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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Colonisation
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The best Star Wars novel I've read. Dares not only to ask questions about the series' assumptions - about light and dark, the force, heroism - but actually to answer some of them.
And the quality of the writing is excellent as well, which is often not the case with Star Wars novels. It has rhythm, expressiveness, believable dialogue.
And the quality of the writing is excellent as well, which is often not the case with Star Wars novels. It has rhythm, expressiveness, believable dialogue.
I'm kinda waffling over 2 or 3 stars, because a book of nothing but philosophical riddles is boring AF, but the character development of Jacen is pretty impressive. Stover's narrative being arrogant and condescending doesn't help that much, either.
We need half stars, Goodreads!
We need half stars, Goodreads!
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting at all. What a fascinating and original book, very much unlike any other Star Wars novel I’ve ever read, to say the least. As a completionist who has been slowing working his way through the New Jedi Order, I’ve found that some books are better than others, but most follow the fairly straightforward formula we’ve come to expect from these novels: an ensemble cast, a new threat, some theorizing and arguing about the nature of the Force here and there, some space battles, a few jokes here and there. But Traitor was something else entirely, focusing almost entirely on Jacen Solo as he evolves into something completely different than he has ever been; indeed, something completely different than we’ve ever seen in this franchise.
This book is by far the most philosophical Star Wars book I’ve ever read; rather than a few throwaway scenes here and there before getting back to the fighting, Stover plunges Jacen into a psychological journey that puts him face-to-face with questions that have never been asked before about the Force, expanding the concept beyond its traditional comfort zones. I’m honestly a bit surprised the Lucasfilm overlords even allowed this book. It’s philosophical nature, it’s lack of traditional action, and it’s sark content (much of it is Jacen being straight-up tortured or witnessing true horrors around him) don’t strike me as the kind of elevator pitch most publishers go for.
Of course, there ARE action sequences, and they are memorable ones: Jacen turning the tables on his Yuzhaan Vong overlords near the middle of this book was truly captivating stuff. But it’s the more cerebral content that is of the greatest interest, with much of it centering around the mysterious Vergere, arguably the greatest new character to come out of the New Jedi Order. I expected to come away from this book finally with some answers about her, and instead was largely left with more questions... which of course is exactly as it should be.
I doubt another Star Wars book quite like Traitor is going to come along any time soon, but I’m very grateful that it did at all.
This book is by far the most philosophical Star Wars book I’ve ever read; rather than a few throwaway scenes here and there before getting back to the fighting, Stover plunges Jacen into a psychological journey that puts him face-to-face with questions that have never been asked before about the Force, expanding the concept beyond its traditional comfort zones. I’m honestly a bit surprised the Lucasfilm overlords even allowed this book. It’s philosophical nature, it’s lack of traditional action, and it’s sark content (much of it is Jacen being straight-up tortured or witnessing true horrors around him) don’t strike me as the kind of elevator pitch most publishers go for.
Of course, there ARE action sequences, and they are memorable ones: Jacen turning the tables on his Yuzhaan Vong overlords near the middle of this book was truly captivating stuff. But it’s the more cerebral content that is of the greatest interest, with much of it centering around the mysterious Vergere, arguably the greatest new character to come out of the New Jedi Order. I expected to come away from this book finally with some answers about her, and instead was largely left with more questions... which of course is exactly as it should be.
I doubt another Star Wars book quite like Traitor is going to come along any time soon, but I’m very grateful that it did at all.
I loved this book! In many ways it reminded me of the Ender's Game series, blending sci-fi with philosophy. I will be reading this book again and again for some time.
