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wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
4.0
First up, this is not the novelisation of that terrible Disney film that came out that mistakenly put ‘Star Wars’ on the title and stole the title of this book. Interestingly, Disney Luke’s Force projection in the film is a direct rip-off of the Force projection in this book. This is an actual Star Wars book based in the actual Star Wars universe. Now that’s out of the way, on to the review…
This is a follow-up book to the Coruscant Nights trilogy of books that follow Jedi Jax Pavan and the sentient droid I-Five that originally belonged to his father in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. In this one, the Coruscant-based resistance known as Whiplash is feeling the pressure and it is decided to evacuate their leader off-world to a safer location. Unfortunately, Darth Vader is waiting and kidnaps the leader leaving Jax and his friends for dead. Now Jax must do what he can to mount a rescue.
I do very much enjoy the character of I-Five and this is his sixth appearance in the books. Jax is a lot more unbalanced in this one, dealing with loss and exploring a Sith holocron, which made him a much more interesting character. There was one scene in particular when he discovers that sentient blood is required to open it and a new acquaintance of his suddenly turns up and I really thought he might do something drastic.
The story itself is okay, if a little meandering. For all the urgency in mounting the rescue, there’s an awful lot of preamble and ‘side missions’ that must be done first. Interspersed amongst all this is the ongoing operations of Whiplash without their leader which, though compelling, ultimately don’t really amount to much.
There is no great battle or encounter but the rescue attempt at the end is pretty good. The story does get a little lost with the time manipulation sub-sub plot which felt a bit unnecessary.
Infinitely better than the ‘film’ of the same name.
This is a follow-up book to the Coruscant Nights trilogy of books that follow Jedi Jax Pavan and the sentient droid I-Five that originally belonged to his father in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. In this one, the Coruscant-based resistance known as Whiplash is feeling the pressure and it is decided to evacuate their leader off-world to a safer location. Unfortunately, Darth Vader is waiting and kidnaps the leader leaving Jax and his friends for dead. Now Jax must do what he can to mount a rescue.
I do very much enjoy the character of I-Five and this is his sixth appearance in the books. Jax is a lot more unbalanced in this one, dealing with loss and exploring a Sith holocron, which made him a much more interesting character. There was one scene in particular when he discovers that sentient blood is required to open it and a new acquaintance of his suddenly turns up and I really thought he might do something drastic.
The story itself is okay, if a little meandering. For all the urgency in mounting the rescue, there’s an awful lot of preamble and ‘side missions’ that must be done first. Interspersed amongst all this is the ongoing operations of Whiplash without their leader which, though compelling, ultimately don’t really amount to much.
There is no great battle or encounter but the rescue attempt at the end is pretty good. The story does get a little lost with the time manipulation sub-sub plot which felt a bit unnecessary.
Infinitely better than the ‘film’ of the same name.
fbone's review against another edition
3.0
Evidently this was part of a series but it works as a stand alone story in the Star Wars universe. This was my first SW title that occurs before Episode 4 and knowing what happens later in the timeline sadly eliminates some of the surprise. The first 200 pages were slow but it does pick up after that. The author did dwell on the flawed, tortured characters a lot (common in later novels) but not too much to be unpleasant. The ending was as expected but satisfying.
phantasmaboo's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
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
verkisto's review against another edition
2.0
It's weird returning to an adult Star Wars book after having read so many juvenile books previously. It makes the differences between the two literature stand out, since the simplified storytelling of the juvenile books makes for such quick, easy reads. Plus, the shorter lengths of the juvenile books meant there weren't many subplots; with The Last Jedi, they're more prominent.
Reaves returns to his usual cast of characters with The Last Jedi, bringing back Jax Pavan, I-5YQ, and Den Dhur, all of whom featured in the Coruscant Nights series. In fact, it follows the events of Patterns of Force so much that I'm surprised it's not a part of that series. In this book, Thi Xon Yimmon, Jedi Knight and leader of the Whiplash rebellion group, is kidnapped by Darth Vader, and Jax goes on a long journey to get him back. Jax also loses Laranth in the same confrontation where Yimmon is kidnapped, so he's entertaining dark thoughts, and is tempted by the dark side, especially since he has a Sith holocron in his possession. Jax struggles to balance the Force within himself, and for most of the novel, he's doing his own thing, without any input from I-5 or Den.
Part of what made Reaves' other Expanded Universe novels interesting was his use of these central characters, building on and developing their characters from one story to the next. From I-5's sardonic quips to Den's pessimistic outlook, with Jax trying to manage the entire group despite all of that, the characters were engaging and served as the anchor for the stories. By dividing them in this book, Reaves removes the key to his story, and it's a lot less interesting for it. Jax travels from place to place trying to locate and rescue Yimmon, and sometimes I-5 and Den are with him, and sometimes they aren't. In fact, for as much as I-5 and Den actually serve a purpose in the book, they may as well not even have been featured at all.
For as lengthy as this book is (460 pages), not much happens. There's a lot of traveling, a lot of backtracking, and a lot of angst-ridden introspection that carries the story, and frankly it's pretty boring. Under different circumstances, it might not have bothered me much, but after reading the cleaner, more direct juvenile books, The Last Jedi wasn't the right book to ease me back in to reading the adult books. I've been toying with shifting my attention to the new canon books and reading those to stay on top of the new movies, and this might be a good time to make that shift. I've made my way through and beyond the prequel trilogies, and the next book I have to read is from the older wave of EU novels. I believe my next read in this project will be Catalyst.
Reaves returns to his usual cast of characters with The Last Jedi, bringing back Jax Pavan, I-5YQ, and Den Dhur, all of whom featured in the Coruscant Nights series. In fact, it follows the events of Patterns of Force so much that I'm surprised it's not a part of that series. In this book, Thi Xon Yimmon, Jedi Knight and leader of the Whiplash rebellion group, is kidnapped by Darth Vader, and Jax goes on a long journey to get him back. Jax also loses Laranth in the same confrontation where Yimmon is kidnapped, so he's entertaining dark thoughts, and is tempted by the dark side, especially since he has a Sith holocron in his possession. Jax struggles to balance the Force within himself, and for most of the novel, he's doing his own thing, without any input from I-5 or Den.
Part of what made Reaves' other Expanded Universe novels interesting was his use of these central characters, building on and developing their characters from one story to the next. From I-5's sardonic quips to Den's pessimistic outlook, with Jax trying to manage the entire group despite all of that, the characters were engaging and served as the anchor for the stories. By dividing them in this book, Reaves removes the key to his story, and it's a lot less interesting for it. Jax travels from place to place trying to locate and rescue Yimmon, and sometimes I-5 and Den are with him, and sometimes they aren't. In fact, for as much as I-5 and Den actually serve a purpose in the book, they may as well not even have been featured at all.
For as lengthy as this book is (460 pages), not much happens. There's a lot of traveling, a lot of backtracking, and a lot of angst-ridden introspection that carries the story, and frankly it's pretty boring. Under different circumstances, it might not have bothered me much, but after reading the cleaner, more direct juvenile books, The Last Jedi wasn't the right book to ease me back in to reading the adult books. I've been toying with shifting my attention to the new canon books and reading those to stay on top of the new movies, and this might be a good time to make that shift. I've made my way through and beyond the prequel trilogies, and the next book I have to read is from the older wave of EU novels. I believe my next read in this project will be Catalyst.
internpepper's review against another edition
4.0
A great book! Definitely couldn't put it down by the end. Intense and fun all the way through. Michael Reaves doesn't disappoint.
fbone's review against another edition
3.0
Evidently this was part of a series but it works as a stand alone story in the Star Wars universe. This was my first SW title that occurs before Episode 4 and knowing what happens later in the timeline sadly eliminates some of the surprise. The first 200 pages were slow but it does pick up after that. The author did dwell on the flawed, tortured characters a lot (common in later novels) but not too much to be unpleasant. The ending was as expected but satisfying.
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