Reviews

Tempest by Troy Denning

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wittyfool's review against another edition

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dark tense 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

3.0

blakenona's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

aguazales's review against another edition

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3.0

Decent. Battle scenes were great, but characters often didn't act like I felt they normally would (Han and Leia especially didn't feel "Star Warsy"). Also, many of the reasons things happened seemed convoluted, unrealistic, or like non-sequitors. I found myself re-reading conversations and still having no idea how their lines of reasoning managed to convince a character of something or allay their suspicions, etc. Decent.

clarks_dad's review against another edition

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4.0

A dramatic improvement over it's predecessor, Tempest actually does a much better job at explaining exactly what's happening to Jacen, and how he could legitimately fall prey to the dark side. Ultimately what makes this book succeed is the rather poignant moments Denning creates as Jacen continues to break the hearts of his friends and family. He makes some rather serious errors in judgement that lead to a terrible mistake that I don't see anyone forgiving. The shame he feels isolates him further than his sense of mission and being above personal attachment ever could, and it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know where this is going, you know what's going to happen, but it's anatomy is fascinating both psychologically and emotionally.

Besides this, Denning does a remarkable job weaving a pretty basic plot of political deception and galactic intrigue which will keep you hooked and which makes sense and more importantly, this is where Traviss failed, feels right. My only complaints are minor. He has some of the characters in the story using contemporary american idioms which just don't seem right coming out of the mouth of Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker. Call me picky, but it was distracting. Other than that, great fun.

hstapp's review against another edition

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3.0

The hapes cluster is threatened by Civil War. Will the divided skywalker/solo family members be able to save them from ruination?

I really enjoyed the diverging and interlinking plot lines in this story. Everything was woven together in a very pleasing manner. I'm a little disappointed in The hapan queens, depiction. It seems more like plot device than how she would actually react to Jacen in this situation. But I'm willing to overlook it for the depictions of the other characters in the book.