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homowyatt's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Enjoyable of you like Star Wars but takes a moment to get into
kb_208's review against another edition
3.0
This was a pretty good group of stories. I liked that they linked together throughout the 2000 year tale. It leaves off with plenty of room to continue the story and add much more too it. It even threw a little bit of the Revan related material in there, which I thought was interesting. Other than that it is fairly stand-alone set of readings; I wouldn't say essential Star Wars stories, but a decent read.
deandingus1078's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: B+
Beginning is a little wonky, as is the very end, but the rest is great.
Beginning is a little wonky, as is the very end, but the rest is great.
davidchanza's review against another edition
4.0
http://dvdwebz.es/blog/2014/06/29/star-wars-lost-tribe-of-the-sith/
sheyri's review against another edition
4.0
3.5, rounded up
TW:
Rating per short story:
Precipice: 3 stars
Skyborn: 3 stars
Paragon: 3 stars
Savior: 3 stars
Purgatory: 4 stars
Sentinel: 2.5 stars
Pantheon: 4 stars
Secrets: 3.5 stars
Pandemonium: 4 stars
The book is roughly structured in three "generations".
The first (Precipice to Saviour) sets up the whole thing and gives us the first couple years from when the Sith crash on Kesh to taking over the native population. It was good enough, nothing special, but not bad either.
The next generation (Purgatory and Sentinel) are set a thousand years later, in the middle of political intrigue. I rather liked Purgatory, it was a nice little story. Sentinel was just meh. Too fast, so a lot wasn't set up very well.
The last (Pantheon to Pandemonium) was my favourite part, yet again a thousand years later. It sorted out the chaos of the previous years and then set off to do some new exploring!
Of course, those are stories about Sith. They're obviously not the nicest of people. But it was interesting to read about a Sith society. That is also completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
TW:
Spoiler
murder, oppression, slaveryRating per short story:
Precipice: 3 stars
Skyborn: 3 stars
Paragon: 3 stars
Savior: 3 stars
Purgatory: 4 stars
Sentinel: 2.5 stars
Pantheon: 4 stars
Secrets: 3.5 stars
Pandemonium: 4 stars
The book is roughly structured in three "generations".
The first (Precipice to Saviour) sets up the whole thing and gives us the first couple years from when the Sith crash on Kesh to taking over the native population. It was good enough, nothing special, but not bad either.
The next generation (Purgatory and Sentinel) are set a thousand years later, in the middle of political intrigue. I rather liked Purgatory, it was a nice little story. Sentinel was just meh. Too fast, so a lot wasn't set up very well.
Spoiler
Why did Ori change sides? Because Jelph told her she could be a Jedi? In which universe does that make sense?The last (Pantheon to Pandemonium) was my favourite part, yet again a thousand years later. It sorted out the chaos of the previous years and then set off to do some new exploring!
Of course, those are stories about Sith. They're obviously not the nicest of people. But it was interesting to read about a Sith society. That is also completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #30
Background: Lost Tribe of the Sith was originally released as a series of 8 eBook novellas from May 2009 to March 2012. A 9th, much longer final book was released along with the other 8 as "The Collected Stories" in July 2012. It was written by John Jackson Miller as a prequel to the "Fate of the Jedi" series of novels which was also being released during that time.
Lost Tribe of the Sith takes place across a period spanning over 2000 years. The first four books, the next two, and the final three form "mini-arcs" set during the same time. "Precipice" and "Skyborn" are both set 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. "Paragon" takes place 15 years later, and "Savior" 10 years after that. The characters in these stories are members of the Sith Empire under Naga Sadow, and there are frequent references to both Sadow and his arch-rival Ludo Kressh. "Purgatory" and "Sentinel" both take place 3960 years before the Battle of Yavin, and refer to characters and events from the "Knights of the Old Republic" comic series. "Pantheon" and "Secrets" are both set 3000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and "Pandemonium" begins 25 years later. The entire book is set on the planet Kesh.
Summary: The Omen, a mining ship of the ancient Sith Empire carrying a load of rare and valuable lightsaber crystals, is thrown off-course and crash lands on a primitive, unknown planet. Though their first thoughts are of a return to the stars, the planet proves utterly devoid of any natural resources that would be of use, and their captain knows that there will be no rescue. This tribe of Sith has come to stay, and over the long centuries they will feed their limitless appetites for intrigue and conquest by subjugating the planet and its people, and scheming relentlessly for personal power.
Review: This is utterly unlike any Star Wars book I have ever read, and that's definitely not a criticism. Aside from the lightsabers, the Force, and a few passing references to Jedi, this feels like a really good, stand-alone sci-fi novel. I liked some of the stories better than others, but the quality of the writing was consistent, and consistently good. I like Miller's style, and he is very good at planning individual stories full of their own surprising twists that also all fit into a much larger story. He did this consistently throughout the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, and he does it again here.
Miller also does a good job with the "rooting for a bad guy" problem by exploring more than the one-note side of Sith psychology that we are used to seeing everywhere else. Even though almost all of his protagonists are anti-heroes at best, lying, cheating, murdering, and enslaving, they are interesting characters, and there is more to them than the evil they do (often a great deal more). Most importantly, the main characters of his stories have vision, and that sets them apart from their fellow Sith. Captain Yaru Korsin and Caretaker Varner Hilts, in particular, embody this quality. Hilts reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon, from the classic Foundation series. I found the Keshiri characters much less interesting, particularly Quarra Thayn in "Pandemonium," but she grew on me a bit over the course of the story. Miller could have done a bit more to explore this alien race, but instead they were mostly just plot fodder.
In general, the biggest problem with the characters was that they kept changing. Once you were attached to one set of characters, the story jumped a thousand years and there was a whole new bunch. Then, once you got to like them pretty well, it happened again. I felt like that made the book drag a bit in the places where we were starting over with a whole new scenario yet again. But I really liked the epic scope of the whole thing. It was like watching Miller take on a game of "Civilization" with the Sith as a playable civilization.
My favorite stories were "Precipice," "Savior," "Purgatory," and "Secrets." My least favorites were "Skyborn," and "Pandemonium" (which was alright, just super-long in comparison to the others, and suffered from several factors that struck me as implausible). Not coincidentally, these were also the two stories with Keshiri protagonists. Overall, a fine read that I would recommend to fans and non-fans alike, as long as you like science fiction.
B+
Background: Lost Tribe of the Sith was originally released as a series of 8 eBook novellas from May 2009 to March 2012. A 9th, much longer final book was released along with the other 8 as "The Collected Stories" in July 2012. It was written by John Jackson Miller as a prequel to the "Fate of the Jedi" series of novels which was also being released during that time.
Lost Tribe of the Sith takes place across a period spanning over 2000 years. The first four books, the next two, and the final three form "mini-arcs" set during the same time. "Precipice" and "Skyborn" are both set 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. "Paragon" takes place 15 years later, and "Savior" 10 years after that. The characters in these stories are members of the Sith Empire under Naga Sadow, and there are frequent references to both Sadow and his arch-rival Ludo Kressh. "Purgatory" and "Sentinel" both take place 3960 years before the Battle of Yavin, and refer to characters and events from the "Knights of the Old Republic" comic series. "Pantheon" and "Secrets" are both set 3000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and "Pandemonium" begins 25 years later. The entire book is set on the planet Kesh.
Summary: The Omen, a mining ship of the ancient Sith Empire carrying a load of rare and valuable lightsaber crystals, is thrown off-course and crash lands on a primitive, unknown planet. Though their first thoughts are of a return to the stars, the planet proves utterly devoid of any natural resources that would be of use, and their captain knows that there will be no rescue. This tribe of Sith has come to stay, and over the long centuries they will feed their limitless appetites for intrigue and conquest by subjugating the planet and its people, and scheming relentlessly for personal power.
Review: This is utterly unlike any Star Wars book I have ever read, and that's definitely not a criticism. Aside from the lightsabers, the Force, and a few passing references to Jedi, this feels like a really good, stand-alone sci-fi novel. I liked some of the stories better than others, but the quality of the writing was consistent, and consistently good. I like Miller's style, and he is very good at planning individual stories full of their own surprising twists that also all fit into a much larger story. He did this consistently throughout the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, and he does it again here.
Miller also does a good job with the "rooting for a bad guy" problem by exploring more than the one-note side of Sith psychology that we are used to seeing everywhere else. Even though almost all of his protagonists are anti-heroes at best, lying, cheating, murdering, and enslaving, they are interesting characters, and there is more to them than the evil they do (often a great deal more). Most importantly, the main characters of his stories have vision, and that sets them apart from their fellow Sith. Captain Yaru Korsin and Caretaker Varner Hilts, in particular, embody this quality. Hilts reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon, from the classic Foundation series. I found the Keshiri characters much less interesting, particularly Quarra Thayn in "Pandemonium," but she grew on me a bit over the course of the story. Miller could have done a bit more to explore this alien race, but instead they were mostly just plot fodder.
In general, the biggest problem with the characters was that they kept changing. Once you were attached to one set of characters, the story jumped a thousand years and there was a whole new bunch. Then, once you got to like them pretty well, it happened again. I felt like that made the book drag a bit in the places where we were starting over with a whole new scenario yet again. But I really liked the epic scope of the whole thing. It was like watching Miller take on a game of "Civilization" with the Sith as a playable civilization.
My favorite stories were "Precipice," "Savior," "Purgatory," and "Secrets." My least favorites were "Skyborn," and "Pandemonium" (which was alright, just super-long in comparison to the others, and suffered from several factors that struck me as implausible). Not coincidentally, these were also the two stories with Keshiri protagonists. Overall, a fine read that I would recommend to fans and non-fans alike, as long as you like science fiction.
B+
zoelrobinson's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
graff_fuller's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
At first, I thought it was a collection of short stories...and in a sense it is sorta like that, but there is a throughline. The stories can be separated by many years, but it tracks the intergration and corruptive influence of the Sith on a island and a planet. This is a long-game view of transfer of power.
Lost Tribe of the Sith - The Collected Stories format shown below, with the corresponding rating.
I - Precipice - 3 Stars
II - Skyborn - 4 Stars
III - Paragon - 4.25 Stars
IV - Savoir - 4.5 Stars
V - Purgatory - 3.5 Stars
VI - Sentinel - 3.75 Stars
VII - Pantheon - 4 Stars
VIII - Secrets - 4.25 Stars
IX - Pandemonium - 4 Stars
The sum was 35.25/9= 3.916 Stars. So I rounded it up to 4.
Eight of the nine sections are about 4-5 chapters long, EXCEPT the last part, which was seventeen chapters long.
I was hoping for a little darker view of this intergration, but there are some dark aspects that bear out...within this book.
I know that I would NOT have wanted/liked to be on the island with the Sith, nor on this planet after they had arrived.
I thought their goal was interesting, and how they went about it intriguing. I need more.
Lost Tribe of the Sith - The Collected Stories format shown below, with the corresponding rating.
I - Precipice - 3 Stars
II - Skyborn - 4 Stars
III - Paragon - 4.25 Stars
IV - Savoir - 4.5 Stars
V - Purgatory - 3.5 Stars
VI - Sentinel - 3.75 Stars
VII - Pantheon - 4 Stars
VIII - Secrets - 4.25 Stars
IX - Pandemonium - 4 Stars
The sum was 35.25/9= 3.916 Stars. So I rounded it up to 4.
Eight of the nine sections are about 4-5 chapters long, EXCEPT the last part, which was seventeen chapters long.
I was hoping for a little darker view of this intergration, but there are some dark aspects that bear out...within this book.
I know that I would NOT have wanted/liked to be on the island with the Sith, nor on this planet after they had arrived.
I thought their goal was interesting, and how they went about it intriguing. I need more.
jeannamarie's review against another edition
3.0
“ The Caretaker Grand Lord was still a revered figure for most, but among the Sith, even a loaf of bread would develop enemies if placed upon a throne.”
p. 303 pandemonium
Love that line, really sums up what being a Sith is like.
This book of collected stories took me forever to get through. I wonder if I had been fed the stories slowly over a period of time I would have felt differently, but my brain was not ready to abandon characters I grew attached to over one story, to find we had moved sometimes 1000 years into the future to a new set of characters. Only in pandemonium, the last collected story, did ALL the stories become cohesive. Due to the abandonment issues and the story being sometimes a tad dull, I would have rated a 1 or 2; however, because pandemonium was phenomenal at tying everything together, it bumped the average to a 3.
The stories were written VERY well and truly added to the lore and knowledge of the Sith (whether this is considered Star Wars canon or not). The information and story were truly amazing, it just takes a while to see all the pieces together, but don’t worry, the pieces do all come together.
p. 303 pandemonium
Love that line, really sums up what being a Sith is like.
This book of collected stories took me forever to get through. I wonder if I had been fed the stories slowly over a period of time I would have felt differently, but my brain was not ready to abandon characters I grew attached to over one story, to find we had moved sometimes 1000 years into the future to a new set of characters. Only in pandemonium, the last collected story, did ALL the stories become cohesive. Due to the abandonment issues and the story being sometimes a tad dull, I would have rated a 1 or 2; however, because pandemonium was phenomenal at tying everything together, it bumped the average to a 3.
The stories were written VERY well and truly added to the lore and knowledge of the Sith (whether this is considered Star Wars canon or not). The information and story were truly amazing, it just takes a while to see all the pieces together, but don’t worry, the pieces do all come together.