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franklc29's review against another edition
3.0
After the first story I was very skeptical about how exactly they were going to pull of star wars without stars or wars but this book pulled it off. Despite the jumps in the timeline the book is engaging and the characters are fantastic. I look forward to reading the Fate of the Jedi series to see what happens to the Tribe next.
aurorabulgaris's review against another edition
4.0
This book gets almost full stars despite not being exactly a stylistic masterpiece and here's why.
The stories follow a Sith ship which suffered serious damage during a battle and which crashlands on a remote planet somewhere randomly our of hyper-space and just about killing everyone on board. The survivors need to do the best they can out of their situation - at least they have just evaded almost certain death. Leaving the planet is a no-go as their ship lays in ruins on a mountain ridge. The only way is down to the continent below.
It's not difficult for the Sith to establish themselves as the new rulers of the land they found what with their power to wield the Force and with the locals already primed by their lore to expect the God-like creatures from their myths to descend from the stars. But the Sith are warriors whose whole existence is grounded in their insatiable desire for conquest and ever growing power. So how long will they be satisfied with being masters of a single piece of land? There's no escaping this planet, but may be they are not as alone on it as they originally thought? Will conquering new continents pawse their self-destruction and unite them to a common goal? May be temporarily...
What I actually loved the most about this book is that about 2/3rds of the way through is I got the sudden realisation that this Sith tribe is in fact humanity. The story is almost verbatim the broad strokes of human history from the past few thousand years and this realisation finally gave me the answer why I was so fascinated with the Sith in the first place. The ability to recognise yourself in the character is the key to almost certain success of the writer and this Miller did brilliantly!
The stories follow a Sith ship which suffered serious damage during a battle and which crashlands on a remote planet somewhere randomly our of hyper-space and just about killing everyone on board. The survivors need to do the best they can out of their situation - at least they have just evaded almost certain death. Leaving the planet is a no-go as their ship lays in ruins on a mountain ridge. The only way is down to the continent below.
It's not difficult for the Sith to establish themselves as the new rulers of the land they found what with their power to wield the Force and with the locals already primed by their lore to expect the God-like creatures from their myths to descend from the stars. But the Sith are warriors whose whole existence is grounded in their insatiable desire for conquest and ever growing power. So how long will they be satisfied with being masters of a single piece of land? There's no escaping this planet, but may be they are not as alone on it as they originally thought? Will conquering new continents pawse their self-destruction and unite them to a common goal? May be temporarily...
What I actually loved the most about this book is that about 2/3rds of the way through is I got the sudden realisation that this Sith tribe is in fact humanity. The story is almost verbatim the broad strokes of human history from the past few thousand years and this realisation finally gave me the answer why I was so fascinated with the Sith in the first place. The ability to recognise yourself in the character is the key to almost certain success of the writer and this Miller did brilliantly!
becca99's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Honestly, this book surprised me a lot. I chose it on random, when I didn't have anything in particular in mind to read. The concept, the writing, the history written down here is truly fascinating, Well worth a read
justin_wong's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
medea_jade's review against another edition
4.0
As Star Wars book go this one was excellent. It’s hard to write a book from the perspective of the enemy and still create characters that can be empathized with and their motives understood. I’m not really one for comic books but reading this really makes me want to get into the series that sprang from this.
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
4.0
I’d previously read the short stories online, so was eager to reread them and then finish off the story with the novella. When read in one go, the time jumps between stories can be a little jarring, particularly since the first three stories follow straight on from one another. Then there’s a generational jump and also a jump of 100 years. Some of the characters obviously get bumped off during the stories, but with the bigger jumps the subsequent story features all-new characters, being the descendants of the previous. In all there’s about 1,000 years spanned. This was not a problem, per say, but it’s worth noting. Unlike other Sith-focused stories where the main characters are particularly unlikable to horrendous, the characters in this book were much more relatable and even likeable. I could understand the plight of the Sith as they struggle to survive with little to know hope of reaching space again. The family dynamics weren’t just hate-filled scheming nests of distrust, but also had cohesion.
phantasmaboo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
loganriffey's review against another edition
5.0
So I thought the book was awesome considering that this was my first EU novel. Only downside was trying to get to know the characters quick enough before the next 50 years pass. I think this book should have been made longer. Towards the middle of the book (Secrets, etc) the sections were quite small compared to Pandemonium. However, those smaller sections and large time jumps led to a smaller attachment on some characters that later in the story meant nothing.
danirikku's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
lididi's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3 1/2 stars.
It was a tough read to get through for much of the book. Unless you do your research or are a huge Star Wars geek, you don't understand where in the timeline this takes place at all. And the stories jumps around a lot in order to cover 2000 years of the history of this lost tribe of Sith.
That aside, once I had done my research and had gotten used to jumping around, I was able to see the overall picture and allow myself to be pulled in by the stories.
The world building was done very well, and I truly appreciated the multiple dimensions of the characters. (i.e. Not all Sith are horrible and evil. Though they are all ambitious. You end up rooting for quite a few of them.)
It was a tough read to get through for much of the book. Unless you do your research or are a huge Star Wars geek, you don't understand where in the timeline this takes place at all. And the stories jumps around a lot in order to cover 2000 years of the history of this lost tribe of Sith.
That aside, once I had done my research and had gotten used to jumping around, I was able to see the overall picture and allow myself to be pulled in by the stories.
The world building was done very well, and I truly appreciated the multiple dimensions of the characters. (i.e. Not all Sith are horrible and evil. Though they are all ambitious. You end up rooting for quite a few of them.)