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corimii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The basic idea of this book is so cool but I found the execution a bit confusing and slow at times.
catparroll's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
psyco12_2000's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ladylizardxvii's review against another edition
5.0
Truthfully, I felt a little lost for a lot of this book, trying to follow the story set against an somewhat unfamiliar backdrop, trying (I think erroneously) to place this within the larger Star Wars timeline-- And I already want to read it again because the ending made everything come together and make sense in such a surprising, beautiful way that it made my lostness throughout the rest of the book worth it! During the book, I wanted to give up on it several times, and, having finished it, now I want more! Both plan to re-read this and recommend to others. It's unlike a lot of other Star Wars that exists out there, and it's GREAT because of it!
emigonzalez1210's review against another edition
Wasn’t how I thought it was gonna be
frogreads_'s review against another edition
The pacing was really slow for me and i couldn't get into the characters. The first part is essentially a retelling of the episode and after that part my interest dropped off.
I think it would have been better to have the episode be the climax/ending of the book to see how it played out and how he got there/that way.
There were like secret voices and i never really understood that. Maybe its explained later
I think it would have been better to have the episode be the climax/ending of the book to see how it played out and how he got there/that way.
There were like secret voices and i never really understood that. Maybe its explained later
booklich's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
mistwhisper117's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Desperately needed another editor to make this more readable. Cool ideas and concepts confused by a tangle of words that were used in excess. Character development, behavior, and revelations are sporadic and unexplained.
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
I am not sure what to think about this book.
I have to admit that blurb on the book cover had me struggling a bit especially in time when diversity is the word of the day and gets pushed everywhere just for the sake of it.
Being sort of a reader that reads books based on the description of book's contents and not on life preferences of authors (I am not trying to figure out who are they and how they live their lives and what they believe in privately - I am reading author's works, not living with the author, if you understand me) I was little bit put off so I placed this one on afterburner and last week I was thinking, why not and started on it.
Story wise novel is extension of episode 1 from Star Wars Vision series (which I did not watch). First chapters are basically re-telling of that episode and I have to admit that it is very cinematic and filled with action so I believe that it is very true to the animated series.
From here ... novel itself goes in the strange directions (yes, you read right, I mean it in plural).
First, the setting. As far as I can see setting is true to original concept of Star Wars (there was a graphic novel couple of years back) with Jedi's being for all means and purposes warrior class for the Republic (here called Empire). Author manages to place all the factions into political system that is basically copy of Japan middle ages, before Shogunate - thousands small states/princes vying for ultimate control of the galaxy using their own Jedi clans as foot soldiers in almost never ending wars (for all those more into cyberpunk, imagine this as dystopian cyberpunk future with various zaibatsu fighting for control). Jedi are warrior's first, loyal to their clan and ready to fight other Jedis in feuds between their lords (that also can be someone from Jedi ranks). We have Jedi knights, that are actually wielding the lightsabers and those that wash out from training but have their use as Force wielders to protect their Lords and commanders. So in this regard Jedis are portrayed as Jedi's from Knights of the Old Republic, that origin story of Jedi's (series published by Dark Horse), Legacy series (post Jedi Academy) and finally Eternal Throne knights - warriors walking the line between Light and Dark, keeping the balance and trying to do the right thing, even in midst of inter-Jedi-clan fighting. They are not ultimate baddies nor ultimate goodies - they are warrior caste in service of the government.
This again brings us to Sith which are not the ultimate baddies as is generally case, but are presented as rebels, Force wielders that want to be independent and bound to no clan leader of Imperial forces. This of course brings them into conflict with the Jedi and entire novel is more or less about how this conflict culminated and ended, and consequences following it.
So, setting wise, great setup. Author's portrayal of technology, customs, everything is perfect blend of Star Wars and Japanese culture. Even the weird lightsabers that pop up from time and time, they are wonderfully presented.
But character wise story is .... lets say unique :) If we take eponymous Ronin aside, all other characters have very serious psychological issues. OK, we can even take Chie aside too. But everyone else is in dire need of psychoanalysis and few years worth of sessions.
Author's style is rather heavy in general - I think editors did not do their job as best as they could because there are chapters where structure of sentences is so difficult it is incredible. I literary had to use finger to track the progress of paragraphs, otherwise I could just skip this (around 20%) part of the book, and unfortunately lose the thread completely. It is not the pronouns (this was pleasant surprise because only alien Traveler was treated as they and this came up better than I expected) but just structure of sentences...... it was like reading psychotic break of a character, only this was not the case, it is just that structure was difficult, man so difficult to go through.
And in all of this we are given characters that cover more or less your usual adventure team - errant knights, smuggler, nosy droid, and battle hardened veteran. Unfortunately besides the veteran and our Ronin (and droid, I forgot about the droid), all of the others seem to suffer from such angst that I felt like grabbing them by the shoulders and tell them to get themselves sorted out, take a vacation, visit family, friends whatever, go to sea, walk in the bloody woods to release the stress - just do something for crying out loud and then return to the novel. This made reading these parts of book like trying to walk through molasses up to your neck. I spent literary two days to get through this slough but thankfully I persisted and truly enjoyed the rest of the book.
Rest of the book is full of action and ending is truly satisfying, I can even say epic. I just wish editors did better job and made book more readable.
Highly recommended to fans of Star Wars, very interesting take on the universe. But do keep in mind it might take you some effort to go through it but it is worth it. It definitely got me interested in the Visions series.
I have to admit that blurb on the book cover had me struggling a bit especially in time when diversity is the word of the day and gets pushed everywhere just for the sake of it.
Being sort of a reader that reads books based on the description of book's contents and not on life preferences of authors (I am not trying to figure out who are they and how they live their lives and what they believe in privately - I am reading author's works, not living with the author, if you understand me) I was little bit put off so I placed this one on afterburner and last week I was thinking, why not and started on it.
Story wise novel is extension of episode 1 from Star Wars Vision series (which I did not watch). First chapters are basically re-telling of that episode and I have to admit that it is very cinematic and filled with action so I believe that it is very true to the animated series.
From here ... novel itself goes in the strange directions (yes, you read right, I mean it in plural).
First, the setting. As far as I can see setting is true to original concept of Star Wars (there was a graphic novel couple of years back) with Jedi's being for all means and purposes warrior class for the Republic (here called Empire). Author manages to place all the factions into political system that is basically copy of Japan middle ages, before Shogunate - thousands small states/princes vying for ultimate control of the galaxy using their own Jedi clans as foot soldiers in almost never ending wars (for all those more into cyberpunk, imagine this as dystopian cyberpunk future with various zaibatsu fighting for control). Jedi are warrior's first, loyal to their clan and ready to fight other Jedis in feuds between their lords (that also can be someone from Jedi ranks). We have Jedi knights, that are actually wielding the lightsabers and those that wash out from training but have their use as Force wielders to protect their Lords and commanders. So in this regard Jedis are portrayed as Jedi's from Knights of the Old Republic, that origin story of Jedi's (series published by Dark Horse), Legacy series (post Jedi Academy) and finally Eternal Throne knights - warriors walking the line between Light and Dark, keeping the balance and trying to do the right thing, even in midst of inter-Jedi-clan fighting. They are not ultimate baddies nor ultimate goodies - they are warrior caste in service of the government.
This again brings us to Sith which are not the ultimate baddies as is generally case, but are presented as rebels, Force wielders that want to be independent and bound to no clan leader of Imperial forces. This of course brings them into conflict with the Jedi and entire novel is more or less about how this conflict culminated and ended, and consequences following it.
So, setting wise, great setup. Author's portrayal of technology, customs, everything is perfect blend of Star Wars and Japanese culture. Even the weird lightsabers that pop up from time and time, they are wonderfully presented.
But character wise story is .... lets say unique :) If we take eponymous Ronin aside, all other characters have very serious psychological issues. OK, we can even take Chie aside too. But everyone else is in dire need of psychoanalysis and few years worth of sessions.
Author's style is rather heavy in general - I think editors did not do their job as best as they could because there are chapters where structure of sentences is so difficult it is incredible. I literary had to use finger to track the progress of paragraphs, otherwise I could just skip this (around 20%) part of the book, and unfortunately lose the thread completely. It is not the pronouns (this was pleasant surprise because only alien Traveler was treated as they and this came up better than I expected) but just structure of sentences...... it was like reading psychotic break of a character, only this was not the case, it is just that structure was difficult, man so difficult to go through.
And in all of this we are given characters that cover more or less your usual adventure team - errant knights, smuggler, nosy droid, and battle hardened veteran. Unfortunately besides the veteran and our Ronin (and droid, I forgot about the droid), all of the others seem to suffer from such angst that I felt like grabbing them by the shoulders and tell them to get themselves sorted out, take a vacation, visit family, friends whatever, go to sea, walk in the bloody woods to release the stress - just do something for crying out loud and then return to the novel. This made reading these parts of book like trying to walk through molasses up to your neck. I spent literary two days to get through this slough but thankfully I persisted and truly enjoyed the rest of the book.
Rest of the book is full of action and ending is truly satisfying, I can even say epic. I just wish editors did better job and made book more readable.
Highly recommended to fans of Star Wars, very interesting take on the universe. But do keep in mind it might take you some effort to go through it but it is worth it. It definitely got me interested in the Visions series.