Reviews

Abyss by Troy Denning

ahotpotofcoffee's review against another edition

5.0

Very much a good continuation of the plot. With enough breaking from a traditional StarWars concept but also not being to out landish

clarks_dad's review against another edition

3.0

Better than the last installment, but only by a little. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of the whole Sith storyline centered on Vestara. It feels like the EU authors are just trying to one-up whatever has come previously. Kinda like, "We've seen two Sith in past storylines, but what about ONE HUNDRED?" Really, it takes the focus out of character development and I feel like this storyline lacks any single compelling and sinister threat. And what's motivating the Sith? Nothing more than the run-of-the-mill galactic conquest and "Death to the Jedi" business. Boring.

So far the saving grace of this storyline has been the legitimate philosophical implications of the Jedi's role as an institution and an organization of justice within a society run by laws that are supposed to apply equally to everyone. I have to admit though, that that particular aspect of the story is starting to run a little dry. Fortunately for fans, Luke and Ben's investigation into Jacen's Force pilgrimage just before going rogue has opened up quite a few interesting new side stories and adventures. Just enough to keep me reading at least.

nowwearealltom's review against another edition

5.0

The first two books in this series were kind of lackluster, which is why it took me such a long time to get into this one. But I'm glad I finally did, because it's one of the best Star Wars books I've read in a while. One scene moved me almost to the point of tears. I can't say that happens too often in Star Wars novels.

johnhypermace's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

bodehoover's review against another edition

4.0

We finally get a main villain and the plot has a real direction now. Plus Luke and Ben have great banter

sam_n_97's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

hstapp's review against another edition

3.0

So this book picks up all the disparate threads of story and plot and runs them all together. About halfway through this book I had to flop it down on my chest and try to figure out where everything is going.

I didn't succeed but it was fun trying to puzzle it all out and I have a few ideas, we'll just have to see how that all works out.

I think that this culmination of lines is why the last book wasn't great. There were too many disparate plotlines. The author knew that they were going to be revealed in the next book and they just had to take all the lines and keep them juggling and moving around without them really going anywhere.

I don't think that should have happened for an entire book, but I guess when you want things fast and are having 3 different authors write a continuous story at the same time you make sacrifices.

julia09's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a great book to read. It’s the best in the series so far.

thewonderelf's review against another edition

4.0

I think this is the best entry in Fate of the Jedi so far, perhaps because Jacen Solo makes an appearance as a pseudo Force ghost. That gave me ALL THE FEELS.

In this volume, Luke and Ben travel to the Maw to track down a mysterious evil and figure out more about what went wrong with Jacen (and also possibly solve what's happening with all the crazy Jedi). There's a lot of Force theory, which might turn some readers off, but I LOVE FORCE THEORY. There's plenty of action too, though most of it happens on Coruscant with Leia, Han, Jaina, and Alanna. This is sort of a nice reversal, since so many of the Leia plots are tamer and Luke gets all the action.

The Sith have a huge sub-plot, and I love the way everything converges at the end. I started to really like Vestara in this volume, and I'm on board for wherever this ride takes me.

bianca_horkan's review against another edition

4.0

I am so glad we got some good Han & Leia time in this book. It's almost like they've been regulated to the unknown regions during the last series. I've missed their banter and their input into the GFFA...

The time spent with Luke & Ben was more interesting than the previous novel. Learning about Luke's thoughts on Ben's future in the Jedi Order was something I hadn't thought or "seen" coming.

In short, I'd have to agree that this book gets back on track from this crazy, un-Star Wars storytelling.