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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
There's a lot of potential in this book but it ultimately doesn't live up to it.
For a large portion of this book I thought the point was that the Jedi (or Je'daii) aren't actually always the heroes after all - not exactly a unique concept for anyone familiar with the Star Wars Extended Universe, but still far more compelling than what we actually got. The Jedi are right because they're the good guys, it doesn't actually matter how many people they maim and murder, or that all the bad guys want is to explore the galaxy.
The character's don't fair much better than the plot, squashed flat to fit into binary narrative moulds. Like a lot of this book, the main bad guy started out with a lot of promise, he wanted adventure, and he hated the force and was no more interested in the dark side than the light side. But he too was destined for mediocrity and ultimately was just a murderous psychopath.
There was enough here that I'll probably look into reading Lebbon's other work, but I can't recommend this particular book.
For a large portion of this book I thought the point was that the Jedi (or Je'daii) aren't actually always the heroes after all - not exactly a unique concept for anyone familiar with the Star Wars Extended Universe, but still far more compelling than what we actually got. The Jedi are right because they're the good guys, it doesn't actually matter how many people they maim and murder, or that all the bad guys want is to explore the galaxy.
The character's don't fair much better than the plot, squashed flat to fit into binary narrative moulds. Like a lot of this book, the main bad guy started out with a lot of promise, he wanted adventure, and he hated the force and was no more interested in the dark side than the light side. But he too was destined for mediocrity and ultimately was just a murderous psychopath.
There was enough here that I'll probably look into reading Lebbon's other work, but I can't recommend this particular book.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love Star Wars and I have enjoyed all aspects of stories told within this universe. So I thought by diving into this Legends book I’d be treated to a fun story that provided some clues or insight into how the Jedi started on the path to becoming what we are so familiar with in the prequels or the original trilogy.
This book was not that and I honestly don’t even know what the point of this was. This book is no longer considered canon and it wouldn’t even matter if it was. There’s no deeper lore or implications here to impact our knowledge or understanding of this fictional universe.
The story is just about a Je’daii ranger tracking down her presumed dead brother who is trying to use ancient technology to do something the council perceives as bad. That the whole story. There are interesting flashbacks to the siblings childhood that shows them drifting further apart the stepper they get into their training but it has no consequences for the other part of the story with them nine years older.
The book doesn’t even have a satisfying ending. It does kind of wrap up the main story thread but completely refuses to address any of the surrounding story threads or give any information that makes the journey of reading this book worth your time.
If you absolutely love Star Wars and want to read everything sure go ahead and read it but if you’re just a casual fan looking for a good sci-fi story this isn’t it.
This book was not that and I honestly don’t even know what the point of this was. This book is no longer considered canon and it wouldn’t even matter if it was. There’s no deeper lore or implications here to impact our knowledge or understanding of this fictional universe.
The story is just about a Je’daii ranger tracking down her presumed dead brother who is trying to use ancient technology to do something the council perceives as bad. That the whole story. There are interesting flashbacks to the siblings childhood that shows them drifting further apart the stepper they get into their training but it has no consequences for the other part of the story with them nine years older.
The book doesn’t even have a satisfying ending. It does kind of wrap up the main story thread but completely refuses to address any of the surrounding story threads or give any information that makes the journey of reading this book worth your time.
If you absolutely love Star Wars and want to read everything sure go ahead and read it but if you’re just a casual fan looking for a good sci-fi story this isn’t it.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First read of a star wars book not bad but very long winded for such an abrupt end other than that the story kept me engaged and made me want to read another one
Bullet Review:
This ought to be 3 stars but I'm giving this 2 because no Star Wars book should take me nearly half a year to finish and fill me with such dread every time I pick it up.
I don't know that Tim Lebbon gets Star Wars; Lanoree is one of the most incompetent Force Users I've ever read (albeit still more interesting that the dull as dirt, Kerra Holt of Knight Errant). This story was completely pointless and failed utterly at answering the big question of "What are the origins of the Jedi?" It may sound like I hated this book, but that's not true. I'm just massively disappointed.
Not a Star Wars book I would recommend. I won't be checking out Lebbon's other works either.
Full Review:
Lanoree Brock is a Je'daii Ranger who has now been assigned to find her long-dead brother, Dalien, who holds a dangerous device that could ruin the world - or send them to the depths of the universe.
As a long-time Star Wars fan, who has plunged the depths of Star Wars EU with "Children of the Jedi" and "Jedi Trial", I must say this was a big fat disappointment - and confirmation that it's a good thing I'm not going to read past the Legends line and subject myself to more potential madness.
Now, we all can't be too hard on Star Wars. For every "Crystal Star" (the book that was the inspiration for my screen name - back in the day when I was a teenager and didn't have the same standards I do now) or "Courtship of Princess Leia", there was a "Heir to the Empire" or "Shatterpoint". Ying...and yang. But just because Star Wars is prone to bad books doesn't mean I have to tolerate it. Just because Star Wars has its rough spots doesn't mean that I have to turn the other way and pretend they don't exist.
I'm not sure why this book was written, other than to cash in on the mildly interesting comic series of the same name - which, to be honest, was much better than anything in this book. This was not an origin story. It was not an original Jedi story. It really isn't an original Star Wars story. I mean, how many times will we suffer through the "Character X chases Character Y for MacGuffin J" plot?
The characters are so boring and dull and lifeless. Lanoree WAS a better character than Kerra Holt - but come on, that's not saying much. Kerra Holt was pretty bland. She makes Saltine Crackers look spicy. Lanoree could have been a kick @$$ female Jedi - Space knows, Star Wars has its problems showcasing females doing things other than dying of broken hearts (or is that now retconned by Disney?). But no - she's a complete and utter moron. A simple mission turns into a jaunt around the solar system, a 300 page waste of paper/electronics/however you read this book. Her investigation skills are pretty much zero; Tre does more investigating than Lanoree, and he's not a Force User at all. A character can leave a heap of bloody clothes in her path, and she collapses and IMMEDIATELY thinks he's dead withOUT checking her surroundings!
And then the bloodbath Lanoree leaves in her wake! I get that Je'daii at this time weren't the pacifistic Jedi in the movies, but Lanoree justifies killing people a lot. A LOT. And her incompetence quite possibly gets a main character killed! (What's worse, that "death" doesn't even serve the purpose of being compelling or heart-wrenching in the least.)
Notable Mentions of Stock Star Wars characters:
+ The Fat Evil Businessperson
+ The Twi'Lek bad guy
+ The Family Member Who Isn't Dead
Also, what are Twi'Leks and Noghri doing on Tython and all these planets? Isn't this much before interstellar travel? What, did all these cultures come from the SAME system? HUH?
And now, before I lose steam, your favorite and mine:
NERD NITPICKS!
1. Landing permissions - ain't nobody got time for that! Seriously, is there a Star Wars book in which characters actually ask for permission to land, land, and then chase their bad guy?
2. Is there a requirement for a Star Wars author to create at least one planet per book wherein there is SO MUCH POLLUTION that acid rain and black skies are the norm? Is that in the list that George Lucas sends to all potential authors of his books?
3. At one point, Lanoree pilots her ship "out of Nox's gravity". Only, she just left the atmosphere. Yes, the further you get from the planet, the less the gravity will be, but it hasn't disappeared!
4. Force alchemy can save a person from a point-blank blaster wound! After that person has been drug through mines and been knocked out for half a day! We have never seen this before, but sure, let's go with it!
5. "We are but residents here; our true home is in the Force." I think the word you mean is "foreigners", not residents.
6. The book ends at 65% on my Kindle - the rest (besides a short story going to 68%) are a bunch of gorram excerpts of other books! It feels like I'm paying for heaps of excerpts!
7. Force Punch?! Again, in all my reading in Star Wars EU, I've never heard it called "Force Punch" before (only "Force Push"), and Lanoree overuses it so much, it must be banished from existence.
And this has been another...Nerd Nitpicks!
Seriously, the best thing about this book (other than yes, Lebbon did make the protagonist female) is the short story "Eruption" written by John Ostrander. THAT was awesome. THAT made Lanoree look bad @$$ and competent. THAT was more interesting than anything of this book.
Lanoree is an incompetent Je'daii doing a stupid mission with boring characters, and the writing is just average. This isn't the worst book that I've ever read, nor the worst Star Wars book, but it took me over 5 months to finish, and for a Star Wars book, that's a crime. Not to mention, every time I did pick up the book, I wanted to promptly put it back down.
No wait, you know what the REAL best thing about this book is? Disney has banished it from canon - a move that almost no one will cry over!
This ought to be 3 stars but I'm giving this 2 because no Star Wars book should take me nearly half a year to finish and fill me with such dread every time I pick it up.
I don't know that Tim Lebbon gets Star Wars; Lanoree is one of the most incompetent Force Users I've ever read (albeit still more interesting that the dull as dirt, Kerra Holt of Knight Errant). This story was completely pointless and failed utterly at answering the big question of "What are the origins of the Jedi?" It may sound like I hated this book, but that's not true. I'm just massively disappointed.
Not a Star Wars book I would recommend. I won't be checking out Lebbon's other works either.
Full Review:
Lanoree Brock is a Je'daii Ranger who has now been assigned to find her long-dead brother, Dalien, who holds a dangerous device that could ruin the world - or send them to the depths of the universe.
As a long-time Star Wars fan, who has plunged the depths of Star Wars EU with "Children of the Jedi" and "Jedi Trial", I must say this was a big fat disappointment - and confirmation that it's a good thing I'm not going to read past the Legends line and subject myself to more potential madness.
Now, we all can't be too hard on Star Wars. For every "Crystal Star" (the book that was the inspiration for my screen name - back in the day when I was a teenager and didn't have the same standards I do now) or "Courtship of Princess Leia", there was a "Heir to the Empire" or "Shatterpoint". Ying...and yang. But just because Star Wars is prone to bad books doesn't mean I have to tolerate it. Just because Star Wars has its rough spots doesn't mean that I have to turn the other way and pretend they don't exist.
I'm not sure why this book was written, other than to cash in on the mildly interesting comic series of the same name - which, to be honest, was much better than anything in this book. This was not an origin story. It was not an original Jedi story. It really isn't an original Star Wars story. I mean, how many times will we suffer through the "Character X chases Character Y for MacGuffin J" plot?
The characters are so boring and dull and lifeless. Lanoree WAS a better character than Kerra Holt - but come on, that's not saying much. Kerra Holt was pretty bland. She makes Saltine Crackers look spicy. Lanoree could have been a kick @$$ female Jedi - Space knows, Star Wars has its problems showcasing females doing things other than dying of broken hearts (or is that now retconned by Disney?). But no - she's a complete and utter moron. A simple mission turns into a jaunt around the solar system, a 300 page waste of paper/electronics/however you read this book. Her investigation skills are pretty much zero; Tre does more investigating than Lanoree, and he's not a Force User at all. A character can leave a heap of bloody clothes in her path, and she collapses and IMMEDIATELY thinks he's dead withOUT checking her surroundings!
And then the bloodbath Lanoree leaves in her wake! I get that Je'daii at this time weren't the pacifistic Jedi in the movies, but Lanoree justifies killing people a lot. A LOT. And her incompetence quite possibly gets a main character killed! (What's worse, that "death" doesn't even serve the purpose of being compelling or heart-wrenching in the least.)
Notable Mentions of Stock Star Wars characters:
+ The Fat Evil Businessperson
+ The Twi'Lek bad guy
+ The Family Member Who Isn't Dead
Also, what are Twi'Leks and Noghri doing on Tython and all these planets? Isn't this much before interstellar travel? What, did all these cultures come from the SAME system? HUH?
And now, before I lose steam, your favorite and mine:
NERD NITPICKS!
1. Landing permissions - ain't nobody got time for that! Seriously, is there a Star Wars book in which characters actually ask for permission to land, land, and then chase their bad guy?
2. Is there a requirement for a Star Wars author to create at least one planet per book wherein there is SO MUCH POLLUTION that acid rain and black skies are the norm? Is that in the list that George Lucas sends to all potential authors of his books?
3. At one point, Lanoree pilots her ship "out of Nox's gravity". Only, she just left the atmosphere. Yes, the further you get from the planet, the less the gravity will be, but it hasn't disappeared!
4. Force alchemy can save a person from a point-blank blaster wound! After that person has been drug through mines and been knocked out for half a day! We have never seen this before, but sure, let's go with it!
5. "We are but residents here; our true home is in the Force." I think the word you mean is "foreigners", not residents.
6. The book ends at 65% on my Kindle - the rest (besides a short story going to 68%) are a bunch of gorram excerpts of other books! It feels like I'm paying for heaps of excerpts!
7. Force Punch?! Again, in all my reading in Star Wars EU, I've never heard it called "Force Punch" before (only "Force Push"), and Lanoree overuses it so much, it must be banished from existence.
And this has been another...Nerd Nitpicks!
Seriously, the best thing about this book (other than yes, Lebbon did make the protagonist female) is the short story "Eruption" written by John Ostrander. THAT was awesome. THAT made Lanoree look bad @$$ and competent. THAT was more interesting than anything of this book.
Lanoree is an incompetent Je'daii doing a stupid mission with boring characters, and the writing is just average. This isn't the worst book that I've ever read, nor the worst Star Wars book, but it took me over 5 months to finish, and for a Star Wars book, that's a crime. Not to mention, every time I did pick up the book, I wanted to promptly put it back down.
No wait, you know what the REAL best thing about this book is? Disney has banished it from canon - a move that almost no one will cry over!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some really good world-building for a relatively short book, with exploration of ideas like the will and subjugation of Force users, the “goodness” of the Force etc. Having the story set before the Jedi-Sith conflict, with the Sith being a more monastic order and the Je’daii leaning into more secrecy and being morally gray helps a lot in this respect.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book didn't have an immersive era as other Star Wars books that cover different eras. There's swords instead of light sabers and slow ships and no hyperspace. The plot is shallow and the search for Lanoree's brother is flat. Even when Lanoree is caught by her brother there is barely any interesting dialogue. The subplot was very slow and already predicted, becoming boring. Luckily the parallelism of the subplot and the main plot near the end save it. Tre was a more interesting character than Lanoree who was static. Overall the book was mediocre bridging between a 2 and 3 but closer to a 3.
Rating Update 3/12/2019 - 3 to 2 stars. Because I found it boring, it doesn't mean I liked it (3 stars).
Rating Update 3/13/2019 - 2 to 1 stars. I just remember hating this book after having read it. Way too boring.
Update 7 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a one star rating is befitting. I recall hating this book for many years after finishing it. This is a definite one star rating.
September 8, 2019
Update
I would like to add that I believe my hatred for this book was aimed at the boredom I received while reading the book. I no longer hate it now but I recall hating its lengthy, two hundred and fifty pages.
January 21, 2020
Update
I have just recalled a memory of stopping midway through the book, glancing at the page number, and hating how long and dull the book was up to that point.
Rating Update 3/12/2019 - 3 to 2 stars. Because I found it boring, it doesn't mean I liked it (3 stars).
Rating Update 3/13/2019 - 2 to 1 stars. I just remember hating this book after having read it. Way too boring.
Update 7 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a one star rating is befitting. I recall hating this book for many years after finishing it. This is a definite one star rating.
September 8, 2019
Update
I would like to add that I believe my hatred for this book was aimed at the boredom I received while reading the book. I no longer hate it now but I recall hating its lengthy, two hundred and fifty pages.
January 21, 2020
Update
I have just recalled a memory of stopping midway through the book, glancing at the page number, and hating how long and dull the book was up to that point.
I give this one 3.5 stars. I know a lot of people complain about how the story jumps from past to present, and to an extent I agree. Maybe if the author put some dates it would have helped quite a bit. Other than that, I quite enjoyed the story. Meeting new characters and exploring new worlds is what fascinated me. Lots of brutal scenes that made it badass!