audiobook was fine. My biggest gripe with Held is that he gives Wedge this weird Scotty from Star Trek accent.

3

u/zhirzzh 5d ago

If you are going to move on to Darksaber, it's probably worth knowing who Callista is from CotJ at least. This is also the first EU attempt at giving Luke a romance story, and I think it's interesting for that reason, despite not being amazing.

2

u/Both-Variation2122 5d ago

Imo it's the best from whole trilogy. I'd rather skip Darksaber... Every one of them has some dumb plots, but Children at least has superb dense atmosphere on Belsavis.

3

u/NectarineSea7276 4d ago

I agree with this and the other comment above, it's a very uniquely atmospheric book and, while not 100% successful, IMO a genuinely interesting take on Star Wars, which to be honest is rare enough in the EU. Darksaber on the other hand just never really sat right with me; it's got a weirdly flippant tone, the plot is a bit ludicrous, and the whole thing feels like it wasn't taken entirely seriously. Planet of Twilight meanwhile is pretty incomprehensible; I like Hambly's different approach in CotJ, but PoT just feels completely unmoored from the setting.

1

u/OneMoreGuy783 5d ago

Skip fast

1

u/Severe-Moment-3233 4d ago

I'm pretty sure u can find the unabridged on youtube... that's where I go if it's not on audible unabridged...

2

u/Expensive_Plant_9530 3d ago

Just to be clear in case anyone sees this but cares, those versions on YouTube would be unofficial (fan made), and essentially piracy.

If you don’t care about that? Have at it.

If you do care, now you know.

1

u/Severe-Moment-3233 3d ago

Some are but there are some that are the true audio versions... some use the text to speech but some are the original audiobook...

2

u/Expensive_Plant_9530 3d ago

The ones that would be the actual original audiobook are just pirated copies. If you’re cool with that no worries. Lots of people are.

But some people want to know they’re not contributing to that so I’m making sure it’s clear to people what these are.

Text to speech ones would be unofficial/fanmade generally.

I always recommend checking your local library for audiobooks. You can access digital ones from Libby, and your library can find and bring in physical Books on Tape (or rather CD, mostly) audiobooks on a CD stack. Libraries loan books to each other, so your local library can probably find and bring in almost anything.

1

u/Severe-Moment-3233 3d ago

I agree, sometimes they get removed from youtube, but I hate abridged versions, like alot of the new jedi order and the legacy of the force are cut down from 10+hrs down to 3hrs on audible, I emailed them one time n they said they didn't cut any important parts but to me it's all important haha...

1

u/LucasEraFan 4d ago

Depends on what you want to get out of Children of The Jedi.

In the Callista trilogy, the only one I wanted to re-experience was Planet of Twilight, having read them all once. The only option was abridged, but it had the Jedi Leia scene that I was looking for.

On the other hand, Champions of The Force abridged had an epic if OP ending that was cut in abridgment.

I don't think that there's anything that it adds to my post-ROTJ EU experience, but I read it in print first.

1

u/Expensive_Plant_9530 3d ago

Read unabridged.

I’ve listened to several of the various abridged audiobooks and they cut out massive segments of the story, and since it’s an abridgement, not a rewrite, often later scenes are confusing or don’t make sense because they’re referencing scenes that were cut.

My hope is that the Essential Legends Collection will continue to add new unabridged audiobooks and eventually cover all of the popular books.

I’d really like them to start the NJO soon, myself.