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thebacklister's review against another edition
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? Yes
2.0
amandamarie00's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.5
Good god these Star Wars military books are so boring.
careydnelson's review against another edition
3.0
It's like Mr. Freed read Babylon's Ashes and said,"let's do that, but Star Wars."
There are some really cool things happening here. Then there's the rest of the book.
Please, just let the last one be a good, fun Star Wars adventure. It doesn't need to be The Expanse.
There are some really cool things happening here. Then there's the rest of the book.
Please, just let the last one be a good, fun Star Wars adventure. It doesn't need to be The Expanse.
thepancreas11's review against another edition
4.0
It takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it's as good a character study as any of the "Thrawn" books are. Chazz na Chadic is of course the star of this show again, with the densest, most interesting, and most original of all the many story-lines. There is a real effort here to examine the affects of the war on its soldiers in ways that previous media--especially the movies--seems to ignore wholesale. Seriously, if Alexander Freed had written the Finn part for the sequel trilogy, we would have gotten the disaffected, rattled, haunted, complex character that John Boyega's performance deserved. If that version of Finn was even half as emotionally poignant as Chazz, it would have been one of the brightest character turns in blockbuster movies since the Frodo-Sam dynamic.
What these books do best is ask, "What if?" and then have the courage to actually follow the idea. What if you were the only survivor over and over and over again? What if you were a soldier and the war was coming to a close? What if you were forced to participate in horrific acts of war? What if you weren't forced, but instead, almost brainwashed into feeling it was your duty to do so? Quell writes herself. Of course she would be outed. Of course that would lead her to question her duty to the New Republic. Of course that would cause her to confront the people responsible for her moral quandary. It sound so simple, but it takes a lot of patience and commitment to honor the characters that you've setup, especially in something that should be just another pulpy, sci-fi showpiece.
If anything, the book relies a little too heavily on the previous material and the premise. The slow start is down to the heavy references to the plot of the previous novel. I think if I had read them back to back, I would have been fine, but I had trouble remembering what had happened in the climax of the first novel. Worse yet, Wookieepedia was very light on the details of the Battle of Pandem Nai, so I didn't even have a resource to go to. I almost wish more time had been spent reviewing what we already know. That's more realistic to the readership of series like these, in my opinion.
I so look forward to the third book. I hope Chazz gets everything she deserves--or maybe everything she desires? I'm not sure. I just want her to have a good ending.
What these books do best is ask, "What if?" and then have the courage to actually follow the idea. What if you were the only survivor over and over and over again? What if you were a soldier and the war was coming to a close? What if you were forced to participate in horrific acts of war? What if you weren't forced, but instead, almost brainwashed into feeling it was your duty to do so? Quell writes herself. Of course she would be outed. Of course that would lead her to question her duty to the New Republic. Of course that would cause her to confront the people responsible for her moral quandary. It sound so simple, but it takes a lot of patience and commitment to honor the characters that you've setup, especially in something that should be just another pulpy, sci-fi showpiece.
If anything, the book relies a little too heavily on the previous material and the premise. The slow start is down to the heavy references to the plot of the previous novel. I think if I had read them back to back, I would have been fine, but I had trouble remembering what had happened in the climax of the first novel. Worse yet, Wookieepedia was very light on the details of the Battle of Pandem Nai, so I didn't even have a resource to go to. I almost wish more time had been spent reviewing what we already know. That's more realistic to the readership of series like these, in my opinion.
I so look forward to the third book. I hope Chazz gets everything she deserves--or maybe everything she desires? I'm not sure. I just want her to have a good ending.
macncheeseable's review against another edition
3.0
this was my second attempt to read this book and hey! i did it! don’t ask me what happened though
coenobi's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved the first book of the series, which I make quite well known in the discord. It's my absolute favourite canon novel. This one ends up in pretty much the same place, or might even kick that one off its throne. It is yet again a brilliant, BRILLIANT book. The characters get more fleshed out and you learn more about them, they interact in different ways, and as an example I absolutely adore the 'friendship' Wyl and Math have now, just like the one Chass and Quell have. ...at first, that is. The things that happen after some information comes out is one punch in the gut after the other and the squadron sort of splits up. The cult Chass ends up on really is something I haven't really seen before in Star Wars (and real life, luckily) and her interaction with the TIE pilot who appears to be Seedia are really interesting. I couldn't stop reading the parts with Quell, Adan (I never thought I'd say this, but may he rest in piece) and IT-O (may he actually rest in piece). Those conversations had me glued to the pages and the things that happened there were so sad to me. I really liked that droid and somehow I started to like Adan this book. I can go on for hours about this book but man.... I think...yeah, I liked this one even more than the first one. 10/10 for sure.
poppyparkes's review against another edition
3.0
I did not find this book as enjoyable as the previous one, however, the continuation of the story (and the ending) have convincingly set up the next in the trilogy which I am looking forward to reading.
capnhist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0