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ferretbreeder's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
clarks_dad's review against another edition
3.0
A good book, but ultimately falling short of the previous in the series. Allston does a much better job than Traviss with the dialogue in particular, but this particular novel felt like it lost focus. The action was good, the plot developments made sense, and Jacen's transformation into a galactic douchebag is nearing completion. The war between the Alliance and the Confederation is reaching fever pitch and Allston does a very good job at playing up the tensions. However, unlike most books in the EU series, this book fails to take one of the primary characters as a focus and follow them throughout developing events. This was a trend developed during the Yuuzhan Vong series that worked really well, giving you different perspectives of the major crises as they developed from different viewpoints and locations. This book started with an exiled Han and Leia, and I was really excited as they reunited with Lando and began probing for clues to the origin of the current galactic crisis, but that storyline becomes watered down by others about half-way through the novel and I got the feeling that Allston couldn't make up his mind whether or not this was a Han and Leia story, a Ben story, or an Alema story. I think he spread himself too thin and I was left rather unsatisfied all around.
The most interesting parts for me were Ben's trials on the ancient Sith world of Ziost. Really it's a place of mythology for most star wars fans, and the location doesn't pop up much, especially considering it's the homeworld of the rival, dark force path that continually threatens the galaxy throughout the series. Seeing Ben travel there and just getting a feel for the atmosphere of the place and its hints of malevolence was interesting. Allston does a good job making Ben an ambivalent character, I found myself rooting for the kid to make the right moral assumptions, cringing when he fell short and egging him on when he made the right choice. This is the son of LUKE for God's sake, and to see him struggle so much just humanizes him in a way that Luke can't be -- he's too perfect.
I'm not really looking forward to the next book. It's Traviss again, and she gets to narrate the climax of the story. Ugh...
The most interesting parts for me were Ben's trials on the ancient Sith world of Ziost. Really it's a place of mythology for most star wars fans, and the location doesn't pop up much, especially considering it's the homeworld of the rival, dark force path that continually threatens the galaxy throughout the series. Seeing Ben travel there and just getting a feel for the atmosphere of the place and its hints of malevolence was interesting. Allston does a good job making Ben an ambivalent character, I found myself rooting for the kid to make the right moral assumptions, cringing when he fell short and egging him on when he made the right choice. This is the son of LUKE for God's sake, and to see him struggle so much just humanizes him in a way that Luke can't be -- he's too perfect.
I'm not really looking forward to the next book. It's Traviss again, and she gets to narrate the climax of the story. Ugh...
hstapp's review against another edition
3.0
Warning in this book for use of Blackface.
Unless I've missed something The Millenium Falcon does not have turbolasers. Which is maybe a bit nitpicky, but I think I've seen Alston do this before in x-wing books, and in Star wars the technology is pretty important, a laser cannon and a turblaser cannon are very different and slipups happen, but it seems to happen a lot in this book.
Also the use of blackface, and oh she's pretty and not wearing makeup thats how you know shes a catch lines are just very bad.
The plot itself is decent I can't say that I didn't enjoy the book overall, but these elements just pull you out of the story either by confusion or disgust.
Overall an okay story, could do without the women have to be pretty but can't fool me into thinking they're pretty with makeup, and with white characters disguising themselves with blackface.
Unless I've missed something The Millenium Falcon does not have turbolasers. Which is maybe a bit nitpicky, but I think I've seen Alston do this before in x-wing books, and in Star wars the technology is pretty important, a laser cannon and a turblaser cannon are very different and slipups happen, but it seems to happen a lot in this book.
Also the use of blackface, and oh she's pretty and not wearing makeup thats how you know shes a catch lines are just very bad.
The plot itself is decent I can't say that I didn't enjoy the book overall, but these elements just pull you out of the story either by confusion or disgust.
Overall an okay story, could do without the women have to be pretty but can't fool me into thinking they're pretty with makeup, and with white characters disguising themselves with blackface.
djdembeck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Other than Ben being an annoying teenager, good plot points in this book for the series. As always great production as well.
kolar's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
bentheoverlordsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Was a bit of a slow plod, not the best book in the series
celeste173's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
mardukzero's review against another edition
5.0
This is my favorite book in the Legacy of the Force series so far, and the best overall SW book I've read in a long time. I think the last one that grabbed me as thoroughly as this one was Darth Bane: Path of Destruction.
Allston does an amazing job of characterization and gives some wonderful dialogue. Something I noticed used to great effect toward the end of the book which I hadn't noticed earlier (and rarely see in SW fiction) was minimalism. Blessed minimalism. Its sudden appearance throws you off, right when the story takes a sudden "WHAM".
I would love to see Allston get a main continuity trilogy like Denning did with The Dark Nest.
Allston does an amazing job of characterization and gives some wonderful dialogue. Something I noticed used to great effect toward the end of the book which I hadn't noticed earlier (and rarely see in SW fiction) was minimalism. Blessed minimalism. Its sudden appearance throws you off, right when the story takes a sudden "WHAM".
I would love to see Allston get a main continuity trilogy like Denning did with The Dark Nest.