I can see what you mean about predictability. But, I attribute that to knowing the characters too well.
I like that Anakin was built up so much before his death. That was something that I never saw coming.
As for Chewie, I remember after he died that someone involved said that someone from the main cast had to die. I guess my problem is that we lost two members of the Skywalker/Solo family.
But, it always seemed to me that Chewie often stood in the way of Han and Leah's ralationship. Since his death, Han went soul searching, and, in the end, he realized that the person he should have been traveling with all along was right there, waiting for him. Leah.
I can't think of any specific examples, but, there have been things that were much too drawn out.
Something I have enjoyed a lot is the character development of Tahiri. That's why I enjoyed The Final Prophecy. Corran is one of my favorite characters. I think he is a lot like Obi Wan (sp?) in many ways. He actually is the perfect master for Tahiri, in so many ways, and I hope when this is over someone will right a book about just the two of them.
My favorite book, by the way, is I, Jedi.
I probably have already figured out how this whole story will conclude, but, I still want to read it.
I think the hardest thing to do when writing characters as well known and written about as these, is making things unpredictable. It takes a great writer to be able to pull this off.
But, I don't know if that's possible. I think what they tried to do with NJO is put the characters into an unpredictable situation. They realized that we, the readers, would be able to predict their actions, so they tried to change the situation around them. This way, we may have been able to guess what, say, Luke, would do, but we would not be able to guess the consequences of those choices.
Unfortunately, the Yuzaan Vong have become much too predictable as well, so a smart reader can guess most of what will happen.
